S22: Sent‑down Generation

• How did the radical phase of the Cultural Revolution end? Why did it give way to more violence?
• What is the sent-down youth movement? How did it change China?
• Were the sent-down youth victims? Why did many feel nostalgic about the Cultural Revolution?

• Mass insurgency: stigmatized individuals and political leaders targeted by Red Guards and workers (1966-1967)
• Armed clashes among factions: competition for power after collapse of civilian government (Mid to late 1967)
• Repression under military rule (1968-1976)

“Bloodline theory”

• Red Guards made up of revolutionary cadres’ children
• Political elites as hereditary political aristocracy
• “The son of a hero is a real man; the son of a reactionary is a bastard”

Student violence

• Red Guards attacked old educated elites in name of workers and peasants
• Official directives in Aug 1966: Local army and public security bureau prohibited from restricting Red Guards

• Students: 657K, too small, too divided
• Workers: 52 million in state and collective enterprises
• First organization: Shanghai Workers’ Revolutionary Rebel General Headquarters
• Led by Wang Hongwen: 32-year-old factory security officer
• 1966-12: Mao gave green light to mobilization
• Workers’ insurgency spread, sidelining student movement

• 1967-01-19: Shanghai People’s Commune
• High tide of power seizure across the country
• New revolutionary committee:‘Triple alliances’ of the rebel organizations, the army and CCP cadres

• CCRG initially endorsed Workers’ General Headquarters as “true” revolutionary group
• Mao’s support: July 1967 visit to Wuhan, calling for reinstatement of rebel organizations and self-criticism of Wuhan military leaders.
• Military resistance: Disgruntled Million Heroes rebels staged kidnap of CCRG member Wang Li during Mao’s visit. Mao fled.

• 1967-08: Mao reversed course again. Attack against military ended.
• The military as the only way to enforce order; Shanghai model – power seizure – dead
• Military commanders dominated top posts in revolutionary committees
• Universities closed, students and government staff sent down for manual labor

• Military commanders dominated top posts in new revolutionary committees
• Rebel organizations disbanded: “Struggle, criticize, transform” campaign against rebel leaders
• “Cleansing of the Class Rank” campaign and “May 16 Conspiracy”: witch hunts against former rebel leaders and counter-revolutionaries

• Sent-down youth: 17 million urban youth sent to the countryside
• Bureaucratic administrators re-educated through manual labor at rural May 7 Cadre Schools

• Former Research & Learning Librarian, Dartmouth College Library
• Curator of Down to the Countryside Movement Collection at Dartmouth

• Who was Liu Ping? What was her family background?
• What were the conditions for keeping a diary?
• What can the diaries tell us? What can they not?
• Was Liu Ping a typical case? Why or why not?