Dr.

Wei Li
North Harris College
November, 2007
wei.li@nhmccd.edhttp://geocities.com/rongzheng/blog.html
Secretary of State Rice’s
Remarks
   “In a world where challenges transcend borders,
education is essential for making the world more
peaceful and more prosperous. American students can
better understand global issues by learning other
languages and experiencing other cultures first-hand.
Moreover, our country has no more valuable asset
internationally than the friendship of the millions of
young people, citizens, and leaders around the world
who understand the United States because they have
studied here.
 “Americans across our country and people around the
world are touched by international education in
positive ways, and we should all be proud to celebrate
International Education Week. Wherever you are, I
encourage you to join me in recognizing international
education as an important investment in our common
future.”
What was it like growing up during the
“Cultural Revolution” as a teenager?
What is the “Cultural Revolution”?
What is the “Up to the Mountains and Down to
the Countryside” campaign?
Where are the survivors?
What lessons did I learn?
Q&A
Try to visualize:
 You were a 16-year-old middle school student.
 You were told that
 Schools would be closed indefinitely.
 Your teachers and principal were all bad people.
 To prove you were patriotic and revolutionary, you should
beat up your teachers and principals.
 There would be no job for you, so you must leave the city
and settle down in the countryside and live there for the
rest of your life.
 Beautiful is ugly, ugly is beautiful, good is bad, bad is
good, knowledgeable is bad, ignorant is good …
 ………. How would you feel?
 “posijiu”: destroying Four Olds-- old ideas, old
culture, old customs, and old habits--in order to
bring the areas of education, art and literature in
line with Communist ideology.

 “zaoqingshi, wanhuibao” a ritual everyone was

supposed every day--asking for instructions in the
morning and reporting back in the evening

 “Hongwulei: “Five Red (good) Categories” -

workers, soldiers, peasants, revolutionary
martyrs, and Communist Party officials

 “Heiwulei”: “Five Black Categories” referred to the

following five political identities: landlords, rich-
farmers, anti-revolutionists, bad-influencers, and
right-wingers
 “wudou”: armed fighting among rival factions that
claimed to be most loyal to Mao and to the Party

 “Shangshanxiaxiang”: “Up to the Mountains and

Down to the Countryside”—a campaign in which
16 million high school students were sent to the
people’s communes or production and
construction corps to be “reeducated”

 "niuguisheshen" ("ox ghosts and snake demons")

a term used to refer to the target people during
the CR. The jails to confine them was called “ox
shacks.”
Sounds and Images
 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7357886397

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8070711688

 http://www.morningsun.org/smash/image/struggle.swf
My most scary memories … if I
have to name only three …
Public humiliation meetings against our
principle, Party secretary, and the best
teachers
The scared and yet sullen look on my father’s
face
The Red Guards in my school and in our
neighborhood, their green Army uniforms, and
the belts in their hands, especially Xinhua …
 Economic: Shelves were empty in stores; almost everything
was rationed, including toilet paper; industrial production
dropped by 12% from 1966 to 1968 (“Rather have the
socialist weeds than the capitalist crops.”)

 Social: Anarchy prevailed; China became a lawless society

(“Revolution is not a crime; rebellion is justified.”)

 Educational: All schools were shut down—I graduated from

middle school in 1966 and went to college in March, 1978
(model: “blank-paper hero”)

 Cultural and intellectual: many historical sites were

destroyed; institutes of higher learning were shut down;
revolutionary phrases were imprinted in people’s heads so
that individuals lost the ability to think for themselves
 Family and moral: Friends and family members were divided
and fought each other (I broke my brother’s fish tank!);
people can’t trust each other

 Loss of lives: Many revolutionary elders, authors, artists, and

religious figures were purged and killed or committed
suicide; millions of people were persecuted; 300-500
thousand people were killed in armed fighting between
rival factions .

 “A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or

painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so
refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind,
courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an
insurrection, an act of violence by which one class
overthrows another.”
-- Mao Zedong
 http://geocities.com/rongzheng/blog.html
http://geocities.com/rongzheng/blog.html?pg=2&cn
It is absolutely necessary for educated
young people to go to the countryside
to be re-educated by the poor and
lower-middle peasants. Cadres and
other city people should be persuaded
to send their sons and daughters who
have finished junior or senior middle
school, college, or university to the
countryside. Let us mobilize.
Comrades throughout the countryside
should welcome them.
An excerpt from my blog: My Zhiqing Stories.

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-nhm65wYjdKgyI9iKzb6HAg8-?cq=1&p=32
Blog excerpt
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-nhm65wYjdKgyI9iKzb6HAg8-?cq=1&l=6&u=10&mx=11&lmt=5
http://www.geocities.com/hzqa/
 Appreciate what we have, especially food.
 Accept reality and make the best of it.
 Don’t allow yourself to become a permanent
victim of anything—move on.
 Don’t let politicians or any others motivated by a
hidden agenda make you feel you have to prove
who you are or who you are not. Think for
yourself.
 No matter how big an issue appears to you at the
moment, it will eventually become only a small
part of your whole life. Learn to detach from
negative emotions and move on.
 Violence is the worst thing in the world, and there
should be no excuse for it!
o The NHMCCD Faculty International
Exploration Grant
o Many colleagues, friends, and family who
were infested and gave me moral support
to my writing
o Especially Dr. Joyce Boatright, who has
become my mentor and “parent” of my
blog
o The NHC Faculty and Staff Center for
editing and beautifying my PowerPoint
slides