Mao’s Cultural Revolution and The ‘Four Olds’

Jun 19

Old ideas. Old customs. Old culture. Old habits.

The communists who rose up in the mid-20th Century worked to eliminate these “Four Olds” in China.

*China’s youth helped the regime bring the Cultural Revolution.*

Early in the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong called on his Red Guards, his army of militant youth, to destroy the ‘Four Olds’, referencing the pre-communist elements in traditional Chinese culture which included terminology, landmarks, streets, books, art, furniture; everything that resembled traditional Chinese culture, civilization and the economy was to be destroyed.

Shortly after the campaign began in ‘Red August’ of 1960, Mao backed the Red Guards as they brutally murdered 10,275 Chinese people for simply embracing the Four Olds. During the massacres, Mao publicly opposed government intervention and ordered the protection of the Red Guards, abolishing law enforcement.

Mao caused mass chaos and devastation throughout China as He made friends and families into enemies. In addition to the murders, 33,700 homes were ransacked and 85,000 families were forced to leave the city of Beijing for their safety.

In order to make way for the communist party to take full control of the population, all schools in China closed down, old textbooks were outlawed and Mao allowed the annunciation and killings of nearly 2,000 principles and teachers.

*Propaganda poster from Communist China*

In addition to ending schooling, the communists sent teachers to re-education camps to learn the newly required communist curriculum for future students, and then once the schools finally opened, all children were indoctrinated by Mao’s Little Red Book, where millions would ultimately lose their lives for not complying with his doctrine.

Throughout the Cultural Revolution, there were posters used as propaganda filled with promises of abundance and hope, only to be met with starvation, brutal killings and total chaos.

Xi Van Fleet, a survivor from China’s Cultural Revolution, joined us to share her personal experience of the shutting down of schools and her experience being indoctrinated in school. Xi not only has a wealth of knowledge that everyone can learn from, but she heeds warning to Americans as she sees the many similarities between what happened during the Cultural Revolution and what’s happening today in America.

You can watch Xi’s full story here!