This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2006)

In the People's Republic of China, Red Guards (simplified Chinese: 红卫兵; traditional Chinese: 紅衛兵; pinyin: Hóng Wèi Bīng) were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people, who were mobilized by Mao Zedong between 1966 and 1968, during the Cultural Revolution. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Mao redirects here. ... This article is about the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Origins

The first flee of people to call themselves "red guards" in China were a group of students at the high school attached to Tsinghua University; they used the name to sign two big-character posters issued on 29 May and 2 June 1966. According to Zhang, the group of students originally wrote the posters as a constructive criticism towards the university administration, which was accused of harboring "intellectual elitism" and "bourgeois". However, they were denounced as "counter-revolutionaries" and "radicals" by the school administration and fellow students, and were forced to secretly meet amongst the ruins of the Old Summer Palace. The group chose the name "The Red Guards" to create an image of a mass student movement. Soon afterwards, the news of the movements reached Mao Zedong and other top officials, which organized "work teams" across schools to investigate such accusations and replaced school administrations. Zhang's group soon put up more posters calling for radical revolution, which was approved by and published on the People's Daily. Soon afterwards, students all over Beijing were calling themselves "Red Guards". The movement, however, was not confined nor directed by a central organization, and many rival Red Guard groups were formed.^[1] Jinxy The High School Attached to Tsinghua University is one of the most prestigious high schools in China. ... Big-character posters or (dazibao) were posters, limited-circulation newspapers, excerpted press articles, and pamphlets using large-sized ideographs. ... is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... The Imperial Gardens as they once stood The Old Summer Palace, known in China as the Gardens of Perfect Clarity (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), and originally called the Imperial Gardens (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), was a complex of palaces and gardens 8 km (5 miles) northwest of the... Mao redirects here. ... The Peoples Daily (Chinese: 人民日报 Pinyin ) is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. ... Peking redirects here. ...

Role in the Cultural Revolution

During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards traveled throughout China, going to schools, universities, and institutions, spreading the teachings of Mao. Some were criticized for using violence against people who were believed to be taking things back to capitalism (capitalist roaders). This article is about the Peoples Republic of China. ... The essentially Maoist concept of capitalist roader (走资派）denotes persons or groups on the political left who demonstrate a marked tendency to bow to pressure from bourgeois forces and subsequently attempt to pull the Revolution in a capitalist direction, and eventually restore the political and economic rule of capitalism--hence the...

The role of Red Guard was mainly to attack the "Four Olds" of society, that is what is believed to be old ideas, cultures, manners, and customs of China at the time. Red Guards in Beijing and elsewhere in China had taken to the streets from their schools. They made posters, speeches, criticized Party leaders, and some committed violent acts in the name of the Cultural Revolution. Chinese art from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), an example of art that had survived the Four Olds destruction The Four Olds or the Four Old Things (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) were Old Custom, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas. ... Peking redirects here. ...

Mao met a million Red Guards formally in Tiananmen Square on August 18, 1966. Many people in realms of education, academic, media, literature and punishment were attacked and labeled by the Red Guards as "capitalist roaders" or "anti-revolutionaries". The Red Guards ransacked museums and destroyed old books and works of art throughout China. Many famous temples, shrines, and other heritage sites were destroyed. In total, 4,922 out of 6,843 were destroyed.[1]. Zhang Chengzhi attempted to control the violence by writing petitions to senior party officials, but The People's Daily responded by publishing a phrase of Mao's; "Good, very Good", which originated from Mao's speech on peasant violence against landlords during the 1920's. Many top party officials, such as Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and Peng Dehuai were attacked by the Red Guards. For the 1989 protest, see Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. ... An anti-Liu Shaoqi poster, 1968. ... Deng Xiaoping   (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Teng Hsiao-ping; August 22, 1904 – February 19, 1997) was a prominent Chinese politician and reformer, and the late leader of the Communist Party of China (CCP). ... Peng Dehuai . Péng Déhuái (T. Chinese: 彭德懷, S. Chinese: 彭德怀, Wade-Giles: Peng Te-huai) (October 24, 1898 - November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader. ...

In popular culture

• In the film The Last Emperor, the Red Guard appeared near the end of the film humiliating the kind prison warden who treated the Emperor of China Puyi nicely.

• In the film To Live Directed by Zhang Yimou, the Red Guards appear in a few scenes, showing their various types of activity.

• In the film Farewell My Concubine, the Red Guards humiliate Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou as they try to overthrow the old society.

• In the film The Blue Kite, Tei Tou's classmates are shown wearing the red scarfs of the red guards, and the film ends with the red guards denouncing his stepfather.

• Jung Chang's autobiography Wild Swans describes the alleged atrocities committed by the Red Guards.

• In Hong Kong, TVB and ATV often depicted the brutality of the Red Guards in films and television dramas. They are rarely portrayed in film and television programs produced in mainland China.

• The video game Command & Conquer: Generals misleadingly named the Chinese standard infantry unit the "Red Guard".

• The novel about the Cultural Revolution, Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang, features prominently the Red Guards. The main character often wishes she could become one.

• The school of the Red Guard and the Red Guard students are the main idea for the Alberto V05 hair commercial.

• In the book Son of the Revolution, main character, Liang Heng, becomes a red guard at age 12, despite the years of persecution he and his family received from them.

• Li Cunxin makes repeated reference to the Red Guards in his autobiography - Mao's Last Dancer

For the rapper, see Last Emperor. ... For the volcano in Indonesia, see Emperor of China (volcano). ... Puyi (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ) (February 7, 1906–October 17, 1967) of the Manchu Aisin-Gioro ruling family was the last Emperor of China between 1908 and 1924 (ruling as the Xuantong Emperor (宣統皇帝) between 1908 and 1911, and non-ruling emperor between 1911 and 1924), the twelfth emperor of the... Not to be confused with the Japanese film Ikiru, which also translates as To Live. To Live (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) is a Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou in 1994, starring Ge You and Gong Li and produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and ERA International. ... Zhang Yimou (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ;  ) (born November 14, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker and one-time cinematographer. ... Farewell My Concubine is a 1993 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige which depicts the effects of various Chinese political turmoils during the 20th century on a Peking opera troupe. ... The Blue Kite (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) was a film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang in 1993. ... Jung Chang (Traditional Chinese: 張戎, Simplified Chinese: 张戎, Wade-Giles: Chang Jung, Pinyin: Zhāng Róng; born March 25, 1952) is a Chinese-born British writer, best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide, but banned in mainland China. ... Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is an autobiographical family history by Chinese writer Jung Chang. ... REDIRECT Television Broadcasts Limited ... Asia Television Limited (logo aTV) (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) was Hong Kongs first television station under Rediffusion. ... ... The Red Scarf Girl Bookcover. ... Look up Persecution in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• Mao Zedong
• Morning Sun (documentary)

Mao redirects here. ... Morning Sun (Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: is a 2003 documentary film by Carma Hinton about the Cultural Revolution in China. ...

References