Red Scarf Girl

Red Scarf Girl – Background  “The story takes place in Shanghai, China, during the onset of Chairman Mao Ze- dong's Cultural Revolution.” From

Red Scarf Girl – Background Mao Zedong Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party

Red Scarf Girl – Background  By 1949 Mao established a Communist state by defeating the former ruling party, the Nationalists. In 1966, when Ji-li's story begins, Mao has just imposed the Cultural Revolution to cut people's ties to pre- Communist China.” From Communism: Major productive resources (mines, factories, farms) are owned by the public or the state. Wealth is divided among citizens equally or according to individual need.

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  “To lead this revolution he enlisted help--mostly high school and college students--to implement rules and to eliminate everything that suggested a bourgeois lifestyle.” From Bourgeois – “middle class ”

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution Red Guards  “Having only grown up during the Communist state, many young people had little understanding of China's pre-Communist past and were aggressive about enforcing these rules. These factions of young people became known as the Red Guards.” From

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  “The Red Guard frequently terrorized people they felt were not good Communists, and those under suspicion often lost their positions or their memberships in the Communist Party. Many others were sent to work camps. Some were thrown in jail or even killed.” From

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  By 1966 there was internal strife in the Communist Party and many policies were failing.  Mao recruited young people to engage in “continual revolution” in order to maintain control over his party and to draw attention away from governmental failures.  This time period is the focus of Red Scarf Girl.

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  “Mao called on the young people in The Red Guard to destroy the ‘four olds’: old ideas, habits, customs, and culture. The years from 1966 to 1968 were a period of almost total anarchy in China. Red Guards seized and humiliated - in some cases, beat to death - anyone allegedly linked with the way China used to be.” From “The Mao Years” R. Keith Schoppa

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  “Put destruction first, and in the process you have construction.”  “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.”

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  The Cultural Revolution was meant to change people’s values and beliefs.  It was a systematic attack on Chinese traditions, culture, and beliefs (the olds), which people were expected to replace with new beliefs and values.  Burning of books, smashing of historical artifacts, etc.

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  'Monsters and Demons‘ was the term used to vilify specialists, scholars, authorities and 'people who entrenched themselves in ideological and cultural positions' during the Cultural Revolution.  Teachers and intellectuals were targeted by the Red Guard.

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  Why would Mao want teachers and intellects targeted? Why would he see these groups of individuals as a threat?

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  During the Cultural Revolution, China printed an estimated 2.2 billion Mao Zedong posters-- three for every citizen. Failing to display Mao prominently could brand you a counterrevolutionary.

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong was published in  Every citizen was (unofficially) required to study and memorize quotes from it to be seen as a good citizen.

Red Scarf Girl – Background The Cultural Revolution  Imagine if Barack Obama came into your house, destroyed anything that was expensive or related to traditions or memories, and then made you put posters up and carry around a book of his quotes, reciting them when asked.  How would you feel?