The King of Children by Ah Cheng

Originally, Liang’s “parents were deeply involved in all the excitement of working to transform China into a great Socialist country” (4). Over a serious of unfortunate events, though, he became the child of a “Rightist’s cap” mother and a “Reactionary Capitalist stinking intellectuals” father (9, 51). Impacted by the shattering of his family and horrific bloodshed created by fighting, Liang Heng began to question the Cultural Revolution. He claimed that his “family had scarified so much… but it had given [them] nothing in return” (148). Liang Heng presents his shift in ideology to demonstrate that most Chinese were no longer in support of a Communist nation. His “troubles were common enough and anyone could see there was a discrepancy between the glorious words of the newspapers and [their] painful reality (232). Even Liang Heng’s father, after many years of devotion, found that he could no longer defend the Party’s policies after he experienced the ill-treatment of the peasants in the country

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

The majority of the book looks deep into Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the main focus was Mao’s campaign was created with the simple means to destroy China’s history of hopes of a free and pure culture that would separate itself from the old Chinese culture which existed before during 1949. We will mainly focus on Liang’s treacherous life, and the obstacles he endured in spite of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, we look at the different events in which led up to the Cultural Revolution and the purpose of Mao’s culture Revolution.

The Concubine’s Children was written by Denise Chang and published in 1994. The story is told by herself in an omniscient voice. Chang had written this book to find out more about herself and her family journey as Chinese-Canadian immigrants. To better piece together her family’s history and as well to put her ancestor’s events into a more chronological story for herself. Chang uses knowledge gained from family letters, photographs, and also her own recollection of the events she describes. A main theme focused on throughout the book is women’s paid and unpaid work. The women described in this book had to work hard during their daily waged jobs as well as at home for their families. While women’s double shift is still present today with

Mao Zedong had awakened a new-found spirit within the people of China. Giving them hope, liberation, and a new-found sense of nationalism. Chairman and head of the communist party, Mao Zedong is the savior of China. Mao had gone through trials and tribulations to make China the greatest it can by helping it become an independent communist country. Or least that is how it is often depicted. Looking at three different sources of materials: Maurice Meisner’s Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait, a memoir: Spider Eats by Rae Yang and the film to To Live directed by Zhang Yimou with an original script by Yu Hua. These three sources provide three different narratives of the Culture Revolution;

“How did the disruption of the educational system during the Cultural Revolution affect the life outcomes of people who were getting their educations in the period 1966-75?” By using this as a topic to question, I will be reviewing the impact of the lack of education had on people as they got older and began looking for jobs in China. Although it may seem clear to many on why missing an education would make it harder for one to obtain a job, I still think it needs to be looked into as why this education was stopped, and following with the affects it had on people.

Few people would deny that the Cultural Revolution is one of the most significant events in China’s history, with its extraordinary effects on many groups of the population. The main aim of the revolution was simple: having risen to power, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanted to reform the Chinese population so that they followed the communist ideology – the favour of absolute social equality. While the initial impression of this aim seems positive, many people nowadays consider that there were few benefits of the Cultural Revolution, due to the turbulence that it caused between 1966 and 1976. Whilst it could be considered that there was initially some reform of the Chinese people, it

But in reality Mao tricked them into thinking they would get out of poorness and they didn’t while Mao made all the money. Mao told the young ones to quit school and focus on working. The families didn’t think it was right but they didn’t want to disagree with their ruler. Students weren’t sure why he asked for this but they obeyed.

While his intentions of making China a better place were good, his actions ended in a disaster. But, “many of his goals, including stressing China’s self-reliance, were generally laudable.” Mao’s tactic to achieving what he wanted was to follow “the example of the soviet model of development through heavy industry with surpluses extracted from peasants.” It is from here that the idea of Maoism is created and how Mao wanted to rule his country. Maoism was the starting point of something big. After all, it is now called Maoism. It was the mark of a revolution because Mao Tse-tung wanted the way he ruled to be different compared to the way that every other country did. Mao believed in equality economics and to advocate those who did not have a socioeconomic class. Maoism is a part of the totalitarian government, where the government controls all aspects of what the public can or cannot view. So, the intentions that he had were good, it was just the way that the government carried things out ended the wrong way. Communism also seeks to eliminate religion and any ownership of land or property, which helped with the way that the leader controlled society.

Before the Cultural Revolution, the percentage of China’s population that went to school around 1949 was extremely low. Only 1 out of every four kids attended primary school while the “total enrollment of the country’s 180 institutions of higher learning was just 80,000” (Pepper 847) when China had a population of 500 million. The youth of China were complaining that their “demands of education could not be ‘fully

Between 1962 to 1976, China underwent one of the most devastating government lead social reforms, the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement lead by Mao Zedong where his influence made many young Chinese students, who would be known as Red Guards, pledge to a social political war against capitalism. Frank Dikötter is the author of his award-winning book called The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962-1976, where he presents The Cultural Revolution in a new light by constructing it from the perspective of the individuals who experienced it. In Dikötter’s analysis of the Revolution, he divides it into four different timeframes: the Early Years (1962-66), the Red Years (1966-68), the Black Years (1968-71),

Laurence Yep is a Chinese-American writer, and was born 1948 in San Francisco, California. He studied at many colleges including: University at Buffalo, Marquette University, and University of California. Yep has been a successful author to over 50 books and is still writing more. He has earned different awards for his books including the John Newbery Medal, Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, Phoenix Award, and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. When Yep was young, his teacher would joke with the class and say the only way to earn an “A” in her class was to have a piece of writing accepted into a magazine. This sparked an interest of writing in his life. Yep worked in his family store and often observed people to make his fictional characters seem more real.

The author will also interject a few opinions about Mao and how she thought he impacted the world. Keywords: Mao Zedong, Revolution, Society Mao Zedong played a huge part in Chinese society, and had a big part in history. This paper is going to explore into full detail about this intriguing man. This will include his childhood and his power over China, as well as his impact after he died.

In 1966, Communist leader Mao Zedong initiated the Cultural Revolution in China intended to reaffirm his domination over the Chinese government, drastically affecting the lives of nearly everyone in China. Suspicious of current communist leaders taking over the party, Mao enslaved the minds of Chinese youth to eradicate “impure”

‘A revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.’ This statement by Che Guevara suggests that in order for a revolution to occur, the leaders must not hesitate, but rather, they should take immediate and effective actions. This quote is particularly accurate for the Chinese Cultural Revolution, because the main leader of the Revolution -Mao Zedong- was able to manipulate the public, thus enabling him to bring about a revolution. The Cultural Revolution occurred as a result of the failures in the Great Leap Forward, and officially, Mao claimed that the goal of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is to build a society surrounding the proletariats by bringing back revolutionary spirit. However, it became increasingly clear that Mao’s real intentions were rather personal, as he used the Cultural Revolution to re-establish his power as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China.