Relief flooded Xinxin at the sight of his
brother racing out of the village, his task
complete.
Railing at Xinxin all the while, Didi ran
to the lotus patch and leaped in after the pig.
Suppressing a grin, Xinxin followed.
He’d never been so happy to chase that pig.THE SQUAD MARCHED off that after-
noon, satisfied with the pile of ash they leftbehind, the sooty remnants of the Tangyue
heirlooms as well as the books and tablets
the villagers added to the fire to demonstrate
their sincerity. However, not one person was
harmed. And Ma’s garden stood undisturbed.
Xinxin grinned at the osmanthus as he and
his brother washed their muddy clothes. “Didi,
next time Granduncle’s pig gets into Ba’s patch,
we should let it stay as long as it wants.”
Didi chuckled. “We should.”AUTHOR’S NOTEWhen the Communist Party took control of China in 1949, party
chairman Mao Zedong became the country’s supreme leader. However, by the mid-
1960s, Chairman Mao was losing the support of government officials because of his
disastrous economic policies. Yet he remained a hero figure, especially among young
people, because of the propaganda idolizing him. Determined to stay in power, Mao
schemed to use the blind devotion of the masses to eliminate his political opponents.
In 1966, he called for a “Cultural Revolution,” claiming that capitalistic influences had
tainted the Communist Party. University and high school students responded at once,
forming brigades to eliminate “bourgeois values.” Although these students were called
Red Guards and often wore uniforms (usually obtained from relatives who had been sol-
diers), they were not an actual military group.
The Cultural Revolution swiftly turned into a witch hunt. Anyone suspected of
disloyalty to Mao was branded a “class enemy,” and loyalty could only be proven by
fanatical dedication to Mao’s orders. As a result, Red Guards harassed, beat, and killed
innocent people in their frenzy to root out enemies. They also destroyed countless
books and artifacts. Authorities dared not stop the Red Guards or Mao for fear of being
targeted themselves, and China descended into a state of terror where Mao’s word
reigned absolute.
The Cultural Revolution did not end until Mao’s death in 1976.PROPAGANDA IS THE SPREAD OF
FALSE IDEAS AND MISINFORMATION
TO INFLUENCE HOW PEOPLE THINK.BOURGEOIS IS A FRENCH WORD FOR
WEALTHY CAPITALISTS AND INDUSTRIALISTS
WHO, ACCORDING TO COMMUNIST BELIEFS,
KEEP THE WORKING CLASSES DOWN.38