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The reason Mao gave for the Cultural Revolution was that an elite class (scientists, engineers, etc.) was developing that never experienced the life of a "normal" civilian (peasant, farmer, etc.). He had to rid the country of any hierarchy. Nowadays, many believe that the revolution was all just a battle over power; Mao wanted to become dominant in the government. Either way, the revolution was a disaster. It ruined the lives of many people, and kept China from developing to become more modern. Millions of children, like Jiang Ji Li, lost ten years of their lives to the revolution (they are commonly known as the lost generation). The revolution banned all religion, foreign ideas and objects, intellectual thoughts, and bourgeois to prevent anyone from becoming an elitist. Chairman Mao wanted to instill communism back into China, and promoted the establishment of the four news and destruction of the four olds (old customs, old culture, old ideas, and old habits). Thousands of people were innocently sent to labor camps and executions. Thousands of children were sent to the countryside in the "Down to the Countryside Movement", to be reeducated, because Mao thought the new generation of children were spoiled and elite. The intellectuals and rich were considered elitist and therfore strongly despised. Along with Mao, the revolution was run by the Gang of Four, which consisted of four tyrannic politicians. The Gang of Four was especially cruel and disliked, and it wasn't until Mao died and the Gang of Four was arrested that the revolution ended.
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Jiang Ji Li's memoir. She is pictured as a child.
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Jiang Ji Li as an adult.
Jiang Ji Li was born on New Years Day of 1954, in Shanghai, China. Her parents chose her name with great thought. Ji meant lucky, and Li meant beautiful. Her parents chose her name well, for she was very lucky to have survived the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution began in 1966; Jiang Ji Li was twelve. It lasted ten years and only ended when Mao Zedong passed away and the Gang of Four was arrested. Coming from a "black" family, Jiang Ji Li suffered the worst of the revolution, enduring many attacks on her and her family. Her father was arrested on the false account of being a rightist and anticommunist, her mother was often sick, so Jiang Ji LI had to take care of herself and her two younger siblings. Jiang Ji Li had to make the decision of whether to stand by her "anticommunist" family, which would make her an anticommunist, or break away and have no association with them, which would give her a good reputation and not be so held back by her family. She chose to stand by her family, but, because of this, she suffered. Her relation to an anticommunist caused her to suffer more than the average child. However, through endurance and luck, Jiang Ji Li survived and immigrated to the United States where she found education and a career. She is still alive and well, and wrote a memoir on her experience of the revolution.
Disclaimer: This is a school sponsored project for a 9th Grade Honors English class. Information is based off of facts, but is not directly from anything in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. All writings are from us.