Chinese Cultural Revolution, which was started by Mao Tse-tung in 1966 and did not conclude until after his death in 1976, is referred to officially by the current government of China as haojie; as GAO Mobo notes that "haojie is ambiguous because it can be a modern term for 'holocaust' or a traditional term to mean 'great calamity' or 'catastrophe'." (Gao 15). To some extent, those who lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution, such as my grandparents, are uncomfortable with discussion of the effects. As a small child, I had often wondered what happened in China in the 1960s and 1970s that my grandparents refused to discuss it, or discuss their lives before emigration, first to Taiwan, then to America. But this was just one of the peculiarities of my "F.O.B." ("Fresh Off the Boat") grandparents, to use a term that sometimes recurs in Chinese-American conversations -- for example, they were also scared of the medical field, and scared of working in it. So even though they emphasized the greater availability of education in America, when my older cousin first enrolled in medical school, my grandparents did not live up to the "Tiger Mother" stereotype of pride over such an achievement -- they instead seemed panicky. What I learned I would eventually learn from my parents, who still spoke carefully and in the most guarded of terms, but demonstrates the way in which a large-scale historical event like Mao's Cultural Revolution could affect the lives of ordinary people. My grandparents had been young party functionaries in 1966, newly moved to Beijing from Zhongdian, and thus were more likely to be on the side of Mao's reforms than on the side of the entrenched elites. But did they then take part in abuses during that period? The customary view of the Chinese...
For my grandparents, the chief effect was personal and familial -- the effects of Mao Tse-tung's personality could literally be felt within the Cultural Revolution at large, but also within the confines of my grandparents' small Beijing apartment in the years before emigration. My grandparents were part of a generation which felt that the Cultural Revolution was a good idea, and responded enthusiastically. Turning to the Cambridge History of China for this time period, Whyte's article on urban life in the People's Republic of China notes a shift in this time period, among precisely the new urbanites in this period like my grandparents:
In the course of the Cultural Revolution, the communist leader Mao Zedong proclaimed particular cultural requirements for both art and writings in China. This was a period that was filled with violence and harsh realisms for the people within the society. Authors such as Bei Dao, Gu Cheng and Yu Hua can be considered to be misty poets, whose works endeavored to shift from an inactive response to active formation.
Spider Eaters Rae Yang's Outlook on the Chinese Revolution Living under a Communist ruler is not a lifestyle that many in the western world are accustomed. Life is much different from the freedoms many in the western world are used to living with. Imagine a friend or family member accustomed to in a life of oppression. In the 1960s Americans were living in a prosperous time. That time period is when many
Autographic style book by Dr. Li Zhisui ( the private life of chairman mao pp433-546), and the short stories by Chen Jo-hsi, and the movie The Blue Kites, are all about these authors' and director's experiences of the tumultuous year of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. In what way do you think their works (book and movie) are valuable as historical documents? The Communist Revolution in China was fighting against
Examining Cultural Influences of Behavioral Nutrition: The Traditional and Nutritional Values of the Chinese Cultural Diet It is a general belief that adequate nutrition equals healthy living. From time immemorial, human beings have understandably placed a premium on diets. Rightly so as lives have been saved or lost through food. However, while nutrients will always be a significant factor which decides what people eat or do not eat, there are other
Chinese Film The Evolution of the Chinese Film Industry Contemporary Chinese Film Poster (Chinese Films) For literally thousands of years, the Culture of China has inspired people and been a source of awe and excitement for people all over the world. The Chinese culture is rather unique and elegant with elements that are not commonly found in other cultures. Part of the cultures attraction is undoubtedly because it is one of the oldest
This rationale may prove correct to some degree, but only in those areas where the villagers have no means of communication between villages and thus no way of exchanging opinions and finding out about irregularities and breaking of the law. Kolhammer is pointing out that the declared official role of the organic law of Village Committees is only going to be put in practice after the villagers will be
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