East Is Red Film Analysis

¨used as source of inspiration and guidance for members of the Red Guard¨(Document A). This was used to inspire them, to let them know that these are the people who will ¨run¨ the ecommany but also to learn the Mao’s idealism so when they get older their children will learn it and act upon it. We can see this when Mao’s speech when he says , “ You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life,.... China’s future belongs to you”(Document A).

The setting is in Muji, China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The leader of the communist party at the time is Chairman Mao and ruled based on a Marxist model by the story mentioning the concrete statue of him in the center of the square. The author states that “the Cultural Revolution was over already, and recently the Party has been propagating the idea that all citizens were

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).

In the excerpt from Mao's Little Red Book, we can understand that he used these sayings to gain more supporters during the Cultural Revolution. This is because, he says things that praise the youth, and make them want to join the Red Guard. For example, he says, "The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you." This quote demonstrates that Mao is placing his hope on the children. This makes the children feel that they have the power and control what goes on. Not only does Mao make them feel like they have all the power in the world, but he also makes them feel special about themselves. Likewise, when he says the children are the bloom of life, Mao wants to gain their support by making them feel good about themselves. What child would

The Cultural Revolution was a time of much confusion in china. The memoir Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang illustrates the chaos of that time. Ji-li’s experiences during this time period led to her point of view changing. Ji-li starts the Cultural Revolution full of progressive thoughts, but this quickly turns to confusion, and leads to an important choice, something that impacts the rest of her life.

According to the Online Dictionary, the “Chinese Cultural Revolution” is defined as “a movement in China, beginning in the year 1966 and led by Mao Zedong, to restore the vitality of communism in China.” To begin, the Chinese Cultural Revolution performed a significant role in establishing the setting and conflicts in the novel of “Red Scarf Girl”. The setting of the story took place in the city of Shanghai, specifically throughout the course of two and a half years from the year 1966 to 1969. The protagonist and narrator of the story, Ji Li Jiang, was a 12-year-old Chinese girl who lived as a wealthy resident in the brownstone apartments of Shanghai. As the story progressed, Ji Li developed alterations in her relationships with her peers at school, the perception of her goals and responsibilities in life, and knowledge of her family history in relation to her class-status in the community. Therefore, throughout the course of the story, it was evident that significant changes and development of the relationships, perceptions, and knowledge of Ji Li Jiang occurred as a result of the events that she experienced.

“As one of the Red Guards in the middle school, I was given power through Mao to torture and humiliate our teachers, headmaster or anyone we didn’t like. I didn’t know it was wrong. I thought I was doing the right thing to continue the revolution, to fight and win the class struggle”- Zhao, Lin Qing. As a teenager Zhao was a Red Guard in Guangzhou during the Cultural Revolution. When asked what her impression was a member of the Red Guards, Zhao answered with two words: “naïve and senseless”. She refused answering anything more about her experience. She said, “The memories are still too painful to recall.”

Even with her previous experiences at Beijing University and at Big Joy Farm, Wong still held some belief that the Chinese system wasn’t as bad as it was sometimes made out to be. This event proved to her that it was. “The enormity of the massacre hit home…Although it had been years since I was a Maoist, I still had harbored some small hope for China. Now even that was gone” (259). As a reporter Wong was able to view the progression of the protests in leading up to the massacre, and in viewing it understood that the Chinese people were much more independent than they had previously demonstrated over the past 50 years. She had continuously seen the Chinese people following what they were told between learning in school or with physical labor, yet this protest was one of the first large scale displays of the unacceptance of the regime by the people, and the government did not know what to do with it. But because of this, Wong was able to recognize that the people were not reliant on this way of life that they had previously been bound to, but truly could lead for themselves and take control. The massacre awakened Wong both to the reality that the government was not acting to benefit the people, and that the people were more than capable of acting for

The launch of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966 was due to a culmination of political and ideological struggles that had divided the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the end of the Great Leap Forward. As said by Che Guevara, “A revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall”. Che Guevara’s statement is accurate to an extent in relation to the causes of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Although China was vulnerable during the twentieth century and Mao Tse-Tung, Chairman of the CCP, took control of this susceptibility, the Chinese Cultural Revolution was already ‘ripe’, someone just had to provoke it to ‘fall’. The Chinese Cultural Revolution can be considered a power struggle between Mao and his rivals. Mao needed to regain the control that he had lost after the failure of ‘The Great Leap Forward’ and the Chinese Cultural Revolution was a means for him to do so. Mao genuinely believed in an equal society and went about this belief in a very severe manner. Che Guevara’s statement is not entirely accurate as the Chinese Cultural Revolution was just part of a progression that was taking place and although Mao provoked it to fall, China was ultimately ripe for a revolution.

In Jan Wong’s entrancing expose Red China Blues, she details her plight to take part in a system of “harmony and perfection” (12) that was Maoist China. Wong discloses her trials and tribulations over a course of three decades that sees her searching for her roots and her transformation of ideologies that span over two distinctive forms of Communist governments. This tale is so enticing in due part to the events the author encountered that radically changed her very existence and more importantly, her personal quest for self-discovery.

The begins of Mao’s Cultural Revolution begins with the Hundred Flowers Campaign which took place during 1956-1957, the government embarks on this campaign with the hope that the tension between government and scholars can end, but this approach does not work and backfires. The next event which takes place in the Anti-Rights Campaign (1957-1958), this campaign disciplines those who spoke out during the Hundred flowers Campaign, a significant amount of people lots many jobs due to this and are sent away by government. This leads into the Great Leap Forward (1958-1959), this just happens to be one of Mao’s more intense programs of economic reform, in this program Mao’s main attempt was to modernize China’s economy, the consequence of this resulted in Mao’s having a temporary loss of power. He believed that all he needed to develop was agriculture and industry and believed that both

The Frontline film Separate and Unequal discussed about creating a new school system; however, there are opposition by others who wants to maintain the current school system. If we look at the perspectives of the two groups, it is understandable in why there is support and opposition from the people of the city. The supporters of the new system wants a system that can provide better opportunities for their children without any violence. As the film claimed “the school was not teaching and were only babysitting the children”, which was likely a reason why there was a need for a new school system. With the chaotic and uncontrollable situation in the current system, many supporters have push forward the idea of a new system in a new city. From

In the 20th century, Mao Zedong was the primary leader of The People’s Republic of China and chairman of communist party. His goals were to create all people were equal and deserved equal rights and opportunity by following his rule to make China become a better future. He had launched chaos in the country a program such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. In 1958, the Great Leap Forward was launched to improve the changes of China’s economy from an agricultural to industrial society but was led to a terrible famine that caused million of people starved to die. From the failure that Mao had caused, he lost his control power until 1966 started in the Cultural Revolution with the help of the students formed the Red Guard to assist Mao to remove counter-revolutionary and restore capitalism. Most people were in suffered, imprisoned, executive and tortured that led to the chaos of moments in China. Both films To Live and The Blue Kite are depicted the struggles and hardships from the family encounters in the chaotic country that life must go on; however, To Live emphasizes family’s struggle to live in a normal life while The Blue Kite demonstrate to avoid living in poverty for hope and protection.

Mao’s Cultural Revolution was an attempt to create a new culture for China. Through education reforms and readjustments, Mao hoped to create a new generation of Chinese people - a generation of mindless Communists. By eliminating intellectuals via the Down to the Countryside movement, Mao hoped to eliminate elements of traditional Chinese culture and create a new form Chinese culture. He knew that dumbing down the masses would give him more power so his regime would be more stable. This dramatic reform affected youth especially as they were targeted by Mao’s propaganda and influence. Drawing from his experiences as an Educated Youth who was sent down to the countryside Down to the Countryside movement, Ah Cheng wrote The King of

In the speech, Mao emphasized three major concepts: 1. Different from any other socialism revolution happened before, Chinese revolution was in form of both capitalism and socialism ideology. The revolution was initiated by elite class, representing capitalism, but promoted and developed by workers and peasants, representing communism. Mao focus discussing about it in the fifth part of speech, by directly indicating “Therefore, the proletariat, the peasantry, the intelligentsia and the other sections of the petty bourgeoisie undoubtedly constitute the basic forces determining China 's fate”. (Page 10, Mao) 2. The Chinese revolution can be broke into two parts, and these two parts must be completed step by step. Mao argued only after China finished the new democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism it could start the socialism revolution. Mao also had a famous quote describing the revolution process: “We should clean up dirt in our living room before welcoming the guest”, in which dirt symbolizes semi-colonial status from Qing dynasty and guest symbolizes the bright future for China. 3. New-democratic China should be rebuilt both politically and economically. Mao brought out his argument in fifth and sixth part of the speech, and demonstrated in the following