Rally In Tienanmen Square

    Chairman Mao Meets Followers

By: Isaac Huff

China’s Weekly

BEIJING- Chairman Mao Zedong met with many Red Guards and other followers yesterday August 18, 1966. Many Red Guards traveled for days to come and see Mao at the rally in Tienanmen Square.They came for two main reasons: first, to show respect for Mao and second to make revolutionary ties with other Red Guards. Many of the Red Guards treated Mao like a god. When they saw him they saluted him with the little red book, and many started to cry.

The Communist Party of China first took power after WWII when they defeated the Nationalists, Mao quickly took the reins of the party. Mao started the Cultural Revolution in May of 1966.  Mao believed the Communist party was reforming. So Mao started the Cultural Revolution to regain power in the Communist Party. Red Guards were made up by students in the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. The students would inforce Mao’s rules. Then they called themselves the Red Guards because red stood for pro-revolutionary. Chairman Mao then was portrayed as a god, and the religion of Mao is called Maoism.

Yang Wu is a high schooler from Tongzhou, China. His family consists of him, two brothers, two sisters and his mom. They all live in a three bedroom house, and they are a poor family. Yang is the oldest in his family and took control of his family after his father passed. He joined the Red Guards in his school three months ago  because he thought he could help his family by traveling and meeting people that could help his family. His group did not have to travel far to reach Beijing because Tongzhou is fairly close. This is what he had to say: “When I saw our beloved leader, I couldn't hold back my tears. My fellow Red Guards and I all saluted the Chairman with the little red book. It was so beautiful to see all of those people come and support the Chairman. When I get home I will tell my whole school this story, and I will come back with more revolutionary ties.”

Shi Lan was born in 1930 before the Communists were in power. She believes that the country is going to have a major downward spiral with Mao as leader. This was her opinion on the matter: “When I saw all of the young minds that are being brainwashed by Mao I was disgusted. I believe that other people should also should be able to help make decisions instead of one person because no human is perfect.Why should people that work hard and are good at their profession give up their hard earned money to everyone? Lastly, why should we destroy our culture? Culture is what makes up people. If you take away culture you take away pieces of a person.” We still do not know how the Cultural Revolution is going to affect our beloved country, but time will tell.

Editorial on Rally in Tienanmen Square

Great Mao Meets Loyal Followers

Red Guards flock from around the country to show support to our beloved leader, Chairman Mao. Thousand of Red Guards gather in Tienanmen Square on August 18,1996. The reason for the event was for Red Guards to show their support to Mao, and to make revolutionary ties. All the Red Guards saluted Mao with the little red book when they saw him. This is so great to see how everyone is trying to push our country into a better place.

All these other countries are letting the wealthy keep all the money, but Mao is changing that. He is giving the land and money to peasants so that everyone will be equal. That is a great thing for our country because everyone will have the same opportunities as everyone else. Chairman Mao is also making our country into a refreshed country. Why have items from the past? We should have new items and new ideas. And that is exactly what Mao is doing. Lastly it is amazing to see a sea of Red Guards come from all over the country to show respect to our great leader. It shows that we are willing to take revolutionary actions into our hands. Red Guards are key in our advancement to New China, without them no one would be able to enforce Mao’s rules. That is why this rally was such a good idea.

Although Mao may destroy peoples possessions and take away peoples land. He is only doing it to help us. Yes many people will have items taken away from them but those items go to people who haven’t had anything of their own. That is going to be hard for those people who have always had luxury items. When we take things away there is a purpose. The purpose is that everyone is eventually going to be equal, and we can then advance into a new country.
Mao and Red Guards should have rallies often to encourage revolutionary action. It would show how important it is to make revolutionary ties and how blessed we are to have Chairman Mao as our leader. It would also help our country reach New China at a faster rate. That is why the rally is such a good thing for our country.

Map of China

This is a map of current day China. The map did not change from the Cultural Revolution to 2013. China borders fifteen different countries. The longest bordered country is Mongolia, it borders 4677 kilometers. China also borders the Pacific Ocean to it’s east. The Brahmaputra River creates a border with Myanmar. The Qing dynasty covered much more land than current day China. In the Qing dynasty Mongolia and a tiny piece of Russia and Bangladesh were part of the country. The Qing dynasty changed capitals once. The first capital was Shengjing. The second was Peking. The capital during the Cultural Revolution was Beijing. Mao met thousands of Red Guards in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Mao started the Cultural revolution in Beijing. The Communist party first Congress was in Shanghai. That is the change China has done through the years.

My Interview with Mao

Interview with Chairman Mao

Q. Chairman Mao you emphasize the importance of the working class. What in your past installed this impression?
A.  I was born in 1893 into a small village in the Hunan Province. My father was a grain father. He was fairly wealthy but we still had to work to make money and provide food. I started to help my father when I was just six years old. I started school when I was eight years old. But I still had to work at dawn and when I finished school in the evenings. I did the accounts for my family since my father only went to school for two years. So have been in the working class I recognized how tiring life is, and not a lot of people realize how hard life can be.That is why I think we should help the working class.

Q. What other education did you have after primary school?
A.  I finished my elementary school learning in Changsha. I then attended a Teacher Training College after I left the Republican army. I graduated at the First Provincial Normal School. That was what my education was and I must thank all my teachers that taught me what I know today.

Q. What steps did you take to become the Leader of China?
A. I was an early member of the Communist Party of China. I quickly climbed to the top of the Party. We the Communist  Party made an alliance with the Nationalist Party. The Nationalist broke our alliance and we began a civil war. The Communist eventually won and the Nationalist left for Taiwan. The Communist Party was now in control of China with me as it’s leader.

Q. Why do you believe people follow you?
A. I believe there are two main reasons believe in me so much. The first being that I am helping so many people. China is has so many poor farmers that are treated with no respect. And I am changing that now all the workers have dignity in the fact that they are workers and that they don’t live an extravagant life. Secondly is that people want to move into a new era. They have had enough of the past. People want to have new ideas instead of doing the same thing for their entire lives. I am trying my hardest to push our country into that new era with the Cultural Revolution.

Q. Thank you so much for your time, but I have one question for you. How are you holding up as you get older?
A.  It is 1974 and I have been very sick. Lately my health has been getting worse. They think I have ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. My lung infection has also been getting worse. All I can do is have a positive attitude and try my best to stay in there. Hey I won a Civil War, became a leader of China and started the Cultural Revolution. I think I’ll make it through this.

Maoism In China

Maoism

Maoism is the following of Mao Zedong. Maoism formed during the 1950s and 60s. The belief system of Maoism was spread out through the military and the Communist Party. The Cultural Revolution was based on the ideas of Maoism.

The ideas of Maoism are based off of the working class. In Maoism they treat workers that have less materialistic items of more value than wealthy people. If you were wealthy Maoist believed you should give up most of your luxury items. You should also start to work manually. The most praised workers were farmers. Farmers were considered the most valued people in Maoism because they were usually the hardest workers and the least wealthy.

Maoism was installed into peoples head in many different ways. Propaganda was everywhere during the Cultural Revolution. It was in art, literature, television, newspapers and the government's sayings. In the propaganda it would always make Revolutionaries or Maoist better than the counterrevolutionaries. The Maoist would always be larger and more physically physique. Politicians would have many people gathered before a speech hoping that people that were against the revolution would follow the others and become a revolutionaries. In movies the revolutionaries would always be the hero while the counterrevolutionaries would be the enemy in the movie. That is how propaganda changed daily life. People also changed their daily life when the little red book was published. It contained Mao’s sayings. People would salute Chairman Mao with a chat everyday. People would also carry around the book everywhere they would go. Some people went to the extreme and memorized the entire book. This is one of the quotes from the book: “Without the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party, without the Chinese Communists as the mainstay of the Chinese people, China can never achieve independence and liberation, or industrialization and the modernization of her agriculture.” This is what people believed because it was coming from who they believe the most, Chairman Mao. That is what Maoism was and how it affected daily life.

Daily Life of Xi Chang

Dear Grandma,

Today I woke up at five o’clock this morning to go help father with the rice crops. It is the double rush so that means we have to harvest the rice and plant new crops. This is the most difficult time of the year. Good thing their is a good amount of children that came to do honest work as Chairman Mao said you should do. I did the two rows before it was time to go to school in the center of the village. We did our usual routine. We start the day of with the same chat to Chairman Mao (one of the students forgot his red book and was sent home immediately). Then we learn about the Communist party and Chairman Mao. Today I learned that they were doing raids on people that have bourgeois lifestyles. The Red Guards would go into their houses and take anything that was considered Four Olds. I am so thankful that Chairman Mao is our leader instead of some Capitalist that just think about the wealthy. Mao has helped our village so much. Without him I couldn’t be going to school because I would have to help father. He has also gave more land to our village so we can grow more crops. After school I went home mom had made a stew out of a goose father bought from the butcher that lives five house down. It was very good and one of my favorite meals. I then continued to help father in the fields until it was too dark.
         Our house was very simple. It had no electricity but we did have a well with a pump in our back yard. Our house was made out cement. Our roof is made out of straw, it has some leaks but it isn’t bad at all. We slept on straw that was bound with string and then draped with a fabric. That is my daily life.

Love- Xi Chang      P.S I left you a picture of our house to the back of the paper

 

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