Little Red Guards
Little Red Guards | |
---|---|
Propaganda poster depicting Little Red Guards | |
The Little Red Guards (simplified Chinese: 红小兵; traditional Chinese: 紅小兵; pinyin: Hóng Xiǎobīng; lit. 'red little soldiers') [1] was a large student organization in primary schools during the Cultural Revolution in mainland China. It replaced the Young Pioneers and participated in political activities. [2]
History
In 1966, the Cultural Revolution began. In middle schools and universities, the Red Guards spread rapidly as a new student organization.
On February 4, 1967, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued the "Notice on the Proletarian Cultural Revolution in Primary Schools (Draft)",[3] proposing that primary schools are "an important front" in the Cultural Revolution, and confirmed that "primary school students can organize Little Red Guards" to replace the traditional Young Pioneers of China. On December 22, the Central Committee and the Central Cultural Revolution Committee approved an article on the establishment of the Little Red Guards organization at Xiangchang Road Primary School in Beijing. Soon after that, little red guards appeared all over the country and the Young Pioneers organization was officially replaced, and Xiangchang Road Primary School became the birthplace of Little Red Guards and a model for other sub-organizations. [4]
Little red guards from all over the country participated in activities such as "suspending classes to make revolution", criticizing teachers, and learning from Lei Feng. They often walked to school in lines, holding placards with Chairman Mao's quotations and singing revolutionary songs all the way. Due to their age limit, the impact of the Little Red Guards on society was far less than that of the Red Guards.[2]
Organization
The little red guard students in each grade of Xiangchang Road Primary School were organized into a (military) company, which was further divided into platoons (classes) and squads (groups in a class), and the entire school formed a Little Red Guard corps. The management group of the corps was composed of twelve representatives of the little red guards, who carried out activities under the leadership of the school's revolutionary committee. [4]
Logos
The logos of the Little Red Guards were not uniform at first. The more common one was a diamond-shaped arm-badge with the three characters of "红小兵 " (Little Red Guard) warn on the left upper arm. In some places, it was a red armband similar to the Red Guards logo, with "红小兵 " (Little Red Guard) written in yellow on it. Beginning in 1970, with the restoration of education order in primary and secondary schools across the country, the symbol of the Little Red Guards gradually changed back to the red scarf; school organizations no longer used the militarized titles of "company, platoon, and squad" but restored to "brigade, squadron and squad". [5]
Magazines
The Little Red Guards Magazine (红小兵报) was first launched in Shanghai on July 20, 1967 as a children’s weekly. Soon after that, more than a dozen of similar magazines appeared from other places, all called “Little Red Guard” or something similar. Written for primary school students, these magazines typically included rhymes, songs, news and current affairs, short stories with illustrations, comic strips, and drawings by children. When the Young Pioneers was restored in 1978, these “little red guard” magazines either ceased to exist or changed to other names. [2] [5] [6]
The end
On October 27, 1978, the "Resolution on Restoring the Name of the Chinese Young Pioneers" and the "Decision on the Song and the Constitution of the Chinese Young Pioneers" were passed at the first plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the 10th National Congress of the Communist Youth League of China, and the Little Red Guards organization was restored to the Young Pioneers of China. [7]
See also
- Young Pioneers of China
- Red Guards
- Cultural revolution
References
- ^ Wu Guangchuan (吴广川等) (1989). Young Pioneers Working Dictionary (少先队工作辞典) (in Chinese). Jilin People's Press (吉林人民出版社). p. 38.
- ^ a b c Cotsen Children’s Library (2012). "The Many Faces of Little Red Guards". Princeton University.
- ^ Notice on the Proletarian Cultural Revolution in Primary Schools (Draft) (中共中央关于小学无产阶级文化大革命的通知(草案)) (in Chinese) – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b Xiao Shanzi (肖善子) (8 March 2012). "Visit the birthplace of "Little Red Guards" (探访"红小兵"发源地)". 文摘报 (in Chinese).
- ^ a b Wenxuesimi (文学私秘) (27 March 2024). "《红小兵》杂志 (the Little Red Guards Magazines)" (in Chinese).
- ^ "Children's Magazines: From Young Pioneers To Little Red Guards". King's Digital Lab. 2019.
- ^ "the 10th National Congress of the Communist Youth League of China" (in Chinese).
- v
- t
- e
- Anti-Rightist Campaign
- Great Chinese Famine
- Great Leap Forward
- Lushan Conference
- Seven Thousand Cadres Conference
- Socialist Education Movement
- Down to the Countryside Movement
- Cleansing the Class Ranks
- 12-3 incident
- January Storm
- February Countercurrent
- Wuhan incident
- 9th Party Congress
- One Strike-Three Anti Campaign
- Project 571
- Lin Biao incident
- 10th Party Congress
- Black Painting incident
- Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius
- Hangzhou incident
- 1975 Banqiao Dam failure
- Counterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend
- 1976 Nanjing incident
- 1976 Tiananmen Incident
- Mao Zedong
- Liu Shaoqi
- Zhou Enlai
- Lin Biao
- Deng Xiaoping
- Gang of Four (Jiang Qing
- Zhang Chunqiao
- Yao Wenyuan
- Wang Hongwen)
- Peng Dehuai
- Wu Han
- Peng Zhen
- Tao Zhu
- Chen Boda
- Wang Dongxing
- Xie Fuzhi
- Ji Dengkui
- Wang Li
- Qi Benyu
- Wu Faxian
- Qiu Huizuo
- Yang Chengwu
- Chen Zaidao
- Kang Sheng
- Mao Yuanxin
- Hua Guofeng
- Ye Jianying
- Four Olds
- Newborn socialist things
- Struggle session
- Feudal fascism
- Big-character poster
- Cow demons and snake spirits
- Bloodline theory
- Continuous Revolution Theory
- Seizure of power
- Violent Struggle
- One Divides into Two
- Democracy Wall
- Eight model plays
- Loyalty dance
- Capitalist roader
- Yiku sitian
- Learn from Daqing in industry
- Learn from Dazhai in agriculture
- Stinking Old Ninth
- Five Black Categories
- Five Red Categories
- Red Guards
- Conservative Faction
- Little Red Guards
- Rebel Faction
- Scarlet Guards
- Ultra-Left Faction
- Xiaoyao Faction
- May Sixteenth elements
- Five Man Group
- Cultural Revolution Group
- Central Case Examination Group
- Central Organization and Propaganda Leading Group
- Hunan Provincial Proletarian Revolutionary Great Alliance Committee
- Revolutionary committee
- 8341 Special Regiment
- Sent-down youth
- 61 Renegades
- Barefoot doctor
- Worker-Peasant-Soldier student
- May Seventh Cadre School
- Xiang River Storm and Thunder
- Category