Newly Born

            When the People’s Socialist Republic of China was born, Chairman Mao became the new god of China. Some people trusted Mao’s every word and believed that he was absolutely right during his time as chairman from 1967 to 1976, the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. At that time, each of Mao’s followers had a little Red Book and sang about Mao’s personality every day. They did not work, and only walked around to look for the people who were different from them and resisted them. Those people who had little red books built a community group in order to find and prosecute people who were rich, religious and knew the world more than them. The group of people were called the Red Guards. They destroyed a lot of buildings and temples and persecuted a lot of people during the Cultural Revolution. Thus, the Cultural Revolution changed a lot of people’s life and their family’s destiny and also changed the destiny of country. My grandfather was one of the people whose life was changed at that time. The Cultural Revolution split his family and changed not only his life but also his family. 

            The Cultural Revolution made my grandfather’s family poorer and made it harder to get support. My great-grandfather used to be a rich man. He was a landlord who owned a lot of land and rented out them to formers in the village when he was young, but because of the Cultural Revolution, the government took all of the land from him. They denounced him unreasonably, asked him to work in a group but did not give him enough supplies to support his family. During the Cultural Revolution, everyone had to work together as village group and got an equal amount of food and clothes. Otherwise, the people would be blamed. The Red Guards arrested them and punished them by parading through the streets with phrases like laziness, capitalism and old society. In this case, my great grandfather worked hard to get support, but regardless of how hard he worked, he could only get ration supplies which were not enough for the family. As a result, everybody in the family went to work, and they had to work to avoid being caught by the Little Red Book group. However, because of the equal distribution policy in the Cultural Revolution, the family was still poor and stressed even though my grandfather and his father worked hard.

            At the same time, my grandfather lost his mother because of the Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution. My great grandmother was a Buddhist. However, people who had a little red book worked against every religion, except Mao, in the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, chairman Mao ‘s personality became a new belief, so those people who believed him destroyed all temples and hurt people who believed differently. My great grandmother was one of the people found in the temples, so she was forced to wear tattered clothes and a wood board that said Break Buddhism, Make A New World,every day. Mao’s loyal cults also asked her to do hard and difficult work without food. They injured her physically and mentally. It was hard for her to afford the cruel punishment, so she died two months later. Consequently, my grandfather and his brother lost their mother, so they could only live with the broken family and took care the family by themselves.

            Moreover, my grandfather was blamed and sent to a poorer village to work and rebuild. The Cultural Revolution was also against higher education and closed colleges and universities. In the meanwhile, the government sent college students and professors to remote villages to be remolded and rebuilt. Teachers and students who were sent to the faraway villages had to wear as simple clothing as they could, work as hard as they could without setting paid.  They couldn’t show their knowledge or abilities at all, so my grandfather could only work and hide his knowledge. He stopped reading books, learning the new world and meeting friends. He also kept quiet in the community and tried to make himself disappear from people’s eyes, especially the Red Guards. Eventually, my grandfather got used to hiding himself, so he lost his desire to learn after the college entrance exam was resumed, and the Cultural Revolution stopped. 

            The Cultural Revolution seized my great-grandfather’s land, took away my great- grandmother’s life, stopped my grandfather’s education and made the family live in poverty. It changed my grandfather’s destiny, his family’s destiny, and also the country’s destiny. In fact, few leaders realized that it harmed the country and hurt people badly, so Premier Zhou Enlai led people against the Cultural Revolution, and he finally succeed in 1976. When the tenth central committee of the community party of china approved to reverse the damage of the Cultural Revolution, the Cultural Revolution finally came to the end. Now, since my great grandfather and my grandfather went to meet my great grandmother, the influence of the Cultural Revolution has passed away, and my family has been better and better because of my father and his brothers’ hard work.