Armed struggle (Wu Dou): A denouncement with physical attacks.
Baba: Father.
Counterrevolutionary: A person who performs a political activity in opposition to an earlier revolution or who is against a revolution.
Destroy the Four Olds (Po Si Jiu): A search of homes to confiscate and destroy anything that is traditionally of rich class, including fine arts, clothes, furniture, and books of no revolutionary content.
Dog leg (Gou Tui Zi): A person who works for someone with power.
Down with (Da Dao): To denounce, criticize, and overthrow.
Gege: Older brother.
The Great Networking (Da Chuan Lian): In August 1966 the Red Guards around China began a period of revolutionary networking (Chuan Lian). Millions of Red Guards flooded Beijing by train and bus, some even on foot. From August to November 1966, Mao inspected thirteen million Red Guards at Tiananmen Square and encouraged them to carry on the Cultural Revolution.
Jin: A Chinese weight unit. One jin equals 1.1 pounds, or 0.5 kilogram.
Literal struggle (Wen Dou): Denouncement by criticizing verbally.
Little Red Book (Xiao Hong Ben): A small book of Mao’s quotations with a red cover. During the Cultural Revolution people were encouraged to carry copies of the Little Red Book whenever they could and wherever they were. The quotations became the standard by which all revolutionary efforts and even daily life were judged.
Liu, Shao-Qi: Born in 1898. In 1959 Liu replaced Mao as state chairman and was considered to be the successor to Mao until the Cultural Revolution began. In 1966 Liu became one of the major targets of struggle during the Cultural Revolution. In October 1968, Liu was officially denounced and expelled from all of his positions. He died in a prison in 1969.
Mama: Mother.
Mao, Ze-Dong/Chairman Mao: Born in 1893. In 1931 Mao became the chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic. In 1949 he proclaimed the Chinese People’s Republic and became the Chairman of China. In 1959 Mao was replaced by Liu, Shao-Qi as the state chairman but retained his chairmanship of the Party politburo. In 1966 Mao launched the Cultural Revolution and reasserted his leadership. In 1976 Mao died at age 83.
May Seventh Cadre School (Wu Qi Gan Xiao): Farms set up in 1968 in accordance with Mao’s directive released on May 7, 1966. In the directive Mao suggested setting up farms where cadres and intellectuals would be “sent down” from the cities to labor in the fields and receive ideological reeducation.
Meimei: Younger sister.
Model plays (Yang Ban Xi): During the early to mid 1960s Mao’s third wife, Jiang Qing, developed “eight model plays” in the format of Chinese opera and western ballet, all with contemporary and revolutionary themes. These model plays were made into movies. During the Cultural Revolution these movies were the only ones watched around the country, and the plays were the only performances seen in theaters.
Qing Ming: “Clear brightness”; Chinese memorial day festival.
Red Guards (Hong Wei Bing): At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution a group of middle and high school students in Beijing named themselves “Chairman Mao’s Red Guards” and followed Mao’s call to “rebel against the system.” Mao’s support of these students encouraged the name “Red Guard” to be adopted by groups of young people, mostly in their teens, all over China. Vowing to protect Chairman Mao and his revolutionary line, the Red Guards ruthlessly attacked “bourgeois” intellectuals, “bureaucrats,” and “capitalist roaders,” and some eventually turned against each other with armed fights, resulting in the loss of lives and great destruction of the society.
Rightist (You Pai): During the Anti-Rightist Movement, from 1957 to the early 1960s, tens of thousands of people were labeled as rightist. Most of the accused were intellectuals. Some of them were sent to “reeducation through labor,” some were imprisoned, and some were executed.
Stinky Old Nines (Chou Lao Jiu): In the Cultural Revolution intellectuals were ranked ninth on the list of class enemies—which also included landlords, rich farmers, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists.
Struggle meeting (Pi Dou Hui): A meeting held to denounce and criticize people, during which the denounced were humiliated and often physically attacked.
Taitai: Great-grandmother.
Waipo: Grandmother—mother’s side only.
Waigong: Grandfather—mother’s side only.
Yeye: Grandfather.
Yuan: A Chinese monetary unit. One yuan equals about one eighth of a dollar.