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Mao's 1968 Rustication Movement: The Sent-Down Youth

Mao's 1968 Rustication Movement: The Sent-Down Youth

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In 1968, Mao Zedong launched a radical experiment: millions of urban teenagers, the 'educated youth' or zhiqing, were sent to the countryside to be 're-educated' by peasants. This episode traces the movement's origins in the Yan'an era, its explosive scale during the Cultural Revolution, and its human cost. We follow the story of a young Beijing girl sent to Inner Mongolia, the brutal conditions she faced, and the lifelong bonds she formed. We also examine the political logic: Mao's fear of a new bureaucratic elite, the need to control restless Red Guards, and the movement's echoes in later Chinese policy. Featuring the voices of writer Liu Xinwu and the anonymous memoir of a sent-down youth in Yunnan, this is a close look at a policy that reshaped a generation. #MaoZedong #CulturalRevolution #RusticationMovement #Zhiqing #SentDownYouth #ShangshanXiaxiang #InnerMongolia #Yunnan #Beijing #RedGuards #LiuXinwu #EducatedYouth #ChinaHistory #20thCenturyChina #MaoEra #MassPolitics #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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