Red guards arrest Nien Cheng!

                                            

                               Li Huang / Emmanuel Torres
                                                               Shanghai daily
                                                              September, 4 1966

Shanghai-  Red Guards arrest Nien Cheng, widow of Kang-chi Cheng, for being a British spy and spying on the Communist party. Nien Cheng and her husband were graduates of the London School of Economics ,which made the Red Guards suspicious.Nien Cheng was arrested in Shanghai September, 4 1966.

Nien Cheng attended the London school of Economics in 1935 where she met her husband Kang-chi Cheng. They graduated together then returned back to China around 1940. Nien Cheng’s husband joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs then was sent to Australia to make an embassy. after that they were sent to the Shanghai Embassy until the Communist ‘took power. Kang-chi Cheng became the manager of Shell oil company. In 1951 Kang died of cancer which left Nien a widow.  During the cultural revolution Red Guards came to search her house which is when she was arrested.

Liu Lang, neighbor of Nien Cheng says: “Its about time she got arrested! She should of been arrested long ago for being a black class and a wealthy widow. since her husband died she has been gathering information on the revolution and the Red Guards to report to the British! I wouldn't be surprised if she had been spying on me to!”

Sung Yu friend to Nien Cheng says: “ Nien Cheng should not have been arrested she did not do anything wrong, she is not a British spy! Just because she went to school there doesn’t mean she is a spy, Its been hard enough on Nien after her husband died! The Red Guards are taking advantage of Nien because she is a widow and defenseless, they just hate her because she is from a black class!” This story is about Nien Cheng who got arrested for being accused of spying on communist and being a British spy.

Editorial

Nien Cheng, widow of Kang-chi Cheng has been arrested for spying on the Communist party for information on the cultural revolution to report to the British people.The Red Guards claimed that she was a British spy. Red Guards came up with this idea because they got suspicious that Nien was a British spy because she attended school in Britain. Red Guards searched Nien’s house then came back a month later and arrested her. Nien Cheng  is a traitor and a spy and deserves to go to go to prison.

Nien Cheng should be arrested for giving out information to Britain about the Cultural Revolution, and being a spy. If the Red Guards don’t put Nien in prison she will continue to spy and give out information. If Britain finds out what Mao is doing the British army will come and rebel against us because they will think that Mao is doing something wrong. Mao Zedong says that progress is born through destruction, so Mao is not doing something wrong. Therefore the Red Guards should get rid of Nien Cheng so this won’t happen, and effect the growth of a new China.   

Although arresting Nien Cheng might seem that the Red Guards were showing criticism and jealousy towards a widow with so much stuff and being an educated woman,and not for really being a spy, it is the law. Even though if the Red Guards did have some jealous feelings of Nien and arrested her over a made up reason which is not true, she still had to go. Nien Cheng was part of a black family, and had a whole house filled with four olds. So she could of been arrested for disobeying the law also.  

Nien Cheng should be arrested because she is a British spy , and has too many four olds in her house, and for violating the laws of chairman Mao. Also for getting in the way of the growth of new modern China.

Map

      The Qing dynasty (1664-1911) compared to China during the Cultural Revolution is much bigger. Qing dynasty (shaded green) takes up China, Mongolia and Taiwan, which China during the Cultural Revolution does not it just takes up china. In the Qing dynasty the important geographic features that it covered were the Altai mountains, Gobi desert, Huang R., and Yantze R. China during the Cultural Revolution compared to modern china is still the same, their were not many changes in the borders, still the same. The geographic features in China during the Cultural Revolution were the Huang and Yangtze rivers, Tien shan mts., and Kunlun mts. One important location of Mao Zedong’s life in China are Shaoshan in Hunan province where Mao was born. One Important location important to the communist party was Beijing where Mao lived at the time of the Cultural Revolution.

Interview with Jiang Qing

                                 Interview with Jiang Qing Chairman Mao's wife

Q 1. What did you think of the Cultural Revolution idea?
A 1. I thought it was a great idea, because after the failure of the Great Leap Forward we realized we had to get rid of the old ways to have a unified modern China. Since I was a leader in the Chinese Communist Party I always wanted to do something like this, and now I have the opportunity. I supported my husband with that idea.

Q 2. How do you feel about the way the Red Guards get rid of the Four Olds?
A 2. The way the Red Guards get rid of the Four Olds is fine with me, because the black class should be punished for having these Four Olds. I agree with the way they do it of destroying the items, confiscating them or punishing the people themselves. If the Red Guards don’t act the way they act and take care of these things how will we become modern China?

Q 3. Do you feel that people should be practicing Maoism?
A 3. I feel that it is alright to be a follower of Mao and believe in his teachings and agree in the Cultural Revolution, but i don’t think people should practice it as a religion. I believe that religion is part of the Four Olds that we are trying to get rid of so I think people could just follow but not think of by husband of a godly figure.

Q 4. do you agree with your husband for the reasons of writing “ The Little Red Book” ?
A 4. Yes, I do agree with  my husband for the reasons of writing that book, because it can teach people daily of how they should live their lives to turn China modern. If the people in China do not have a source to rely on to teach them of Mao’s teachings it would take such a long time of turning around China. The Little Red Book has a lot of quotes and Information on the Cultural Revolution, and it could teach people how to  understand it better and why bad things have to happen.

Q 5. Do you feel that the Cultural Revolution is going to work out?
A 5. I do feel that the Cultural Revolution is going to work out and come out to be a unified modern China. There is some chaos going around this time with a bunch of killings and punishments, but progress is born through destruction so I do believe that it is all going to work out.

Spending a day with the Huang family

    Today I am visiting the Huang family in Shanghai,China. They are a black class family living in an apartment building in the neighborhood alleys. This means that their life was a struggle because they had a bad class status. The Huang family used to have their own business, they owned a grocery store named “ The Huang good fortune”. Now they have no business because the red guards destroyed their market saying it was “Four Olds”. They praised Mao Zedong once a day. For fun we went to the park and had picnics some times, the government had a lot of rules because it was during the Cultural Revolution, and they had a bad status so we barely went out of the house.  
    In the beginning of the day we ate breakfast we had mostly steamed buns and coffee, after that we would read some quotes from Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book, and sing some chants praising him. Then the kids and I would go to school. School was very tough on them, other kids and Red Successors made fun of and harassed because of they are from a black family.
    In the middle of the day the children and I left school and went home. when we got home the kids taught me how to knit and sew. Their uncles and aunts would come over and have lunch. We ate egg sandwiches, and during lunch the adults would talk about their struggles at home and in public, such as being talked about and being searched by the Red Guards.

In the end of the day we had dinner, there was some more steamed buns and rice, and more relatives came over talking about struggles and politics. After we ate we got ready for bed, then try to go to sleep but you couldn't. their were so many noises on the streets of the Red Guards searching houses,and also the worrying feeling of  your house getting searched next.

Maoism

    During The Cultural Revolution the major religion that was practiced was Maoism. Maoism was Mao Zedong’s basic thought. He believed that progress is born in chaos, and originality comes from destruction, so Mao thought he had to destroy the Four Olds in order to have modern China. People such as followers of chairman Mao  who practice Maoism are called Maoists. The text that was used in Maoism was Mao Zedong’s “ Little Red Book” that was full of quotes. One of the Important quotes in the book were about the communists which states, “ A communist must be selfless, with the interests of the masses at heart. He must also possess a largeness of mind, as well as a practical, far-sighted mindset.”(28q18.) In this quote Mao states how a communist should act.

Maoism during the cultural revolution was very important during the daily lives of people. They would wake up in the morning and read quotes from Mao and sing chants and songs adoring him. During that time in China it was normal to dedicate a part in your day for Mao and read his teachings or learn about them.

Little Red Book

During the Cultural Revolution the type of literature that was around was Mao Zedong’s precious little red book. Mao Zedong was the author of this book that had over than 200 quotes in it about the cultural revolution. Here is one of his quotes, “ 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.” What this means is that, without the Chinese Communists Party china can’t become modern and be free out of its old customs. This quote is one of the important quotes out of Mao’s book because it explains why China needs the Chinese Communist Party. During the C.R The Little Red book was used to learn about Mao Zedong's teachings and how to be more of a better Maoist. Also learn how to get rid of the Four Olds and live a better life.