Four Olds

The term "Four Olds" first appeared on 1 June 1966, in Chen Boda's People's Daily editorial, "Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits", where the Old Things were described as anti-proletarian, "fostered by the exploiting classes, [and to] have poisoned the minds of the people for thousands of years".{{Cite book|title=A Glossary of Political Terms of The People's Republic of China|first=Gucheng|last=Li|publisher=Chinese University Press|page=427}} However, which customs, cultures, habits, and ideas specifically constituted the "Four Olds" were never clearly defined.

On 8 August, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party used the term at its 8th National Congress. The term was endorsed on 18 August by Lin Biao at a mass rally, and from there it spread to Red Flag magazine, as well as to Red Guard publications.{{Cite book |last=Lu |first=Xing |title=Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture, and Communication |date=2004 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |pages=61–62 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv10tq3n6 |jstor=j.ctv10tq3n6|isbn=978-1-64336-147-5 }}

Calls to destroy the "Four Olds" usually did not appear in isolation, but were contrasted with the hope of building the "Four News" (new customs, new culture, new habits, new ideas). Newborn socialist things were said to struggle against the Four Olds.{{Cite book |last=Coderre |first=Laurence |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1250021710 |title=Newborn socialist things : materiality in Maoist China |date=2021 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-1-4780-2161-2 |location=Durham |pages=2 |oclc=1250021710}} The idea that Chinese culture was responsible for China's economic backwardness and needed to be reformed had some precedent in the May Fourth Movement (1919), and was also encouraged by colonial authorities during the Second Sino-Japanese War.{{Cite book|title=The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/battleforchinasp00gaom|url-access=limited|first=Mobo|last=Gao|publisher=Pluto Press|year=2008|pages=[https://archive.org/details/battleforchinasp00gaom/page/n33 21]–22}}

{{see also|Red August|Five Black Categories}}

The campaign to Destroy the Four Olds and Cultivate the Four News ({{zh|s=破四旧立四新|p=Pò Sìjiù Lì Sìxīn|links=no}}) began in Beijing on 19 August during the "Red August".{{Cite web |last=Kraus |first=Richard Curt |date=January 2012 |title=The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/1001/chapter-abstract/137851431?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2023-06-22 |website=Oxford Academic}} Academic Alessandro Russo writes that the destruction of the Four Olds was an ambiguous campaign from the perspective of the Chinese Communist Party. He argues that in a time of increasing political pluralization, the Party sought to channel student activism towards obvious class enemies and less relevant objectives to make it easier for the Party to contain the situation.

File:Beijing_1968_I.jpg

Across China, signs bearing old road names were vandalized.{{Cite journal |last=Howlett |first=Jonathan J. |date=August 2022 |title=Ordering the city: revolution, modernity and road renaming in Shanghai, 1949–1966 |journal=Urban History |language=en |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=612–630 |doi=10.1017/S0963926821000249 |issn=0963-9268|doi-access=free }} {{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}{{Cite news |last=Ou |first=Jason |date=2016-05-13 |title=7 questions about China's Cultural Revolution answered |language=en |work=The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/7-questions-about-chinas-cultural-revolution-answered |access-date=2023-06-22 |issn=0585-3923}} The first things to change were the names of streets and stores: "Blue Sky Clothes Store" to "Defending Mao Zedong Clothes Store", "Cai E Road" to "Red Guards Road", and so forth.

In Beijing, the name of the road where the embassy of the Soviet Union was stationed was changed to "Anti-revisionism Road."{{Cite book |last=Russo |first=Alessandro |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1156439609 |title=Cultural Revolution and revolutionary culture |date=2020 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-1-4780-1218-4 |location=Durham |pages=157 |oclc=1156439609}} The Peking Union Medical College Hospital, founded in 1921 by the Rockefeller Foundation, was renamed "Anti-Imperialist Hospital".{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=1985-06-09 |title=PEKING HOSPITAL TAKES BACK PRE-1949 NAME |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/09/world/peking-hospital-takes-back-pre-1949-name.html |access-date=2023-06-22 |issn=0362-4331}}

In Huangpu district of Shanghai, the city's commercial center, Red Guards tore down 93 percent of shop signboards (2,166 of 2,328), and renamed restaurants, schools and hospitals. Red Guards also took Nanjing Road as their revolutionary headquarters in Shanghai, renaming it the "Anti-Imperialism Street".

Many people across China also changed their given names to revolutionary slogans, such as Zhihong ({{lang|zh|志红}}, "Determined Red"), Jige ({{lang|zh|继革}}, "Following the Revolution") and Weidong (卫东, "Safeguard the Orient or Protect Mao").{{Cite news |last=Wren |first=Christopher S. |date=1984-12-09 |title=A PROBLEM FOR THE CHINESE: MILLIONS OF NAMESAKES |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/09/world/a-problem-for-the-chinese-millions-of-namesakes.html |access-date=2023-06-22 |issn=0362-4331}}

{{See also|Antireligious campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party}}

File:Gate of Divine Might in the Cultural Revolution.jpg in Beijing was renamed the "Palace of Blood and Tears".{{Cite web |title=Tear Down the Palace! |url=http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/articles.php?searchterm=024_palace.inc&issue=024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310130332/http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/articles.php?searchterm=024_palace.inc&issue=024 |archive-date=2023-03-10 |access-date= |website=China Heritage Quarterly}}|left|283px]]

The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked in November 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, when it was visited and vandalized by a team of Red Guards from Beijing Normal University, led by Tan Houlan.{{citation

|contribution=The evolution of cultural tourism: The example of Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius

|first1=Aiping |last1=Ma|first2= Lina |last2=Si| last3=Zhang|first3= Hongfei

|editor-first=Chris |editor-last=Ryan|editor2-first= Huimin |editor2-last=Gu

|publisher=Taylor & Francis US |year=2009

|isbn=978-0-415-99189-6

|title=Tourism in China: destination, cultures and communities

|series=Routledge advances in tourism

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hd_D3ZV8NH0C&pg=PA183

|page=183

}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=dIMMAQAAMAAJ&q=cemetery+Tan+Houlan Asiaweek, Volume 10] The corpse of the 76th-generation Duke Yansheng (a descendant of Confucius) was removed from its grave and hung naked from a tree in front of the palace during the desecration of the cemetery in the Cultural Revolution.{{cite web|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200304/ai_n9228762 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321075615/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200304/ai_n9228762 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 March 2006 |title=Children of confucius |author=Jeni Hung |publisher=The Spectator |access-date=2007-03-04 |date=5 April 2003 }}

The Chinese government stopped short of endorsing the physical destruction of products. In fact, the government protected significant archaeological discoveries made during the Cultural Revolution, such as the Mawangdui, the Leshan Giant Buddha and the Terracotta Army. Upon learning that Red Guards were approaching the Forbidden City, Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the gates shut immediately and deployed the People's Liberation Army against the Red Guards. After this incident, Zhou attempted to create a more peaceful code of conduct for the Red Guards, with the support of cadres Tao Zhu, Li Fuchuan, and Chen Yi. This plan was foiled by the ultra-leftists Kang Sheng, Jiang Qing, and Zhang Chunqiao. Although many of Zhou's other initiatives to stem the destruction failed because of their or Mao's own opposition, he did succeed in preventing Beijing from being renamed "East Is Red City" and the Chinese guardian lions in front of Tian'anmen Square from being replaced with statues of Mao.{{Cite book |last1=Macfarquhar |first1=Roderick |url=https://archive.org/details/maoslastrevoluti00macf_537 |title=Mao's Last Revolution |last2=Schoenhals |first2=Michael |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780674027480 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/maoslastrevoluti00macf_537/page/n134 118]–119 |url-access=limited}}

In later stages of the campaign, examples of Chinese architecture were destroyed, classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart, and Chinese temples were desecrated.

Other manifestations of the Red Guard campaign included giving speeches, posting big-character posters, and harassment of people, such as intellectuals,Wen, Chihua. Madsen, Richard P. [1995] (1995). The Red Mirror: Children of China's Cultural Revolution. Westview Press. {{ISBN|0-8133-2488-2}} who defiantly demonstrated the Four Olds. This escalated from accosting people in the streets due to their dress or hairstyle, to widespread murder, assault, arbitrary detention and the ransacking of private homes. Red Guards broke into the homes of the wealthy and destroyed paintings, books, and furniture; all were items that they viewed as part of the Four Olds.{{cite book|last=Kort|first=Michael G.|title=China Under Communism|url=https://archive.org/details/chinaundercommun00kort|url-access=registration|year=1994|publisher=Millsbrook Press|location=Brookfield, MN|page=[https://archive.org/details/chinaundercommun00kort/page/123 123]|isbn=9781562944506}}

Many artists and other cultural professionals were persecuted by vigilantes, although some cultural advances came about because of the period, including the integration of "new" western instruments and ballet into Peking opera.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Languages and customs of ethnic minorities in China were labeled as part of the Four Olds and texts in ethnic languages were burned.{{Cite journal |last1=Qingxia |first1=Dai |last2=Yan |first2=Dong |date=March 2001 |title=The Historical Evolution of Bilingual Education for China's Ethnic Minorities |journal=Chinese Education & Society |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=7–53 |doi=10.2753/CED1061-193234027 |issn=1061-1932 |quote=Ethnic languages were repudiated as one of the "four olds" and large numbers of books and documents pertaining to ethnic languages were burned.}}{{Cite journal |last=Wu |first=Jiaping |date=May 2014 |title=The Rise of Ethnicity under China's Market Reforms |journal=International Journal of Urban and Regional Research |language=en |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=967–984 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2427.2012.01179.x |issn=0309-1317 |quote=Campaigns of 'class eradication' became more radical during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and had a disastrous effect on ethnic culture. Ethnic traditions were seen as part of the 'four olds' (old ideas, customs, culture and habits; in Chinese, sijiu) that had to be destroyed.}}{{Cite journal |last=Chunli |first=Xia |date=2007 |title=From Discourse Politics to Rule of Law: A Constructivist Framework for Understanding Regional Ethnic Autonomy in China |journal=International Journal on Minority and Group Rights |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=399–424 |doi=10.1163/138548707X247392 |issn=1385-4879 |jstor=24675396 |quote=Traditional minority designs and colourful lace were marked as "four olds" (sijiu) and burnt.}} Bilingual education was suppressed.

File:Statue of Emperor - Ming Tombs.jpg|This statue of the Yongle Emperor was originally carved in stone, and was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution; a metal replica is in its place

File:Huineng.jpg|The remains of the 8th century Buddhist monk Huineng were attacked during the Cultural Revolution

File:Kong Yanjin - looking north - P1060200.JPG|The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked by Red Guards in November 1966{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIMMAQAAMAAJ&q=cemetery+Tan+Houlan |title=Asiaweek, Volume 10 |year= 1984 |access-date=27 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427051328/https://books.google.com/books?id=dIMMAQAAMAAJ&q=cemetery+Tan+Houlan |archive-date=27 April 2016 |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200304/ai_n9228762 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321075615/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200304/ai_n9228762 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 March 2006 |title=Children of Confucius |author=Jeni Hung |magazine=The Spectator |access-date=4 March 2007 |date=5 April 2003}}

File:SuzhouGardenFrieze.jpg|A frieze damaged during the Cultural Revolution, originally from a garden house of a rich imperial official in Suzhou

File:北平「協和醫院」被「紅衛兵」改為「反帝醫院」.jpg|The Peking Union Medical College Hospital was renamed "Anti-Imperialist Hospital" by Red Guards

File:Trip to Ningxia and Gansu.jpg|A damaged statue of the Buddha

{{see also|Boluan Fanzheng}}

No official statistics have ever been produced by the Communist party in terms of reporting the actual cost of damage. By 1978, many stories of death and destruction caused by the Cultural Revolution had leaked out of China and became known worldwide.Roberts, Richard H. [1995] (1995). Religion and the Transformations of Capitalism. Routledge publishing. {{ISBN|0-415-11917-0}}

During and after the Cultural Revolution, efforts were made to protect Chinese cultural artifacts. Shanghai officials intervened in Red Guard house searches, relocating items to safety and documenting those that couldn't be moved for future restoration.{{cite journal |last1=Ho |first1=Denise Y. |title=Revolutionizing Antiquity: The Shanghai Cultural Bureaucracy in the Cultural Revolution, 1966–1968 |journal=The China Quarterly |date=2011 |volume=207 |pages=691–692 |doi=10.1017/S0305741011000713 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0305741011000713 |access-date=1 June 2024}} Post-Cultural Revolution, there was a renewed effort to preserve cultural heritage, with initiatives like the Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program and the establishment of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to protect and manage historical sites and artifacts.{{cite book |last1=Dolan |first1=Thomas |title=Berkshire Encyclopedia of China: Modern and Historic Views of the World's Newest and Oldest Global Power, Volume 5 |date=2009 |publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009 |pages=108–109}}

{{Portal|China}}

• 1989 Mao portrait vandalism incident, vandalism of the portrait of Mao Zedong
• Burning of books and burying of scholars, 3rd century BC China
• Destruction of the Goddess of Democracy, as part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre
• List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party

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