Down to the Countryside Movement
Encyclopedia
The Down to the Countryside Movement was a policy instituted in the People's Republic of China
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result of the anti-bourgeois thinking prevalent during the Cultural Revolution
, Mao Zedong
declared certain privileged urban youth would be sent to mountainous areas or farming villages, in order that they could learn from the workers and farmers there.
Mao's policy differed from Liu Shaoqi
's early 1960s sending-down policy, for its political context. Liu Shaoqi instituted the first sending-down policy to redistribute excess urban population following the Great Chinese Famine and the Great Leap Forward
. Mao's use of the policy sent-down the Red Guards
who had risen up at his beck and call, sending China into chaos. Essentially, Mao used the "up to the mountains and down to the villages" to quell unrest and remove the embarrassment of the early Cultural Revolution from sight.
As a result, many fresh high school graduates, who became known as the Rusticated Youth of China, were forced out of the cities and effectively exiled to remote areas of China. Some commentators consider these people, many of whom lost the opportunity to attend university, China's "lost generation." Famous authors who have written about their experiences during the movement include Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo
, Jiang Rong, and Zhang Chengzhi
, both of whom went to Inner Mongolia
.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result of the anti-bourgeois thinking prevalent during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
declared certain privileged urban youth would be sent to mountainous areas or farming villages, in order that they could learn from the workers and farmers there.
Mao's policy differed from Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary, statesman, and theorist. He was Chairman of the People's Republic of China, China's head of state, from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968, during which he implemented policies of economic reconstruction in China...
's early 1960s sending-down policy, for its political context. Liu Shaoqi instituted the first sending-down policy to redistribute excess urban population following the Great Chinese Famine and the Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China , reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern...
. Mao's use of the policy sent-down the Red Guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
who had risen up at his beck and call, sending China into chaos. Essentially, Mao used the "up to the mountains and down to the villages" to quell unrest and remove the embarrassment of the early Cultural Revolution from sight.
As a result, many fresh high school graduates, who became known as the Rusticated Youth of China, were forced out of the cities and effectively exiled to remote areas of China. Some commentators consider these people, many of whom lost the opportunity to attend university, China's "lost generation." Famous authors who have written about their experiences during the movement include Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China...
, Jiang Rong, and Zhang Chengzhi
Zhang Chengzhi
Zhang Chengzhi is a contemporary Hui Chinese author. Often named as the most influential Muslim writer in China, his historical narrative History of the Soul, about the rise of the Jahriyya Sufi order , was the second-most popular book in China in 1994.-Biography:Zhang was born in Beijing in 1948...
, both of whom went to Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
.