View source for Four Olds

{{Short description|Elements of Chinese culture purged during Mao's Cultural Revolution}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{expand Chinese|date=March 2023}}
[[File:Wanlitod.jpg|thumb|The remains of the [[Wanli Emperor]] ({{reign|1572|1620}}) at the [[Ming dynasty tombs]]. Red Guards dragged the remains of the emperor and of his empresses to the front of the tomb, where they denounced and burned them.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Melville |first=Sheila |date=7 Sep 2011 |title=China's Reluctant Emperor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/arts/08iht-wanli08.html?_r=0 |access-date=5 Apr 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>]]

The '''Four Olds''' ({{zh|s=四旧|t=四舊|p=sì jiù}}) refer to categories used by the [[Red Guards]] during the [[Cultural Revolution]] to characterize elements of [[Chinese culture]] prior to the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] that they were attempting to destroy. The Four Olds were 'old ideas', 'old culture', 'old customs', and 'old habits'.{{efn|{{zhi|p=jiù sīxiǎng|s=旧思想}}{{pb}}{{zhi|p=jiù wénhuà|s=旧文化}}{{pb}}{{zhi|p=jiù fēngsú|s=旧风俗}}{{pb}}{{zhi|p=jiù xíguàn|s=旧习惯}}}}<ref name="Spence">{{Cite book |last=Spence |first=Jonathan D. |title=The Search for Modern China |title-link=The Search for Modern China |author-link2=Jonathan D. Spence |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-393-97351-8 |edition=2nd ill. |publication-place=New York |pages=575 |orig-date=1990}}</ref> During the [[Red August]] of 1966, shortly after the onset of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards' campaign to destroy the Four Olds began amid the massacres being carried out in Beijing.<ref name="Wang-2001">{{Cite web |last=Wang |first=Youqin |author-link=Wang Youqin |year=2001 |title=Student Attacks Against Teachers: The Revolution of 1966 |url=http://ywang.uchicago.edu/history/docs/2001_03_05.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417112031/http://ywang.uchicago.edu/history/docs/2001_03_05.pdf |archive-date=2020-04-17 |publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref><ref name="Law">{{Cite book |title=The Chinese cultural revolution reconsidered: beyond purge and holocaust |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-333-73835-1 |editor-last=Law |editor-first=Kam-yee |location=Basingstoke}}</ref>

==Terminology==
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".<ref name="Li">{{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}}</ref> However, which customs, cultures, habits, and ideas specifically constituted the "Four Olds" were never clearly defined.<ref name="Lu" />

On 8 August, the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]] used the term at its [[8th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|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)|Red Flag]]'' magazine, as well as to Red Guard publications.<ref name="Lu">{{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 }}</ref>

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).<ref name="Lu"/> [[Newborn socialist things]] were said to struggle against the Four Olds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coderre |first=Laurence |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}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="Gao">{{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}}</ref>

==Campaign to destroy the Four Olds==
{{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]]".<ref name="Li"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kraus |first=Richard Curt |date=January 2012 |title=The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction |chapter=3. Culture: "destroy the old, establish the new" |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/1001/chapter-abstract/137851431?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2023-06-22 |pages=43–62 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> Academic Alessandro Russo writes that the destruction of the Four Olds was an ambiguous campaign from the perspective of the [[Chinese Communist Party]].<ref name="Russo-2020" /> 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.<ref name="Russo-2020" />

=== The "re-naming" campaign ===
[[File:Beijing_1968_I.jpg|thumb|400x400px|A 1968 map of Beijing showing streets and landmarks renamed during the Cultural Revolution. "Āndìngménnèidàjiē" (Stability Gate Inner Street) became "Dàyuèjìnlù" (Great Leap Forward Road), "Táijīchǎngdàjiē" (Taiji Factory Street) became "Yǒnggélù" (Perpetually Ousting Road), "Dōngjiāomínxiàng" (East Cross People's Lane) was renamed "Fǎndìlù" (Anti-Imperialist Road), "Běihǎigōngyuán" (North Sea Park) was renamed "Gōngnóngbīnggōngyuán" (Worker-Peasant-Soldier Park) and "Jǐngshāngōngyuán" (Mountain View Park) became "Hóngwèibīnggōngyuán" (Red Guards Park). Most of the Cultural Revolution-era name changes were later reversed.]]
Across China, signs bearing old road names were vandalized and renamed.<ref name="Howlett-2022">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Ou-2016">{{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}}</ref> The first things to change were the names of streets and stores: "[[Blue Sky with a White Sun|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."<ref name="Russo-2020">{{Cite book |last=Russo |first=Alessandro |title=Cultural Revolution and revolutionary culture |date=2020 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4780-1218-4 |location=Durham |pages=157 |oclc=1156439609}}</ref> The [[Peking Union Medical College Hospital]], founded in 1921 by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], was renamed "Anti-Imperialist Hospital".<ref>{{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}}</ref>

In [[Huangpu District, Shanghai|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.<ref name="Howlett-2022" /> Red Guards also took [[Nanjing Road]] as their revolutionary headquarters in Shanghai, renaming it the "Anti-Imperialism Street".<ref name="Howlett-2022" />

Many people across China also changed their [[given name]]s 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").<ref name="Lu" /><ref name="Ou-2016" /><ref>{{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}}</ref>

=== Public sites ===
{{See also|Antireligious campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party}}
[[File:Gate of Divine Might in the Cultural Revolution.jpg|thumb|The [[Forbidden City]] in Beijing was renamed the "Palace of Blood and Tears".<ref>{{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}}</ref>|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.<ref>{{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
}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dIMMAQAAMAAJ&q=cemetery+Tan+Houlan Asiaweek, Volume 10]</ref> 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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

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]].<ref name="Gao" /> 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 (communist)|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 "[[The East Is Red (song)|East Is Red]] City" and the [[Chinese guardian lions]] in front of [[Tian'anmen Square]] from being replaced with statues of Mao.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

In later stages of the campaign, examples of [[Chinese architecture]] were destroyed, classical [[Chinese literature|literature]] and [[Chinese painting]]s were torn apart, and [[Chinese temple]]s were desecrated.<ref name="Lu" />

=== Personal harassment and private properties ===
Other manifestations of the Red Guard campaign included giving speeches, posting [[big-character poster]]s, and harassment of people, such as [[intellectual]]s,<ref name="Wen">Wen, Chihua. [[Richard Madsen (sociologist)|Madsen, Richard P.]] [1995] (1995). The Red Mirror: Children of China's Cultural Revolution. Westview Press. {{ISBN|0-8133-2488-2}}</ref> who defiantly demonstrated the Four Olds.<ref name="Li" /> 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.<ref name="Howlett-2022" /> 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.<ref name="Kort">{{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}}</ref>

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}}

=== Attacks on ethnic minorities and book burnings ===
Languages and customs of [[ethnic minorities in China]] were labeled as part of the Four Olds and texts in ethnic languages were burned.<ref name="Qingxia-2001">{{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.}}</ref><ref>{{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.}}</ref><ref>{{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.}}</ref> Bilingual education was suppressed.<ref name="Qingxia-2001" />

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
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<ref name="Asiaweek, Volume 10">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Jeni Hung">{{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}}</ref>
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]]
</gallery>

==Aftermath==
=== Appraisal of damage ===
{{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.<ref>Roberts, Richard H.  [1995] (1995).  Religion and the Transformations of Capitalism.  Routledge publishing.  {{ISBN|0-415-11917-0}}</ref>

=== Preservation ===
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.<ref>{{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|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==See also==
{{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
* [[Goddess of Democracy#Fall of the Goddess|Destruction of the Goddess of Democracy]], as part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre
* [[List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Marxist & Communist phraseology}}
{{Religious persecution}}
{{Cultural Revolution}}{{Mao Zedong}}{{Destroyed heritage}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:4 (number)]]
[[Category:Cultural Revolution]]
[[Category:Campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Maoist terminology]]
[[Category:Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Religious persecution by communists]]
[[Category:Persecution of intellectuals in China]]