* This article was completed in December 1969 and does not include any information available only after that date.Google Scholar

¹ Jen-min jih-pao (People's Daily) (Peking), 19 05 1969, p. 3, report on Kuangshan district in Honan.Google Scholar

² The attack was led by the 1966 graduates of Peking No. 1 girls middle school who protested against the system of admission to institutions of higher learning in a letter of 6 June 1966 to the Central Committee and Chairman Mao. On 13 June 1966, a circular from the Central Committee declared that the entrance examinations to institutions of higher learning should be radically reformed and that those institutions would not enroll new students for six months. The two documents appear in Kuang-ming jih-pao (KMJP), 18 06 1966. Though some later reports casually refer to somebody as a first-year university student (e.g., People's Daily, 16 September 1968, p. 3, which mentions a first-year student of Korean in Peking University), there is no evidence that universities and colleges have regularly resumed admission.Google Scholar

³ New China News Agency (NCNA), 28 10 1968, in Survey of China Mainland Press (SCMP) (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate General), No. 4291, p. 15.Google Scholar

⁴ See, for example, People's Daily, 18 10 1968, p. 1, in Current Background (CB) (Hong Kong), No 868, pp. 1–5Google Scholar, on criticism in a Chekiang rural area, and People's Daily, 7 03 1968 (CB, No. 854), on criticism in the Ts'ao-ch'ang-ti middle school in Peking.Google Scholar

⁵ Among numerous other references, see NCNA, 5 November 1967 (CB, No. 846), on Shanghai schools; People's Daily, 21 11 1967, p. 2 (CB, No. 846), on Peking Normal UniversityGoogle Scholar; ibid. 28 October 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846), on Yenan middle school in Tientsin.

⁶ KMJP, 15 November 1968, p. 1, this did not include board. Unless otherwise specified, the preceding and following figures are from direct inquiries by the author in various places in 1965 and early 1966.Google Scholar

⁷ People's Daily, 31 10 1968, p. 2 (CB, No. 868).Google Scholar

⁸ People's Daily, 18 June 1969, p. 3, article by Liu I-nung.Google Scholar

⁹ Among numerous articles expounding these various grievances: People's Daily, 28 October 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846)Google Scholar, report on Yenan middle school in Tientsin; NCNA, 5 November 1967 (CB, No. 846), report on primary and secondary schools in Shanghai; People's Daily, 21 11 1967 (CB, No. 846)Google Scholar, report from Peking Normal University; NCNA, 25 11 1967 (CB, No. 846); NCNA, 28 October 1968 (SCMP, No. 4291), report on Heilungkiang brigades.Google Scholar

¹⁰ People's Daily, 18 10 1968, p. 1 (CB, No. 868), report from Chekiang.Google Scholar

¹¹ Ibid. 25 October 1968, p. 1, report from Liaoning.

¹² “Abstract from a conference of representatives from progressive units of educational revolution of Honan province,” KMJP, 16 11 1968, p. 1.Google Scholar

¹³ People's Daily, 28 10 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846), report from Yenan middle school in Tientsin.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Ibid.29 10 1968, p. 2 (CB, No. 868)Google Scholar, report from Yentai; ibid.2 12 1968, p. 1 (CB, No. 870), article of Wu Yen-yin; KJMP, 7 July 1967, p. 4Google Scholar; ibid. 18 July 1967, p. 3; ibid. 26 November 1967, p. 2, from Peking University of Agriculture.

¹⁵ People's Daily, 23 10 1968, p. 1 (CB, No. 868)Google Scholar, on Honan; ibid. 25 October 1968, p. 1, report on Liaoning; ibid. 26 October 1968, p. 1, report on Kiangsu, Hankiang district; ibid. 12 November 1968, p. 3, report on Hunan; Hung-ch'i (Red Flag), No. 4 (1968), p. 25, report on Kiangsi, all translated in CB, No. 868.Google Scholar

¹⁶ People's Daily, 28 10 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846), report from Yenan middle school in Tientsin.Google Scholar

¹⁷ NCNA, 25 09 1968 (SCMP, No. 4269).Google Scholar

¹⁸ KMJP, 2 09 1968, p. 2 (SCMP, No. 4269), report from Laoshan district in Shantung province.Google Scholar

¹⁹ People's Daily, 26 10 1968, p. 1 (CB, No. 868), report from Kiangsu.Google Scholar

²⁰ See the detailed articles on the two lines in education in KMJP, 20 July 1967, p. 3, 7 July 1968, p. 4, 18 July 1968, p. 3. This last article states that from 80·3 per cent. in 1958 the enrolment of school-age children in primary schools had fallen to 56·1 per cent. in 1962.Google Scholar

²¹ Cf. note 2.Google Scholar

²² This document was quoted in the People's Daily editorial of 1 August 1966, without any mention of its real date. Its source—a letter of Mao Tse-tung to Lin Piao—and its date—7 May 1966—appear only in the People's Daily editorial of 7 May 1967, urging a response to Chairman Mao's call.Google Scholar

²³ See the various documents translated in CB, No. 852, pp. 22, 26, 59, 65, 120, 122 and 127.Google Scholar

²⁴ They are translated in CB, No. 852, pp. 62 and 87 and referred to and quoted in a report on Peking and Shanghai primary schools by KMJP, 7 March 1967, p. 1, and in a report from Tientsin Yenan middle school, KMJP, 28 October 1967.Google Scholar

²⁵ Translated in CB, No. 852, p. 99. Precise reference to it is found in a report on East China Normal University (KMJP, 5 July 1967, p. 2).Google Scholar

²⁶ On 19 March 1967, a circular from the Central Committee said that the plan for resuming country-wide revolutionary exchanges in and after the coming spring, which had been announced in December, was cancelled (CB, No. 852, p. 108).Google Scholar

²⁷ See SCMP, No. 3957, pp. 7–10, which translates the article as it was reproduced by the Wen-hui pao, 24 03 1967.Google Scholar

²⁸ March and April 1967 reports on educational revolution only refer to the Central Committee Draft Regulations, which raises doubts as to whether Mao's directive had been publicized as such. However, the most important passages are reproduced, without date, in the 16 May 1967 editorial of the People's Daily. Reference to it under the name of “March 7th directive,” with an allusion to the Tientsin Yenan middle school example, is found only in the People's Daily editorial of 25 10 1967. CB, No. 852 (6 May 1968), pp. 96–98 translates the March 7th directive and a circular of the Central Committee dated 8 March 1967, ordering the study of Mao's directive as well as another document called “Understanding of the Tientsin Yenan Middle School in realizing the Great Alliance and reorganizing consolidating and developing the Red Guards in the whole school, with the teaching class as the foundation,” which was reproduced below with the date 6 March 1967.Google Scholar

²⁹ See for instance the article on a Canton primary school in KMJP, 7 07 1967, p. 3Google Scholar; also KMJP, 15 07 1967, p. 2. As to universities and colleges, the lead was taken by the Peking Aeronautical Institute, which resumed courses on 3 July, followed by other, mostly technical, institutions (KMJP, 5, 14, 15 and 19 July 1967).Google Scholar

³⁰ KMJP, 16 05 1967, p. 1Google Scholar; ibid. 17 May 1967, p. 2; ibid. 7 July 1967, p. 2; ibid. 12 July 1967, p. 3.

³¹ For instance, KMJP, 11 07 1967, p. 2.Google Scholar

³² The editorial is entitled “Universities, middle and primary schools must all resume classes to make revolution,”Google Scholar

³³ See above, note 22.Google Scholar

³⁴ The epithet “bourgeois” applies to features prevailing among the socio-economic group traditionally called “bourgeoisie.” It does not imply that all people belonging to this group by birth share all these characteristics (though most of them do more or less), neither that people from other groups may not be “bourgeois.”Google Scholar

³⁵ For an interesting analysis of the distortion of “modernization,” by the revisionists, see the article by a group from the Education Ministry in KMJP, 20 07 1967, p. 3.Google Scholar

³⁶ People's Daily, 3 11 1967, p. 1.Google Scholar

³⁷ This is the scheme of the Yenan middle school in Tientsin (see People's Daily, 28 10 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846))Google Scholar, and of the Peking Forestry Institute (see People's Daily, 22 11 1967, p. 2 (CB, No. 846))Google Scholar; though under the name of a “commune,” T'ung-chi University proposed a very similar type of strict organization (see People's Daily, 3 11 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846)).Google Scholar

³⁸ People's Daily, 3 11 1967, p. 1 (CB, No. 846).Google Scholar

³⁹ On the spreading, contents and criticism of these opinions, see for instance the editorial of the People's Daily, 26 11 1967; KMJP, 4 01 1968, p. 3, on schools in Wuhan; NCNA, 12 01 1968, on the Shih-ching-shan middle school; KMJP, 29 February 1968, p. 1Google Scholar, on Peking schools; ibid. 3 March 1968, p. 2, on a Shanghai school; ibid. 11 March 1968, p. 3, on Peking schools; ibid. 12 March 1968, p. 2, on Chengchow and Wuhan schools; ibid. 15 March 1968, pp. 1–2.

⁴⁰ For instance, KMJP, 28 12 1967, p. 3, in Chekiang schoolsGoogle Scholar; ibid. 13 January 1968, in Shih-ching-shan middle school in Peking; ibid. 14 May 1968, in Haitien schools near Peking.

⁴¹ KMJP, 21 03 1968, p. 1, in an article on schools in Shihchiachuang.Google Scholar

⁴² In the Hsi-chou primary school of the Hsin-tang commune in Kwangtung province, a Mao Tse-tung's thought study-class had been formed, which played the role of a kind of school council. It was a “four-in-one” combination of pupils and teachers, pupils' parents, brigade cadres and production brigade cadres. At the time of the report (KMJP, 7 May 1968, p. 4), their experience was being popularized elsewhere in the district. There seemed to be more formal organization in the case of the Ho-t'ao commune near Ts'ingtao (see KMJP, 28 May 1968, pp. 1–2) where it was stated that peasants not only taught in the school but shared in its leadership, and that the students and teachers became ordinary commune members.Google Scholar

⁴³ KMJP, 13 06 1968, p. 2, on a Shanghai middle schoolGoogle Scholar; ibid. 27 June 1968, p. 1, on a Kansu school.

⁴⁴ People's Daily, 22 07 1968, p. 1. Italics are mine.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ The report on the Shanghai machine-tools plant was published also in the People's Daily, 22 07 1968.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ In Peking the first workers' propaganda team had been sent to Ts'ing-hua University on 27 July 1968 (People's Daily, 29 January 1969, p. 1). By the end of August several scores had been dispatched to other schools in the capital (People's Daily, 27 August 1968, p. 1). In Canton, according to witnesses, the workers entered Sun Yat-sen University in July. On the opinion of the workers' teams about theoretical studies, see for instance, KMJP, 7 August 1969, p. 1; People's Daily, 14 April 1969, p. 4, from Tsitsihar city.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Hung-ch'i (Red Flag) (Peking), No. 2 (1968), p. 4.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Red Flag, No. 4 1968), p. 24.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ For instance, People's Daily, 5 09 1968, p. 2Google Scholar; ibid. 23 October 1968, p. 2.

⁵⁰ KMJP, 19 07 1969, p. 3, in Peking Normal University and Nankai University.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Actually the letter is dated 23 October 1968.Google Scholar

⁵² People's Daily, 6 12 1968, p. 1Google Scholar; ibid. 7 December 1968, pp. 2 and 4; ibid. 10 December 1968, p. 2.

⁵³ Ibid.2 12 1968, p. 1, on a Shanghai primary school (CB, No. 870).Google Scholar

⁵⁴ People's Daily, 10 12 1968, p. 2, in a letter from two Ts'ingtao teachers and an article from Shanghai K'ung-chiang middle school (CB, No. 870).Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Ibid.10 12 1968, p. 2, article from K'ung-chiang middle school (CB, No. 870).Google Scholar

⁵⁶ People's Daily, 19 05 1969, p. 3, in an article from Ma-chi brigade, Shantung.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ People's Daily, 21 06 1969, p. 3, in an article from Huiyang district, Kwangtung (SCMP, No. 4450).Google Scholar

⁵⁸ There is a debate about the advisability of teaching foreign languages. Some people have said that it is enough to train a few specialized interpreters (People's Daily, 24 06 1969, p. 3Google Scholar, letter from three fighters of the PLA; KMJP, 16 08 1969, p. 3, article from Heilungkiang University)Google Scholar. Others have written that foreign languages are very useful for scientific and revolutionary purposes and even that steps should be taken to spread them in the countryside (People's Daily, 24 06 1969, p. 3, from a workers' propaganda team stationed in Hangchow University; see also various articles on the subject in People's Daily, 18 and 21 June, 19 July, 16 August 1969).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ People's Daily, 31 07 1969, p. 3, two short articles from a soldierGoogle Scholar; ibid. 10 July 1969, p. 3, from two Hopei schoolmasters. This problem has been given very little attention in the official press, but it could become very serious if the scheme to have brigades employing only their native teachers is carried out on a wide scale.

⁶⁰ KMJP, 7 08 1969, p. 1.Google Scholar

⁶¹ But let me point out at once that in this particular context wen-hua applies to fields where a knowledge of reading and writing is necessary. One can master politics and Mao Tse-tung's thought without it.Google Scholar

⁶² This concern is voiced in a letter from two Ts'ingtao teachers and an article from a Shanghai middle school, People's Daily, 10 12 1968, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁶³ KMJP, 28 05 1968, p. 2Google Scholar; People's Daily, 13 10 1968, p. 4Google Scholar; ibid. 29 October 1968, p. 2, on a Shantung school; ibid.7 11 1968, p. 3, from a Hupei commune; Red Flag, No. 4 (1968), p. 29.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ KMJP, 2 09 1968, p. 2, in a report from Shantung (SCMP, No. 4269).Google Scholar

⁶⁵ People's Daily, 29 10 1968, p. 2, in a report from Yentai district; also Red Flag, No. 5 (1968), pp. 40–45Google Scholar, in Selection from China Mainland Magazines (SCMM) (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate General), No. 638, pp. 10–15.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ People's Daily, 22 11 1967, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ People's Daily, 23 10 1968, p. 1, in a report from HonanGoogle Scholar; ibid. 25 October 1968, p. 1, from Liaoning; ibid. 26 October 1968, p. 1, from Kiangsu; ibid. 7 November 1968, p. 3, from Hupei; ibid. 10 November 1968, p. 3, from Kansu; ibid. 12 November 1968, p. 3, from Hunan.

⁶⁸ I.e., the Yenan middle school in Tientsin, T'ung-ch'i University in Shanghai, Ts'ao-ch'ang-ti middle school in Peking, which have been used as a kind of “test-schools” for carrying out the Cultural Revolution. As to Peking University, see Victor Nee, “The cultural revolution at Peking University,” Monthly Review (New York), Vol. XXI, No. 3 (07–08 1969)Google Scholar; what happened there in 1966 is fairly well known but further developments which seem to have involved very fierce struggle are fairly obscure (see People's Daily, 16 09 1968, p. 3, and KMJP, 6 October 1969, p. 1, which reports the foundation of a revolutionary committee on 27 September).Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Red Flag, No. 2 (1969), p. 32 (SCMM, No. 647, p. 17).Google Scholar

⁷⁰ People's Daily, 10 12 1968, p. 2, in a Shanghai work-study school.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Ibid.28 07 1969, p. 3, in Peking No. 23 middle school.Google Scholar

⁷² The setting up of a revolutionary committee is usually a long process involving much struggle. The early ones did not include outside personnel; they have been recast, sometimes repeatedly, for this purpose.Google Scholar

⁷³ Red Flag, No. 2 (1969), p. 31Google Scholar; People's Daily, 28 07 1969, p. 3, in Peking No. 23 middle school.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ People's Daily, 17 12 1968, p. 2, on the May 7th school in Shanghai.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Wen-hui pao, 12 09 1968, on Sheshan communeGoogle Scholar; People's Daily, 18 10 1968, p. 1, on Chekiang schoolsGoogle Scholar; ibid.23 10 1968, p. 1, on a Honan schoolGoogle Scholar; ibid.6 12 1968, p. 1, on Shanghai schools and on an Anhui school M; NCNA, 28 October 1968, on some Heilungkiang brigades; KMJP, 14 August 1969, p. 2, on a Hupei district.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ People's Daily, 6 12 1968, p. 1, on a Ch'angch'un primary school run by a factory; in this case, when taking over the school, the factory had abolished its revolutionary committee.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ KMJP., 2 09 1968, p. 1, on three Shantung communesGoogle Scholar; People's Daily, 21 12 1968, p. 2, on a Heilungkiang districtGoogle Scholar; ibid.18 06 1969, p. 3, on a Kansu brigade.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ People's Daily, 2 12 1968, p. 1, mentioned in Wu Yen-yin's article.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ People's Daily, 11 03 1968, p. 3Google Scholar, in an article on a Peking middle school. There are also references to Mao, but Mao's phrase is ling-tao ku-kan (Mao Tse-tung hsuan-chi (Collected Works of Mao Tse-tung), Peking (1966), pp. 900–901, 915).Google Scholar

⁸⁰ KMJP, 18 11 1968, p. 2Google Scholar; see also People's Daily, 19 05 1969, p. 3, on HonanGoogle Scholar; Red Flag, No. 5 (1968), pp. 49–50 (SCMM, No. 638, pp. 17–18); KMJP, 2 September 1968, p. 1; NCNA, 28 October 1968, on Heilungkiang schools.Google Scholar

⁸¹ From a reliable informer, who stated further that one of his relatives was thus learning English on top of the mountains near Yenan.Google Scholar

⁸² People's Daily, 21 07 1969, p. 4, in those Liaoning schools it was found unworkable and dropped.Google Scholar

⁸³ KMJP, 12 08 1969, p. 3, on Peking Li-hsin middle school.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ Red Flag, No. 5 (1968), p. 50Google Scholar; NCNA, 27 10 1968, on a Kirin school; People's Daily, 31 October 1968, p. 2, on some Szechwan schoolsGoogle Scholar; ibid. 10 November 1968, p. 3, on a Kansu school.

⁸⁵ Several articles in People's Daily, 14 04 1969, p. 4Google Scholar; ibid. 19 July 1969, p. 3, from a Shantung commune; KMJP, 12 August 1969, p. 3.

⁸⁶ Red Flag, No. 2 (1969), p. 31.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ People's Daily, 21 07 1969, p. 4, publishes articles written by such commissions in Ts'ingtao city and Liaoning.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ People's Daily, 11 06 1969, p. 3, from North-east China People's University.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ People's Daily, 11 06 1969, p. 3; KMJP, 31 August 1969, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ This concern is expressed by the revolutionary committee and the army propaganda team of Peking Ts'ao-ch'ang-ti middle school (People's Daily, 19 05 1969, p. 3).Google Scholar

⁹¹ People's Daily, 24 10 1968, pp. 1–2, in rural schoolsGoogle Scholar; ibid. 2 December 1968, p. 1, in Tientsin schools; ibid. 17 December 1968, p. 2, in Peking and other areas.

⁹² People's Daily, 25 10 1967, editorialGoogle Scholar; ibid. 7 March 1968, p. 2, from Peking Ts'ao-ch'ang-ti middle school; ibid. 12 May 1969, p. 1; KMJP, 7 May 1968, p. 4, from Kwangtung; ibid. 14 May 1968, p. 2, from Peking suburbs.

⁹³ The above details are drawn from the official press. E.g., People's Daily, 15 05 1969, p. 3, from a commune near ShanghaiGoogle Scholar; ibid.21 06 1969, p. 3, from a Shantung districtGoogle Scholar; ibid.7 07 1969, p. 3, and 18 July 1969, p. 3, various articles; KMJP, 12 August 1969, p. 3, and 14 August 1969, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ KMJP, 18 07 1967, p. 3: Chairman Mao gave several directives just after the Spring Festival of 1965.Google Scholar

⁹⁵ The min-pan concept and its applications are very well analysed by Mark Selden in his still unpublished thesis, People's War and the Revolutionary Transformation of Chinese Society. The Yenan Way (Yale University), on the schools (see Chapter 6, pp. 73–81); see also his article, Yenan Legacy: the Mass Line, in Barnett, A. Doak (ed.), Chinese Communist Politics in Action (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1969), pp. 145–148.Google Scholar

⁹⁶ Red Flag, No. 2 (1969), pp. 23–24.Google Scholar

⁹⁷ Significant with regard to the charges against elites and elitism are the KMJP editorials of 15 and 23 07 1968, also the articles on p. 2 in the latter issueGoogle Scholar