 | The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China Subjects: Chongqing (China) -- Politics and government -- 20th century; Hong wei bing -- History -- 20th century; Hong wei bing -- Biography; Political activists -- China -- Chongqing -- Interviews; Social movements -- China -- Chongqing -- History -- 20th century; ; Guobin Yang argues that Chinese youth engaged in an imaginary revolution from 1966 to 1968, enacting a political mythology that encouraged violence as a way to prove one's revolutionary credentials. This dynamic would later turn the Red Guard generation against the government, culminating in the Tiananmen protest of 1989. Yang emphasizes the politics of history and memory, as contemporary memories of the Cultural Revolution are factionalized along the lines of political division that formed fifty years before. Guobin Yang is associate professor of communication and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the award-winning The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Onlin e. |
