DOWN TO THE COUNTRYSIDE MOVEMENT 上山下乡运动

INTRODUCTION

• The Down to the Countryside movement effectively began in 1966
• Attempt by Chairman Mao to control unemployment from baby boomers
• Privileged youth would be sent to farm and learn from peasants
• "Up to the mountains, down to the villages"
• Sent down former red guard (disbanded 1967,1968)

TIMELINE

HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=GY4P5HFDEYC

THE MOVEMENT

• Approximately 12,000,000 were relocated
• University entrance exams suspended in 1968
• Attempt to reduce overcrowding in cities
• Labor was difficult, but not completely forced
• Induced greater stability in coordination with cultural revolution

THE END?

• "Lost generation" never obtains proper secondary education
• Movement ends in 1976 with the death of Mao, Deng Xiaoping reforms
• Some stay in countryside, some return due to reformed policies
• National college entrance examination reinstated 1977
• Prominent Chinese leaders Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang develop from experience

THE KING OF TREES CONNECTION

• Story is fictionalized account of Movement
• Narrator is sent to "learn from the peasants"
• Li Li copies propaganda from Mao regime rationalizing movement
• Experiences of Ah Cheng applied to story
• Down to the Countryside influences other authors including Liu Xiaobo and Jiang Long

BIBLIOGRAPHY