Four Olds

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The Four Olds or the Four Old Things (Simplified Chinese: 四旧; Traditional Chinese: 四舊; pinyin: sì jiù) were Old Custom, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas(Spence 1999, 575). One of the stated goals of the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China was to bring an end to the Four Olds.

Mao Zedong called for the Four Olds to be swept away around 1967 at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Red Guards listened especially attentively to Mao’s call. As a result, in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, many things tied to China’s past culture and history were destroyed. Temples were ransacked; classic works of literature were burned; paintings were torn apart; antiquities were shattered; some people were punished. Intellectuals were targeted as personifications of the Four Olds, and sometimes they were mocked, harassed, imprisoned, tortured, or killed.

Upon learning that the Red Guard was approaching the Forbidden City, Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the gates shut and troops posted, knowing of the Red Guard's reputation of destroying cultural objects.

Starting in the 1990's and continuing into the 21st century, there has been a massive rebuilding effort underway to restore and rebuild cultural sites that were destroyed or damaged during the Cultural Revolution.

[edit] References

Jonathan, Spence. The Search for Modern China. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999.