Mao's Hijacked Generation

The Zhiqing Movement, which used extreme political means to decide the fate of an entire generation, was an unprecedented cultural catastrophe in human history. Its scale and impact far surpassed those of countless other political movements at the time. Tens of millions of urban youth were sent to the countryside for reform, isolated from contact with modern civilization. This not only caused great harm to their physical and mental freedom, but also led to cultural poverty for several generations. It destroyed rationality, severed people’s historical memory and rational thinking, and deeply affected the way Chinese people think and behave today. This rare book is a true record of this dark history, and it also provides the most powerful testimony for why authoritarian societies must be eliminated. Ai Weiwei, Artist and Human Rights Activist 

Mao’s Hijacked Generation is both horrifying and uplifting: Horrifying because it recounts how some eighteen million urban teenagers were recklessly exiled to rural China to “make revolution,” and uplifting because so many of its victims still found ways to remain human. Orville Schell, Author, Arthur Ross Director of U.S.-China Relations Center at the Asia Society in New York 

This is a wonderful book. It vividly reveals the extraordinary experiences of almost eighteen million urban Chinese teenagers, “educated youth” who, from 1962 to 1979, were sent down to the rugged countryside to “learn from the peasants” in one of world history’s least known but largest forced migrations. Forty-two beautifully translated and carefully selected individual stories, accompanied by thoughtful explanatory commentary, offer great, informative and unforgettable insights into perhaps Mao Zedong’s zaniest social experiment, one that dwarfs even his brief resort to “red guards” in scale and significance. Jerome A. Cohen, Council on Foreign Relations and NYU US-Asia Law Institute