The Red Guards

"One night the Red Guards came. They took everything in the house and burned it. They wanted to take the piano, too, but" -and here she smiled at the floor- "It was too heavy for them to throw out the window! So they just hit it for a while and left...." (Page 22)

Who are the Red Guards and why did they destroy everything in Teacher Wu's home?

Earlier in the book, on page 20, we learn that "Teacher Wu's husband came under attack during the Anti-Rightist Campaign in the late 1950's; to protect his family, he apologized to the State for his "crimes against Socialism," then took his own life."

According to Morning Sun, the Red Guards were first a group of middle school students that supported Chairman Mao, but soon, this term became any group that was supported by Chairman Mao to "Rebel against the system."

The Red Guard caused a considerable amount of damage to people and property, and sooner than later, began to fight with the other older revolutionary rebels.  After this guard had helped overturn the old order, many of the younger fighters were exiled from cities to be re-educated by peasants in the countryside.

Who is Chairman Mao? According to BBC History, Chairman Mao (Mao Zedong) became a high ranking communist leader in China. After a failure of a movement called the "Great Leap Forward" created by Mao, he began a movement called the "Cultural Revolution." This move attempted to destroy any 'impure' elements in the country and revive revolutionary spirit. This move was a complete success and probably when Teacher Wu's house was ransacked. Though this movement was a success, it cause one and a half million deaths and destroyed much of the country's cultural heritage.

Because something that Teacher Wu's husband may or may not of done, their whole family suffered greatly. Mao's reign was supposedly a success, but with so much destruction it does not actually seem like one.