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Chinese medical education rising unevenly from Cultural Revolution rubble

By Guest PostJanuary 23, 2017Education, Healthchinese medical education, chinese medical students, cultural revolution, eli adashi, huanling zhang, nan du

A new research review chronicling the history and current state of medical education in China finds that the country’s quest to build up a medical education system to serve its massive population has produced a rapid, if uneven, result.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For scores of years after the first medical school opened in China in 1886, the country progressed in building a medical education system for its fast-growing population. Then 50 years ago, it not only came to a screeching halt, but to a full reversal with the Cultural Revolution. (more…)

Documents that Changed the World podcasts: Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’

By Guest PostSeptember 16, 2012Politicsbenjamin franklin, chairman, changed, China, cultural revolution, death, documents, joe janes, little red book, mao tsetung, monopoly, peter kelley, podcast series, population, quotations, that, the, wisdom, world

For the latest installment of his Documents that Changed the World podcast series, Joe Janes takes a look at a small book that had a huge impact.

“Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung,” also known as Mao’s “Little Red Book,” was published in 1965 and became one of the most widely printed and distributed books in history. Publication ceased in 1979 following Mao’s fall from favor and death but started again sporadically in 1993.

During Mao’s heyday, Janes notes, “(T)he goal was for 99 percent of the population of China to read it; it was an unofficial requirement to own, read and carry it at all times during the Cultural Revolution.” (more…)

Performance Recalls Faculty Member’s Years As One of China’s ‘Sent-down’ Youth

By Guest PostFebruary 12, 2011Culture1968, agricultural labor, ask the sky and the earth, black family, campaign, canton, chinese leader, civil unrest, composer, countryside, cowhouse, cultural revolution, east asian languages, guangzhou, hainan island, harvard university, intellectual leader, kuomintang, mao, mao zedong, orchestra, re-education movement, rural villages, sent-down youth, shinik hahm, spy, su wei, taiwan, tony fok, up to the mountains and down to the villages, urban youth, yale

In 1968, when Su Wei left his family behind and voluntarily joined the millions of urban youth who were being sent by Chinese leader Mao Zedong into the countryside to work the land as part of a “re-education” movement, his spirit was nearly broken.

As part of Mao’s “up to the mountains and down to the villages” campaign, initiated in 1968 to quell civil unrest during the Cultural Revolution, all urban 16-year-olds were commanded to travel to rural villages to be schooled in hard agricultural labor. More than 20 million teenagers were sent to work in the countryside, often devoting more than a decade of their lives to farm labor. Not only did this deprive them of a formal education, but parting from their families was a heart-wrenching experience for most of the youngsters. However, for then 15-year-old Su — now a senior lector in East Asian languages at Yale — leaving life in Guangzhou (Canton) represented an escape from an even more brutal life, and so he set off eagerly for the countryside even before he was required to do so. (more…)

Tag Archives: cultural revolution

Chinese medical education rising unevenly from Cultural Revolution rubble

Documents that Changed the World podcasts: Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’

Performance Recalls Faculty Member’s Years As One of China’s ‘Sent-down’ Youth