Song Binbin

Song Binbin (born 1947?—died September 16, 2024, United States) was a member of the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in China. Song’s prominent involvement in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution made her a controversial figure, and she later apologized for her actions during that time.

Early life and the death of a deputy principal

Song was the daughter of Song Renqiong, who was a general in the People’s Liberation Army and, as a senior official under the Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, a major figure in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

A CCP document that outlined Mao’s concerns about “bourgeois” infiltrators in the party laid the groundwork of the Cultural Revolution in May 1966. Its vision of the CCP motivated Song and other students to post dazibao (“big-character posters”), accusing teachers and other school authorities of being elitist and stagnant. These authorities were “struggled against,” meaning that they were publicly criticized and sometimes beaten by students in front of other students. One of those beaten at Song’s secondary school, in Beijing, was Bian Zhongyun, a deputy principal who was attacked on August 5, 1966, and later died. Bian’s death is often considered to be among the first of the Cultural Revolution. Some claim that Song herself helped to kill Bian, citing her leadership position in a student group and her signature on a document stating who was present at the school that night. Song consistently denied direct involvement.

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An idol of the Cultural Revolution

On August 18, 1966, Song attended a rally at Tiananmen Square in Beijing that drew about a million members of the Red Guards—militant students formed into paramilitary units to support the Cultural Revolution—as well as prominent CCP officials, including Mao. During the rally, Song placed the red armband of the Red Guards on Mao’s arm as Mao endorsed the group. Mao also gave Song a new name: Song Yaowu. He believed that the name Binbin (“Gentle”) did not fit her and that she should instead be called Yaowu (“Militant”).

Two days later, on August 20, an article describing the rally was published under the name Song Yaowu in the Guang Ming Daily newspaper. Song later denied that she wrote it. The rally transformed her into an idol of the Cultural Revolution and an enemy of those who opposed it. Red Guards would travel long distances to see her, and rumors that she had killed multiple people emerged.

House arrest and escape from China

The Cultural Revolution’s Four Olds campaign quickly took hold, resulting in the destruction of historical artifacts, monuments, and buildings by Red Guards. Song later claimed that she was not a participant. She and other Red Guards were sent to Wuhan to spread the Cultural Revolution, but her decision to not overthrow the Hubei Provincial Party Committee drew criticism from the CCP. In 1968 her father, like many other party officials at the time, was cast out of the CCP; Song and her mother were placed under house arrest in Shenyang.

In 1969 Song escaped to Inner Mongolia, and in 1972 she attended the Changchun Institute of Geology. She later traveled to the United States to continue her studies, completing a master’s degree and a doctorate in geochemistry at Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively. She worked in the United States as an environmental analysis officer before returning to China in 2003.

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Song’s 2014 apology

In 2007 Song was named an “honorary alumna” by the Beijing school at which she was accused of murdering Bian. During a speech in 2014, she apologized for what she saw as her role in Bian’s death: “Please allow me to express my everlasting solicitude and apologies to Principal Bian,” she said, as quoted by The New York Times from Chinese sources. “I failed to properly protect the school leaders, and this has been a lifelong source of anguish and remorse.” She also called the Cultural Revolution itself “a massive calamity.”

Song’s apology sparked controversy and debate in China and elsewhere. Some, including Bian’s husband, questioned her sincerity. Others believed that the CCP, and not the individuals who participated in it, needed to apologize for the Cultural Revolution.

Documentaries

Song participated in and was the subject of documentaries. They include:

• Morning Sun (2003), directed by Carma Hinton, Geramie Barmé, and Richard Gordon, presents interviews with people who were involved in the Cultural Revolution. One of the interviewees is Song, although her image is blacked out and her voice is disguised. She defends herself, discussing not only her regrets but also what she describes as a loss of identity due to Mao having given her the name Yaowu, which, she claimed, went against her nature.
• Though I Am Gone (2006), directed by Hu Jie, presents a different narrative: it centers on Wang Jingyao, Bian’s husband, and describes Song as being at fault for Bian’s death.

When was Song Binbin born?

According to an obituary in The New York Times, Song’s death in 2024 was reported by one of her brothers on WeChat. He said that she had died in the United States and described her as being 77 years old; the birth year of 1947 was subsequently widely repeated. In 2014 The New York Times reported that she had been born in 1949.