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What were the Four Olds targeted by the Red Guards?
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Cultural Revolution
Mao Zedong reviewing troops at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, August 1966.
During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards were encouraged by Mao Zedong to attack traditional values and "bourgeois" influences. These campaigns were known as the struggle against the "Four Olds," which consisted of the following:
- Old ideas
- Old customs
- Old culture
- Old habits of mind
This movement sought to eradicate traditional elements of Chinese society, leading to widespread violence, the physical abuse of intellectuals and the elderly, and numerous deaths.12