Da Zi Baos, were very common in China during the cultural revolution. They were a form of propaganda that Mao's followers used to humiliate "anti-revolutionaries" or to promote Mao. Da Zi Baos were often used in school environments. Ji-Li Jiang, the author of
The Red Scarf Girl had to write them when she was in school in China. For a while, all classes were canceled and the students had to write Da Zi Baos all day. Many of them were about their teachers and how they had been wronged by them. Da Zi Baos were just another way to create a division between the revolutionaries, and the citizens with a bad class status.
I remember reading about this in the book. These posters made many teachers loose their jobs even though they were not doing anything wrong. These also really hurt Ji Li, some one wrote one about her and how she was counter revolutionary. This destroyed her self confidence and her reputation in the school. After this incident Ji Li's view on the whole revolution changes.
ReplyDeleteHurting a lot of people would be terrible by having these posters. This was also a part of Ji-Li Jiang and how she wanted to destroy these horrible posters about the Culture Revolution. Ji-Li Jiang is now trying to fix this problem of Mao and the revolution.
ReplyDeleteThis was a critical point in the story because someone wrote a horrible da zi bao about her having a "relationship" with one of the teachers which of course was a lie but saying it was a lie and not believing a da zi bao would be counter revolutionary and supportive of the teachers and would make her a target for multiple searchings and various horrible things that would reveal her family.
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