oh boy. a meal time to complete the 2nd season on the front. of the planet on the brink of disaster we did a long in-depth interview with experts about one question. seems like only a sense of.

it's in 1966 china was swept up by the rising tide of the cultural revolution in august more than 1000000 people gathered on chan on men square to celebrate. chairman mao tse tung launched a movement for the masses the aim was to weed out anyone who appeared eager to steer the revolution and people's mindsets toward capitalism the young people of china became messengers of miles' communist doctrine. they were joined by people from all over the world who believed in mao's philosophy. more than 400 foreigners were involved in the cultural revolution. their sons and daughters known as the red children were given a communist education and as teenagers were drawn into the revolution their lives are a missing page in an otherwise well known chapter of chinese history. the

story of the red children begins with that of their parents during this tumultuous period of the 20th century they left their homes with the dream of helping to found a new china. for someone say. my father was born into an upper middle class jewish family in england. 2 but in 1028 my grandfather's business failed and he went bankrupt. was in my father moved to china 938 ounce to reading the book red star over china and he was impressed with the actions of the chinese communist party you got don't . read start over china depicts mao tse dong as a hero aims to save the poor man pursue social equality for the masses. stablished

the base of the revolution in a remote part of central china. in an era when poverty and persecution were spreading throughout the world mao's philosophy attracted young idealists like michael crooks father father and i should go my father's 1st destination was john i don't see how he wanted to meet these great people that he had read about. like mounted on enjoy and not with the obviously very. in 1939 michael's father david met canadian born isabella brown they married soon afterward the couple worked for the communist regime as language teachers for diplomats and other officials. my now is me mimolette my name is mimi miller nines i was born in

china in 1950. i'm from my father was huntsman who was german. because he was half jewish he had to flee nazi persecution in germany. nazi died. in 1933 the nazis seized power in germany after graduating from high school and miller escaped from a labor camp and fled to switzerland. while studying medicine at the university of basel he formed friendships with leftwing classmates including some international students from china. at the time china was fighting against japanese expansionism a chinese friend suggested that hans millar go to china and support the communists

. after graduating from university or wanted to aid the fight against fascism and decided to put his medical skills to use in china. in $1039.00 after 5 months of travel he arrived at the base of the revolutionaries any media player requested to work at the front of the tunnel and the way to yon was relax carolus sometimes they had to break through the enemy blockades in the middle of the night. one soldier suffered a ruptured your research on the battlefield but there were very few surgeons in the area who were able to use modern surgical scalpels i know you saw my father operated on him using the scalpel he brought from switzerland. to surgery went well. and the people of the village started calling him the buddhist saint of the west trying tylenol lad and. in 1905 when she was

just 14. went to manchuria to study at a japanese nursing school soon afterward japan was defeated and the 2nd world war was over leaving cocoa stranded in the chaos and unable to return home. soon after that the chinese civil war resume 2 as a nurse kyoko naca moro was invaluable to the communists she was assigned to the front where she met dr hans muller who was working for the chinese army. and there's a god she would there with the right them know ah. 2 i was surprised to see european dogs in the communist alamy. he said was hard for me to understand so whole week i think. at 1st conoco morrow was hesitant by cheap venture late found herself attracted to how . 2 they fell in love and resent. they joked about how to german fascism and

japanese fascism met and got married in the chinese communist army after the war they stayed in china and in 1950 many was born in beijing i am in october 1949 mounted on founded the people's republic of china and quickly became a hero to the chinese people. about 100 foreigners from the us in europe was subscribed amounts or domes beliefs were given important positions and enjoyed generous privileges. foreigners were few and far between in china at that time the families of red children received special treatment but also began to integrate into chinese society. foreign ones are you tell of your economic situation was relatively good my parents got a higher salary then their chinese colleagues so you are an idiot or you're sure

it's your goal with. most of the red children and their families were provided with accommodation in the form of dormitories or rooms in what was called the friendship hotel in beijing. compared with chinese people the foreigners enjoyed good treatment but they were still subject to the control of the communist party and faced restrictions on moving freely to different provinces and choosing their jobs . read children attended local schools and received the same education as chinese children. they soon became fluent in chinese or shall that the. the 1st phrase i learned in primary school was for chairman mao the whole of the next were labor and farmer. my mother supported me and was very strict in what she talked me the farmers are suffering from poverty and

landowners are crooks. they would teach us these ideas in the form of fairy tales if we're getting into it as i accepted this education without questioning it just as she sounded mean that you should always be 100 chains on the shoulder. in the 1950 s. a development boom began in the urban areas of beijing. with the cold war dividing europe and the west the communist party actively recruited experts from around the world for their professional and technical skills. but as you know my name is money. i was born in mostly in 1945. my father was an architect you know in 1951 he decided to go to china to help with the country's development.

father laon was born in beijing in 1912 to a chinese father and a polish mother. in law studied in paris and married here then a french woman during the 2nd world war he joined the resistance and fought against the german occupation. after the war laon worked as an architect and more say he had a good life in france but the opportunity to build up a new country appealed to him. my brothers saw a china as his home and felt that socialism was going well there. my parents were both members of the french communist policy. but decided to go to china to give their full support to the country. in 1051 a family boarded a cruise ship and move to china. leone's experience as an

architect in france was valued highly he played a central role in beijing's urban planning designing a hospital highway bridges and many other structures. in there my mother worked at china radio international and became a pioneer of the french broadcasting establishment. the family's happy life soon came to an end in 1957 months father was caught up in an unforeseen development. that your view should which we yet i don't what my father pointed out that beijing city hall was 2 luxury yes. in addition he submitted his opinion to the beijing institute of architectural design. all he did was provide advice on technical issues but it resulted in him being put before a kangaroo court so. at the time

china was engaged in an anti rightist movement scholars and intellectuals who criticized the communists were branded as members of the right wing. they were denounced and forced to undergo reeducation and state sponsored manual labor programs. the roots of the movement can be traced back to the soviet union following the death of stalin in 1053 his successor nikita khrushchev launched a series of political reforms in 1956 he condemned some of those crimes committed under stalin and the cult of personality that had surrounded him. seizing the opportunity and electros in hungary poland and other communist countries in eastern europe encouraged uprisings in hope of bringing about reforms the soviet union responded by dispatching its military to crush the opposition. mounted on was wary about the prospect of similar events in china he cracked down

on intellectuals who criticized the party and branded over half a 1000000 people as right wing radicals. play on while i was among them he was removed from his position as supervisor of a major development project and forced to work on the construction site for a year after her father was branded a rightist monique also suffered repercussions. oh national washouts when i was in junior high school i got into quarrels with my classmates they called me a little rightist. i got back at my classmates by slapping them in the face but it happened pretty awful. ford says i was angry that my father was dismissed as right wing so i was even angrier when they called me a little rightist i should say you know patton. chairman mao i want to china to become the leader of

a communist world replacing the soviet union. he boasted that china would surpass britain within 15 years and in 1958 he launched the great leap forward the entire nation was expected to participate in agricultural and industrial development. the farming system was to be collectivized by placing it under the direct control of what we called peoples commie. band private sector farms and strictly rationed food distribution around the country. between 158960 2 at least 45000000 people. worked starved beaten to death during the great leap forward food is forcibly taken from the countryside in order to be people in the cities in other words cities are friends thought and they live in the bubble

all information is strictly controlled. very difficult for ordinary people never mind foreigners to actually know what is happening in the countryside . following collectivization and the destruction under the lapse of agricultural production food shortages began to reach the cities. but the communist party regulated the media so the public was initially unaware of the situation. in 1962 the party leadership assessed the progress of the great leap forward. she was heir apparent inspected the grim reality of rural areas and admitted the party's failure. you reintroduced some capitalist policies that mao had a limited. amount of fear that this failure could be used to undermine his authority the result was the cultural revolution shortly after

the founding of the people's republic in 1949 the communist party had also set up a nationwide youth organization called the young pioneers it sought to train the new generation to become the communist leaders of the future joining the young pioneers was effectively mandatory for schoolchildren and their red neckerchief remains to this day a symbol of pride and belonging. i was told that it was part of the national flag almost died in the blood of the motss of the revolution. my parents were very happy that i joined tonight took me on a trip to the great wall with you. when i wore my red scarf and i felt really on a. in

1966 miles launched the cultural revolution in order to realize his ideal communist state he launched a nationwide campaign to eliminate dissidents and reeducate the chinese people. relied primarily on loyal young activists who had been steeped in his communist philosophy since childhood. they were highly motivated to overthrow any leaders of the communist party that might have had capitalist leanings. in main 1966 miles stablished the cultural revolution group centered on his wife jiang ching. the propaganda arm of the party and the people's daily newspaper wielded the effective power in the group they began to disseminate propaganda about the cultural revolution and mahler's ideology around the same time some middle school students in beijing formed a group called the red guard. they said they wanted to combat so-called revisionist

authorities and attitudes soon red guard units began emerging in schools across the country in the early stages of the cultural revolution pro-communist foreigners were not allowed to assume active roles most of them were forced to remain in the friendship hotel and were placed under the supervision of the state administration of foreign experts affairs. following chairman mao's instructions chinese were eventually allowed to participate in the revolution. as you young foreigners wanted to form a team of their own. you know woman since you say you know our parents encouraged us for so we built up a youth group for. us. the washerwoman even though we were teenagers we wanted to be critical as well. michael crooks like other chinese teenagers believed in the political ideals of the

cultural revolution at the time young people always carried a little red book called quotations from chairman mao tse tung. it provided an introduction to his ideas and thoughts about the communist party and was originally published by the people's liberation army in 1964. during the 10 years of the cultural revolution an estimated 1000000000 copies of the little red book were printed and sold in china together with the selected works of mao zedong it was regarded by mao's supporters as one of the treasured read books. at school and in the workplace everybody read it. miles thoughts had infiltrated the public consciousness. in the summer of 1966 a series of events was organized to advertise the cultural revolution the rallies were captured on government propaganda film. it says he

played the cello clip it was a lucky lady lucy still played elwood yes you have any scenes you can on the wild. branded free transportation for all participants over 1000000 young students from all over china attended a series of rallies. also ordered the gatherings to be broadcast in theaters around the country to promote the movement and create an appealing image of the red guards . well maybe other policies they other things till they set up things like leaflets it was. all a deal so the only serious injuries yes i one regard later said we were enthusiastic mauer's but at the same time we were a people discontented with reality i knew from a little before we're from

a family here why did the teenagers actively participate in the cultural revolution and join the red concerts or. it's. or because we were rebellious you. chairman mao sad teenage is full of energy. so you know what you're the cheshire shit. at the rallies the leaders called for the red guards to destroy the 4 old old customs culture habits and ideas which they regarded as remnants of feudal and borzois society. the red guard soon set about destroying traditional temples buddhist statues and other cultural treasures anything deemed to symbolize the old authority. meanwhile landowners and wealthy citizens believed to be capitalists were subject to do show trials scholars writers and artists were assaulted and in some cases

beaten to death the police stood by silently. many muller's chinese friends became red guards and took part in the cultural revolution she also read the little red book every day on the bus and was proud to spread chairman mao's doctrine. but her father hans muller who had helped to build the new china started to have doubts about the cultural revolution old comrades who had fought alongside him now found themselves coming under fire. well you may will allow my father told be very clearly if you resort to violence do not come back home so i tried to limit my involvement what you'll find now long. at the time reading people's homes had become a popular pastime among the red guards they would break into the homes of suspected

capitalists searching for hidden assets and any papers to prove ownership of land which were held up as evidence of counter revolutionary activity. and that my friend called me to search our classmates house mema. show his hand to shoot it down from this kind of thing i was allowed back then. shoot shoot shoot charring you know that. they fought us mail but to my father this acts as an forgivable gesture of a father so it was difficult for me to make a decision. after some consideration i decided my father was wrong in this case. and i talked to him and he said russia if you join to any violent activities you must leave this household.

so. soldiers should i only took part on one occasion. i watched without saying anything. when i broke into the house and i was confused to. just. i don't remember a thing which it is that they are my only memory is up a piece of gold rolling past me to judge the comment on. what you see that challenge jordan ledger sheet at the time i thought it was the right thing to do for the revolution in your area i didn't have any doubts. to chanel's really get out and i didn't even think about why. that's the way sharma to do just like wearing the latest fashion is doing until we didn't ask for a reason but yeah well my mission was to hunch away that sounds out. of the wash and say. they sure have

a question i was only 13 years old when the cultural revolution began to try a major loss for your i was very active. we broke into the offices of the art and music teachers because it's really good to get one student tried to beat the teacher with a battle b. but it was stopped by the other students. are you know what though you don't try as i once went back to visit my former principal who i respected. you for years she'd been beaten by her students and had 100 leg broken up where she still had trouble walking when i visited her all those years later huge ego of the shore her and what's your ideas for your quiet. one year before the cultural revolution began monet quality had returned to france to study up to. every. day i found out that the cultural revolution was underway in china when i knew

there were reports about it in the newspaper this. year i wanted to go back and see what was happening but if i stayed in fronts i would never know the truth i think. what i wanted to see it with my own millions. in the summer of 1967 money dropped out of university and returned to china believing that helping the cultural revolution was a once in a lifetime opportunity but what she witnessed there was different from what she had imagined. so here was your to insurers and then why was there's so much chaos. at one time i saw someone being paraded around with her arms down behind her back. an old woman who was forced to wear large cone shaped hats had an i.q. over there. and it's all about that whole

eyewitness scenes like this all around the city book. tony the young people didn't have any sympathy so i would even make fun of them being with one. so until martha went to shore. and the whole i buy her that in my school the red guards had basin and teach it to death i know that the house. that teacher was a very unassuming person. searched to show no noise or i started to have doubts about the cultural revolution and where did miles i don't think this would lead. to. the revolution also spread to the workplace and local government special red guard factions sprang up everywhere and anyone who opposed them would be punished senior managers and political figures were replaced one after another. eventually the

purges reached the top of the government in 1987 she was dismissed as president summarily tried and placed under house arrest. following severe maltreatment his health deteriorated he died in prison and was cremated in secrecy. it would seem you're not tired but the 17th 1967 a rebel faction of the beijing foreign studies university seized my father and accused him of being a foreign spy i was told. michael crooks father david taught at the university before he was arrested on campus by a rebel faction and taken to an unknown location. his family tried desperately to find out where he was. a mother and i came to appeal for his release. she said to the rebels you are wrong to detain my husband david and i are not just married we have comrades and partners of the revolution

are hard at home she was then also seized by the rebel faction. a lot of the foreigners were targeted joining the cultural revolution. the wrongful capture of my father is just one example there are children. in september not you $66.00 a lot of the slogans are about capitalist roaders reversion ists a year later it's all about traitors spy. running gates it's not just about foreigners who might be spies it's about anybody who might have an enemy link with the fore. so september on to 67 onwards there is

a great witch hunts. susanna yeah a friend of michael's was born in beijing to a chinese father and an american actress. her father yet had been born in the us to chinese expectorants and became a leading expert in metallurgy in 1951 to help with the establishment of the new china and became the director of an important research laboratory. because you had to pay came from the us and had an american wife he was criticized by a rebel faction within the laboratory and he was violently denounced. in 1968 he was held captive for a year in a cabin near the laboratory although he was the director he was not permitted to continue his work instead he was ordered to clean the toilets. after his release yet you pay was diagnosed with late stage cancer but he continued writing his

research papers trying to contribute what he could to china's progress as a suspected counter-revolutionary he was denied treatment and eventually died. china destroyed my father when he could have done so much for china. just by doing all he went through he went back to help the chinese people. in 1967 and 68 a power struggle emerged among various rebel groups in cities around the country armed guards continued to turn around and kill one another. in shanghai she chong ching and other places rebel factions seized weapons from factories the cultural revolution devolved into a massive armed struggle. to combat this in december 1968 mona introduced

a new policy measure called the down to the countryside movement the young leaders of the cultural revolution renew the courage to move from the urban to rural areas . under the pretext of learning true values from poor farmers some $16000000.00 people were relocated to rural labor programs for several years. be urban use proved unsuited for farm work but their removal did help to reduce the violence committed by red guards in the cities like a crook and many of the other foreign red children were not sent to rural areas or ordered to work in factories in beijing michael worked in an agricultural machinery factory that tried in the factory we stood in a line in front of mount saddam's paul try to. everyone how the little red book and sang a song to its. michael's reeducation in this

factory continued for 2 years then he worked at a car repair factory for another 2 years in late 1968 the rebel faction at the radio station where monique was mother worked arrested monique without warning they had tapped her phone and had been monitoring her behavior. that time i was stunned and wondered what was going to happen. so down and confess your model you throw newspaper was chairman mao's portrait on as in the trash wrong that you know you are your balls to defame chairman mao is to defame everyone you down the wall there was no one will forgive you. changed your opinion if you do not confess your parents and your brother and sister will have no future. for.

me because i knew i was threatened like this day after day which are in the me candles or do you know. no one told money family that she had been taken away her sister katrine 14 years old at the time couldn't understand what was happening what should they say they were sharing a room and all my sisters belongings were seized you a woman you touched for a while i had no idea where my sister went oh. my gosh my mother was crying every day. my father was also very worried what you see but we didn't know what to do you know. monique was subjected to intensive questioning for more than a month she was told that if she confessed to her crime she would be released. so she signed her arrest warrant she did not know what was to come. her and they're

going to be bored why did your daughter then they told me that i was officially a rest stop it i couldn't believe it. so i had signed exactly what they told me to . i wanted to scream but i couldn't so that is what happened so much happened all at once to their homes over. here for i had signed the warrant. now i was speechless. although she had done nothing money question as a foreign spy man sent to a prison in beijing that held people accused of political crimes. but i told them what i'm sure for the 1st couple of months they gave me a book quotations from chairman mao. although there was and yet when i said i

wanted to read something else they asked me whether i understood the entire book yes. also i said most of it was. top of the i told me i was an insolent person you're a criminal keep reading. you have a hard time you know let me hear so i had no choice but to read it. eventually i began to deny the charges i was deceived by rebel faction and i signed the arrest warrant even though i'm innocent. 2 of her shall i thought the. chance to come a book i tend every time i thought about it my entire body hurt finish and i was numb with pain. my more time and.

it continued like that for 3 years. i spent my time looking at the tree outside the prison all the time. made him kind of a fool i started talking to the tree sit all your. other than are looking at the tree in this talk reminds me of those days to go boy. he said he cut the show has a sound on the pedestal. in 1971 monique was sent to a labor camp she was released one year later there is no evidence of money ever being a spy. in the meantime a shift was underway that would have a profound impact on the lives of the red children. amid rising tensions between china and the so union beijing sought to resume diplomatic relations with japan and

the west this pave the way for a visit by u.s. president richard nixon in 1972 a historic event that ended 25 years of hostility and shifted the balance of power in the cold war. as china's international relationships improved foreigners who had been wrongfully accused and imprisoned were released. including michael crooks parents. in 1973 state premier joel lie spoke at a gathering of foreign citizens to apologize on behalf of the government for their treatment during the cultural revolution. maybe muller who had joined in at least one house raid left her factory in beijing after 2 years and reenrolled in university she married a swiss man and left china in 1976. susan

a yeah who had lost her father who left china for the u.s. in 1973 she still lives in san francisco. that's a mirror michael cook and his brothers moved to their father's native britain they attended university there before michael returned to china. tone died in 1976 the man who had had such a drastic impact on the lives of the red children the so-called gang of 4 of elite political leaders including mao's 3rd wife jiang chaney were arrested on charges of conspiracy against the state and party. revolution had come to an end. the key must be that mao at this point has pretty much the cheve what he wanted to achieve he's eliminated most of his i mean he's. he has asserted as absolute authority now it's a tone for what has been written back into the constitution and there are no

anime's left standing. i've tried to forget those painful memories. i don't want to remember the cultural revolution at all. now that. i feel chinese inside i feel this is my country looking back on the cultural revolution i think it was a. it was a soul stirring event. money quad returned to paris in 1975 and worked as a chinese teacher until her retirement she published a set of chinese textbooks that became very popular in france and are still in

print. but few readers were aware of the author's difficult early life in china. eventually her parents also came back and spent their later life in france but the 3 of them never managed to reflect upon their life together in china so you know i thought oh well you know for a couple of weeks before my father passed away i went out to the suburbs with him. and he took a look around and said he felt like a child much too often. i think after that chinese restaurant some day and have dinner with everybody the one you know so you know it's just if you've forgotten all the painful memories in this young of the. cultural revolution in terms of death is actually not all that exceptional probably only up to about 2000000 people actually lost their lives between

19661976 when chairman melbourne but the key to understanding the damage done during the cultural revolution to ordinary people is not to look at death but to look at loss of trauma loss of faith. loss of trust in social relationships where people are obliged to denounce not only neighbors and colleagues but also their own family members where the entire social fabric is destroyed. in 1981 the communist party issued an appraisal of the country's modern history it said the cultural revolution had been a serious mistake but the bouncer domes achievements outweighed his failures. the idealists who travelled from overseas to help create the new china. and their

red children who grow up amid the oh peoples of the cultural revolution. 2 generations whose lives were indelibly shaped by their experiences of red china. try. to. recover 1000 pounds disrupting supply. for new ideas reorganize the economic system. in germany. and 30 minutes on d w. what secrets lie behind the swap.

discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. w world heritage 368 get the maps now. beethoven is for me. the time is for you. beethoven is for have a. great open is for her. beethoven is far. from his horn player. 2021250th anniversary year on.

the move. play. play . this is d w news live from our lead in the u.k. offers a safe haven to people in hong kong as police arrest hundreds under some weeping new security laws the former colonial power extends immigration rights up to 3000000 eligible hong konger. also coming up russians sign off on president vladimir putin's.