Some of those protesting and rioting in cities across the country see themselves as fighting to uphold the principles of liberty and equality that undergirded the American founding. As a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from China, I worry that my adopted country may be following a different path: that of my native country’s Cultural Revolution. My co-author, who has taught Chinese students for a number of years, shares my assessment that America’s current cultural upheaval has much more in common with China’s dark decade between 1966 and 1976 than with the American Revolution.
Mao’s young Red Guards, oftentimes joined by workers and farmers, looted and vandalized the homes of ordinary citizens under the rubric of “purifying” people’s minds. At one time, Mao’s radical warriors waged militia wars against each other and inflicted great casualties nationwide. They coerced confessions and levied harsh reprisals to crimes never committed, forcing people to hide their real political opinions and personal views.
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