Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits

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Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits
Chinese横扫一切牛鬼蛇神
OriginPeople's Daily
TypeEditorial
DateJune 1, 1966
Editorial Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits

Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits[1] (Chinese: 横扫一切牛鬼蛇神, Pinyin: Héngsǎo yīqiè níuguǐ shéshén[2]), alternatively translated as Obliterate All Ox Demons and Snake Spirits,[3] Sweep Away All Ox-ghosts and Snake-spirits,[4] is an editorial published by the People's Daily on June 1, 1966,[5] calling on the masses to rise up and "sweep away all cow demons and snake spirits".[6]

The editorial declares that "the climax of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is rising in socialist China, which accounts for a quarter of the world's population." It calls on the proletariat to "completely eradicate all the old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits that have poisoned the people of China for thousands of years, fostered by the exploiting classes."[7]

Cow demons and snake spirits referred to people who were condemned during the Cultural Revolution,[8] including condemned government leaders, intellectuals and cadres.[9] The claim to "sweep away all cow demons and snake spirits" is actually part of the campaign to combat the "Four Olds" and maintain the "Bloodline theory".[10]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Geremie Barme; Geremie Barmé (3 December 2002). An Artistic Exile: A Life of Feng Zikai (1898-1975). University of California Press. pp. 326–. ISBN 978-0-520-20832-2.
  2. ^ Michael Schoenhals (4 March 2015). China's Cultural Revolution, 1966-69: Not a Dinner Party. Routledge. pp. 308–. ISBN 978-1-317-47497-5.
  3. ^ Tuo Wang (24 September 2014). The Cultural Revolution and Overacting: Dynamics between Politics and Performance. Lexington Books. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-0-7391-9291-7.
  4. ^ Alexander C. Cook (7 November 2016). The Cultural Revolution on Trial: Justice in the Post-Mao Transition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 237–. ISBN 978-0-521-76111-6.
  5. ^ Marc Andre Matten (1 November 2016). Imagining a Postnational World: Hegemony and Space in Modern China. Brill Publishers. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-90-04-32715-3.
  6. ^ Yuan Gao (1 June 1987). Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution. Stanford University Press. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-0-8047-6589-3.
  7. ^ Wen-shun Chi; Wenshun Ji (1971). Readings in the Chinese Communist Cultural Revolution: a manual for students of the Chinese language. University of California Press. pp. 186–. ISBN 978-0-520-01593-7.
  8. ^ Richard King (15 January 2013). Milestones on a Golden Road: Writing for Chinese Socialism, 1945-80. University of British Columbia Press. pp. 245–. ISBN 978-0-7748-2375-3.
  9. ^ Jin Ba; Chin Pa (1984). Random Thoughts. Joint Publishing Company. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-962-04-0312-5.
  10. ^ Yan Hairong (Oct 1, 2013). "Rethinking Is Not Demonizing". Monthly Review.
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