23
23
beg
ets dragons, a phoenix begets phoenixes, and mouse's children can
only dig holes."
In the coming months, belonging to the Red Guard would be a
matter of vital importance. The Red Guard would take over the
administration of the cities and the schools. If you belonged, you'd have
power. If you didn't, every petty grudge against you could be turned
into a political charge. And the slightest accusation of ideological sin
could be used to make your days worse than your most appalling
nightmare. The debate over who should be allowed in and kept out was
not an innocent children's game.
Eventually there would be two different Red Guards in Gao
Yuan's school. One would embrace the children of the favored classes.
The other would harbor the rejects--the children of the forbidden castes.
At first the two factions were content to squabble over which one
upheld Mao's true line. Each accused the other of right-wing
revisionism. Both shouted torrents of Mao's quotes, determined to
prove the rival faction wrong. Soon they turned from citations to taunts
and insults. Then they graduated to throwing rocks.
The two sides armed themselves. They made slingshots and clubs,
then wove helmets from willow twigs soaked in water--helmets so hard
you could smash them with a hammer and barely make a dent. A few
lucky kids found old swords. Others made sabers and daggers out of
scrap metal. Everyone in Gao Yuan's town had grown up knowing how
to mix gunpowder from scratch. Children traditionally crafted their
own firecrackers for annual holidays. Now, the students of Democracy
Street Primary School put that skill to a new use. They built arsenals of
home-made hand grenades. And some found ways to get guns.
It wasn't long before the two rival gangs of Red Guards were
engaged in full-scale warfare. Each occupied a separate set of buildings
on the campus. And each began a series of raids to unseat the other
from its newly-established headquarters. In those armed forays,
<< < GO > >>
23
23
beg
ets dragons, a phoenix begets phoenixes, and mouse's children can
only dig holes."
In the coming months, belonging to the Red Guard would be a
matter of vital importance. The Red Guard would take over the
administration of the cities and the schools. If you belonged, you'd have
power. If you didn't, every petty grudge against you could be turned
into a political charge. And the slightest accusation of ideological sin
could be used to make your days worse than your most appalling
nightmare. The debate over who should be allowed in and kept out was
not an innocent children's game.
Eventually there would be two different Red Guards in Gao
Yuan's school. One would embrace the children of the favored classes.
The other would harbor the rejects--the children of the forbidden castes.
At first the two factions were content to squabble over which one
upheld Mao's true line. Each accused the other of right-wing
revisionism. Both shouted torrents of Mao's quotes, determined to
prove the rival faction wrong. Soon they turned from citations to taunts
and insults. Then they graduated to throwing rocks.
The two sides armed themselves. They made slingshots and clubs,
then wove helmets from willow twigs soaked in water--helmets so hard
you could smash them with a hammer and barely make a dent. A few
lucky kids found old swords. Others made sabers and daggers out of
scrap metal. Everyone in Gao Yuan's town had grown up knowing how
to mix gunpowder from scratch. Children traditionally crafted their
own firecrackers for annual holidays. Now, the students of Democracy
Street Primary School put that skill to a new use. They built arsenals of
home-made hand grenades. And some found ways to get guns.
It wasn't long before the two rival gangs of Red Guards were
engaged in full-scale warfare. Each occupied a separate set of buildings
on the campus. And each began a series of raids to unseat the other
from its newly-established headquarters. In those armed forays,
<< < GO > >>