Four Olds

thumb|The remains of the [[Wanli Emperor () at the Ming dynasty tombs. Red Guards dragged the remains of the emperor and of his empresses to the front of the tomb, where they denounced and burned them.]]

The Four Olds () refer to categories used by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution to characterize elements of Chinese culture prior to the Chinese Communist Revolution that they were attempting to destroy. The Four Olds were 'old ideas', 'old culture', 'old customs', and 'old habits'. During the Red August of 1966, shortly after the onset of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards' campaign to destroy the Four Olds began amid the massacres being carried out in Beijing.

Terminology

The term "Four Olds" first appeared on 1 June 1966, in Chen Boda's People's Daily editorial, "Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits", where the Old Things were described as anti-proletarian, "fostered by the exploiting classes, [and to] have poisoned the minds of the people for thousands of years". However, which customs, cultures, habits, and ideas specifically constituted the "Four Olds" were never clearly defined. During this time, changes associated with the destruction of the Four Olds included: renaming places and people with "revolutionary names", destruction of historical and religious sites and texts, and the arrest of clergy.

Calls to destroy the "Four Olds" usually did not appear in isolation, but were contrasted with the hope of building the "Four News" (new customs, new culture, new habits, new ideas). The idea that Chinese culture was responsible for China's economic backwardness and needed to be reformed had some precedent in the May Fourth Movement (1919), and was also encouraged by colonial authorities during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Campaign to destroy the Four Olds

The campaign to Destroy the Four Olds and Cultivate the Four News () began in Beijing on 19 August during the "Red August". Academic Alessandro Russo writes that the destruction of the Four Olds was an ambiguous campaign from the perspective of the Chinese Communist Party. The first things to change were the names of streets and stores: "Blue Sky Clothes Store" to "Defending Mao Zedong Clothes Store", "Cai E Road" to "Red Guards Road", and so forth.

In Beijing, the name of the road where the embassy of the Soviet Union was stationed was changed to "Anti-revisionism Road". The Peking Union Medical College Hospital, founded in 1921 by the Rockefeller Foundation, was renamed "Anti-Imperialist Hospital".

In Huangpu district of Shanghai, the city's commercial center, Red Guards tore down 93 percent of shop signboards (2,166 of 2,328), and renamed restaurants, schools and hospitals.

Public sites

thumb|The [[Forbidden City in Beijing was renamed the "Palace of Blood and Tears".|left|283px]]

The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked in November 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, when it was visited and vandalized by a team of Red Guards from Beijing Normal University, led by Tan Houlan. The corpse of the 76th-generation Duke Yansheng (a descendant of Confucius) was removed from its grave and hung naked from a tree in front of the palace during the desecration of the cemetery in the Cultural Revolution.

The Chinese government stopped short of endorsing the physical destruction of products. In fact, the government protected significant archaeological discoveries made during the Cultural Revolution, such as the Mawangdui, the Leshan Giant Buddha and the Terracotta Army.

In later stages of the campaign, examples of Chinese architecture were destroyed, classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart, and Chinese temples were desecrated. who defiantly demonstrated the Four Olds.

Many artists and other cultural professionals were persecuted by vigilantes, although some cultural advances came about because of the period, including the integration of "new" western instruments and ballet into Peking opera.

Attacks on ethnic minorities and book burnings

Languages and customs of ethnic minorities in China were labeled as part of the Four Olds and texts in ethnic languages were burned. Bilingual education was suppressed.

File:SuzhouGardenFrieze.jpg|A frieze damaged during the Cultural Revolution, originally from a garden house of a rich imperial official in Suzhou

File:北平「協和醫院」被「紅衛兵」改為「反帝醫院」.jpg|The Peking Union Medical College Hospital was renamed "Anti-Imperialist Hospital" by Red Guards

File:Trip to Ningxia and Gansu.jpg|A damaged statue of the Buddha

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Aftermath

Appraisal of damage

No official statistics have ever been produced by the Communist party in terms of reporting the actual cost of damage. By 1978, many stories of death and destruction caused by the Cultural Revolution had leaked out of China and became known worldwide.

Preservation

During and after the Cultural Revolution, efforts were made to protect Chinese cultural artifacts. Shanghai officials intervened in Red Guard house searches, relocating items to safety and documenting those that couldn't be moved for future restoration. Post-Cultural Revolution, there was a renewed effort to preserve cultural heritage, with initiatives like the Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program and the establishment of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to protect and manage historical sites and artifacts.