Former Red Guard regrets causing mother's death during Cultural Revolution

A former Red Guard is seeking repentance for accusing his mother of being a “counter-revolutionary” during the Cultural Revolution - an act that led to her execution.

Zhang Hongbing is a 60-year-old lawyer from Anhui province and a far cry from the young boy who accused his mother of anti-Maoist comments 46 years ago. Two months after the accusation, his mother was executed by firing squad, and Zhang has lived a life of regret ever since.

Originally a member of the Red Guard, a social movement of young people organised during the Cultural Revolution, Zhang denounced his mother in 1970 after she criticised Mao Zedong’s policies, burned a picture of the Chinese leader and expressed support for Liu Shaoqi, former Chinese head of state and one of Mao’s political rivals. He was 16 at the time.

“I was shocked that the very image of her in my mind completely changed,” Zhang said. “In my eyes, she was no longer my mother, but an enemy.”

In a note that Zhang delivered to his fellow Red Guards, Zhang used his mother’s full name, Fang Zhongmou, and wrote that she should be “executed” along with all other counter-revolutionaries. At the time, he felt confident in his actions and was even supported by his father. Now, however, a remorseful Zhang admits that the Cultural Revolution mindset of the era, which encouraged young people to denounce potential Communist Party traitors, completely influenced his thinking.

“At that time, my mind was a mess,” Zhang told The Beijing News. “I did not regret my actions but felt only that…I must stand firm [in my decision]… In that era, we had all been coerced into an atmosphere where we could not run even if we wanted to.”