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Gary Cheung

Shortly after the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in May 1966, some junior cadres at the Hong Kong branch of the Xinhua News Agency posted “big-character posters” inside the office and vowed to launch the Cultural Revolution within the branch.
Cultural Revolution, 50 years on – the pain, passion and power struggle that shaped today’s China
Then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai emphasised that the practice of the Cultural Revolution would not be copied in the city, so the news agency’s leader in Hong Kong then looked for opportunities to instigate an anti-British struggle.
After the left wing in Macau claimed victory in the struggle against the colonial government in the then Portuguese enclave in December 1966, members of leftist organisations in Hong Kong went to learn from the experience.

Ho Ming-sze, an official with the United Front Work Department in Xinhua’s Hong Kong branch at the time, also went to Macau to learn from the “struggle experience”.
“Xinhua officials became restless after returning from Macau,” he said.
Ho, now 94, was promoted to head of the United Front Work Department at Xinhua’s Hong Kong branch in 1978 and retired in 1988.
While the 1967 riots were a spillover from the Cultural Revolution, which began on the mainland a year earlier, its immediate trigger was a labour dispute in April 1967 at an artificial flower factory in San Po Kong.
The incident escalated quickly after the leftist camp and mainland officials stationed in Hong Kong seized the opportunity to mobilise their followers to protest against the colonial government.
Former Red Guards remember a time when killing was normal
The left wing was inspired by Beijing’s support for the “anti-British struggle” and called a general strike at the end of June, but the colonial administration stood firm against attempts to topple it.
The stand-off escalated when extremists planted bombs on the streets. The situation only calmed down in December 1967, when premier Zhou Enlai expressed Beijing’s official disapproval. By then the riots had claimed 51 lives, 15 in bomb attacks.
Lau Man-shing was an inspector in the Water Supplies Department and a member of the executive committee of the Government Waterworks Chinese Employees Union.
He joined a strike organised by the Anti-British Struggle Committee, founded by the leftist camp, which caused him to lose his lucrative job and be detained for 13 months at Victoria Road Detention Centre. Some 52 leaders of leftist organisations, including Lau, were detained at the centre during the riots, many for more than a year without trial.
Cultural Revolution was wrong and it will never be allowed to recur: party mouthpiece breaks Chinese media silence over 50th anniversary
On his release, Lau, now 87, held odd jobs such as truck driver. He said he felt abandoned by the leftist camp after the riots. Lau managed to acquire professional qualifications after working as a manual labourer for many years.
“Some rank-and-file members in leftist organisations were killed during the disturbances because of the false instructions from leaders of those organisations, who called on their followers to defend the premises of unions and schools at all costs,” he said.
“Their deaths could have been avoided if their leaders ordered retreats from the premises,” Lau said.
Forty-nine years on, Peter Tsang Yu-hung still lamented his suffering during the riots, although he was not involved in any violent acts.
He was a Form Five pupil at the pro-Beijing Heung To Middle School in Kowloon Tong when he and 51 schoolmates were arrested on their way home from school on November 1, 1967.
They were stopped by a team of police officers near Somerset Road and were arrested for attending an unlawful and “intimidating” assembly in a public place under the emergency law in force at the time. Three of them had rejected police demands to search their schoolbags.
Why are so many Chinese nostalgic for the Cultural Revolution?
“We were arrested just because we were students from a left-wing school ... A month later, we were taken to the court without lawyers representing us,” Tsang said.
He was sentenced to a year in jail for attending an unlawful assembly. Another 20 schoolmates and the teacher were given jail terms from 12 to 20 months. In August 1968, his school threw him a welcome party when he was released.
But Tsang could not get a job as a schoolteacher after graduating from Baptist College, now Baptist University. He later found work as a nursing teacher and worked in nursing for the rest of his career, retiring as a manager at the North District Hospital in 2011.
Tsang, now 65, said he hoped Beijing could recognise what they had done in 1967.
“But our alma mater seldom mentioned what happened to us in the past decades,” he said.
On April 3 , Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, mentioned the “unreasonable arrests” of Tsang and his schoolmates in 1967 when he delivered a speech at the dinner marking the 70th anniversary of Heung To Middle School.
Zhang asked a senior official from the liaison office to meet Tsang after the former student wrote to him to appreciate his recognition of what they did 49 years ago.
Beijing has seldom mentioned the 1967 riots in the past few decades, because of its disapproval of the disturbances, and because the riots reinforced the anti-Communist mentality among some Hongkongers.

Ho, who quit the Communist Party in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, lamented that Beijing had still failed to win the hearts and minds of many Hongkongers because at times the political movements launched by the Communist Party scared them off.




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Cultural Revolution

When the Cultural Revolution spilled over into riots in Hong Kong – and changed lives forever

Scores of white-shirted leftists from the Hong Kong and Kowloon Committee for Anti-Hong Kong British Persecution Struggle recite quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong outside Government House. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Lau Man-shing, a man detained at Victoria Road Detention Centre at Mount Davis during the 1967 riots. Two years ago, the government granted the site to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for the development of a tertiary institution. Renovation work expected to be completed by the end of this year. Mount Davis. 07MAY15

Interview with Ho Ming-sze, former head of United Front Work Department of Xinhua News Agency's Hong Kong branch, on the impact of the Cultural Revolution on Hong Kong, at the Miami Beach Towers in Tuen Mun. 16MAY16 SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

Peter Tsang Yu-Hung who was convicted of unlawful assembly during the 1967 riots, shows his student card of Heung To Secondary School on 1969 in a press conference in Admiralty. 03DEC12

Black and white photo. Riot 1967. An angry demonstrator (red guard) in a protest at the Government House. 19 May 1967.

Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government's liaison office attends Inauguration of the Preparatory Committee in celebration of the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Central. 07AUG14

HKG97:CHINA-DISSIDENTS:BEIJING,31 MAY 95 - 1989 FILE PHOTO - University students demonstrate in Beijing's Tiananmen Square during the 1989 pro-democracy movement. As the sixth anniversary the bloody crackdown on the student-led movement approaches Chinese imprisoned for their political acts during the 1989 protests have appealed to parliament for their freedom -- or at least better conditions while still in prison. Picture taken 17 MAY 89. dmo/photo by Shunsuke Akatsuke REUTERS

Cultural Revolution, 50 years on – the pain, passion and power struggle that shaped today’s China

A Mao Zedong statue overlooks land in Shaoshan, central Hunan province, the hometown of the former Communist leader. Photo: EPA

Red Guards wave Red Books at Beijing's Tiananmen Square when Chairman Mao Zedong meets them in 1966. (credit: Weng Naiqiang/China Foto Press)

Former Red Guards remember a time when killing was normal

Scars of Cultural Revolution run deep for some survivors

FILE - In this file photo taken Jan. 8, 1967, two men with placards around their necks are declared anti-revolutionary elements and paraded through the streets of Beijing by members of the Red Guard during the early days of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong. Monday, May 16, 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of a May 16, 1966 party meeting that spearheaded the 10-year Cultural Revolution, a violent and frequently chaotic attempt by Mao to reassert his power and revive his party's egalitarian ideals. (AP Photo, File)

Zheng Shisheng poses for a photograph during an interview in Chongqing city, southwest China, on Dec. 23, 2015. 23DEC15 Photo by Simon Song

Cao Dengju poses for a photograph during an interview in Chongqing city on Dec. 24, 2015. 25MAR15 Photo by Simon Song

ÒRed GuardsÓ cemetery in Chongqing, Sichuan province, on Dec. 22, 2015. 22DEC15 SCMP/Simon Song

FILE - In this August 1966, file photo, Chinese leader Chairman Mao Zedong, center, waves as he meets with teachers and students from Beijing and other parts of China, in Beijing. A time of massive upheaval, violence and chaos, China's 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, was launched 50 years ago by Communist Party leader Mao, who began it by purging officials considered insufficiently loyal. Over its course longstanding party officials, intellectuals and teachers came under violent attack, while traditional Chinese thought and culture were condemned along with foreign influences. (Photo via AP, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken Sept. 14, 1966, youths are seen at a rally during the height of the Red Guard upheaval waving copies of the collected writings of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, often referred to as Mao's Little Red Book and carrying a poster of Karl Marx. On May 16, 1966, the Communist Party's Politburo produced a document announcing the start of what was formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to pursue class warfare and enlist the population in mass political movements. Launched by leader Mao Zedong, it set off a decade of tumult to revive communist goals and enforce a radical egalitarianism. (AP Photo, File)

Yuan Genghua poses for a photograph during an interview Shaoshan, central China's Hunan province, on Dec. 25, 2015. 25MAR15 Photo by Simon Song

Li Musen was one of the top commanders of the “rebel until the end” Red Guard camp. Photo: Simon Song

No Caption Available.

Cultural Revolution was wrong and it will never be allowed to recur: party mouthpiece breaks Chinese media silence over 50th anniversary

A poster showing the late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong hangs on a wall inside a restaurant in Beijing. Photo: AFP

A visitor looks at a display of porcelain figures of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong at Jianchuan Museum Cluster in Anren, Sichuan Province, China, May 13, 2016. Tucked away in southwestern China's Sichuan province, a private collector stands virtually alone in exhibiting relics from the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the political movement, with no official commemorations planned. Official records whitewash the details of both periods, but admit that Mao made major mistakes. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. SEARCH "CULTURAL KIM" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES?

A vendor waits for customers surrounded by posters and images showing the late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong (L and R) at a market in Beijing on May 15, 2016. Fifty years after the Cultural Revolution spread bloodshed and turmoil across China, the Communist-ruled country is driving firmly down the capitalist road, but Mao Zedong's legacy remains -- like the embalmed leader himself -- far from buried. / AFP PHOTO / NICOLAS ASFOURI

Why are so many Chinese nostalgic for the Cultural Revolution?

Mao’s utopian dream finds fans among the young, to consternation of some who experienced upheaval

Li Zhengquan poses for a photograph during an interview at his home in Chongqing city on Dec. 23, 2015. 23MAR15 Photo by Simon Song

Zhou Jiayu is pictured during an interview in Chongqing city, southwest China, on Dec. 24, 2015. 24DEC15 Photo by Simon Song

Dai Cheng, from Changzhou, China's Jiangsu province, cries, poses for a photo. People from around the nation celebrate the 122nd birthday of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, at his hometown in Shaoshan, China's Hunan province, in Dec. 25 late evening. Mao's birthday falls on Dec. 26, 2015. 26DEC15 SCMP/Simon Song

People from around the nation celebrate the 122nd birthday of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China, at his hometown in Shaoshan, China's Hunan province, in Dec. 25 late evening. Mao's birthday falls on Dec. 26, 2015. 26DEC15 SCMP/Simon Song

Li Musen, former chairman of Chongqing Revolutionary Committee, speaks during an interview talking about Cultural Revolution at his home in Chongqing, Sichuan province, on Dec. 22, 2015. 22DEC15 SCMP/Simon Song

People celebrate the 122nd birthday of Mao Zedong at his hometown in Shaoshan, Hunan province, in December. Photo: Simon Song

Anti-Soviet genesis of Cultural Revolution set stage for Chinese diplomatic revival

Mao regarded Soviet Union as bigger threat than United States

FILE--Presidential envoy Dr. Henry Kissinger, left, meets with Communist China's Chairman Mao Tse-tung , right, and Premier Chou Enlai on Feb. 17, 1973, in Chungnanhai, China. Advising Chinese leaders that the Soviets were determined to amass enough nuclear weapons to destroy their country, Henry Kissinger secretly offered China U.S. satellite information and a hot line long before the communist government gained American diplomatic recognition. (AP Photo) Mao Zedong

FILE - In this file photo taken Aug. 10, 1966, a young woman identified only as Ms. Zhou calls out to embolden her fellow Red Guards in Beijing's Tiananmen Square at the start of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. On May 16, 1966, the Communist Party's Politburo produced a document announcing the start of what was formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to pursue class warfare and enlist the population in mass political movements. Launched by leader Mao Zedong, it set off a decade of tumult to revive communist goals and enforce a radical egalitarianism. (AP Photo, File)

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (R) chatting with Chinese President Mao Zedong, 1959. REUTER PHOTO

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 1972, file photo, Chinese communist party leader Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong), left, and U.S. President Richard Nixon shake hands as they meet in Beijing. Nixon's visit marked the first time an American president visited China. (AP Photo/File)

From December 1949 to February 1950 Chinese president Mao Zedong visited USSR and met Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin. China and USSR sign few agreements concerning economical, industrial and scientific aid and support.

(FILES) This file photo taken in June 1966 shows Red Guards, high school and university students, waving copies of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" as they parade in Beijing's streets at the beginning of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution". Launched by Mao in 1966 to topple his political enemies after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution saw a decade of violence and destruction nationwide as party-led class conflict devolved into social chaos. / AFP PHOTO / JEAN VINCENT

Premier Zhou Enlai (left), chairman Mao Zedong and defence minister Lin Biao wave to troops in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on October 3, 1967. Photo: AFP

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A labour dispute at an artificial flower factory in San Po Kong triggered riots which claimed 51 lives, 15 through bomb attacks on the streets


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When the Cultural Revolution spilled over into riots in Hong Kong – and changed lives forever

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A labour dispute at an artificial flower factory in San Po Kong triggered riots which claimed 51 lives, 15 through bomb attacks on the streets

A labour dispute at an artificial flower factory in San Po Kong triggered riots which claimed 51 lives, 15 through bomb attacks on the streets