Sent Down Lives | Sina Witness
Wang Dansui—Sina Witness
These photos depict five former “sent-down youth,” or zhiqing, who were dispatched from Shanghai and Chongqing to the jungles of Xishuangbanna prefecture in Yunnan province during the “Down to the Countryside Movement” Mao Zedong initiated in the late 1950s. The movement continued until the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, during which time some 17 million urban youngsters were resettled in rural areas to be reeducated through agricultural labor. This photo essay explores its subjects’ recollections of their experiences, 50 years on.
Caption information
These photos depict five former “sent-down youth,” or zhiqing, who were dispatched from Shanghai and Chongqing to the jungles of Xishuangbanna prefecture in Yunnan province during the “Down to the Countryside Movement” Mao Zedong initiated in the late 1950s. The movement continued until the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, during which time some 17 million urban youngsters were resettled in rural areas to be reeducated through agricultural labor. This photo essay explores its subjects’ recollections of their experiences, 50 years on.