1949 - The Young Pioneers of Communist China

On Oct.1, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the ruling of a new government. He claimed that the government would serve its people. It would function according to plans overseeing every five years to strengthen socialism and to reach the final goal of communism. Education would be free and mandatory for every single child from all family backgrounds. There would be six years of elementary school and four years in middle school. Modeling after the Soviet Union and its training of the next generation, China set up the Communist Youth Group to praise its exemplary students and future successors. The members of the Communist Youth Group are from families of proletariat and revolutionaries. My mother could not join in the Communist Youth Group because she came from a family of the bourgeoisie. She was loved by her family but abandoned by the society. Every time she mentions this she seems sad. I guess that she worked hard and proved herself as a distinguished candidate. She asked me to be studious and self-motivated, to be a good student and a useful member of the society. I still remembered one day in my primary school time, I was wearing red scarf back from school, she looked so happy.  

The society at that time was filled with hope and aspirations. People loved the new China and the Communist Party.

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