The first wave of people to call themselves “Red Guards” in China were a group of students at the Tsinghua University Middle School who used the name Red Guards to sign two big-character posters issued on 29 May and 2 June 1966. The students believed that the criticism of the play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office was a political issue and needed greater attention. The group of students, led by Zhang Chengzhi and Nie Yuanzi, originally wrote the posters as a constructive criticism towards Tsinghua University’s administration, which was accused of harboring “intellectual elitism” and “bourgeois”.However, they were denounced as “counter-revolutionaries” and “radicals” by the school administration and fellow students, and were forced to secretly meet amongst the ruins of the Old Summer Palace. The group chose the name “The Red Guards” to create an image of a mass student movement. Red Guard groups sprung up at different campuses and universities, emulating these students.
The Red Guards’ activities were originally suppressed by “work groups” or “work teams” dispatched at different campuses and university. These work groups were led by Zhang Chunqioa, head of China’s Propaganda Department, to promote the Cultural Revolution and investigate school administrations, however, anti-work group sentiments began to spread due to the rigid actions of these work groups on campuses. Mao, realizing the mistake of these work groups and sensing the danger of the revolution faltering, dispatched Chen Boda, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and others to join these anti-work group movements and help revive the suppressed Red Guards.[1] The group soon put up more posters calling for radical revolution, which was approved by and published on the People’s Daily. Soon afterwards, students all over Beijing were calling themselves “Red Guards”. The movement, however, was not confined nor directed by a central organization, and many rival Red Guard groups were formed.
