The Creation of a New China

During the 1950's and 1960's, there were several measures implemented by Chairman Mao. All of these measures had the same goal - to create a new egalitarian society in China. He wanted to revolutionize China, and he utilized the rural and common people, who always are willing to support change. In the excerpts we read, we see two of these measures that were implemented: the land reforms and the Red Guards. The both worked towards the end result of creating a new society, but in different ways. The land reforms worked towards the economic reform he sought. He wanted everyone to collectively farm the land so that all of the products were owned by the group rather than by one person. The Red Guard worked towards creating the ideal culture - one where people were only allowed to have opinions that supported the communist cause. By putting these economic reforms and cultural reforms together, he reached the same end result of shaping China into a communist society in all of its aspects.
And, not only did they have the same results, but they also both used the same means - propaganda and revolt. I found this very interesting because it seems that for drastic changes to occur, there always has to be a revolt, and it always seems to be the common people that are backing the revolt. Whether the reason for this is because common and especially young people are more susceptible to propaganda or more open to change is debatable, but the way by which they achieved this end is ironic. Since in trying to make everyone equal, they had to persecute the people that they did not agree with, which is making certain people unequal.