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ABSTRACT Title of Document: THE ANTI-CONFUCIAN CAMPAIGN DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, AUGUST 1966-JANUARY 1967 Zehao Zhou, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Directed By: Professor James Gao, Department of History This dissertation examines the attacks on the Three Kong Sites (Confucius Temple, Confucius Mansion, Confucius Cemetery) in Confucius’s birthplace Qufu, Shandong Province at the start of the Cultural Revolution. During the height of the campaign against the Four Olds in August 1966, Qufu’s local Red Guards attempted to raid the Three Kong Sites but failed. In November 1966, Beijing Red Guards came to Qufu and succeeded in attacking the Three Kong Sites and leveling Confucius’s tomb. In January 1967, Qufu peasants thoroughly plundered the Confucius Cemetery for buried treasures. This case study takes into consideration all related participants and circumstances and explores the complicated events that interwove dictatorship with anarchy, physical violence with ideological abuse, party conspiracy with mass mobilization, cultural destruction with revolutionary indo ctrination, ideological vandalism with acquisitive vandalism, and state violence with popular violence. This study argues that the violence against the Three Kong Sites was not a typical episode of the campaign against the Four Olds with outside Red Guards as the principal actors but a complex process involving multiple players, intraparty strife, Red Guard factionalism, bureaucratic plight, peasant opportunism, social ecology, and ever- evolving state-society relations. This study also maintains that Qufu locals’ initial protection of the Three Kong Sites and resistance to the Red Guards were driven more by their bureaucratic obligations and self-interest rather than by their pride in their cultural heritage. Finally, this study introduces the concept of “Qufu exceptionalism,” namely, the unassailability and invulnerability of Confucius’s birthplace throughout Chinese history, and provides the reasons why Qufu exceptionalism ultimately succumbed to the Cultural Revolution. THE ANTI-CONFUCIAN CAMPAIGN DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, AUGUST 1966-JANUARY 1967 By Zehao Zhou Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Advisory Committee: Professor James Gao, Chair Professor Richard Bell Professor Arthur Eckstein Professor Jason Kuo Professor Donald Sutherland © Copyright by Zehao Zhou 2011 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my mother, whose enduring love sustained me throughout my life, and to my daughters, Edna and Rebecca, whose formative years passed without me as I pursued my doctoral studies. For their love, understanding, and support, I am forever grateful. ii Acknowledgements I am grateful to Professor Yongyi Song, eminent Cultural Revolution researcher and editor-in-chief of the Chinese Cultural Revolution Database. It was Professor Song who introduced me to Cultural Revolution studies and to the compilation of the Red Guard newspaper The Denounce Confucius Battlefield Report. It ultimately led to my research on the Qufu violence and served as an invaluable primary source for my study. This dissertation would not have been possible without Professor Song’s unfailing material and moral support. I am also grateful to Mr. Liu Yawei and Mr. Wang Liang. It was the determination of these two Qufu natives that led them to overcome tremendous odds in search of the truth about the siege of Qufu that they witnessed in their youth. The result of their earnest and persistent search for truth is their book Great Calamity in the Confucius Mansion that I heavily relied on for this study. I am grateful for their courage in uncovering the historical truth. While they are still unable to publish their book in China, their research has blazed a trail for other researchers to follow. I am indebted to Professor Donald Holroyd for the editorial support that he has generously provided. Despite the time constraint that I imposed on him, Professor Holroyd handled it with great understanding and patience. I am no less grateful to his wife Dorothy Holroyd, whose persistent but gentle nudging helped make it possible for me to complete my doctoral study without having to petition for an extension. My heartfelt thanks also go to Mr. Albert Sun, whose remarkable facility with the English language and broad knowledge of history allowed him to offer many insightful comments and suggestions. His close reading of my dissertation drafts and iii his technical support on several computer-related matters have greatly facilitated the completion of this dissertation. I wish to thank so many people and organizations both inside and outside the United States for their generous research support. Foremost among them are the Shanghai Municipal Library through its most friendly and efficient research specialist Mr. Xia Lei; Mr. Yang Fuhai of Wuxi who has practically become my book purchase agent for every source I hoped to buy; Professor Ding Shu, who has generously shared his resources on the Four Olds that he has collected over the years; Mr. Luo Ming of Qufu’s Confucius Institute, and Professor Luo Chenlei of Qufu Normal University. I extend my special thanks to the East Asian Library of the University of Pittsburgh and its East Asian Gateway Service in the able hands of their Public Services librarian Ms. Zou Xiuying and her colleagues Ms. Zhang Haihui and Yu-lien Liu. Over the years, this library has become the East Asian Library for me and an indispensable source of my research. I would like to give my special thanks to Ms. Qiao Ming, a seasoned librarian at Qufu Normal University’s main library, for her continuous support and invaluable assistance in obtaining Qufu and Shandong related sources that became indispensable for my research and dissertation. I owe her a deep debt of gratitude. I would be remiss for not recognizing the warm reception and support from the many Qufu residents who greeted me, guided me, and befriended me. I want to especially recognize Mr. Kong Lingyou, a seventy-sixth generation descendant of Confucius and former Red Guard, who became my tour guide and resource person iv and took me to every corner of Qufu. I will always remain grateful for his help, resourcefulness, and friendship. This dissertation would have remained a dream without the generous funding from York College of Pennsylvania through its Faculty Development Committee and individual faculty travel grants. I cannot find words to express my gratitude to my colleagues at the Schmidt Library of York College of Pennsylvania. They have provided me with the type of support any researcher could only dream of. Such help ranged from document delivery service, schedule accommodation, and patience with my incessant questions on language use, idiomatic expressions, and American culture. Their unfailing support and encouragement will always be fondly remembered and gratefully cherished. I am intellectually indebted to Professor Craig Ilgenfritz for many conversations we have had on subjects including postmodernism, world religions, and political science; to Professor Christopher Olsen for his gentle nudging and sharing of his views on arts and theater; to Professor William Rowe for letting me audit and even participate in his class in the spring of 2006; and to Professor Su Yang for sharing his research on collective violence in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. I share the credit of my work with Professor Andrea Goldman who guided me on myriad academic topics ranging from late imperial China, popular culture, popular religion, general historiography, and the art of history writing. Her patience with and respect for her students are only matched by her profound subject knowledge of v Chinese history, art, theater, culture, and language. My knowledge of Confucianism would not be where it is without Professor Goldman’s handholding and guidance. I will forever be grateful to her. My deepest and most profound gratitude goes to my advisor Professor James Gao. For eight long years, he provided me with invaluable guidance and expert advice. As a nontraditional, out-of-state commuter student, I encountered many challenges both academically and logistically, but Professor Gao was most understanding and spared no effort to ensure the successful completion of my program. He offered guidance when I was confused; constructive criticism when my writing and research took the wrong direction; commendation when I made progress. His perseverance with me over the course of my doctoral studies helped me survive and succeed in this arduous, long, but most rewarding journey of my life. He has my eternal gratitude. vi Table of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. iii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... ix Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: Confucianism Before the Cultural Revolution ........................................... 9 Confucianism from Antiquity to the Opium War: 551 B.C. – A.D. 1840 .............. 10 Confucianism in Decline: 1840-1949 ..................................................................
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