ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the success of children in the PRC from a historical perspective, focusing on the case study of a nationally known model propaganda team, “Red Children,” which was active during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Serving as a microcosm of children’s successes in Mao’s China, the history of the Red Children in rural Southeast Shanxi shows how these children worked within top-down state initiatives to construct their sense of success. This chapter argues that, although the party state was powerful in constructing its discourses on children’s success, children demonstrated agency in utilizing Party-endorsed discourses to define and rationalize their own success.
