Sent-Down Youth were city teenagers sent to the countryside 'to be re-educated by the poor farmers'

A man walking pass a stand selling merchandise depicting Mao Zedong at a market in Beijing, China. December 26th, 2023, marked the 130th anniversary of the birth of the former Chinese leader. Photograph: EPA The duck was mostly eaten, the panel in the centre of the circular table had stopped moving and a man opposite was talking about his time as a Sent-Down Youth during the Cultural Revolution. Also known as Educated Youth, these were teenagers from the city who were sent to the countryside by Mao Zedong "to be re-educated by the poor farmers" from the late 1960s onwards….