Cultural Revolution Madness

In 1966, China's People's Daily issued a new directive about getting rid of the four olds - namely, old thinking, old culture, old customs, and old habits (旧思想, 旧文化, 旧风俗, 旧习惯).

Apart from using the directive as an excuse to get rid of everything deemed "old", it was also an opportunity for Red Guards to engage in some extreme behavior.

Such as changing the name of the famous chain of Peking duck restaurant from 全聚德 (Quan Ju De) to 北京烤鸭店 (or Peking Roast Duck Shop), from 东安市场 (Eastern Peace Market) to 东风市场 (Eastern Wind Market)，from 协和医院 (United Hospital) to 反帝医院 (Anti-Imperialist Hospital)，and from 长安街 (Eternal Peace Street) to 东方红大街 (The East is Red Street). Even the street in front of the then Soviet embassy was changed to 反修路 (Anti-Revisionist Street).

And in a bid to highlight one's loyalty to Mao Zedong (毛泽东), some even pinned their Mao badges directly onto their chest (re: flesh). Others made the badges bigger, such that some resembled the size of clocks. Mao himself reportedly pleaded with his people to stop producing so many badges, urging them to use the metal to manufacture planes instead.

According to one estimate, Mao's Little Red Book is said to be the book with the largest printed circulation in the world after the bible. The latter was printed over a period of 1,000 years, while the Little Red Book was printed only over two decades. These excerpts and more were contained in the book 大陆运动知多少 (or How Much Do You Know About Mainland Campaigns, Hong Kong Qilin Publishing House, 1998).