Figurine

This porcelain figurine belongs to a group of Cultural Revolution items. Dressed as a farm worker, she is seated on a first aid box. She may be representative of students sent down to rural areas to provide health care. Mao's campaign of 'Up to the mountains and down to the villages', saw the movement of sending educated youths down to the countryside. The movement resulted in more than 16 million youths leaving their urban homes for farms and factories in rural China between 1967 and 1979. Although this campaign was presented as a way to re-educate youths, it was also a tactic to control the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.