In may nine hundred sixty six mouths they dont officially announce the start of the cultural revolution. He wanted to create a new kind of communism one that would reinvigorate and consolidate the revolution. At the time only a few europeans were living in china how did the revolution affect their lives. The wave of political renewal in china served as inspiration for many young europeans they demonstrated against their own governments. The grange proletarian cultural revolution has often been from mantle sized in europe but what was it really like in china back there in. These apartments are located at the Foreign Studies University in beijing. Paul crook is british and lives in london but he grew up in beijing his mother isabel who was born in one thousand nine hundred fifteen has spent most of her life in china pulled visits whenever he can isabel was an enthusiastic supporter of communism from an early age so it was pauls father david who arrived in china in one thousand nine hundred thirty seven he and isabel were married in one thousand nine hundred forty two together they experienced the social and political upheavals brought about by the communist revolution. It picks back memories of what was happening then and im just glad that some of that has been captured that is very valuable. At the end of the nine hundred forty s. The crux move to beijing to teach english at the f. A. Line all Foreign Languages institute. Parents were very keen supporters of the communist revolution in china they were treated with Great Respect you know and and participated in life in the university and. Up until the cold revolution mostly in was a very positive experience for them when he was a teen paul crook was also an enthusiastic supporter of mao. I think i must have been really quite excited about the idea of seeing now even in the distance of the sports event he was this great idol that we had in our textbooks and people talked about. Yeah rather like i think. Teenagers or preteen agers worship their pop idols in their. Mouths it on established the peoples republic of china in october nineteenth forty nine and was hailed by many chinese as found out of a new society. Over the last century china had experienced Foreign Occupation followed by a bloody civil war for the First Time Since the end of the imperial age china would now set its own course. Mt was the undisputed leader of this new state. To austrian women goodrem alba and her mother brasilia fung lived in china at the time. In one nine hundred fifty one busy area had immigrated to china with her daughter who was three years old at the time in her first year of school due to an experienced maoist propaganda firsthand. In austria brasilia had been a single parent until she met and later married found being an engineering student who was working on his doctoral degree. Func wanted to return to china to help with the new Industrial Projects he convinced his wife to come with him. For we knew a little about africa but nothing at all about china it was so far away but somehow that didnt bother me at. Goodrem grew up with two half brothers in the northeastern city of shenyang she soon learned to speak Mandarin Chinese fluently. Good one always felt like she was chinese in yemen if someone told her that she was a foreigner should get angry as flames and she resented her blonde hair because it made her stand out of this and. Buzzy area is catholic and raised her daughter in the same faith despite the governments opposition to organized religion brasilia brought one of her favorite religious paintings with her from austria have a disputed you can see an archangel over there the one with the wings. Is like the angel in the painting. Enough im off wed wake up in the morning look at the painting and talk about it it showed an angel who was protecting two children as they crossed a string and at that time mother and daughter had no idea that this painting would one day cause them a lot of trouble. In one nine hundred fifty eight mount launched the first of his major social Engineering Projects called the great leap forward he had decided that china needed to move ahead more quickly with Economic Development from our predicted that in fifteen years china would surpass britain in Steel Production much of this new steel was to be produced by average citizens using small furnaces many farmers abandon their fields to take part in this effort but this neglect of the Agricultural Sector contributed to a serious famine in the countryside between nine hundred fifty nine and nine hundred sixty one western experts say that at least twenty Million People died. Party leaders begin to rebel against mouth louche archie became chinas new head of state in april nine hundred fifty nine and set about rolling back some of the great leap forward successes. It is this trouble china which arena arrived in in one thousand nine hundred sixty three with her husband whod been sent there as a correspondent for the east German News Agency a. D. N. They were among just a handful of foreigners who were allowed into china at the time. Mainland. Eighty and sent my husband to china because he spoke the language. And i went with him. When they asked me whether i could take some photos while i was there. In the bin so i walked around the city and i took photos many photos of here. At labans photos provided unique insight into everyday life in china and also the political power struggles that were under way. Tensions were running high mouth felt that his position was now being threatened by rivals inside the Party Leadership and he decided to fight back. It all started with a big character pasta that was put up at beijing university the poster criticized Top School Officials as bush and he revolutionaries now like the slogan and used it in poster attacks he launched against his opponents soon the use of such posters have become widespread. Then there are some classmates started putting up posters in classrooms and in the hallways in the driving school. Criticizing various aspects of the teaching. Arena f laban photographed the posters many of those who put them up believe that there was showing support from out and while they showed their loyalty critique of maos opponents group particularly against lucia. The book and the posters were put up everywhere outside the watchmakers shop Big Department stores and the beautiful beijing super hotel. I even saw some stuck on peoples backs and sick. Of the arm work. Claibornes photos also document the newly formed groups of radical dudes called red gods as the cultural revolution got underway. Young people were expected to get out of the classroom and onto the streets to show their support for mao they believe that there was saving china from its bush one enemies. Like to force a classic a lot of the students in our class became red guards old they wore red balance of the and at least. You could join only if you came from a good family that is if your parents were peasants workers soldiers over the sickle official as hes. Been in the common. Good run was not allowed to join at first because her father was an intellectual happy here so i asked my mother what did grandma to you back in austria. She worked on a farm with her husband she said. The next day i went to the Police Office that kept an eye on foreigners and told them that my grandmother was a farmer exact as. You will happen as my goal and they gave me a document that said that i was from a peasant family. Stant comes on then. And thats how good an album became the only austrian member of the red guards like millions of other young people she proudly displayed at the Little Red Book of mao quotations. Her. Part of mao strategy at this time was based on promoting violent class struggle which often involved attacks on traditional Chinese Philosophy and culture crowds usually led by red guards destroyed a number of ancient temples and imperial era buildings. In the early months of the cultural revolution many of chinas schools and universities were shot down it was an exciting time for young people. I was. At that time i hadnt even turned eighteen yet in that we had so much freedom we could go wherever we wanted and criticize everythings or zalmai and because it was summer we went swimming a lot. So we thought completely free and noah i have. In the autumn of nine hundred sixty six now presided at the several shoots red guard rallies in beijing he called on young people to rise up against his opponents in the party and late and particularly against lu shouty. Meanwhile a number of european leftists were following events in china closely they were impressed by propaganda images that showed people taking political power into their own hands and creating true socialism i. Guess was his story to us it looked like paradise on earth is but a paradise with fighting clowns i was a student in vienna at the time and we never would have dreamt of turning to soviet style communism bratislava in czechoslovakia was right on our doorstep about sixty kilometers east of vienna so we knew what the situation was like in prague it was horrible none of us wanted that can of worms. Peter is a former correspondent for the frankfurter allgemeine at sight on in one thousand nine hundred seventy while he was studying at vienna a university he joined a malice group. The source of. The slogan of maos that really hooked us was to rebel is justified and we saw the rebellion as the essence of revolutionary activity and we could see that in the cultural revolution thats what forced could of. The viet nam war prompted a number of european students to shift their political views sharply to the left and many of them now became a symbol of resistance against imperialism these young people rose up against the political and social establishment that had come to power after World War Two and demanded equality for all. Maoist groups were particularly popular in france and many students committed themselves to the chairmans ideology. Danielle parlor was working in a Textile Factory at the time she was inspired by maos philosophy and tried to spread his message to her coworkers. Our biggest wish was to visit china to see what was going on for ourselves we wanted to take part in the cultural revolution and then bring our experiences back to france we believed we could bring the same sort of revolution to france. But it was nearly impossible for foreigners to get travel visas still many european leftists drew inspiration from images from the cultural revolution. For you we projected our hopes for revolution in europe on to china systems there was something almost religious about it and that we were all dreaming of getting to the same place this year. As the cultural revolution spread the red guards took an increasingly aggressive approach to dealing with the alleged opponents of the regime they carried out purges against teachers and officials at schools and universities. The whole crux father david was a professor teaching english at the Foreign Languages institute he was caught up in the purges. I couldnt believe it you know and they found their way must be a mistake in their august anyway thats the reality is not at home. Even after david crook had been sent to prison his wife isabelle continued to believe that maos revolution was on the right track. We were worried we were concerned but also with a you know we would only have their faith in the party and faith in the masses as now. Now expanded his campaign to include a broader spectrum of Chinese Society various groups tied to outdo each other in demonstration a commitment to the cultural revolution. And age class enemies were forced to appear at mass rallies and confess to various crimes against society. If you are the object of struggle you had to show humility and the the guards ensure that you showed. As much as possible. Paul crook was a teenager when his father was sent to prison and he began to suspect that the revolution may have gone too far. People were were very fervently shouting slogans and condemning them and and i felt very much that i must try and participate in this but at the same time i had a contradictory feeling of this is a cruel thing this and then this happening. I think in that time the parameters of what was shocking and terrible were probably was probably you know. We were stretched to a point a you know that you. Use whatever is happening everywhere maybe. Many of the suspected counterrevolutionaries were paraded through the streets in trucks arena ect leightons photographs provide rare evidence of these events. In the midterm. And a forward in one case there was a woman whod been forced to wear a huge pointed hat like a dunce cap. She had been ostracized it was really really scary. The nx think and look. Red guards traveled throughout the country to spread the revolution some eventual arrived in shenyang where goodrem albus family lived. Since so say was his kids fifteen or sixteen years old and they all had guns they were going to show us how to fight class enemies and carry out the revolution like that. The red guards destroyed symbols of course while society good friend was worried that if the guards found her mothers painting of the Guardian Angel the family could get into trouble. Actually theres actually thought about hiding it like in the basement but i said please dont theyll come in and search the place you can see. And her two half brothers finally persuaded their mother to hand over the painting. They tore it down and burned it or something. The red guards rounded up large numbers of suspected counterrevolutionaries. With paul crooks father still imprisoned his mother was now also brought in for questioning. Where she was you know asked to attend. What if you could call interrogation sessions you know the sessions the health care of our the truth. About my father brother that what she was doing. And then one day isabelle crook did not return home after an interrogation session she was detained overnight she didnt think she would say very long but. No the next day they came and asked for her toothbrushes and then they came for two more things and eventually she we really recognize that she was not coming home any time soon. The chaos of the cultural revolution brought the country to a standstill finally in late one nine hundred sixty eight mount change course he ordered the red guards to leave the cities and move to the countryside so that they could be inspired by the revolutionary spirit of the peasants an estimated twenty million young people took part in this campaign. This was the time when east german journalist di turn and catching becca arrived in china as citizens of a communist state their view of china and now was generally positive. Beijing was the bakers first foreign assignment mal had kept much hidden from of a communist nations and the east german media largely ignored the excesses of the cultural revolution. They have in mind this country had made tremendous progress since the one nine hundred fifty s. When go fight always been interested in china i did in east germany id seen these wonderful magazines about china and i found it absolutely fascinating on the fat image range the pack when done come under him and then we got there and saw that the old spirit was gone for both people were wasting their energy on completely pointless campaigns. The for well maybe not completely pointless to do much now was eliminating his political opponents but that was about it and he did it at the expense of ordinary citizens and that hurt before. It does today. But the beck has also witnessed the beginning of a new chapter in Chinese Foreign policy now decided to improve relations with the United States president Richard Nixon arrived in beijing in february nine hundred seventy two. Astrology and that was a Major Development and that about the same time china was improving its relations with west germany ma was putting an end to diplomatic isolation on that account. Now was Seventy Eight years old when he met with nixon the meeting was a first step of the increasingly on will lead to open up china. It also brought new hope to foreigners who had long waited to visit. Canton was up early and we heard that our womens group might be allowed to travel to china so that we could observe the process of womens liberation firsthand that would be a real adventure. To level truth to tell. Danielle apollo had a daughter isabelle who was just three months old the mother had a difficult decision to make. Up your friend for the so i could either stay in france and continue to breastfeed my daughter or go to china. Could do. That i was a maoist level it was a hard choice to make but in the end i left isabelle with my husband and went to china. The number of europeans who would give interest pieces started to increase in the summer of nine hundred seventy one to promote the cause of socialist friendship. The. Those which we flew into beijing airport late at night and here was this huge white statue of mao all lit up. It was like the entrance to paradise. And there was china this huge country now laying before us this was before. The visitors were welcomed by government Public Relations teens who outlined the numerous achievements of the cultural revolution. In mccomas and feel they showed us around the city. They took us to the great hall of the people which was an incredible honor that was the start of our china experience we were like groupies that a rock concert can. Absolutely overjoyed. That. Danielle polo brought a movie camera so that she could film for her friends back home. We visited peoples comments and saw peasants had worked in the fields and every time we saw big Construction Projects factories and foundries that had sparks flying all around. And of course we had lots of speeches. The european tourists who left beijing and traveled around the country. At one school around cheap red guard girl came out and delivered an angry speech against the school principal. We enjoyed that a lot. Of it is in the news in. The chinese authorities tried to convince the foreign visitors that life had improved substantially under mels leadership. Those who had lived through the great leap forward and the start of the cultural revolution however took a more realistic view based on the foreign guests. And the fact that they came to visit i think reinforced our general faith that china was a place of world pilgrimage but all the other hand if the talk to these. Foreign. Believers who had come there with mire the cradle of very trying these revolutions or wherever it was that you met them then you have a sort of. You know a suspicion that you felt they were rather innocent. The foreigners visits were carefully planned out that were not allowed to travel around without government minders. Because of course we didnt see any of the horrible things that were going on people being beaten up the executions it was like stepping into the pages of the beijing review the governments weekly news magazine. We went to all the places that were pictured in that magazine and saw what we wanted to see if we saw what confirmed our belief that china was doing well. Danielle paolo and her womens group spent nearly two months travelling around the countryside and then they visited shanghai for a week danielle wanted to take pictures of everyday life in china to show their friends in france the groups mind is chose an acceptable size. You up on it and you know as i went to market there were loads of people bustling and there was life fish being sold plus vegetables meeson poultry they had everything there. So i got to shoot the dream with a few in the evening we went home. But danielle had let some of her film at the market she went back the next day to try to find it she was in for a shock. When i got there everything was gone. There was not a single paper or carriage to buy the place was completely empty youre here to see. The marketplace had been fake these images with the truth the country was facing a crisis average chinese had to wait in line for hours to buy basic necessities and millions of alleged counterrevolutionaries was still in jail. Including paul crooks parents he and his brothers were left to fend for themselves. But even in jail david in isabel crook never lost faith in mouse regime. I think my father during his business. Worse in this state of mind where he believes that. Now was was either misled or didnt know about. What was going on and if he did then surely things we could write. Paul cook didnt even know where his parents were being held. Then one day i was cycling to my german class peking university with my. With my teacher and i looked up and the other window out there on the second window on the third level there was my mother waving at me behind bars. So why wave back but then i thought i counted my german teacher waiting and i continued on and i was able to say to my teacher is held mine a lot i guess i can say and i was quite proud of myself but i felt obligation to be not to skip a lesson. Later paul and his brothers managed to sneak into the room at the university with their mother was being held and talk to her briefly. She was locked up under supervision with a couple of young teach is. Constantly share in the same room with her in case maybe where she thinks they were and she might kill herself or. Do some other harm supervised very closely. Millions of chinese shit decide fight family members tossed into prison for no reason. And since most of the universities remained closed many young people were still working in factories or in the countryside. To me. Life was hard back then. People stared at me wherever i went. And most so i had to be a model citizen. Because i had absolutely no freedom at all. So i told my parents id like to go back to us to have his day. But goodrem could not travel abroad because she didnt have a passport at this time she was working in a Textile Factory called crops life was not much better. Life is unpredictable and in my fathers case he was respected for the friend one day and next day he had been arrested and then he came out and then he was exonerated. He eventually spent five years in prisoner. In solitary confinement we didnt even get a visit him for the first three or four years. Calls mother was finally released in one nine hundred seventy two and her husband one year later but despite their ordeal they decided to stay in china with some poles had other ideas. Hence you know they were they were revolutionaries for a World Revolution in a so they have of the in charge but they would certainly wanted us to carry on the great ideal wherever we were and that was not her. You know they didnt feel that we have to stay in china. I wanted to go and see the world for myself and for me i think i wanted not to have to behave. According to other you know a strict guidelines and i believe i would be a lot fear if i went to the west. Hall said goodbye to his family at a train station in beijing goodrem alba would leave soon after. Their slice of baked fun my father said to me before i left theres so many beggars and criminals in the west itself in that place if things dont work out for you there you can always come back to us lots of it. Indeed chinese newspapers claimed that capitalism in europe was on the verge of collapse. Goodrem was worried about that but she left her parents time and was soon on her way to austria. She arrived in vienna in february nine hundred seventy two. City officials gave her a warm welcome and presented her with a camera. Croaks time in china had also come to an end. Across the border from. Train to hong kong. The worlds most certainly exciting place so. I spent ten days going through late nights and the models. Were trying discovered were showing all kinds of western you know hollywood or whatever films that ive never seen my york i was young back then everything in austria was new to me. And i felt freed because no one stared at me anymore because now i look like everyone else like it under house. After she arrived in vienna soon met a student who would later become her husband. We said understaffed of the sea the c. S. K. Now she said that she was from china. Which felt to me as if a light had been switched on. At each mcmahon to get duncombes for the phone companies to show i was a maoist at the time and i thought that she could explain to me what Chinese Society was likely feel i had my own ideas on the subject and i hope that shed be able to confirm them of this of the man. But that was not going to happen. He said that china was a great place and he couldnt understand why id left it and i told him well just pack up and go there youll be arrested the day after you arrive at saddleback that i wish them. Good turn did not marry sebastian until he renounced his maoist views. See how we are still she told me in great detail what life in china was really like. It and that was a wake up call for me after me. Mao tsetung died in one thousand nine hundred seventy six at the age of eighty two huge crowds gathered in beijing to pay their last respects. But millions of people had been killed or imprisoned during his last attempt at social engineering the cultural revolution its legacy had a lasting effect on Chinese Society many european supporters of the revolution had also become disillusioned with it. Might look around as long to get those ideas out of my head as i had been part of the system. When i was a maoist for four years and afterward it took another four years for me to get back to normal all in all my read decade was a complete waste a complete waste it brought me nothing. For the first time in years danielle parlow looks at the diaries of her trip to china this is what she wrote after she found out that the market in shanghai was fake. Discouragement i dont want to shoot the smart film anymore if you and grief stricken and entirely deflated i dont understand anything. I understand nothing does want to stop everything. We stop. Siegelman off its like when a child who believes in santa claus is told he doesnt exist i believe in him and then hes gone to. Work i played incident in shanghai was a real shock for me. You know if you design no longer had any hope that we would find a Perfect Society there was nothing we could bring back to france from china from france. The communist party still rules china but the persecution of paul cooks family ended as the cultural revolution in traditional clothes and was then reversed years later paul was even invited to speak at an event honoring his mother or with yourself what will i do is our woods in the jungle way that its. In the mid one nine hundred sixty s. The authorities have detained isabel crook as an alleged spy but today shes honored for her work in chronicling the liberation of Chinese Peasants paul crook has had a tough time dealing with this contradiction. I kind of a tough this experience if its too much to take two to absorb it as hala unity gate it by a sense of. Incredibly unbelievable. Call a comedy call it satire call it whatever in there. And its one way of dealing with it not i think thats. One way that i was dealing with it was to to to to to mitigate it with a sideways look at reality. Just to. Get really exciting if. You find out you know live on. How. You feel if. You feel the way. Various truly deserves it does work. It. Danielle pollo now lives in paris. Shes continued her efforts to try to make the world a better place. In twenty sixteen she joined the movement which focuses on social justice and other issues the movement supporters often gathered at the plast della republic in paris. Most tributes it was you know i was immediately drawn to a new way to boo because it reminded me of the activism we saw in one nine hundred sixty eight. That is to say that these young people of today are standing up to the establishment of an urban mrs dimmock case you. Thought shes given up her illusions some determined if you also notice people live in a different world from the one wing. They dont believe in maui and they dont believe in violent revolution. We wanted to tear down our society that they want to improve society and make it more humane underdog a better spot be humane. Climate change. Sustainability. Environmental projects. Give globalization a fresh start biodiversity Species Conservation exploitation be quality. Human rights displacement to. Be sure the Global Impact of local actions. Global three thousand and thirty minutes on d w. I want to. Be. Just. Cover your concept. Discover it was the powerhouse. School. After one hundred lives the ideals of the bombers are more relevant today than they were that. Hundred years ago research reshaped things to evolve people understood design is a way of shaping society. With ideas that are part of our future. The powerhouse does cross held in secondary intimacy family and balcony cabin house means a vision of the future. What makes the house and its traditions some inspiring to this very. Exciting pop up part of our play. Three imagery starts in january thirteenth d. W. The personal data and documents of hundreds of german politicians and public figures have been published online following a Cyber Security breach the governments Cyber Defense unit has met to discuss the leak which includes credit card details and phone numbers all of germanys parties in the bonus start have been affected except for the far right a. F. P. Us President Donald Trump has threatened to keep the government partially shut for months or years if democrats refused to for