Revolutionary Textbook and Maths Exam

Cultural Revolution was a part of history my government wants us to forget. And most of my peers don’t know much about it. Even my parents are reluctant to tell me too much. Like those 20-year-old Americans who are coveting the magical drink, I am intrigued in this part of history.

At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Mao asked the students to quit classes and launch revolution against their teachers and principals. This lasted almost a year and its devastating effect on the whole nation is unimaginable.

Later, realizing this could not continue forever, Mao said students should return to classroom to continue the revolution. But their textbooks are still heavily influenced by the personality cult of Mao.

Recently I found an interesting excerpt of the Chinese textbook:

Chinese Textbook for 5th Grade, 1970 Fall:

1. Four Poems of Chairman Mao

2. Foreword for “Quotation of Chairman Mao” -- Vice Chairman Lin

3. Telegram to Chairman Mao from the Celebration of the Establishment of Hebei Provincial Revolutionary Committee

4. There is a a red sun never set in our hearts forever.

5. Long long live to Chairman Mao.

6. People in the world admire Chairman Mao.

7. Soviet People Wish Chairman Mao Live Forever.

8. I love New China, I love Mao Zedong!

Wow, this textbook is awesome. But I doubt they can learn a lot of characters in that. But as you know, you don’t have to know a lot of words to live in Oceania because the fictional totalitarian government designed by George Orwell want to destroy all words which can help people think of their government in a bad way. Yeah, the best way to prevent protest is to delete the word protest from the dictionary.

Here is an exam of maths:

1. “We do have sincere friends from places afar. Deep ocean will never do us part.” China and Albania are thousands of kilometers away, but our hearts are altogether. The distance from Beijing to Tirana is 7805 kilometers, but on a world map, the distance is 22.3 centimeters. Please calculate the scale of this map.

2. Mao Zedong Thought is the talisman of the revolution. Two young Argentineans came to their dreamland, Beijing, against all odds. On a map with a scale of 1:50000000, the distance between the capital of Argentina and Beijing is 36.7 centimeters. What is the actual distance between the two cities?

3. In the Proletariat Cultural Revolution, Red Guards learn from the Red Army veterans. They walked from Jinggangshan to Zunyi, then from Zunyi to Yan’an. Calculate the actual distance between those distances.