Millions of young people sent from city to country during China 's Cultural Revolution . Under Mao Zedong , the Communist Party was purged of `` bourgeois '' elements . Hu Rongfen was a middle school student sent away from her home in Shanghai . There , they transformed from care-free students to farmers . She spent two years at an orphanage before she escaped and made it back to Beijing with help from friends who had been able to escape as well. ` We were told that city dwellers never move their limbs and could not distinguish different crops ''
Millions of young people sent from city to country during China 's Cultural Revolution . Under Mao Zedong , the Communist Party was purged of `` bourgeois '' elements . Hu Rongfen was a middle school student sent away from her home in Shanghai . She spent two years at an orphanage before she escaped and made it back to Beijing with help from friends who had been able to escape as well. ` We were told that city dwellers never move their limbs and could not distinguish different crops ''