On_Class_Origins
On Class Origins
Scholarly article
On Class Origins[1] (Chinese: 出身论; pinyin: Chūshēn lùn), alternatively translated as On Family Background,[2] Theory of Class Pedigree,[3] is an article by Yu Luoke[4] and published in January 1967 in the Journal of Middle-School Cultural Revolution.[5] In this article, he challenged the "blood lineage theory"[6] propagated by the children of senior Chinese Communist Party officials.[7] At that time, this theory was widely circulated in Chinese society and caused serious adverse effects.
Yu Luoke was accused of being a counter-revolutionary and sentenced to death for his famous treatise On Class Origins.[8]
Yu Roque's article echoed the Central Cultural Revolution Group's critique of the "blood lineage theory", which caused a huge reaction throughout China.[9] In April 1967, the article was labeled a "big poisonous weed".[10] On January 5, 1968, Yu was arrested and imprisoned, and on March 5, 1970, he was executed.[11]