May 7th
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Named after Mao Zedong's directive of 7th May 1966 calling upon all people to study industry, agriculture and military affairs.
Noun
[edit]- Used attributively to designate various institutions in the People's Republic of China which combine education with manual labour with a view to helping people understand life as a peasant. [from 20th c.]
- 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 239:
- This was the first leg of his labours. The second began with […] the names of such Shanghainese officials who, in consequence of criminal pro-Russian leanings, had been officially purged, humiliated or sent to a May 7th school to rediscover the virtues of peasant labour.
- 1996, Zongli Tang, Bing Zuo, Maoism and Chinese Culture, page 399:
- The difference was that the May 7th Instruction excluded commerce from "the big school" that only included industry, agriculture, army, and education.