{"text":"Official initiatives often run out of breath before these rugged hills. These mountains protected various retreating armies, including Nationalist troops, which were not fully rooted out from the region until the early 1960s. They protected people during the Great Leap Forward, when people climbed up to forage for food. They protected villagers even during the Cultural Revolution: “When Red Guards climbed into the highlands, they found few people, no one obviously wealthy to direct their attacks upon, and little to eat. They would then just harangue the villagers for a while, stage a noisy demonstration, and then go back down the mountain, not very eager to return.”","title":"2022 Letter","author":"Dan Wang","highlighted_at":"2023-03-13T04:29:52.909496Z","url":"https://read.readwise.io/read/01gv66qpxy5t57va32d6r9x9yv"}