A Mother's Death in the Cultural Revolution And The Son Who Turned Her In

2-Part documentary news coverage of the story of a Chinese Lawyer in his 60's who recently decided to come public with the long hidden story of how he, as a teen, sent his own mother to die for private statements of wrong-think in Mao's Cultural Revolution.

As an indoctrinated teenager in the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Hongbing joined the Red Guard and was militant and extreme in his support for the ideology and cult of personality of Mao in the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution.

His mother, Fang Zhongmou, had lost her own father and daughter as a result of the revolutionary ideology of Mao and shortly after her own imprisonment for being of the privileged class, something snapped inside her and she complained about Mao in the privacy of her own home. Upon hearing this, Zhang Hongbing and his father both took it upon themselves to bind and beat his mother and report her to the authorities for execution.

Since then he has lived a life of private torment as he began to realize that his actions were the result of indoctrination and groupthink which overtook his natural compassion and mother-son love. When he recently learned that people were starting to praise the cultural revolution and call for a return to that mindset, he decided that he should share his story as a warning for where such things may lead.

What were the factors that led to him taking the action that he did?
What psychological factors may have led to him no longer seeing his mother as a worthy human but instead as a demon worthy of death?
Are there any modern ideologies which may also lead to such dehumanization?
The ideology of the cultural revolution demonized people in classes considered to have privilege over the oppressed - how can ideologies claiming to help the oppressed lead to such outcomes?

Source:
Part 1: http://www.pcne.tv/v-19518-2016-05-31%E5%86%B7%E6%9A%96%E4%BA%BA%E7%94%9F%20%E6%AF%8D%E4%BA%B2%E4%B9%8B%E6%AD%BB%EF%BC%88%E4%B8%8A%EF%BC%89

Part 2: http://www.pcne.tv/v-178-2016-06-07%E5%86%B7%E6%9A%96%E4%BA%BA%E7%94%9F%20%E6%AF%8D%E4%BA%B2%E4%B9%8B%E6%AD%BB%EF%BC%88%E4%B8%8B%EF%BC%89