Principal Was Beaten to Death During Cultural Revolution. A School Called It a Suicide

Chinese Red Guards, high school and university students, waving copies of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book," parade in Beijing's streets at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution on June 1966. During China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), under the command of Mao, Red Guards rampaged through much of the country, humiliating, torturing, and killing perceived class enemies, and pillaging cultural symbols that were deemed as not representative of the communist revolution. Jean Vincent/AFP/Getty Images

For more than 50 years, a Chinese man’s painful memories of his father’s death have lingered in the back of his mind.

Cheng Zhangong says he never wanted to delve deeper into what actually happened. His father, a high school vice principal, was discovered beaten to death near his office. His high school students had killed him. It was during China’s Cultural Revolution, a period of great political upheaval, a time when people from all walks of life turned on each other. Murders were commonplace.