What are the four olds in Red Scarf Girl?

The four olds are old ideas, old habits, old customs, and old culture. In the novel, Red Guards under the jurisdiction of the Communist Party terrorize the populace by ransacking their homes and confiscating any belongings considered to be 'four olds.' Apparently, the idea is to be rid of the 'four olds,' so that they can be steadily replaced with the 'four news': new culture, new customs, new habits, and new ideas. With this in mind, even stores and establishments with 'four olds' names are renamed by party officials.

In the story, what is considered 'four olds' seems to be based on arbitrary rules. Ji-Li's interaction with her classmates illustrate this fact: a boy named Du Hai, whose mother is the Neighborhood Party Committee Secretary, argues that the old Confucian habit of showing respect to elders and people of higher rank is a bourgeois attitude, unworthy of a Communist. Ji-Li herself is accused of being a capitalist exploiter because her family has a housekeeper.

Meanwhile, telling fortunes is also considered part of the old superstitions and religion. When An Yi and Ji Li try to ascertain what the future holds by writing different things on pieces of paper, they must do so in secret. Firecrackers are also considered 'four olds' and is banned during Chinese New Year. When the Red Guards come to Ji Li's home, Ji Li has her prized stamp collection album confiscated by a Red Guard leader. To add to her pain, the Red Guard leader cruelly accuses Ji Li of being a xenophile, a lover of all foreign culture and beliefs.

Even photographs and clothes are not exempt from the draconian rules. All long gowns, silk ties, pointed shoes, and mandarin jackets are considered 'four olds' and to be destroyed. In the story, Ji Li laments the fact that her family has to burn all incriminating photographs, whether they have sentimental value or not. One picture, a favorite of Ji Li's, is especially precious to her. It shows her grandmother in her youth, dressed in a fur coat and standing next to Ji Li's father, then a little boy of about six or seven. Ji Li's father is seated on a camel in the photograph. To Ji Li's despair, her mother throws the picture into the fire because Ji Li's grandmother is wearing a fur coat in the photograph. Also, Ji Li's mother fears that the family will be accused of being wealthy because Ji Li's father was seated on a camel.

So, you can see that the campaign against the 'four olds' targeted all that was familiar and beloved to the populace during the Cultural Revolution.