The three old Red Guards
Names: The three old Red Guardsthin womanthickset womanone-armed woman
First appears in Book 1: The Three-Body Problem, chapter 26 (26)
Appearances
B1
B2
B3
What you know
Book 1: The Three-Body Problem
- Ch 26Three former Red Guards meet Ye; they have aged, look worn and broken, and no longer carry the fervor that once drove them.
- Ch 26After being sent to remote villages, they lost their idealism, then returned to the city as rusticated youths with no jobs, money or future.
- Ch 26They refuse to repent, asking who will repent to them, and fear that they will be forgotten as 'history'.
- Ch 26The one-armed woman lost her arm at fifteen, crushed by a tank, during the Hundred-Day War at Tsinghua.
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 26Ye confronts the old Red Guards
Ye meets three former Red Guards at the exercise grounds. They recount their suffering and refuse to repent, saying they will be forgotten as history. Ye leaves resolved to bring a superior alien civilization to Earth.