The Cultural Revolution in China – Teaching Guide

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Vocabulary of Note

Proletarian – Hundreds millions of people under the socialist regime, everyone except “class enemies” (who are capitalists)
Revisionists – Within Maoism, a negative term for those who are suspected of working against socialism and as secret capitalists, usually because they try to reform failed policies
Big Character Poster – In 1966, this was a new form of free expression where people communicated by writing slogans and criticism of officials, sometimes teachers, or colleagues, on large (4 feet and higher) posters done with brush and ink and posted outside of many buildings, then banned in 1980
Red Guards – Highly energized student soldiers, sometimes as young as middle school, who from 1966-68 were mobilized by Mao to (often violently) fight old ways and symbols of traditional thinking (the Four Olds), and people seen to represent that thinking, like teachers, or school and government officials
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – China’s celebrated military that is under the control of the Chinese Communist Party and credited for winning the Chinese Civil War at a time when it was mostly comprised of peasants, which led to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China
Great Leap Forward (see video on this subject on this site) – A disastrous, national economic and social campaign from 1959-61 led by Mao that was meant to change China from a farming or agricultural society to one led by industry, or factory-produced goods by re-organizing farming communities and establishing unrealistic production quotas. It led to a widespread famine and the deaths of up to 60 million people. Mao rejected early criticism of his policies, purged leaders who stood up to him, and suffered a loss of status and power as a result.

Names of Note

Mao Zedong – 1893-1976, a charismatic revolutionary leader in China, the founder of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party; supreme leader whose monumental achievements in modernizing China are largely overshadowed today by the tragedies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
Lei Feng – A model soldier in the PLA who, after his early death was aggressively promoted as an example of selflessness, modesty, and loyalty to Mao Zedong
Jiang Qing – A former actress and revolutionary, and Mao’s fourth wife who led the radical Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolution and banned traditional opera in favor of political ones; she was subsequently arrested and died in jail
Liu Xiaoqi – Second Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, a revolutionary and first designated successor to Mao, later deposed by Mao in 1966, and jailed, where he died from abuse in 1969 [09:19 and 24:09]
Marshal Lin Biao – Minister of Defense, then named Mao’s successor but died in a plane crash in 1972 following an attempted coup [09:10]
Gang of Four – Mao’s Wife Jiang Qing and three radical accomplices who led China during the Cultural Revolution as Mao’s grip on power weakened due to his failing health; all were arrested after his death [25:15]
Tiananmen Square – Physically, a large plaza in central Beijing in front of the Forbidden City that was the site of large student-led demonstrations that ended on June 4, 1989 with a brutal crackdown by the Chinese military. Information about the massacre is heavily censored, and mention of the event (or the words June 4, or 6/4) banned
Hua Guofeng – Revolutionary and political leader, purged during the Cultural Revolution, reinstated and became chairman of the CCP until forced out by Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping – Chinese revolutionary and political leader purged during the Cultural Revolution, reinstated, and responsible for initiating reforms starting in the 1980s that led to tremendous economic transformation throughout the country
Xi Han – The father of Chinese President Xi Jinping who was a high official in China before the Cultural Revolution and was attacked by the Red Guards
Xi Jinping – A ‘princeling’ or son of a political leader, since 2012 paramount leader as General Secretary of the CCP and chairman of the Central Military Commission, who initially participated in the Cultural Revolution, then spent 8 years in the countryside for reeducation, and sees that time as a useful trial for helping him develop his convictions

Outline of Presentation with [Timecode]

The Event

Preceded by several smaller mass campaigns: 1963, Learn From Lei Feng to attack moderates, Socialist Reeducation Campaign, to attack communist officials; Reform of Peking Opera (1964-65, by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing) [03:01]
Lasted until Mao’s death [04:00]
Three phases: 1966-69: The Red Guard Phase [04:21]; Restoration by the military when soldiers took over 1969-71 [04:35]; The Succession Phase: 1972-76, at the end of Mao’s life [4:21- 5:05]

1st Phase [05:29]

Student-led Red Guard phase started in colleges and high schools and in the arts; over 20 million zealous young people mobilized and supported by Mao called themselves “Red Guards of the Revolution”
Students seemed to be targeting the Party itself and was initially opposed by moderates in the Party who worried the movement could spin out of control
Students, mostly not from Beijing resorted to violence (8:1), which Mao did not support, although he still supported the movement and encouraged the cult of personality
Attack on the “Four Olds” or old culture, old ideas, old customs, and old habits [14:36] leads youth to attack traditional symbols of dress, and people purported to represent those old ideas like high-ranking officials
Liu Xiaoqi, the designated successor to Mao, and President of the PRC is physically attacked for being moderate, and not supportive enough of change
Many officials commit suicide because of the humiliation and fear of being attacked [17:08] and government becomes paralyzed
Students are sent back to the countryside, workers join the movement, and violence intensifies, and everyone claims to represent the correct revolutionary goals [18:48]

2nd Phase: Restoration of the Military, 1969-71 [19:07]

Mao denounces violence, and attempts to restore order with the People’s Liberation Army [20:12]
Revolutionary Committees become the new form of government led by military officers and workers and “rehabilitated” bureaucrats [21:07]
Mao’s personality cult reaches new levels with “Quotations of Chairman Mao” which becomes a kind of script for participants [21:45]

3rd Phase: Succession Phase, 1972-76 [23:03]

Mao is physically very sick and weak, including in his historic meeting with US President Richard Nixon in 1972
The radicals, led by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing compete for power with the moderates, led by Deng Xiaoping
Mao’s chosen successors have died, and there is no clear leader until Mao appoints Hua Guofeng, neither radical nor moderate
A month after Mao’s death, Hua Guofeng organizes a bloodless coup to purge radicals including the Gang of Four

The Causes [26:09]

Mao [26:26] was reluctant to accept blame for the disaster of an earlier policy: (the Great Leap Forward, see video on this subject) in the late 1950s
Mao saw the moderates becoming stronger and more popular, and possibly leading China toward economic modernization and economic development; Mao preferred continuous revolution as his legacy
Mao was worried about succession and his health, and did not trust Liu Xiaoqi, his chosen successor
China was still isolated from the US as well as the Soviet Union; Mao decides not to focus on economic growth but on ideology instead

The Aftermath [29:33]

Not what Mao intended: he did get rid of moderates he saw as traitors to the revolution;
The human costs of this last mass campaign were severe: long lasting trauma; physical damage, and an estimated 2 million people died “abnormal deaths;” victims of mental health abuses had very long lasting effects
Economic growth stagnated
Damage to government structure, some agencies were abolished, others did not work for 10 years and it took many years to restore normal governance
Invisible damage to the target of the Red Guards, which was mid and high-level government workers, who were sent to the countryside for “reeducation”
Elites including intellectuals, artists suffered mentally and physically.
Buildings, religious buildings and cultural sites were damaged and destroyed; in Beijing alone nearly 70% of cultural heritage sites were destroyed, which is over 5,000 sites.

Assessment [35:45]

The Cultural Revolution was organized by Mao and his radical associates: thus, it was the Communist Party attacking itself
Mao went beyond government to mobilize the public, mainly to young people, to attack the moderates
But while Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, hundreds of millions of people participated in it
There was a growing inequality in China then, and thus the elites who were attacked were seen by the people as corrupt
But when the radical student protests and destruction grew too intense, Mao tried to restore the social order. Thus, the Cultural Revolution can be seen as a left-wing radical populist movement led by a strong man who manipulated the masses with his personal appeal
It was a radical attempt to change people’s thinking, their ideology, which ultimately cannot be done overnight. It was a failed experiment.
Now, how the Cultural Revolution is seen relates to one’s ideology:
- It was anti-establishment anti bureaucratic and populist
- Big character posters and pamphlets distributed by the Red Guards is an example of free expression, and openly democratic methods that have been banned after Mao
- The Cultural Revolution nurtured a generation of grassroots organizers who became leaders in the post-Mao era, like Xi Jinping, whose father was attacked, and who spent 8 years in the countryside
- The official assessment is that it was “a decade of chaos and destruction” and it remains a sensitive topic that is almost never discussed in public