Chapter 9: The impact of the Cultural Revolution

Question 1

How many estimated deaths were there in Guangxi alone, during the years 1966-76?

Answer 1

67,000

Question 2

What is thee estimated figure for the number of deaths from the cultural revolution?

Answer 2

Between 700,000-850,000

Question 3

Who was more affected by the cultural revolution?

Answer 3

City Dwellers rather than peasants

Question 4

What was the extent of the impact of the cultural rev on cities?

Answer 4

The movement was conducted in almost every high school, university, factory, office and shop in Chinese cities

Question 5

What happened to food supplies in Shanghai in 1867?

Answer 5

-Food supplies in Shanghai fell to a dangerously low level as the city became convulsed with street fighting and strikes and was virtually cut off from other parts of china

Question 6

How were people in cities who were not directly involved in Red Guard factions drawn intro the movements in ways they could not avoid?

Answer 6

-At workplaces each morning, people stood in formation and bowed three times before Mao’s portrait

Question 7

What happened to national output in 1967?

Answer 7

It fell by 13% as a result of the disruption of work in factories and on the transport system

Question 8

What was the effect of the cultural revolution on the economy and national output in the years 1966-1971

Answer 8

• 1967, fell by 13%
• 1968, further fall in national output
• 1967, national output recovered to levels of 1966
• 1971, the Chinese economy had been able to resume the steady growth that had been achieved in the mid 1960’s

Question 9

What was the impact of the cultural rev on the private lives millions of city-dwelling Chinese citizens?

Answer 9

-The pressures to conform in terms of thought, appearance and lifestyle intensified during these years

Question 10

What would happen to citizens if they criticised Mao or his allies, or indeed the whole cultural revolution?

Answer 10

-They would be subjected to humiliation, beatings, imprisonment and worse

Question 11

Who interpreted what targets to attack in the campaign against the 4 olds? And what are some examples?

Answer 11

• The Red Guards were left to interpret for themselves what targets to attack in their campaign against the four olds
• Pedestrians going about their business in the streets could be attacked almost at random for wearing the ‘wrong’ clothes or hairstyles
• Private homes were invaded and ransacked

Question 12

What is the estimated figure for the number of homes in Beijing which were entered and searched by Red Guard units in the autumn of 1966?

Answer 12

-It is estimated that between 1/4 to 1/3 of all houses in Beijing were entered and searched by red guard units in the autumn of 1966

Question 13

What examples of personal objects would red guard’s confiscate when they searched People’s houses?

Answer 13

• Things that showed a bourgeois lifestyle

- Antiques, valuables, musical instruments, paintings, porcelain etc.

Question 14

What was the extent of the impact of the cultural rev on rural areas (compared to cities)?

Answer 14

-In contrast with the cities, much of China’s countryside was largely untouched by the violence and disruption of the Cultural Revolution

Question 15

Why was there less disruption in rural areas?

Answer 15

-In rural areas, especially in remote regions there was relatively little red guard activity and peasants were not drawn into the power struggles of the cultural rev

Question 16

Where in rural areas was there more disruption due to the cultural rev?

Answer 16

• In rural areas near to cities, people were more likely to get involved in ‘revolutionary action’
• Especially in countryside around cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

Question 17

What proportion of ‘rural disorder’ was reported to be within 50km of cities, between June 1966 and December 1968?

Answer 17

About 2/3 of rural disorder was by places near cities

Question 18

What happened to agricultural output in the early stages of the cultural rev?

Answer 18

-It declined

Question 19

What happened to grain production in the years 1966-1969?

Answer 19

• 1966, grain production dropped
• 1967, grain production dropped
• 1968, grain production dropped further (although there was a bad harvest that year)
• 1969, grain production had regained to 1966 level and continued to rise in subsequent years

Question 20

What was the impact of the cultural rev on health in rural areas?

Answer 20

• Rural areas gained some benefit in health from the cultural rev.
• After 1966 the emphasis in health policy shifted to the countryside.
• In 1968 a rural cooperative medical scheme was introduced
• However many of the new ‘barefoot’ doctors had no training whatsoever

Question 21

What was the impact of the cultural rev on education in the early stages of the cultural rev?

Answer 21

-In the early stages, schools and universities were the main battlegrounds in the struggle against ‘incorrect ideas’

Question 22

Why were teachers selected as the first victims of the cultural rev?

Answer 22

-They were the people primarily responsible for instilling ideas and knowledge

Question 23

What happened to universities and middle schools during the cultural revolution?

Answer 23

• All universities were closed from the summer of 1966 and did not reopen for 2 years
• All middle schools were closed between the autumn of 1966 until the spring of 1967

Question 24

What happened to many young people towards the final stages of the cultural revolution when the red guard were being supressed?

Answer 24

Many young people were sent from the cities to the countryside to work among and learn from the peasants

Question 25

Between 1968 and 1976, how many young people were sent to the countryside?

Answer 25

12 million

Question 26

What did Mao think about the disruption to formal education by the cultural revolution?

Answer 26

He thought that the disruption was necessary and the process of learning through hard labour was essential in his cultural revolution

Question 27

What is Mao’s famous quote about education and books?

Answer 27

“the more books you read, the more stupid you become”

Question 28

What was the effect of the disruption of formal education due to the cultural revolution on young people?

Answer 28

• It seriously damaged their long-term prospects

- they were unable to complete their education and graduate, their careers were blighted

Question 29

What was the effect of the mass youth migration to the countryside, due to the cultural revolution, on the Maoist and revolutionary ideology of young people?

Answer 29

• Their experiences in the countryside also dented the revolutionary idealism of many former red guards.
• Confronted with the reality of rural poverty, backwardness and a lack of proper educational nada health care, few young people could continue to swallow the official propaganda vision of a communist utopia in China.
• For many, their faith in Maoist ideology and China’s political system, was severely undermined

Question 30

What were some changes made to the education system after the cultural revolution?

Answer 30

• There were fewer examinations
• Content of school and university courses was reduced
• Much greater emphasis on practical work and vocational training
• pupils and students were required to undertake manual labour, for as long as two moths a year

Question 31

What happened to China, culturally, as a result of the cultural revolution?

Answer 31

-China became a cultural desert

Question 32

What had happens to many intellectuals during the cultural rev?

Answer 32

-Intellectuals, scholars, writers, teachers had been persecuted, imprisoned or killed

Question 33

Who became the supreme authority over cultural life after the cultural rev?

Answer 33

-Jiang Qing (Mao’s wife), set herself up as the supreme authority over cultural life.

Question 34

What are some examples of the impact on culture of the cultural rev?

Answer 34

• Theatres and Cinemas were only allowed to put on ‘revolutionary’ plays and films.
• Operas and ballets had to be personally approved by Jiang Qing.
• The sale and possession of traditional and foreign literature became a crime and was banned
• Libraries and museums wire closed and valuable collections of books and artefacts were damaged or dispersed by the Red Guards
• Books were piled high in town squares and set on fire

Question 35

What culture was permitted in the decade 1966-76?

Answer 35

Those arts that served propaganda purposes and fed the personality cult of Mao

Question 36

How did Mao see the Cultural Revolution in terms of the CPC?

Answer 36

-He saw it partly as another purge of the CPC

Question 37

What percentage of provincial and regional officials were purged, due to the cultural rev?

Answer 37

70% of provincial and regional officials were purged

Question 38

What percentage of higher-ranking officials lost their jobs as a result of the cultural rev?

Answer 38

60% of higher ranking officials lost their jobs

Question 39

How many members of the politburo in 1966 remained after the cultural rev?

Answer 39

Only 9 out of 23 politburo members in 1966 remained after the cultural rev

Question 40

What percentage of the party bureaucracy were labelled as ‘revisionists’ during the cultural rev?

Answer 40

20%

Question 41

How many party cadres were sent to May 7th Cadre schools?

Answer 41

3 million

Question 42

What did the party cadres have to do in the May 7th Cadre schools?

Answer 42

They were forced to undertake hard physical labour and intense ideological study

Question 43

What part did the Red Guards play in the purging of CPC members?

Answer 43

-They would go and hound CPC members out of office

Question 44

When did Mao’s focus towards the CPC shift?

Answer 44

During 1967 and 1968, Mao’s focus began to shift away from the destruction of the old order to the creation of a new one

Question 45

When was the first meeting of the new Central Committee?

Answer 45

October 1968

Question 46

What was the influence of the PLA on the CPC as a result of the cultural rev?

Answer 46

The PLA began to dominate the new Central Committee

Question 47

Of the 1500 delegates to the April 1969 new party congress, what proportion were members of the PLA?

Answer 47

2/3

Question 48

What percentage of the Communist Central Committee were PLA?

Answer 48

45%

Question 49

What was the Cultural Rev’s impact on Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi?

Answer 49

-They had been humiliated and removed from office and neutralised as a political force

Question 50

What was the Cultural Rev’s impact on the Politburo?

Answer 50

-The politburo had ceased to have any real power