China 3 - the cultural revolution and its aftermath Flashcards
Mao’s Reasons to launch the Cultural Revolution?
- remove opponents eg. pragmatists
- reach permanent revolution
- attack bureaucracy
- aid his supporters
When were the mass student rallies held?
August 1966, students were invited by Chen Boda and Mao
What were the ‘four olds’?
ideas
culture
customs
habits
What were the bourgeois young people in the red guards known as and what did they do?
‘black elements’ would be extremely violent to prove they were revilutionaries deep down
What government official was heavily tortured and eventually died due to the Cultural Revolution in 1968?
Liu Shaoqi
What happened to Deng Xiaoping during the cultural revolution?
He was removed from his positions in government leadership
How many Politburo members survived the purge of the Cultural Revolution?
9 out of 23
What term was used to criticise anyone who was suspected of not being committed to Communism during the Cultural Revolution?
‘capitalist roader’
What campaign was used to disband the Red Guards?
‘up to the mountains and down to the villages’
How many young Red Guards were sent to the countryside in 1968?
18 million
When did Deng Xiaoping regain his post as CCP secretary? What was he subsequently blamed for?
1974, after being recalled by Mao from his rural exile to help recover from the Cultural Revolution
Mao and Deng towards Mao’s death?
in 1976 he was blamed for the violent clashes with the police during the Qingming festival, as well as protests following Zhou’s death by the gang of four who convinced Mao to remove him from power again. After Mao’s death and the arrests of the gang of four he became the PRC’s most important leader
Competition between red guards?
Red guards from different schools and colleges would compete to prove who was most ideologically worthy. Working class and middle class Red Guards fought - and some factories might have 2 factions of Red Guards
Example of a temple ransacked?
The temple to Confucius in Shandong
Cultural objects related to the four olds that were destroyed examples?
- libraries with western books or traditional literature burnt
- sculptures and statues and artefacts defaced or desecrated
- Buddhist relics attacked - all Buddhist culture in Tibet destroyed
What did Zhou Enlai send the PLA to protect from the Red Guards?
The treasures of the Forbidden City
When did the Red Guards attempt to seize power from the CCP and establish a government inspired by the Paris Commune 1871?
January 1967. ‘January storm’. Led Mao to use the CCP against the red guards
When was the little red book published and by who?
1964 Lin Biao (head of PLA)
Mao’s belief of permanent revolution?
Mao believed a Communist China would be created only through ongoing revolution. He knew before the Cultural Revolution that many including those in the party did not remember the struggles of the civil war. Therefore he felt another revolution was needed to mobilise the masses and create new revolutionaries
Main 4 supporters of Mao in the Cultural Revolution (the CCRG)
Chen Boda - propaganda chief
Kang Sheng - secret police chief
Lin Biao - head of PLA
Jiang Qing - deputy director of the cultural revolutiono
“get rid of the stale and take in the fresh”
part of Mao’s belief that the party should be constantly changing and his excuse for the cultural revolution
Main opponents of the cultural revolution within the party (4)?
Liu Shaoqi
Deng Xiaoping
Chen Yun
Bo Yibo
Which cultural hero from the 1800s was exhumed, cut into pieces and burnt by the Red Guards?
Wu Xun
When was the 4 olds campaign introduced?
August 1966
What was the February Adverse Current?
The attempt by conservative forces to stop the red guards causing anarchy and civil war (after Mao had used the PLA to stop the January Storm issue they continued to crush rebellions across China) - Mao coined this term and denounced this movement
What was the cult of Lei Feng?
In 1963, the ‘learn from the PLA’ campaign was launched in which Lei Feng became an ideological role model.
He was shown on posters digging wells for peasants and helping old women cross roads.
After his death, his diary also showed his unselfish deeds like secretly mending his comrade’s clothing.
The myth of Lei Feng helped to create loyalty to Mao
What fraction of the Central Committee were deposed in the cultural revolution?
2/3rds
What percentage of party cadres at a regional and provisional level were purged?
70-80%
What percentage of party cadres within central government were purged?
60-70%
How many party cadres were executed as traitors in Yunnan?
14,000
May Seventh Cadres Schools?
Where cadres were sent to perform hard labour and receive indoctrination after being purged in the cultural revolution.
Number of bureaucrats and cadres sent to the May Seventh Cadres Schools?
3 million
Minority who the red guards attacked?
Foreign dignitaries and embassies were attacked to varying degrees from imprisonment to public denouncements to protests. Total of 30 citizens from other countries were attacked or abused by the red guards
How long were schools closed during the CR?
2 years
When did Mao declare the purging of capitalist roaders to be ‘un-strategic’ ?
August 1967
Wave of terror launched by the PLA towards the end of 1967?
‘cleansing of class ranks’
How many people were arrested for being spies, bad elements, or newly emerged counter-revolutionaries in the ‘cleansing of class ranks’ campaign?
1.84 million people
Consequence of the up to the mountains down to the villages campaign for the red guards? (4)
- shocked at peasant life
- peasants annoyed at having to share food
- those with connections could return to cities, this disillusioned those who didn’t have connections with Mao.
- urban unemployment was reduced
