Cultural Revolution Flashcards
When was the cultural revolution launched?
May 1966
What are the 4 olds
old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits
Why was the cultural revolution launched?
- eradicate lin biao + deng from ‘destroying communism’
- establish mao’s legacy
- continuous revolution
How was the eradication of old culture achieved?
- 1100 libraries with western literature burned
- temples like confucius in shangdan were ransacked
How did eradication of old culture fail?
- ancester worship never destroyed - zhou enlai had tributes paid to him during the quingming festival
- temples destroyed but many still practiced buddhism in private + christian gatherings in family homes
Sucess of eradicating old ideas?
- shop signs changed to read ‘defend mao zedong’ + ‘permanent revolution’
- childrens names changed to ‘red glory’ and ‘face the east’
- named the road the british embassy was on ‘anti-imperalist road’
how did eradication of old ideas fail?
- earthquake in july 1976 interpretted as a bad omen - failure to remove superstition
What did Mao encourage within the youth during the cultural revolution?
- too successful in radicalisation them against the old ideas - masscare of teachers
- told them to question elders
- sent them to countryside to learn from peasantry
What was the Cultural Revolution Group?
In March 1966, Mao formed the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG) to direct the Cultural Revolution. It was a seventeen-member sub-committee of the Politburo.
What did the Cultural Revolution Group do and what are they later known as?
- Ran the PRC’s cultural policy, controlled media
- Later known as the Gang of Four
How was the Red Guard loyal to Mao?
- Full of young people who had been taught to view Mao as a ‘god’
- indoctrinated by propaganda
- They could not remember the Great Leap Forward
- Read the little Red Book
What did Mao tell students in May 1965?
‘Dare to rebel against authority’
What were the ‘five red types’ and ‘five black types’?
‘Five Red types’ - workers, poor and lower middle-class peasants,
revolutionary cadres, revolutionary soldiers and dependents
of revolutionary martyrs
‘Five Black Elements’ – landlords, rich peasants,
counter-revolutionaries, bad elements and rightists
What is an example of Mao’s cult reaching an extreme?
One factory in Beijing
created a ritual later known as ‘asking for instructions in
the morning and reporting back in the evening’ using a portrait of Mao
Who commissioned the Red Book?
Lin Biao
When was the Little Red Book published?
1964
What did passengers at train stations have to do before boarding a train during the cultural revolution?
a loyalty dance
What was the unofficial national anthem during the cutural revolution?
‘The East is Red’
Why could Mao not control the violence between the Red guards and rival groups?
‘It could not be
controlled because
attempting to control it would undermine the movement … what had been unleashed could not easily be re-leashed.’
How many Red Guards did the PLA arrest in Spring 1967?
500 leaders of radical Red Guards and worker groups for attacking the party
How did Mao prevent the rise of anarchy in September 1967?
- Created Revolutionary Committees based on a 3-way alliance of state, army and party
- However, the party remained dominant and radicals were represented but never in control
- However those who had been purged months before from old power structures re-emerged to take control of the committees
How did Mao restore order against Red Guard anarchy in 1968?
He used the PLA to violently re-establish the control of the party
What was Jiang Qing’s 1968 campaign? And how many were arrested for being spies/ counter-revolutionaries?
- Called ‘cleansing the class ranks’ - an effort to get rid of capitalism completely
- They used surveillance, mass rallies and struggle meetings to extract confessions.
- Some 1.84 million people were arrested
How many in Yuunan died due to ‘death by enforced suicide’ during the ‘cleansing the class ranks’ campaign?
Almost 7000
