Depth 2: The Cultural revolution and its aftermath, 1966-76 Flashcards
1
Q
Mao’s reasons for launching the CR?
A
- Liu Shaoqi and Den Xiaoping run China after GLF. Mao was sus of their commitment which had increasingly became capitalist policies. Called them ‘ Capitalist roaders’
- The divide between the pragmatists and the ideologues had become more apparent after the 7,000 party cadre conference
- ‘Bourgeois elements’. He was afraid the ruling classes attitudes still lived on in the assumptions and behaviour of the people in general.
- Deng > it did not matter if a cat was black or white; as long as it caught the most rats, it was a good cat. Mao was opposed to this saying the colour of the cat did matter, the new policies were not revolutionary
- Mao call on Red Guards that purge ‘enemies’ or ‘capitalists’ = traditional Chinese culture destroyed e.g. monuments and buildings
- ‘Red Terror’. Got out of Mao’s control
- Mao’s power again unrivalled
2
Q
Motives for launching CR?
A
- Far more than transform culture
- Mao believed culture intertwined with politics
- ‘poisoned the minds of the people for thousands of years’
3
Q
Divisions in the CCP?
A
- Mao in walls of forbidden city used by ancient emperors. Wife was in separate quarters
- Increasingly remote, isolated and distant
- Swimming and distrusting medicine
- Zhou Enlai highly critical of the overly ambitious GLF targets. Liu had also spoken out against the GLF st 7,000 Cadres conference in 1962. Dismissing Maos claim the Great famine was caused by bad weather.
- Mao jealous new economic policies better than ‘walking on two legs’
- Party split between ideologues and pragmatists
4
Q
Personal slights for Mao starting CR?
A
- Propaganda department in March 1960 warned against Mao’s writing on medical and sport matters
- Liu Shaoqi = ‘thought of Mao’ not be used in propaganda
- Mao = ‘treated as a dead ancestor’
5
Q
Who were the ideologues and pragmatists?
A
Ideologues: (quick change)
- Mao
- Lin Biao
- Jiang Qing
Pragmatists: (slower approach)
- Deng Xiaoping
- Liu Shaoqi
- Zhou Enlai
6
Q
Idea of a permanent revolution?
A
- Mao wanted a ‘permanent revolution’
- Mao feared party too bureaucratised
- Constant class struggle to get rid of ‘revisionists’
7
Q
What were the Ten Points?
A
- 1962
- ‘Socialist education campaign’
- February 1963 draft ten points
- Four clean up = economy, organisation, politics and ideology
8
Q
Mao’s hold on the young people?
A
- Believe in cult of Mao links de-stalinisation
- Attack enemies denounced as ‘freaks and monsters’
- Mao control education system and young little recollection of GLF failures, nor blame for famine
- ‘Dare to rebel against authority’
- Young excited and most imporantncly it gives them a purpose to the rev + others make up for family
9
Q
Why did the young join?
A
- Mao get children of party leaders from ‘elite’ middle schools
- Mao offered chance of glory
- Overcompensate for family background
- ‘Five red types’ = worker, poor, lower middle class, cadres, soldier, dependant revolution Martyrs
- ‘Five black elements’ = Landlords, rich peasants, counter-revs, bad elements and rightists
10
Q
What was the little Red book?
A
- 1964, Head PLA (Lin Biao) made every solider read
- Religious power i.e. claim cure blind from doctors reading, man raised from the dead
- Ceremonies held
- Above all over party leaders
11
Q
The mass rallies of 1966?
A
- 1965, Red guards from Tsinghua uni send to Mao a big character poster = ‘long live the proletarian revolutionary spirit of rebellion’
- 1966 = ‘bombard the headquarters’
- August, Mao = ‘let the rest of the country come to Beijing’
- Most rallies were in Tiananmen Square mid August and late November
- Lin Biao, PLA transport young from across country with ‘Maos badges’ and ‘little Red books’
- Worship Mao, but some were dissatisfied with meeting him and his allies
- Eight rallies held in 1966 and the first one Mao reaffirmed his return to the public arena by attending it to greet one million Red Guards. Mao received thunderous applause and wavings of little red books. Following days chaos and violence spread around. Free rallies passes = enabled Red guards to travel further in their subsequent pursuit of targets to attack and ‘revolutionary tourism’. Solidarity created at the first rally.
12
Q
Attacks on the ‘Four olds’?
A
- August 1966 Mao launched ‘four olds campaign’
- Destry ‘old ideas’, ‘old culture’, ‘old customs’ and ‘old habits’ which had ‘poisoned the minds of the people for thousands of years’
- Destry old habits to hinder bourgeois feudal classes
- Reds told ‘put daring above anything else’
- Got out of hand e.g. visitors of restraints asked to do questionnaires declaring class, surgeons cancelled operations out of fear and if producer went really badly they accused as ‘class revenge’, bird keeping banned
- Shop and children named changes and road signs e.g. ‘Anti-reviisonism street’
- British embassy on ‘Anti-imperislim road’
- Zhou Enlai stopped red renaming Beijing ‘East is Red city’
- Religion deemed as an old > attacks on it intentisifisd to such an extent that not public worship o ceremonies were allowed. Clergy were rounded uo and improisonsed, promoting criticism from the outside world .
However: the effects were short lived, many traditional views reappeared e.g. survival of the old attitude of showing respect for the dead clearly shown in thousands of mourners attending huge festival of the dead ceremony in April 1976, tribute to Zhou Enlai.
13
Q
Cultural destruction?
A
- Temples and sculptures etc.
- Confucian texts burned
- Zhou send PLA to protect treasure of the Forbidden city
- 1/3 libraries out of 1,100 been closed and 7 million lost books or stolen provinces in Liaoning, Jilin, Henan etc
- Confucius temple in Shingling attacked by 200 students and teachers. Encouraged by Chen Boda
- Destry 6,618 cultural artefacts, 929 paintings and 2,700 books. 2000 graves defaced
- Ancient burial site Hai Rui defaced
- Historical sites linked to west defaced e.g. 200yr old Qing era archway
- Focus in Tibet, long hair ‘old custom’.
- Buddist scriptures ripped and corrupt sell art
14
Q
The use of terror in CR?
A
- Autumn and winter 1966 violence out of control
- ‘Red Terror’
- Party members, former businessman, landlords etc..
- ‘class enemies’ ‘re-eucation’ camps
- Kidnapped or killed
- Suicide high
- Play wright Laos She house burned. Wear dunce’s hat and drowned himself in Taiping Lake August 1966
- Ding Ling, 100 flowers, again targeted
- Babaoshan crematorium in Beijing disposed 2,000 bodies in a 2 week period in 1966. Tiral of Gang of Four in 1980 saw them being sanctioned for killing of over half a million people
- Southern province of Guangxi, 67,000 killings were recorded over the ten years 1966-76, while in e.g. Tibet, Mongolia it ran into hundreds of thousands
- Formation of new Red guard units by radical factory and office workers in Nov 1966 escalated violence (party bourgeois backgrounds most miliatnt, ironically)
- PLA intervene and end the January storm
15
Q
Growth of anarchy in the CR?
A
- Reds fighting each other
- Manchuria, opponent GLF try seize power
- Reds vs farmers
- Edge of civil war
- Mao struggle but birthday 26 December 1966, ‘To the unfolding of nationwide all-round civil war!’
- Mao = commune in Shanghai close
- PLA intervene and end the January storm
- Mao called for the CCRG to undermine the politburo and PLA putting China in more disputes
- Threat on the boarders e.g. America in Vietnam
16
Q
What was the January storm?
A
- Early 1969, Paris commune of 1871
- 30 dec 1966 100,000 reds defeated 20,000 rebels (Scarlett guards)
