MAO Cultural Revolution Flashcards
When did the Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution begin?
May 1966
Gang of Four
Jiang Qing; Yao Wenyuan; Zhang Chunquiao; Wang Hongwen
When had the divide between the ideologues and the pragmatists become more apparent?
After the 7,000 cadre conference
When did Mao temporarily withdraw from public life?
After the 7,000 cadre conference, leaving Liu, Deng and Zhou in charge
Who agreed with Deng that ideological compromises were essential to get China’s economy back on its feet and disagreed principally with Mao?
Liu; Chen Yun; Bo Yibo
What were pragmatists also critical of?
Mass mobilisation as a means of advancing the economy
What did pragmatists argue about foreign policy?
China should pursue a more conciliatory foreign policy, since it couldn’t afford confrontation with the USA over Taiwan, or with the USSR over its borders, while its economy was struggling
When did Mao believe that China was recovering economically?
By 1962
Why was mass mobilisation essential to the ideologues?
Kept people actively involved in protecting the gains of the revolution
Socialist Education Movement
Launched in 1963; preached the virtues of a collective economic approach and aimed also to root out corruption among the rural cadres
Who actually carried out the Socialist Education Movement?
Liu
What was closely linked with Mao’s obsession with permanent revolution?
His desire to undermine the bureaucracy
Who had tried to calm down student unrest when it stirred in 1966?
Liu; Zhou
What did the Cultural Revolution begin as?
Purge of pragmatists from the Party leadership
Who were Mao’s main supporters during the Cultural Revolution?
Lin Biao; Jiang Qing; Kang Sheng; Chen Boda
What was Lin Biao responsible for?
Developing Mao’s personality cult in the 1960s, particularly through promoting the use of The Little Red Book
Jiang Qing
Technically Mao’s fourth wife- she had close links with radical intellectuals in Shanghai and led the Gang of Four
Kang Sheng
Mao’s chief of the secret police; worked closely with Jiang Qing
Chen Boda
Headed the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG), which directed the Cultural Revolution from inside the Politburo; collaborated with Lin Biao in putting together The Little Red Book- he had control of propaganda
Where did Zhou Enlai stand during the Cultural Revolution?
Tried in vain to prevent the divisions between the protagonists from widening
Who had widely been seen as Mao’s chosen successor until the 7000-cadre conference of 1962?
Liu
Why couldn’t Mao risk confronting Liu and Deng head on?
They had too much support in the Politburo and the wider Party
When was the attack on Wu Han launched?
1965- and then only indirectly, in Yao Wenyuan’s newspaper article attacking Peng Zhen
Who deliberately escalated the Wu Han Affair into a crisis in early 1966?
Shanghai radicals, backed by Lin Biao
When was the CCRG set up?
May 1966
When did Mao get his supporters to back his proposal to remove Peng Zhen from his post?
March 1966- took advantage of Liu’s absence from the Politburo on a foreign visit
What did the Politburo approve in May 1966?
A circular targeting counter-revolutionaries in the Party
What was used to stir the students in Beijing University into action?
Wall poster campaign
When and how did Mao complete his comeback to the front line of politics?
July 1966, with a highly publicised swim in the Yangtze at Wuhan
Why did Mao choose Wuhan as the site for his swim?
Site of the 1911 uprising- reminder of the revolution and the republic’s birth
What did Mao do when he returned to Beijing, which he had not visited since November 1965?
Forced Liu and Deng to make self-criticisms before the Party Central Committee for their error in sending university work teams
What happened on 18 August 1966?
1st of the 8 mass rallies of Red Guards was held in Tiananmen Square- the Red Guards were unleashed to attack the ‘Four Olds’
When was the most destructive period of the Cultural Revolution?
August 1966 until the end of 1967
What had become a necessity by 1966?
Carrying a copy of The Little Red Book
The Diary of Lei Feng
1963- fabricated by the government’s propaganda department, this claimed to be the journal of a PLA lorry driver, whose every thought and action was inspired by his devotion to Mao
How many copies of The Little Red Book were eventually distributed across China?
750 million
What were more reasons that the young responded so readily to the calls to rise up by Mao?
Lack of career opportunities available for students whose families carried the ‘wrong’ class label; chance to hit back at cadres after rural relocation post-GLP
When were work teams sent by Liu to stop student unrest?
June 1966
When was Wu Han’s play attacked in the press?
1965
Peng Zhen
Beijing mayor
When did Mao call for an end to revisionism at CCP conference?
Summer 1963
How many Red Guards were at the first of the eight rallies at Tiananmen Square?
1 million
Four olds
Old ideas; old customs; old habits; old culture
What made it easier for students to attend rallies?
Free rail passes
Who identified the ‘four olds’?
Mao
Who instructed the Red Guards to attack the ‘four olds’?
Lin Biao, in his speech to the 18 August rally
As a result of the denouncing of the ‘four olds’, what did the Red Guards particularly target?
Western influences in fashion- high heels, winkle-pickers and so-called ‘Hong Kong style’ clothing and hairstyles
How was the survival of the ‘old’ attitude of showing respect for the dead clearly shown?
1000s of mourners attended a huge Festival of the Dead ceremony in April 1976, in tribute to the recently deceased Zhou Enlai
How many bodies were disposed of in a two-week period in 1966?
2,000 bodies in the Babaoshan crematorium in Beijing
How many deaths were the Gang of Four accused of causing at their trial in 1980?
Over 1/2 million
How many killings were recorded between 1966-76 in the southern province of Guangxi?
67,000
How many killings were recorded between 1966-76 in the outlying provinces of Sichuan, Tibet and Mongolia?
Hundreds of thousands
What happened in November 1966 to escalate the violence?
Formation of new Red Guard units by radical factory and office workers
What happened to the Red Guards as the movement widened?
Splits and rivalries occurred, particularly in Shanghai, which degenerated into chaotic infighting between different factions in January 1967- eventually, Mao intervened, with the help of the PLA, to end what became known as the January Storm
What was Shanghai put under the control of in the January Storm?
Shanghai Revolutionary Committee- combination of PLA representatives, Party officials and revolutionaries
What happened as the Cultural Revolution began to penetrate more sections of society?
Arguments broke out between the PLA, anxious to be exempted from the same struggle sessions as civilian society, and the CCRG, which wanted the same criteria to apply to every institution
When did the PLA take matters into its own hands to suppress radicals in some provinces?
February Crackdown- leading Politburo members appeared to support this action, when they also called on the Red Guard to calm down their activities
When did Mao make another U-turn and authorise the PLA to crack down on radical groups when it needed to?
August 1967
When did the Red Guards embark on a frenzy of destruction of cultural objects?
Between mid-August and late September 1966
According to official documents, how many places of historical and cultural importance in Beijing did the Red Guards destroy?
2/3
What did Zhou Enlai prevent the Red Guards from attacking?
Forbidden City- he brought in a PLA unit to defend it, and even Chen Boda, on the radical left of the Party, expressed reservations about the scale of cultural vandalism
What was the Red Guards greatest single act of desecration?
Attack on Confucius’ home town of Qufu in Shadong province, where they spent 4 weeks vandalising countless books, paintings, statues, graves and monuments
Who were the most prominent pragmatists in the Party?
Liu Shaoqi; Deng Xiaoping; Bo Yibo
When were Liu and Deng formally dismissed from their positions?
October 1966, following a Red Guard demonstration directed specifically at them
Who replaced Liu as president?
Position was left vacant until being officially scrapped in 1969
When did Liu die?
November 1969
Who was Liu’s wife?
Wang Guangmei
When was Deng rehabilitated to the Party?
1973, thanks partly to his links with Zhou
Why was Lin forced to accept elevation in 1966?
Decision was passed by the Party Central Committee- to refuse it would have been to end his career completely
When did the PLA as a crusading force become less important to Mao?
Once the radical phase of the Cultural Revolution was over
How had Lin been officially confirmed as Mao’s successor?
1969 amendment to the constitution
What did Mao fear about Lin?
He might combine his military and political support to become a Chinese Bonaparte
Bonaparte
Common fear among Communists that the revolution might be derailed by the rise of a military dictator, as had happened with Napoleon Bonaparte
Who had increased Mao’s suspicions about Lin?
Jiang Qing, who by this time had fallen out with Lin over the extent of her interference in army matters
How did the attack on Lin begin?
Indirectly, by undermining the position of some of his allies- this started with Chen Boda, who was arrested and forced to make a self-criticism for factional behaviour
How did Mao continue his attack on Lin?
By gradually packing the Military Affairs Commission with his supporters; then reorganising the Beijing military region so that Lin’s allies were posted elsewhere
When was news of Lin’s fall released to the public?
Not until 1972- the following year, Jiang Qing launched an extensive media campaign to discredit Lin by accusing him of being a Soviet spy; public were called on to ‘criticise Lin Biao and Confucius’
When did Lin Biao fall?
1971
What is the official version of events when it comes to Lin?
Lin and his son were planning to assassinate Mao and then seize power in a military coup- when this was discovered, Lin and his entourage attempted to flee and take refuge in Russia, only for their plane to crash in the desert in Mongolia
Who passed the details of Lin Biao’s plot to Zhou Enlai?
Lin Biao’s daughter
For many Chinese, what did the fall of Lin Biao mark?
A turning point in their relationship with Mao
How many of the Politburo members of 1966 held onto their posts?
Only 9/23
How many of the regional first secretaries were purged?
4/6
How many of the provincial and regional officials were purged?
70%
How many members of the Central Committee that met in 1966 had been purged by the next time it met in October 1968?
2/3
How was the Party affected at a local level?
20% of Party officials were purged; 3 million cadres were sent to May 7th cadre schools
May 7th cadre schools
Here they were to rediscover their revolutionary zeal, through a combination of political study and hard physical labour alongside the peasantry- most survived and were later reintegrated into the Party
Where did Red Guards overthrow leadership during the January Storm?
Shanghai- they set up a People’s Commune that was to be run by freely elected representatives; Mao originally backed this and then changed his mind
How did it become clear that the balance of power had swung to the army?
In the subsequent shake-up of provincial Party branches, 25/29 first secretaries lost their jobs, most of them to serving PLA officers
When did Mao begin reconstructing the Party?
October 1968
When did a full Party Congress (the ninth) declare the Cultural Revolution to be over?
April 1969
What were other examples of the influence of the PLA rising dramatically?
2/3 of the delegates to the ninth Congress were members, as were 45% of the new Central Committee and 1/2 Politburo
Where were attacks on ‘capitalists roaders’ mainly focused?
Urban areas
What did the attacks on ‘capitalist roaders’ do to industrial production?
Caused a disruption to working life- industrial production was down by 13% in 1967 and still further in 1968, before quickly picking up again once the persecution of the workforce stopped
When was the violence at its peak in rural areas?
1968-71- after the Red Guards had been sent away
When did a mob of Red Guards break into the British Embassy in Beijing?
August 1967
Why was Britain particularly targeted?
British control of Hong Kong
When did the crackdown on Red Guards begin?
August 1967
When did Nixon visit Beijing?
February 1972
When did it prove straightforward for the PLA to restore order by quelling the Red guards?
Once Mao had removed 4 of the most radical members of the CCRG, which was pushing for the radical action of the Red Guards to be extended
Who did Mao order to form alliances and stop fighting one another?
Rival Red Guard and workers’ factions
When was the last of the 29 provincial committees put in place by?
September 1968
By when did the PLA close down the Red Guard newspapers?
By the end of 1968
Where was the most serious unrest?
Full-scale civil war in Shanxi and the looting of weapons bound for Vietnam in Guangxi, but both provinces were eventually pacified in the summer of 1968
In which university did Red Guards refuse to lay down their weapons?
Qinghua University- 10 died in the fighting that ensued
What was the PLA also entrusted with?
Re-establishing discipline in schools and universities, which had been closed for 2 years
What did the combination of two years without schooling and the drop in industrial output caused by so much infighting result in?
Urban youth unemployment becoming a serious issue
The ‘up to the mountains and down to the villages’ campaign
Involved the compulsory movement of some 5 million young people from the cities to the countryside between 1968-70
Why did the government enforce the ‘up to the mountains and down to the villages’ campaign?
Eased urban employment; dispersed many former Red Guards to areas where they would cause less trouble; it taught urban young people about the life of the Chinese peasant, while reminding them that China’s revolution was based on the peasantry; hardened the new class of young urban intellectuals and bureaucrats by introducing them to the realities of rural labour; reinforced army’s control on the young, as many farms were run by the military
What did many of the generation who had served in the Red Guard begin to believe about Mao?
Felt as if they had been used as pawns in his power struggle
Who held the role of Prime Minister from 1949-76?
Zhou Enlai
Why was Zhou never purged?
Far too useful to Mao; skilful at distancing himself from awkward situations
What had helped to restore Zhou’s credibility after his pragmatic stance had made him a target in the early phase of the Cultural Revolution?
Lin Biao’s demise
Four Modernisations
Zhou had been advocating a pragmatic programme to develop agriculture, industry, defence and education on a more systematic basis for many years without much success; future cornerstone of Deng’s policies
Since when had Zhou been advocating the Four Modernisations?
1963
What was a fundamental part of the Four Modernisations?
Establishing closer links with the West in order to acquire more technological expertise
What did Zhou play a key role in?
Facilitating Nixon’s visit to China in 1972
When were full diplomatic relations activated between US and China?
1979
What did Zhou embark on, encouraged by the success of Nixon’s visit and Mao’s continued uncertainty about how to tackle Lin’s fall?
Concentrated effort to restore economic production and stability after the disruption of the Cultural Revolution
Who appeared in public to endorse Zhou’s policies?
Chen Yun (the veteran economic planner)
What increased the standards in further education?
Introduction of university entrance exams
When did Mao swing his support back to the radicals in the CCRG?
1973
What was Mao’s initial motive in restoring Deng?
To employ him to help train his newly chosen successor, Wang Hongwen
What did Deng play an important role in between 1973-76?
Helping Mao to strike a balance between the radicals and the pragmatists
When had China been admitted to the United Nations?
1971- Deng led China’s delegation there
Which position was Deng also given?
Army chief of staff in order to keep the regional military commanders in check and prevent any revival of warlordism
What post was Deng presented with in March 1973?
Vice premier- the following year, he regained his old post as Party Secretary
When did Deng find himself being purged again?
April 1976, when Jiang Qing and the radicals went on the attack after the Tiananmen Incident- Mao’s health was so bad at this point that he was in no position to stop them
Wang Hongwen
Member of the Gang of Four who had risen to prominence during the Shanghai disturbances of early 1967- unveiled as Mao’s choice to succeed him at the Tenth Party Congress of 1973 as he had the perfect background
Tiananmen Incident
A memorial service for Zhou, who had died in January 1976, became a huge demonstration in Tiananmen Square in favour of the type of moderate policies associated with both Zhou and Deng
What marginalised the Gang of Four?
Army’s dominance; fall-out from the Lin Biao affair
Dazhai
Model commune in Shanxi province- heavily subsidised by state
What did Zhou die of?
Lung cancer
When was the Tiananmen Incident?
April 5th 1976
Who was blamed for organising the Tiananmen Incident?
Politburo blamed Deng and dismissed him from his post as Party Secretary- Deng went into exile
When did Mao die?
September 1976
What is thought to have killed Mao?
Lung infections; Parkinson’s disease
From when was Mao incapable of giving any decisive guidance?
January 1976
Who had been briefly considered by Mao as heir?
Zhang Chunqiao- rejected on the grounds that his support base would be too limited
When did it become clear to Mao that Wang was still too much under the influence of Jiang Qing to be a realistic choice for heir?
1975
What galvanised Mao into making his final choice of successor?
Politburo decision to blame Deng for the Tiananmen Incident
Who was Mao’s final choice of successor?
Hua Guofeng
When did Mao suffer a heart attack?
May 1976
What was the effect of the Gang of Four trying to undermine Hua’s position in May 1976?
Drove Hua into an alliance with military commanders in the PLA
Who helped Hua to arrest the Gang of Four?
PLA- they had made the tactical error of staying in Beijing rather than linking up with their many armed supporters in Shanghai; civil war was avoided
Who had managed to replace Hua by 1980?
Deng Xiaoping
Hua Guofeng
Politburo member and capable administrator, whose career had risen in the Cultural Revolution- not restricted by being linked to any particular faction, but his views were clearly modern/pragmatic
What made Mao unhappy about the Socialist Education Movement?
Methods used lacked the ideological element of class struggle through peasant participation that he desired
Why did Mao involve the young so heavily in the Cultural Revolution?
Needed to have direct experience of the revolutionary struggle in order to make them identify with it and to prepare them for what Mao saw as an inevitable future war with the West
What can be seen as an early attempt to regenerate the revolutionary drive?
1963 Socialist Education Movement
What did Mao fear about the new bureaucracy that had been created to run Communist China?
It was becoming a self-satisfied elite, motivated only by the privileges of power
Who can the Cultural Revolution be seen as act of vengeance against?
Urban intellectuals who had been most critical of the GLP
Who were Mao’s policies principally opposed by?
Liu Shaoqi; Deng Xiaoping; Chen Yun; Bo Yibo
When had it become clear that Liu was no longer Mao’s chosen successor?
Mao openly accused Liu of choosing the ‘capitalist road’ at the Party conference of 1964; alleged that Deng was trying to run an independent kingdom
What happened with the Wu Han affair initially?
Party hierarchy tried to defuse it and treat it as an academic rather than a political issue
Who tried to regulate the wall poster campaign?
Liu and Deng sent out work teams intended to direct students’ criticisms at specific individuals rather than against the Party in general
What effects did Liu and Deng’s interference in the wall poster campaign have?
Advice was ignored on campuses; further alienated Mao because it ran counter to his wishes
How old was Mao when he did his Yangtze swim?
72
When else had the youth proven their dynamism to Mao?
‘Antis’ campaign of the 1950s; early days of the GLP
When had Mao’s personality cult been developing?
Early 1960s- well established by 1966
When had mass rallies proven to be a successful technique of exposing opposition?
During the Hundred Flowers and anti-rightist campaigns
What did Mao call for in his wall poster of August 1966?
‘Bombard the Headquarters’
What effect did staging the rallies of Red Guards on such a colossal scale have?
Ensured a genuine sense of solidarity was created
How did the attacks on religion intensify as part of the ‘Four Olds’ campaign?
No public worship or ceremonies were allowed; clergy who had survived earlier persecutions were rounded up and imprisoned- prompting criticism from outside world
Why did the traditional nuclear family come under attack?
Young people urged to treat Mao and the newly cleansed CCP as their true parents, to whom they owed obedience
Who was given responsibility to ‘purify’ the nation’s culture?
Jiang Qing
Who did students first turn on?
Unpopular teachers; then anyone whose lifestyle suggested wealth/privilege/adherence to old or foreign ideas
Why did Liu and Deng have no qualms about allowing restoration of private farming?
Supported pragmatic economic policies and were less committed than Mao to a collectivist approach
When did Mao feel that he had enough support to remove Liu and Deng?
By the end of 1965
When was the Party CC meeting that criticised Liu and Deng?
August 1966
Who did Lin replace as defence minister in 1959?
Peng Dehuai
Who was the principle architect of the personality cult?
Lin Biao
What is evidence of Lin’s role being mainly reactive?
Endorsed whatever Mao said; allowed students in military academies to overthrow teachers despite threat to stability of PLA; failed to support PLA leaders who demanded a crackdown of Red Guards in Feb 1967
What was also a factor in Lin’s behaviour?
Poor health- became reclusive as he got older
What question did Lin’s fall also reopen?
Question of Mao’s successor
What also happened at the Ninth Party Congress?
A new Party constitution was adopted, stressing the importance of Mao Zedong Thought and the continuation of class war
When did the attack of the CCP leadership develop into a broader purge of all membership?
As Red Guards took up Mao’s call to ‘Bombard the Headquarters’
What campaign was the pursuit of ‘capitalist roaders’ part of?
‘Cleansing of class ranks’ campaign that the CCRG had developed early in 1968
What new campaign was introduced in 1970 to remove all attitudes preventing economic progress?
‘One strike and three antis’
When did Mao intervene to halt the ‘One strike and three antis’ campaign?
1971
How many countries experienced violent incidents as a result of Chinese militants?
30
When did Hong Kong return to Chinese rule?
1997
When had Mao originally decided to clamp down on the Red Guards before changing his mind?
February 1967
Why did Mao decide to clamp down on the Red Guards?
Undermining army’s role; inflicting unsustainable damage on China’s economic and educational systems
Who dominated the new revolutionary committees?
PLA officers
How had the army already shown that it had taken over Red Guard revolutionary tasks?
By launching campaign to ‘cleanse the class ranks’
What marked a turning point in the radicalism of the Cultural Revolution?
Disbanding of Red Guards
Who really controlled what happened in the Cultural Revolution from 1968?
PLA
Why did the GO4 renew Mao’s slogan of ‘Learn from Dazhai’?
Calling for a boycott of Western technology and a renewal of the People’s Communes
When had Mao first used ‘Learn from Dazhai’?
1964
Who was Mao’s physician who claimed he was virtually comatose in his later years?
Li Zhisui
When was the GO4’s dependence on Mao clearly revealed?
Originally supported the ‘Dazhai’ campaign because of continuing revolution but withdrew his support when it became clear that their priority was the succession struggle
How many homes did the Red Guards break into in Beijing in search of ‘old’ artefacts?
100,000
