Theme 3 Flashcards
Cultural revolution Reasons for start
Belief in permanent revolution- constantly replacing people
Mao suspicious of new policies
Peasants encouraged to criticise and denounce authority
Cultural revolution- launch
Mao swims in Yangtze River at 72
Play: Hai Rui dismisses from office by Wu Han
Could have been attack on Mao
Mao has bad review written
Liu and Deng look bad as allies with writer
Cultural revolution group set up 17 members of Politburo:
Chen Bodz
Yao Wenyuan
Red guards
Start: elite middle schools More and more young people joined Want to prove loyalty to Mao Gave young people more freedom Mao seen as god Encouraged to attack Mao’s enemies and authority eg teachers
4 olds campaign
Aim: To destroy Old ideas Culture Customs Habits Places and objects representing old fashioned ideas were attacked
Rallies of 1966
5 August- Mao heaightened atmosphere with poster urging people to ‘Bombard the Headquarters’
Rallies held in Tiananmen Square- students invited
PLA transported young people there
Destruction initially
Temples, sculptures, statues and artefacts banned Homes ransacked Historical sights- Confucius temple Buildings looted Rival red guards fought each other
Further destruction
Autumn/winter 66 violence spiralled
Red guards fought anyone
Feb 67- Mao dismisses leaders who protest against encouraging violence
April 1967- Mao encourages violence
Red guards attack PLA
September 67- Mao didn’t want anarchy to challenge party
Restoration of order
1968- Mao knew Red guards needed to be stopped
PLA ordered to crush Red guards
Cultural revolution group launch campaign to ‘cleanse class ranks’
PLA launch wave of terror
1.84 million arrested for being spies
Up to the mountains down to the villages 1968-72
18 million Red guards sent to remote areas to ‘cool off’
Shown as great opportunity to learn from peasants
Very few returned
Violent phase ended April 1969
Attacks on Liu Shaoqi
Helped rebuild China after famine
Target of CR
Wife humiliated and sent to prison
Children sent to work with peasants
Oct 68- charged with betraying party, colliding with US
Sent to Kaifeng- an empty building- developed pneumonia and died
Buried in Nov in unmarked grave
Deng Xiaoping
Helped with economic reform
Disappeared from public sight
Sent to tractor factory
Lin Biao
Replaced Peng Duhai as minister of defence
Published little red book
Key figure in CR
Used PLA to move Red guards
Didn’t want an end to radicalisation
Made Mao’s successor after 9th Party Congress
Tried to reinstate Head of state
Seen as threat
Mao concerned by power and independence of army
Lin flees and crashes plane
Purging capitalist readers and foreigners
Representation of capitalist nations vulnerable to attacks
Red guards attacked 3 embassies in Beijing (Burma, Indonesia, India)
Ambassadors trapped in cars, not served in shops
Purging party membership
70-80% of Party cadres purged
4/6 regional party first secretaries removed
23/29 provincial party secretaries removed
9/23 Politburo survived
3 million bureaucrats and cadres exiled to countryside
Deng Xiaoping 2.0
Brought back 1970s
Mao appreciates organisation skills
Supported 4 modernisations- advancement in agriculture, industry, defence and science
Mao supports him
Gang of 4 argue Deng to blame for counter revolutionary moves after Zhou Enlai died
Banished to pig farm
