Theme 3 - Key evidence

Question 1

Causes of Cultural Revolution

Answer 1

-Mao had been side-lined after disaster of GLF (45m died in great famine) but wanted to make a return
-3 main reasons for CR were:
1. Re-establishing power (bring Mao back to central role)
2. Rectifying the Party (remove enemies from the party)
3. Remoulding culture (abandon traditional Chinese culture)

Question 2

Cultural Revolution and anarchy

Answer 2

-Feb 1963: “The Ten Points”
-March 1966: Cultural Revolution Group formed to direct CR (members included Gang of Four)
-August 1966: Four Olds campaign begins
-Oct 1966: 100,000 RG attack Confucius Temple in Shandong
-Jan 1967: The January Storm, 100,000 attacked party offices to seize control
-Sep 1967: Mao tries to regain control by setting up revolutionary committees
-Dec 1968: Up to the mountains and down to the villages campaign
-April 1969: CR declared over and Lin Biao is named Mao’s successor

Question 3

Attacks on political and class enemies

Answer 3

-70-80% party cadres purged at regional level
-14,000 PC executed as traitors in Yunnan
-9/23 politburo survived the purges
-1/3 of CC survived
-3m Bureaucrats exiled to countryside and an estimated 500k killed

Question 4

Pragmatists vs Ideologues

Answer 4

-Pragmatists: Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai
-Ideologues: Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong, Lin Biao

Question 5

Liu Shaoqi

Answer 5

-Head of state: pragmatic policies rebuilt china after GLF
-More popular than Mao so was subjected to struggle meetings
-Kept as living target of the CR but placed under house arrest and denied medical attention
-Died of pneumonia in 1969

Question 6

The Little Red Book

Answer 6

-Contained quotes from Mao mostly about his political philosophy
-Commissioned in 1964 by Lin Biao

Question 7

The (Red) Terror

Answer 7

-Four Olds campaign no longer about remoulding culture as rival bands of RGs competed to prove loyalty

Question 8

Up to the Mountains and down to the villages campaign

Answer 8

-18m Red Guards re-educated in rural hardship in 1968
-Those with party connections were brought back to the cities while others faced permament exile
-‘Lost generation’ became disillusioned with politics

Question 9

Death of Lin Biao

Answer 9

-Under fear of being purged, Lin Biao attempted to flee to Russia but the airplane crashed over Mongolia and he and his family died on 13th Sep 1971

Question 10

Deng Xiaoping Returns

Answer 10

-Early 1970s: Mao’s health failing and his closest advisors were dying too
-1975: Deng appointed to Politburo Standing committee and PLA chief of staff

Question 11

Four Modernisations Programme

Answer 11

-Plan to modernise agriculture, industry, defence and science supported by Deng
-Contradicted Mao’s (ideologue) reliance on mass mobilisation

Question 12

Zhou Enlais Death (Tiananmen Square Incident)

Answer 12

-8 Jan 1976: Zhou Enlai died, 1m lined streets to pay respects as his body as taken to be cremated
-In the traditional April tomb sweeping festival, people leave tributes in Tiananmen Square to Zhou but many were thinly veiled attacks on Jiang
-Jiang had tributes removed, 10,000s protested and many were violently removed

Question 13

Deng’s removal from power

Answer 13

-Jiang launched the ‘Criticise Lin, Criticise Confucius Campaign’ in 1973 targeting the pragmatic ideas of Deng
-People tired of the campaigns by this point, it was dismissed by most
-May 1976: Blamed Deng for Tiananmen Square Incident and banished to a pig farm in the south, Jiang lost popularity

Question 14

Mao’s Successor

Answer 14

-Sep 1976: Hue Guefeng chosen by Mao, uncontroversial and relatively unknown figure
-6 Oct 1976: Hue arrested and imprisoned the GOF