The Great

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The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1966 -
1976
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The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

• This started in 1966 and turned China upside down
• Thousands of people lost their lives during this
  time of chaos and violence
• Due to the failed program of the Great Leap
  Forward, many people, especially the
  intellectuals, became opposed to Mao
• So Mao decided to shake things up and get
  rid of those who opposed him
• He organized a group of young people 11
  million strong into the Red Guard

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A Campaign Against the FOUR OLDS

• Old Thoughts
• Old Culture
• Old Customs
• Old Habits

To Rebel Is Good!
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Communist China Under Mao

• Designed to renew revolutionary spirit and
  establish a more equitable society
• Mao wanted to put intellectuals in their
  place
• Schools shut down students revolted
• Red Guards students who attacked
  professors, government officials, factory
  managers

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Red Guards (1)

• The first group of people to call themselves "Red
  Guards" in China were a group of students at the
  high school attached to Tsinghua University, led
  by Zhang Chengzhi they used the name to sign two
  big-character posters issued on 29 May and 2 June
  1966.
• According to Zhang, the group of students
  originally wrote the posters as a constructive
  criticism towards the university administration,
  which was accused of harboring "intellectual
  elitism.
• The group chose the name "The Red Guards" to
  create an image of a mass student movement.
• Soon afterwards, the news of the movements
  reached Mao Zedong, which organized "work teams"
  across schools and replaced school
  administrations.
• Zhang's group soon put up more posters calling
  for radical revolution, which was approved by Mao
  and published on the People's Daily.
• Soon afterwards, students all over Beijing were
  calling themselves "Red Guards".
• Many rival Red Guard groups were formed.

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A Red Guard
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Red Guards (2)

• During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards
  traveled throughout China, going to schools,
  universities, and institutions, spreading the
  teachings of Mao.
• Many were violent and oppressive to those who
  went against the teachings of Mao or criticized
  him.
• The role of Red Guard was mainly to attack the
  "Four Olds" of society, old ideas, cultures,
  manners, and customs of China at the time.
• Red Guards in had taken to the streets from their
  schools. They made posters, speeches, and
  committed violent acts in the name of the
  Cultural Revolution.
• The Red Guards ransacked museums and destroyed
  old books and works of art throughout China. Many
  famous temples, shrines, and other heritage sites
  were destroyed. In total, 4,922 out of 6,843 were
  destroyed.

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Red Guards March to Canton
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China under Mao

• Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 as a
  response to threats to his power from fellow CCP
  members.
• The Cultural Revolution created chaos throughout
  China, creating violence and driving many people
  to suicide. When Mao was informed of this issue,
  he allegedly commented People who try to commit
  suicidedon't attempt to save them! China is
  such a populous nation, it is not as if we cannot
  do without a few people.
• Mao declared the Cultural Revolution finished in
  1969, but most historians cite Maos death in
  1976 as the true end of the Revolution.

A Cultural Revolution poster featuring Mao as the
never-setting sun.
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What Mao taught Beginnings of Cultural Revolution

• Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
• People, not weapons, are decisive in waging war.
• The proletariat must forge military strategy and
  tactics which can bring into play its particular
  advantages, by unleashing and relying upon the
  initiative and enthusiasm of the revolutionary
  masses.
• He insisted on the need to lead the masses in
  carrying out revolutionary transformations and to
  develop these politically, economically and
  culturally in the service of advancing
  revolutionary warfare.

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Re-education

• Re-education was demanded to intellectuals who
  finished high school education or even lower
  school education.
• They were usually sent to country side where they
  were educated to live as peasants or low class
  people.

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Banned Items

• Any books including Chinese, western or any Asian
  books that weren't about the communism and Mao
  Zedong
• Nor any items that was linked or related to
  western culture.

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Public Humiliation Trials

• Pull hair
• Force to drink water/ other liquids
• Kneel in broken shards of glass
• Have your alleged crimes called out to while
  kneeling in front of an audience
• Public beating
• Stoning
• Hanging

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The Little Red Book (1)

• The Little Red Book also known as Quotations from
  Chairman Mao Zedong (?????) has been published
  by the government of the Peoples Republic of
  China since 1964.
• It is a collection of quotations excerpted from
  Mao Zedong's past speeches and publications.
• 900 million copies of The Little Red Book has
  been sold, second only to the bible which has
  been around much longer.
• It was essentially an unofficial requirement for
  every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to
  carry it at all times during the Cultural
  Revolution. The punishment for failing to produce
  the book upon being asked would range from being
  beaten by Red Guards to being given years of
  hard-labor imprisonment.
• Studying the book was required in schools, as
  well as at workplaces. Workplaces have specified
  reading sessions during working hours for workers
  to study the book.

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The reddest, reddest, red sun in our heart,
Chairman Mao, and us togetherZhejiang Workers,
Farmers and Soldiers Art Academy collective, 1968
Maos Little Red Book
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Propaganda Poster
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Go among the workers, peasants and soldiers, and
into the thick of struggle!1967-1972
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Cultural Revolution Propaganda

• The posters show political adversaries crushed by
  giant workers. The smiling image of Mao
  overshadows all, hovering above crowds carrying
  red flags and Little Red Books.
• Hundreds of thousands of copies of posters were
  distributed.

Beat our common enemy -reformer like Liu Shao qi!
Mao was seen like a god
Mao is great and he says revolutionary committee
is good!
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(No Transcript)
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• Mao dispersed the Red Guard
• all over the country where they
• Violently attacked people
• and things that represented
• the old ways.
• Also singled out for attack were writers,
  scholars, and scientist they were sent to the
  country to do hard labor.
• Schools and universities were closed
• for several years.
• In 1968 Mao called an end to the
• Red Guard by sending them to help out
• on the farms.
• Mao ended up with all his power back but
• it was a disaster for Chinas economy,
  agriculture, and education.