Ziqi Ye 9B How significant was the cultural revolution in helping Mao’s communist party reinforce its political monarchy? Ziqi Ye 9B What's red in China? Some might say the national flag, but some others might answer communism. During the Chinese civil war between the Kuomintang, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Kuomintang was defeated, which led to the rise of communism in China. After the leader of the CCP, Mao Zedong has declared the foundation of the New Chinese Communist Government, he launched a series of campaigns to consolidate his ideology, which included the cultural revolution. The cultural revolution was hugely influential in helping Mao's communist party reinforce its political monarchy. The cultural revolution contributed to Mao's political monarchy among the peasant class by triggering class struggles and wealth reform. Because the Chinese population in the prerevolutionary era was mainly composed of proletarians, hence, the removal of wealth or land from bourgeoises, assertively diminished the disparity between the bourgeoises and proletarians, which made the proletarians, or the majority of the population to favor Mao's ideology. In an interview conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, the interviewee recalled his experience of witnessing a landlord being hung up and struggled against during the cultural revolution. He said 'They (red guards) hung a landlord up by one leg and one hand; [his] other leg was standing on a desk, and everyone called this "hanging a side of pork.'. (Weijun, 2017) Evidently, bourgeoisies, such as the landlords, were particularly targeted during the cultural revolution, this triggered the proletarians' hatred towards the rich and the privileged, which eventually intensified class struggles. Thereby, the elimination of bourgeoisies helped Mao gain support from the proletarians. During the cultural revolution, peasants were encouraged to directly properties from landlords. In another interview conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, the interviewee, whose family was classified as bourgeois back in the time, mentioned her childhood experience Ziqi Ye 9B of living under the cultural revolution 'As soon as [they] came through the door, they'd ask, "What jewelry do you have in here? What do you have? Get it out!" Then, they'd take it and leave.' (Yue, 2018) However, what Mao claimed to be banishing disparity was in fact an encouragement for the proletarians to confiscate bourgeoisies' properties, which eventually, gained favor in the proletarians as the purpose of Mao's campaign. Nevertheless, the redistribution of wealth under class struggles wasn't enough for Mao's communism to overtake the entire country. Thereby, for his communist party to fully regain its political monarchy, Mao eradicated all the dissident views that were against his doctrine. The cultural revolution strengthened Mao's communism by obliterating intellectuals who were against Mao's ideology. After the great Chinese famine caused by the second five-year plan launched by Mao around 1962, some of the less zealous party officials and intellectuals expressed dissident views of Mao's domestic and foreign policies. They were then neglected during the cultural revolution. In an interview with an interviewee who was born in the 1950s and whose family background was classified as intellectuals, she mentioned 'We had a neighbor who was a middle school foreign languages teacher. This teacher was rather strict. Her students came, they tortured [the teacher] and her husband for one or two days. Then, they tied them to a tree, and finally beat them to death.' (Yue, 2018) These intellectuals were punished in public so that their willingness to speak up against Mao's ideology was stifled by fear. A study published by a lecturer at the University of Chicago investigated 96 schools in China during the cultural revolution, teachers at all these schools were attacked by students, some were even beaten to death. For example, Huang Zubin was a physics teacher at the Xiamen Eighth Middle School, Fujian province, and was beaten to death by red guards in August of 1966. (Wang, 2001) By Ziqi Ye 9B disregarding intellectuals, Mao banished people's access to knowledge, political consciousness, and intellectual differences, which were suspected as political deviations. Therefore, they could entirely concentrate on studying the essence of Mao's communism. Moreover, the obliteration in individualist ideology was also accompanied by the elimination of the 'four olds', which were believed to have no spur on revolutionary ideas, therefore stifling the old China's transition to a society overruled by revolutionary communism. The cultural revolution consolidated the control of Mao's communism by abolishing old ideas, old customs, old habits, and old culture, which symbolized elements of traditional, prerevolutionary Chinese society. However, it was believed that these traditional ideas, being associated with anti-revolutionary thoughts, or even imperialism, are a threat to Mao's revolutionary mortality. Consequently, Mao's encouragement of the abolishment of the four olds granted the red guards free reign to destroy traditional ideas. This led to the abandonment of religious temples, churches, and mosques, which were believed to associate with old cultures and customs. As suggested in an article from the publication of The Times, religious rituals and practices were violently attacked and suppressed, religious temples were put to secular use. Even temples that were used for sightseeing purposes, such as the Taoist temple of Beijing, were forcefully closed and all their furnishings were removed. (Durdin, 1971) Mao wiped out these old cultures that were associated with ideas from the old Chinese society before 1949, which included religion, literature, capitalism, and imperialism, along with the elimination of old cultures was the abolishment of even slight deviations from ideological standards, as well as conspiracies that were against Mao's new government led by communism. Ziqi Ye 9B In conclusion, the obliteration of the bourgeoisies, the intellectuals, and the old cultures, has entirely discharged China from imperialism and capitalism, but confined China to communism, particularly Mao's ideology, which strongly supported the political monarchy of the proletarians. As a campaign that was extremely vigorous yet successful, the cultural revolution, being hugely influential on consolidating the political monarchy of Mao's communism at the time, helped Mao's ideology to further prosper in many years, decades, and even centuries after Mao's death. The old China is deliberately erased, and a new China, a new generation, is now flourishing, with communism written all over it. Ziqi Ye 9B Works Cited Bryan, M. (2019). Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution: In Theory and Impact. Conway. Durdin, T. (1971, May 19). China Transformed by Elimination of ‘Four Olds'. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/19/archives/china-transformedby-elimination-of-four-olds.html Editors, H. (2022, March 19). Cultural Revolution. Retrieved from HISTORY: https://www.history.com/topics/china/cultural-revolution Josephine Ma, W. Z. (2021, November 17). Cultural Revolution was a catastrophe and Mao was responsible, China’s Communist Party upholds in landmark statement. Retrieved from South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3156299/cultural-revolution-wascatastrophe-and-mao-was-responsible Mao Zedong, H. B. (1964). Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Xinhua Book Store. Phillips, T. (2016, May 10). The Cultural Revolution: all you need to know about China's political convulsion. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/11/the-cultural-revolution-50-years-onall-you-need-to-know-about-chinas-political-convulsion Ramzy, A. (2016, May 14). China's Cultural Revolution: Explained. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/world/asia/china-cultural-revolutionexplainer.html Ziqi Ye 9B Wang, Y. (2001). Student Attacks Against Teachers: The Revolution of 1966. Issues & Studies, no. 2, 37. Weijun, Y. (2017, July 6). "They hung a landlord up by one leg and one hand.". (T. U. Pittsburgh, Interviewer) Young, G. (1983). Review: Ideology, Authority and Mao's Legacy. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 153-170. Yue, S. (2018, January 28). "After they came to our house, they cut off all of my mother’s hair.". (T. U. Pittsburgh, Interviewer)
