2013 Cultural Revolution
Powerpoint
Events Prior To Cultural
Revolution
A brief overview 1962-73
• End of GLF – loss of power to Liu Shaoqi and
Deng Xiaoping
• Plan to make Mao figurehead
• Mao initiated Socialist Education Campaign
• This grew into Cultural Revolution (1966), aim
to totally revise Chinese culture, key role of
the Red Guards and youths
3
Background Information
• In the early 1960s, Mao was
on the political sidelines and in
semi-seclusion.
• By 1962 he began an offensive
to purify the party, having
grown increasingly uneasy
about what he believed were
the creeping "capitalist" and
antisocialist tendencies in the
country.
• Mao continued to believe that
the material incentives that
had been restored to the
peasants and others were
corrupting the masses and
were counterrevolutionary.
Background Information
• To arrest the so-called
capitalist trend, Mao launched
the Socialist Education
Movement (1962-65)
• Primary emphasis was on
restoring ideological purity,
reinfusing revolutionary fervor
into the party and government
bureaucracies, and intensifying
class struggle.
• There were internal
disagreements, not on the aim
of the movement but on the
methods of carrying it out.
• Opposition came mainly from
the moderates represented by
Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.
Socialist Education Campaign
Socialist Education Campaign
•
3 interrelated campaigns:
1. Educational campaign
2. Rectification campaign
3. Purification movement – PLA
•
•
•
•
Mao: open investigation
Liu: covert infiltration
Mao: mass education movement
Liu: party-controlled rectification operation
7
Socialist Education Movement
• The Socialist Education Movement was soon paired
with another Mao campaign, the theme of which
was "to learn from the People's Liberation Army."
• Minister of National Defense Lin Biao's rise to the
center of power was increasingly conspicuous.
• It was accompanied by his call on the PLA and the
CCP to accentuate Maoist thought as the guiding
principle for the Socialist Education Movement and
for all revolutionary undertakings in China.
Socialist Education Movement
• A thorough reform of the school system, which had
been planned earlier to coincide with the Great Leap
Forward, went into effect.
• The reform was intended as a work-study program--a
new xiafang movement--in which schooling was
slated to accommodate the work schedule of
communes and factories.
• It had the dual purpose of providing mass education
less expensively than previously and of re-educating
intellectuals and scholars to accept the need for their
own participation in manual labor.
Socialist Education Movement
• The drafting of intellectuals for
manual labor was publicized
through the mass media as an
effort to remove "bourgeois"
influences from professional
workers--particularly, their
tendency to have greater
regard for their own
specialized fields than for the
goals of the party.
• Official propaganda accused
them of being more
concerned with having
"expertise" than being "red" .
Mao’s Plans For China and Need for
Cultural Revolution
• The revolution was to destroy the four olds:
old ideology, old thoughts, old habits and
old customs
• Those who opposed Mao were publicly
punished
• Farm production fell, factory work stopped
and schools closed
• As a result there was no economy, many
people had left and there was no education
• It was an enormous failure and Mao ended
it in 1969
Toward a Cultural Revolution
• Only PLA campaign successful
• Lin Biao Minister Defence – key role
• "Chairman Mao is a genius, everything the
Chairman says is truly great; one of the
Chairman's words will override the meaning of ten
thousand of ours.”
• “Little Red Book”
12
The Chinese People's Liberation Army is the Great
School of Mao Zedong Thought
13
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
• Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
– commitment to revolution and “class struggle”
– power struggle to succeed Mao
• Phase I: the rise and fall of “Red Guards”
• Phase II: the rise and fall of Lin Biao
• Phase III: the rise and fall of the “Gang of Four”
Reasons/Causes for the Cultural
Revolution
Why a need for Cultural Revolution?
• Failure of Great Leap – masses capitalist
• 1962 Mao tries to implement the Socialist
Education Movement – re-educate masses
• Liu and Deng against, ‘unrealistic’ while
countryside still struggling
• 1963, Mao appeals directly to people
• Party cadres openly criticise themselves, but
masses able to criticise them too
16
Reasons Mao Wanted Cultural
Revolution
• Mao felt that he could no longer depend on the
formal party organization, convinced that it had been
permeated with the "capitalist" and bourgeois
obstructionists.
• He turned to Lin Biao and the PLA to counteract the
influence of those who were allegedly "`left' in form
but `right' in essence."
• The PLA was widely extolled as a "great school" for
the training of a new generation of revolutionary
fighters and leaders.
Reasons for the Cultural Revolution?
• Remove opposition
• Remold China so deeply that it could never change back
in order to ensure the survival of revolutionary spirit
• Obliterate the failure of the GLF
• Undermine intellectuals and bureaucrats and restore
the peasant nature of China’s revolution
• Differentiate China from the USSR, which was too
“revisionist”
• Test the young party members who had no experience
Purpose of the Cultural Revolution
• Fundamental change in the way the Chinese
people viewed the world
• Aim to totally replace older feudal attitudes
and to replace with socialist attitudes
• Mao’s bid for power?
• Lin Biao and Jiang Qing’s ambitions?
• Wu Han’s play – key (Hai Rui = Peng Dehuai,
Emperor = Mao)
19
Cultural Revolution
(1966-68)
• The purpose of this movement was to:
– Restore Mao’s power and control
– Get rid of Soviet style communism
– Renew the spirit of revolution in China
– Destroy the rise of differentiation between the
proletariat and bourgeois (he believed a
hierarchy was increasing in development)
• Factions During the Cultural Revolution
– Maoist Faction
•
•
•
•
Closely associated with Mao
Believed in continual revolution, mass campaigns
Believed in virtues of “red over expert”
Members included Mao, Jiang Qing (wife) Ken Shang
– Party Bureaucrats
• Leaders of the party apparatus in Secretariat
• Believe in pragmatic economic development using
incentives to increae production
• Respected Mao but disliked his romantic views of change
• Great Leap policies were misplaced and damaging
• Members included Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping
– Government Faction
• Composed of governmental officials in administration
• Ideologically closer to party bureaucrats but members has
close personal relations with Mao
• Knew their skills would be necessary to administer China
• High managerial ability
• Zhou Enlai identified with this faction
– Military Faction
• Internally divided between followers of Lin Biao who
supported Mao and Lo Juijin who favored a strong,
conventional PLA
• People’s militay vs. regular military
• Improvement in relations with Russia favored by PLA
Views on Cultural Revolution
• Considerable intraparty
opposition to the Cultural
Revolution was evident.
• On the one side was the MaoLin Biao group, supported by
the PLA; on the other side was
a faction led by Liu Shaoqi and
Deng Xiaoping, which had its
strength in the regular party
machine.
• Premier Zhou Enlai, while
remaining personally loyal to
Mao, tried to mediate or to
reconcile the two factions.
What was the Cultural
Revolution?
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
The Cultural Revolution
New Movement
• Mid-1960s, Mao tried to regain power, prestige lost after Great Leap Forward
• Initiated new movement called Cultural Revolution, sought to ride China of old
ways, create society where peasants, physical labor were the ideal
Red Guards
• Campaign meant eliminating intellectuals who Mao feared wanted to end
communism, bring back China’s old ways
• Mao shut down schools, encouraged militant students, Red Guards, to carry out
work of Cultural Revolution by criticizing intellectuals, values
Destruction of Society
• Mao lost control; Red guards murdered hundreds of thousands of people; by late
1960s, China on verge of civil war before Mao regained control
• Cultural Revolution reestablished Mao’s dominance, caused terrible destruction;
civil authority collapsed, economic activity fell off sharply
Cultural Revolution (1966-1969)
• “Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution”
– Effort to revive interest in Mao’s
ideas (and for Mao to regain
power) after the failed Great Leap
Forward
– Mao claimed that reactionary
bourgeoisie elements were taking
over the party
– Call for youths to engage in postrevolutionary class warfare
– Red Guards (consisting of young
people) marched throughout China
– Older alleged reactionaries
removed from positions of power
What Was The Cultural Revolution
(1966-68)
• Red Guards (groups of youths who banded themselves
together) were encouraged to criticize those who Mao
deemed untrustworthy with regards to the direction he
wanted China to take. No-one was safe from criticism
• Schools were seen as being elitist, so they were closed.
Students were encouraged to work beside peasants in the
countryside to enhance their understanding of the
revolution
• Everyone had a file on them, many were tortured or killed
(500,000), humiliated in public, committed suicide, or sent
to labor camps
What was the Cultural Revolution?
•
The Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution (无产阶级文化大革命), was
started in 1966.
•
It was set up to secure Maoism and
eliminate Political Opponents.
•
It officially ended in 1969, when Mao
himself admitted that the revolution
had ended.
•
Over this period of three years, many
died and millions more imprisoned.
The leaders of the Cultural Revolution
remained in power, even after the end
of the Revolution.
•
The period is widely considered to
have been a period of economic
stagnation.
What was the Cultural Revolution
•
•
•
•
The Cultural Revolution took place from 1966 to 1976.
Mao Zedong was the leader of the Cultural Revolution.
He wanted to establish a more effective bureaucracy.
Mao organized a group of young people, and their goals
were to spread the idea of socialism around China.
• The Cultural Revolution, instead of creating a better
China, left great negative impacts on the people and the
economy of China, and also affected foreign countries as
well.
What was the Cultural Revolution?
• The Cultural Revolution could also be described as the time
when young Chinese citizens, called Red Guards, fought
against the democratic society.
• Much respect and many rewards were given to the Red
Guards; therefore Mao was able to gather many student
volunteers.
• The Cultural Revolution was based on the belief that school
should be simpler, and the more books a person read, the
more unintelligent they become.
• Mao wanted to brainwash Chinese society - especially young
people - and create Chinese citizens who would grow up to
become uneducated and mindless.
Goals: Destroying the Four Olds
Cultural Revolution Swept Away 4 OLDS
Old customs
Old culture
Old habits
Old ideas
The “four olds”
• One of the ways to approach this is to rid every one
of their valuable possessions.
•
Mao’s red guards would raid
•
houses looking
•
for “four olds”.
*A four old is an item or behavior that shows old
custom, old culture, old habit, or old ideas.
*Remember that while Mao was draining the
people in China of their wealth and power, Mao
was a very wealthy man himself.
Destroying The 4 Olds…
Eroded family structure
Families divided to work in countryside
Attempted to wipe out Confucian thought
Silenced intellectuals
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
Against the Four Olds
– Red Guards: school students, mostly teenagers
– Sacking, looting, beating and killing
– Destroyed public and personal properties, and
anything regarded as representing the Four Olds
• landlords, reactionaries, counterrevolutionaries, rightists,
bad elements, traitors, spies, capitalist-roaders, all of them
“ox ghosts and snake spirits”
Destroy the
Four Olds
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
Key aspects of the Cultural Revolution
•
•
•
•
Personality Cult (strongest 1968)
Amongst the young in particular
Cult built around Mao
Deep sense of gratitude to Mao
38
The Militant Phase, 1966-68
• By mid-1965 Mao had gradually but systematically regained
control of the party with the support of Lin Biao, Jiang Qing
(Mao's fourth wife), and Chen Boda.
• In late 1965 a leading member of Mao's "Shanghai Mafia,"
Yao Wenyuan, wrote a thinly veiled attack on the deputy
mayor of Beijing, Wu Han.
• In the next six months Mao and his supporters purged or
attacked a wide variety of public figures, including State
Chairman Liu Shaoqi and other party and state leaders.
• By mid-1966 Mao's campaign had erupted into what came to
be known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the
first mass action to have emerged against the CCP apparatus
itself.
The PLA
reading
Mao’s
Little Red
Book
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
Red Guards
Phase I: Red Guards (1966-69)
8 August 1966
• 16 point decision
• Red Guards destroy the “four olds”:
•
•
•
•
Thought
Culture
Customs
Habits
43
Phase I: Red Guards (1966-69)
• Purge of party cadres
– Deng Xiaoping
• Purge of intellectuals
The Red Guards
• Galvanized by the August 1966
Rally, the Red Guards became
the primary instruments of the
Cultural Revolution
• “We have to depend on them to
start a rebellion, a revolution,
otherwise we may not be able to
overthrow the demons and
monsters. We must liberate the
little devils. We need more
monkeys to disrupt the palace”
(Mao, 1965-interesting!)
The Red Guards
• One of the key instruments employed during the Great Cultural
Revolution by Mao is The Red Guards.
• These are people in their teens and twenties who supported the
shake-ups within the Communist Party in the Cultural Revolution.
• Their key activity was to terrorise closet capitalists.
• They attacked and tortured respected teachers, abused elderly
citizens, humiliated old revolutionaries, and, in many cases, battled
former friends in bloody confrontations.
• They carried Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book with religious fervour,
often using the quotations to justify their revolutionary efforts.
• Most of the Red Guards did not finish their education as a result of
the cultural revolution.
Red Guard
•
The Red Guard is the name given to
the hundreds of thousands of students
who left their schools to spread Mao’s
message; that the Moderates were
bringing China down the ‘Capitalist
Road’, and needed to return to pure
Communism once again
•
They were responsible for a majority
of the chaos created during the
Cultural Revolution
•
They traveled the countryside and
visited factories, etc. to spread the
message
•
At the end of the Cultural Revolution,
they were sent to the countryside to
‘learn from the peasants’
Red Guard
• Red Guard activities were
promoted as a reflection
of Mao's policy of
rekindling revolutionary
enthusiasm and
destroying "outdated,"
"counterrevolutionary"
symbols and values.
• Mao's ideas, popularized
in the Quotations from
Chairman Mao, became
the standard by which all
revolutionary efforts were
to be judged.
• A Young group
of Red Guards
Mao gathered
to fight against
democratic
society.
Red Guards
• Schools closed so the kids
could join
• They beat anyone that they
thought were
counterrevolutionaries
• Most of these people with
authority.
• They were publicly
humiliated, beaten, and
sometimes killed
Struggle Sessions
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
The Red Guard
•
They had the workers arrange
meetings so frequent that production
came to a standstill
•
Anyone who complained was accused
of being a bourgeois, etc.
•
Vandalism was also common, as the
Red Guard started to stamp out
authorities, like the leader of the
factory, etc.
•
High levels of violence ensued
•
This meant that national output fell
dramatically during the course of the
Cultural Revolution
•
This caused the Chinese economy to
be crippled through the three-year
duration of the Cultural Revolution
Youth: Red Guards
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
Red Guards (1966-69)
• Renamed streets and
buildings
• Lined the streets with
pictures of Mao
• Attacked and humiliated
those in Western or
traditional clothing
• As early as 1967, the Red
Guards were seen by many
in the Party to be a liability.
A Red Guard
Red Guards: Struggle Sessions
(Purges)
• Red Guard denounce teachers,
parents, school leaders in public
facing hundreds of people for
crimes against Mao and the
Revolution.
• This was a unique method used
by the Communist Party of China
in the Mao era to shape public
opinion and to humiliate,
persecute, and/or execute
political rivals, so-called class
enemies .
Red Guards March to
Canton
Cultural Revolution
•
•
•
In June 1966 middle schools and
universities throughout the
country closed down as students
devoted all their time to Red
Guard activities. Millions of
these young students were
encouraged to attack
"counterrevolutionaries (teachers
school leaders, and parents) "
and criticize those in the party
who appeared to have deviated
from Maoist thought.
Left is a painting of a young "Red
Guard" participating in the
campaign. The big characters on
the board read "Field for
Criticism." The head of Mao
Zedong appears in the upper left
corner.
Why do you think the artist chose
to include Mao's image in this
poster?
Sent-Down Youths and Education
Policies
Burning of Books &
Old Culture
Burning of Buddhas
Sent-Down Youth
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
Sent Down Youth
•
•
•
•
Sent to countryside to learn from peasants
Barefoot doctors
Education stopped, schools closed
Teachers persecuted
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
Education
Not with Mao around!
• Mao told the people of China that teachers were against the
revolution and that children shouldn’t continue their classes.
• This left the children with free time since they didn’t go to
classes. Mao encouraged them to become red guards.
• If you were chosen at a red guard audition it was considered
a great honor and was many children’s dream.
Mao’s Educational Policies
• The CCP were reliant on Soviet help:
– 600 Russians taught in Chinese universities
– 36,000 Chinese had studied at Russian
universities
• The illiteracy rate improved and so did school
attendance, but not as much as it could’ve been
because of the Cultural Revolution
• Students were taught about Mao and the ideology
The Youth Movement
Instead of killing the
intellectuals in China, who
amounted to less than 10%
of the population, Mao
decided to re-educate
intellectuals in the ways of
the proletariat.
To do so, he made many
books and learning sources
illegal, and relocated
members of the bourgeoisie
class to farming
communities where they
were forced to do manual
labor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbECxnd5ZA4
Cultural Revolution Targets Students
• Maoists also turned to middleschool students for political
demonstrations on their
behalf.
• These students, joined also by
some university students,
came to be known as the Red
Guards .
• Millions of Red Guards were
encouraged by the Cultural
Revolution group to become a
"shock force" and to
"bombard" with criticism both
the regular party headquarters
in Beijing and those at the
regional and provincial levels.
The Education System
• All children taught to aspire to being young
pioneers, the first rung towards party
membership
• Enrollment as a young pioneer was a major
event for a student and family
• All students were encouraged to admit their
failings in public in an attempt to become
better socialists
67
The Education System
• Indoctrination in the classroom began with
primary education
• History taught to highlight the wrongs of the
feudal past and western imperialism
• Students taught to have unbounded love for
comrades and hatred for class enemies
68
Completely Smash the Liu-Deng CounterRevolutionary Line, 1967
69
“Smash the old world/Establish a new world.”
70
“Let the new socialist performing arts occupy every stage”
71
“Proletarian revolutionary rebels unite!”
72
“Field for criticism”
73
Cult of Mao
74
The
Mao Cult
Revering Mao
in Tibet during
the Cultural
Revolution
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
Mao: Cult of Personality
Charismatic leadership
Mao becomes the preeminent leader
Mao can do no wrong
Mao is the father and hero
Mao has a radical vision of where China
must go
Resents any delay
Despises gradualism
Longs to see China truly “Communist”
immediately
Cult of Mao

Mao deliberately set out to
create a cult for himself (SPS)
Single Party State, and to
purge the Chinese Communist
Party of anyone who did not
fully support Mao.
 His main selling point was a
desire to create a China which
had peasants, workers and
educated people working
together – no-one was better
than anyone else and all
working for the good of China
– a classless society
Cult of Mao
There was a cult of Mao that was built up
 Society was inundated with Mao’s face, quotes,
statues, posters and other forms of propaganda
 Little Red Book was published in 1963 and
people were encouraged to read it as their
“Bible”. Schools used it in their curriculum

Cultural Revolution: Cult of Personality




Cult of personality and
ideological correctness
Little Red Book (below)
“The East is Red”
(Dongfang hong 东方红 )
Mao buttons (lower right)
With regard to the great teacher Chairman Mao,
cherish the word 'Loyalty'. With regard to the great
Mao Zedong Thought, vigorously stress the word
'Usefullness'. (1968)
Cult of Personality
The reddest, reddest, red sun in our
heart, Chairman Mao, and us together
Zhejiang Workers, Farmers and Soldiers
Art Academy collective, 1968
Mao’s
Little Red
Book
Maoist Propaganda
“Long Live Chairman Mao”
Mao Cult
Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU
The Little Red Book

Quotations from
Chairman Mao Zedong
was published in 1964.
 Every citizen was
(unofficially) required to
study and memorize
quotes from it to be
seen as a good citizen.
Little Red Book

The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese
Communist Party. The theoretical basis guiding our thinking is
Marxism-Leninism. Opening address at the First Session of
the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic
of China (September 15, 1954).

Without preparedness, superiority is not real superiority and
there can be no initiative either. Having grasped this point, a
force that is inferior but prepared can often defeat a superior
enemy by surprise attack. "On Protracted War" (May 1938),
Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 165-66.

Thousands upon thousands of martyrs have heroically laid
down their lives for the people; let us hold their banner high
and march ahead along the path crimson with their blood!
"On Coalition Government" (April 24, 1945), Selected Works,
Vol. III, p. 318.

The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it
is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the
bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our
hope is placed on you. The world belongs to you. China's
future belongs to you. Talk at a meeting with Chinese
students and trainees in Moscow (November 17, 1957).
Little Red Book

Everyone would carry around a “Little Red
Book”, and it was required to be read
during school. The cover of the book says
“Citacoes do presidente Mao Tse Tung” .
Inside are some of Mao’s quotes and past
speeches.
Mao’s Little Red Book

The Chinese Communist Party is the core of
the Chinese revolution, and its principles
are based on Marxism-Leninism. Party
criticism should be carried out within the
Party.

The revolution, and the recognition of class
and class struggle, are necessary for
peasants and the Chinese people to
overcome both domestic and foreign
enemy elements. This is not a simple,
clean, or quick struggle.

War is a continuation of politics, and there
are at least two types: just (progressive)
and unjust wars, which only serve
bourgeois interests. While no one likes war,
we must remain ready to wage just wars
against imperialist agitations.
Mao’s Little Red Book

Fighting is unpleasant, and the people of China
would prefer not to do it at all. At the same
time, they stand ready to wage a just struggle
of self-preservation against reactionary
elements, both foreign and domestic.

China's road to modernization will be built on
the principles of diligence and frugality. Nor will
it be legitimate to relax if, 50 years later,
modernization is realized on a mass scale.

A communist must be selfless, with the
interests of the masses at heart. He must also
possess a largeness of mind, as well as a
practical, far-sighted mindset.

Women represent a great productive force in
China, and equality among the sexes is one of
the goals of communism. The multiple burdens
which women must shoulder are to be eased.
Maoist Propaganda
“The People's Liberation Army represents the
great school of Mao Zedong Thought”
Maoist Propaganda
“Criticize the old world and build a new one with Mao Zedong Thought as our
guide”
Monsters and Demons
• 'Monsters and Demons' (牛鬼
蛇神 niugui sheshen) was the
term used to vilify specialists,
scholars, authorities and
'people who entrenched
themselves in ideological and
cultural positions' during the
Cultural Revolution.
Monsters and Demons
• Once people were 'dragged out' as 'evil spirits', they were forced
to wear caps, collars or placards identifying them as such. Being
'cow monsters', they were imprisoned in what was generally
called a 'cowshed' (牛棚，niupeng). This did not have to be a
genuine stable; it could be a classroom, storehouse, dark room or
temple. In the absence of legal procedures, the length of stay in
the 'cowshed' could be ten days or ten years.
Propaganda: Controlling the Arts
and Media
The Arts, Media, & Propaganda
• When speaking about the Cultural Revolution (1966-1970),
Mao said, “Our purpose is to ensure that literature and art
fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a
component party, that they operate as powerful weapons
for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and
destroying the enemy, and that they help people fight the
enemy with one heart and one mind”
• Students were to make “big-character posters” which
would called for students to cut class and travel across the
country to meet other young activists and propagate Mao
Zedong’s ideas
Propaganda: Brainwashing and
Controlling the Media
• The people would also put up
propaganda posters.
• They played a major
supporting role in the many
campaigns that were designed
to mobilize the people.
• Most of them showed people
doing model behavior.
• The one below represents the
concept of “ we must grasp
revolution and increase
production, work, and
preparation and do an even
better job”
The Arts, Media, & Propaganda
• During the Cultural Revolution:
– Red Guards broke into people’s homes burned books,
cut up paintings, trampled records and broke musical
instruments
– Films were censored by Mao’s wife
– Writers wore large insulting wooden plaques hung from
thin wire around their necks
– Many artists and other people were beaten and sent to
reeducation camps
– There was a loss of cultural heritage
Madam Mao & Cultural Revolution
Jiang Qing
Madam Mao
•
•
•
•
•
Her field was culture and her
background was an actress from
Shanghai.
Advisor of the Arts to the Army.
Attacks against artists who are
capitalists.
All western art is prohibited.
Revolutionary culture is good.
Madam Mao produces propaganda
for Chairman Mao through art & film,
this acts as a pretext to the Cultural
Revolution.
Madam Mao Propaganda Poster Art
Cultural Revolution
•
•
•
•
Jiang Qing, Mao's wife, dominated cultural
productions during this period. The ideas
she espoused through eight "Model Operas"
were applied to all areas of the arts. These
operas were performed continuously, and
attendance was mandatory. Proletarian
heroes and heroines were the main
characters in each.
To the right is an advertisement for the
opera, "The Red Women's Army," a story
about women from south China being
organized to fight for a new and equal China.
Note the use of ballet shoes and postures.
Jiang Qing emphasized "Three Stresses" as
the guiding principle behind these operas.
Based on the way that the figures are
arranged, can you guess to what the "Three
Stresses" refers?
Controlling the media
• Power of art and literature
• Art and literature political
• Only character development was when all
traditional bases for friendship were
abandoned and replaced by shared class
consciousness
103
Ideological Trainings
• Mass meetings held
• In schools and colleges students discussed the
wisdom of Mao’s words and why he was
always correct
• Mao’s role in the revolution became the
subject of plays, films and novels
• Newspapers dedicated front pages to his
sayings
105
Propaganda Posters
This poster says," The sunlight of Mao Zedong
Thought illuminates the road of the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution”
• Propaganda posters are the use of messages
designed to influence public opinion.
• Discussion Question:
Do you think this poster is fact or opinion?
Art and Politics
During the Cultural Revolution
• During the Cultural Revolution, under Madame Mao’s
guidance, China re-defined art as a political tool.
• She reinvented the Beijing Opera and Ballet dance forms to
include class struggle themes.
This ballet play poster
depicts a scene from the
Revolutionary Ballet, The
Red Army Detachments.
The headline of the poster
says “Only by saving the
entire human race can the
proletarian class free
itself.”
Literature
During the Cultural Revolution,
almost all forms of creative
literature were made illegal.
All western books were banned and
destroyed, and no one was able
to publish any literature unless it
supported the Communist
National Party.
Mao Tse-tung published many works
himself, and almost everyone in
China was forced to carry around
a book of his quotations known
as the “Little Red Book.”
Music
Music, like all other
forms of art, only
existed in the form of
propaganda.
Typical songs were
titled “The East is Red,”
“Long Live Chairman
Mao,” and “I Love
Beijing's Tiananmen.”
This song is entitled, “I am a
Little Member of the Commune.”
I am a little member of the commune,
with a little sickle in my hand,
and a bamboo basket on my shoulder.
I go to work after class, cutting weeds,
collecting manure, and picking up the lost
wheat ears.
The more I work, the more I love it.
Ayh-hey-hey, Aye-hey-hey,
Always keeping in mind the good character of
the poor-and-lower-middle peasants,
Loving the collective and loving labor,
I am a little member of the commune!
Art
At one point in China calligraphy had
been considered the greatest
form of art above painting and
dancing.
The Chinese language consists of
6000-7000 characters, each with
an intricate design.
During the Cultural Revolution, all
forms of art, calligraphy, painting,
dancing, and singing, were
reduced to those that supported
the Communist National Party.
“Let the new Socialist Performing
Arts conquer every stage.”
Etiquette
The Three Main Rules of Discipline are as
follows:
(1) Obey orders in all your actions.
(2) Do not take a single needle piece of thread from the masses.
(3) Turn in everything captured.
Religion
Mao lashed out at organized religion in China.
He blamed religion for China’s problems and
under his rule many different types of temples
and churches were burned to the ground or
converted into government buildings.
However, some people began to worship Mao,
and Mao worship evolved into a cult activity.
Emulation Campaign: Specific Focus
of One Propaganda Campaign
Emulation Campaigns
• Socialist heroes for the
people to emulate
• 1962 Lei Feng appeared, orphaned by
brutal landlords and Japanese aggression
and saved by communist forces, had
developed a profound love for his fellow
proletarians
116
Cultural Revolution: Culture and Film
• Jiang Qing (江青) emerges
through the cultural domain to
assert herself politically
• Prescribed aesthetics promoted
an extreme version of socialist
realism dominated by the “two
unities” (liang jiehe 两结合)
and the “three prominences”
(san tuchu 三突出)
• Two unities: socialist realism
and revolutionary romanticism
• Three prominences: give
prominence to the positive
characters, the heroes, and the
principal hero
118
119
120
121
Role of Lin Biao
Lin Biao
• Was a Chinese Communist military leader who was instrumental
in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in
Northeastern China
•Was the General who led the People's Liberation Army into Beijing
in 1949.
•He abstained from becoming a major player in politics until he rose
to prominence during the Cultural Revolution, climbing as high as
second-in-charge and Mao Zedong's designated and constitutional
successor and comrade-in-arms.
•He died in a plane crash in September 1971 in Mongolia after what
appeared to be a failed coup to oust Mao. After his death, he was
officially condemned as a traitor, and is still recognized as one of
the two "major Counter-revolutionary parties" during the Cultural
Revolution– the other being Jiang Qing.
Phase II: Lin Biao (1969-71)
• the putative successor to Mao Zedong (tsetung)
• In 1971 Lin allegedly tried but failed
– to assassinate Mao
– had to flee to Soviet Union
• His departure eroded the
credibility of the entire leadership
The Fall of Lin Biao, 1971
• By the early 1970s, the Cultural Revolution had diminished, but
while threats to Mao were absent, questions over his potential
successor emerged
• Some began to cast doubt on Lin Biao, questioned his influence,
and told him he must submit to self criticism
• Lin Biao became involved in a plot to assassinate Mao, and then
tried to escape China, but his plane crashed killing him and his
family (no, I am not making this up)
• Afterwards, Mao’s propaganda machine began to denounce Lin
Biao, which led to great disillusionment among the Chinese
people
• It also opened the door for the return of Deng Xiaoping and the
enhancement of Zhou Enlai -more on that later!
• The Cultural Revolution had come full circle…
Deepen the criticism of Lin [Biao] and Confucius, energetically increase production, 1975
Role of the Gang of Four
127
Phase III: the “Gang of Four”
•
•
1972 – 1976
power struggle between
– the radical “Gang of Four”, led
by Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife
– Goal continue Cultural
revolution…failed when Mao
dies and his power is
gone…gang of 4 put on trial
and convicted….Dang
Xiaoping takes power

Gang of Four
During China’s Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976), Zhang Chunqiao,
Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan, and
Wang Hongwen, clockwise from top
right, developed a series of radical
political campaigns with the support
of Communist Party leader Mao
Zedong.
The campaigns caused ten years of
chaos and violence.
After Mao’s death in 1976, the group
was dubbed the Gang of Four, and
each was tried and convicted of
crimes associated with the Cultural
Revolution.
Role of the Gang of Four
•
Later, the Gang of Four, especially
Jiang Qing considered everything as
Capitalist; they condemned a basic
theory that production power decided
the relation of production to the
character of the society as
‘Revisionism’; in a sense referring to
looking back to the past.
•
They agitated workers openly by
saying ‘[not to] fear to stop production
and work’.
•
They disliked modernism; they
referred the introduction of
technological plants as ‘worshipping
and toadying to foreign countries’.
•
Most workers complained about the
Four’s policies, and made an effort to
produce. However, a decline in
production was impossible, with their
constant exposure to slogans created
by Jiang's groups
Effects of the Cultural
Revolution and Post-Cultural
Revolution Events
Diplomatic Breakthrough
• 1971, PRC became the representative of
China in UN (replaced ROC)
“Ping-Pong Diplomacy”:
U. S. Players at Great Wall, 1971
Diplomatic Breakthrough
• 1972, President Nixon visited Beijing
Mao Meets President
Nixon, 1972
Effects of Cultural Revolution
• Schools and factories
closed.
• Decline in the
Industrial Production
by 12% between 1966
and 1968
• The economy slowed
• Civil war was close in
hand
Effects of Cultural Revolution
• The result of the unfettered
criticism from China's
exuberant youth was massive
civil disorder, punctuated also
by clashes among rival Red
Guard gangs and between the
gangs and local security
authorities.
• The party organization was
shattered from top to bottom.
• The Central Committee's
Secretariat ceased functioning
in late 1966.
• The resources of the public
security organs were severely
strained.
Effects of the Cultural Revolution
• Many suffered and died
(500,000 – 2 million)
• Housing space increased
• An entire generation lost
much of its schooling
• Intellectuals suffered most
• There was a loss of cultural
heritage
Effects of Cultural Revolution:
Reactions of PLA
• Faced with imminent anarchy, the PLA--the only organization
whose ranks for the most part had not been radicalized by
Red Guard-style activities--emerged as the principal guarantor
of law and order and the de facto political authority.
• Although the PLA was under Mao's rallying call to "support
the left," PLA regional military commanders ordered their
forces to restrain the leftist radicals.
• The PLA also was responsible for the appearance in early 1967
of the revolutionary committees, a new form of local control
that replaced local party committees and administrative
bodies.
• The revolutionary committees were staffed with Cultural
Revolution activists, trusted cadres, and military commanders,
the latter frequently holding the greatest power.
Effects of the Cultural Revolution
• Many Chinese lost their jobs as a result of the Great Cultural
Revolution
• Education came to a halt across the country.
• Many talents were suppressed as they were exiled to manual
labour in the fields.
• Many other skilled professionals were either persecuted or
executed, leaving behind vast numbers of poorly educated
people ill equipped for the 20th century.
• Foreign embassies were attacked by the Red Guards. The
British Embassy was even burned down completely!
Effects of Cultural Revolution
• The radical tide receded somewhat beginning in late
1967
• It was not until after mid-1968 that Mao came to
realize the uselessness of further revolutionary
violence.
• Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and their fellow
"revisionists" and "capitalist roaders" had been
purged from public life by early 1967.
• The Maoist group had since been in full command of
the political scene.
Effects of Cultural Revolution
• The need for domestic calm and stability was occasioned
perhaps even more by pressures emanating from outside
China.
• The Chinese were alarmed in 1966-68 by steady Soviet
military buildups along their common border.
• The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 heightened
Chinese apprehensions.
• In March 1969 Chinese and Soviet troops clashed on
Zhenbao Island (known to the Soviets as Damanskiy
Island) in the disputed Wusuli Jiang (Ussuri River) border
area.
• The tension on the border had a sobering effect on the
Chinese political scene and provided the regime with a
new and unifying rallying call.
Effects on Japan and Media
• Outside of China, the cultural revolution left the greatest impact on Japan.
• China had great control over the media at the time, therefore the cause
and effects of the Cultural Revolution were forbidden to be published, and
anyone who wrote about it were to be exiled.
• Chinese Government kept a tight seal over what went on in China.
• People could only read about what happened through false and
misleading facts approved by the communist regime.
• Only supporters of the Cultural Revolution could enter China.
• Even Chinese students and citizens had a hard time understanding what
was going on due to the control of the media.
• Resulted in much confusion in Japan. Despite that, Japan formed groups
that reacted against the Chinese government.
• Since China and Japan were not able to communicate during the Cultural
Revolution, groups of sympathy for the Chinese government soon ended.
Effects on Economy and Families
• The Cultural Revolution caused China’s economy to collapse.
• The amount of rice grains produced a year decreased greatly and cotton
production also dropped dramatically.
• Due to the decreased production, the price for rice increased, and the
price for cotton fabrics and clothes also increased.
• Transportation also became a problem for the people of China, as
industrial production dropped during the ten harsh years.
• The Cultural Revolution led many citizens to lose their possessions.
Politicians, landowners, and the high class society lost their jobs and
properties. The lives of many Chinese were changed for the worse.
• More citizens became peasants and worked in the farms in order to afford
foods and earn money for their families.
• Due to the abandonment of the birth control programs, many families
increased and birth rates went up. That made living arrangements harder
for most families, as the expenses of living were already difficult.
Effects on Schools and Students
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Many Chinese students were not able to study during the Cultural Revolution.
They were forced to farm and do manual labor.
The government required that the values of the Cultural Revolution be taught in
schools.
During 1966 and 1967, all graduates and current students were required to completed
a course covering the ideals of the Cultural Revolution before graduating.
The process blocked many students from completing school, and many students
dropped out.
For those children who could not afford to go to school, they worked in factories and
farms to earn petty amounts of money for their family.
For those who stayed in school until graduation, they were sent to the countryside,
because Mao thought it was necessary for graduates to be re-educated by famers and
peasants.
Four million high school and college graduates and sixteen million students were sent
to the farmland where they ended up working the farms and performing manual
labor.
Problems arose for most of the young people due to the scarcity of food, housing, and
money.
Many talented students talents were wasted, because they were stuck working in the
fields until the revolution ended.
End of Radicalism: Post-Mao
Government
Power Struggle
Modernists
1976
Communist
Traditionalists
Zhou Enlai
“The Gang of Four”:
Jiang Qin, Chen Boda, Wang
Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan
End of Radicalism
• The radical clique most closely
associated with Mao and the
Cultural Revolution became
vulnerable after Mao died, as
Deng had been after Zhou
Enlai's demise.
• In October, less than a month
after Mao's death, Jiang Qing
and her three principal
associates--denounced as the
Gang of Four--were arrested.
• Within days it was formally
announced that Hua Guofeng
had assumed the positions of
party chairman, chairman of
the party's Central Military
Commission, and premier.
China After Mao
Reforms Begin
•
•
•
•
1976, Mao died; his death followed by retreat from many of his policies
China began to end isolation from rest of world in early 1970s
1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China, meeting with Mao
During last years of Mao’s life, much power wielded by group of four people
known as Gang of Four
Gang of Four
• Gang of four included Mao’s wife,
Jiang Qing—responsible for some
of worst features of Cultural
Revolution
• After Mao’s death, more moderate
leaders imprisoned Gang of Four
Four Modernizations
• Deng Xiaoping eventually became
China’s leader, helped put in place
far-reaching market reforms
• Deng’s reform plan, Four
Modernizations, sought to
modernize: agriculture, industry,
science and technology, defense
Mao & The Gang of Four
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
– He was the communist leader of China during the Cultural Revolution.
The Gang of Four
– They were the four Chinese Communist Party Officials.
•
•
•
•
Jiang Qing (1914-1991)
– Mao's last wife and the leading figure of the group and her close associates
whose were:
Zhang Chunqiao (1917-2005)
– Sentenced to death, but sentence was changed to life imprisonment.
Yao Wenyuan (1931-2005)
– Arrested and sentenced to 20 life imprisonment.
Wang Hongwen (1936-1992)
– He was an important figure after Mao’s death. He was also arrested and
sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Gang of Four
• Pictured here are the
original Gang of Four
members.
Mao and Zhou Died in 1976
• Turning point in China’s postwar era
• “Gang of Four” were arrested
• End of the Cultural Revolution
End of Radicalism
• The death of Mao and the purge of the Gang of Four in 1976 marked the end
of the Cultural Revolution.
• The Eleventh Party Congress officially ended the Cultural Revolution in
December of 1977.
• Throughout the ten years, many people were left in poverty and for many,
educational opportunity was forever over.
• The burden of the ten years known as Mao’s Bloody Years left a burden on
China that continued after the end of the Cultural Revolution.
• The educational systems took many long years to repair.
• The greatest impact of all was that all educational opportunities and
potential productive careers were denied to people who experienced the
Cultural Revolution during their teens and early adulthood.
• For some people, their lives changed for the better as they were able to
escape the hardships of the Cultural Revolution.
• As for most, the nightmares of the Cultural Revolution still linger and
escaping that piece of reality is only hope, because the collapse of the
economy and government had huge impacts on their lives which took years
and years to restore.
Mao’s legacies
Deng Xiaoping (19051997)
Post Mao Reform
Deng Xiaoping reemerges:
Becomes chairman of party, head of
the government and commander
of the People’s Liberation Army
“To get rich is glorious.”
•
•
•
•
Deng institutes agricultural reforms
First, sales of garden vegetables OKed
Over-quota farm produce approved for open market
Ag sector got wealthy
Deng Xiaoping’s reform
After agriculture sector, business sector gets market
reforms
Businesses can sell over-quota items on open market
Cooperatives can buy business from government
Foreign investment sought
Effectively, China becomes a thriving, market-capitalist
economy, growing like mad
De-Maoization
“The 4 Modernizations”
Progress in:
► Agriculture
► Industry
► Science
► Defense
Class struggle was no longer the central focus!
Gap Between Rich &
Poor
Deng: If you open a window, some flies
naturally get in!
Post-Mao Propaganda (1979)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Deng Xiaoping
introduced "Four Basic
Principles in March
1979. They are:
We must keep to the
socialist road
We must uphold the
dictatorship of the
proletariat
We must uphold the
leadership of the
Communist Party
We must uphold
Marxism-Leninism-Mao
Zedong Thought
Post-Mao Propaganda (1986)
“Do not spit freely. Spitting is neither hygienic nor civilized”
Post-Mao Propaganda (1988)
“Less births, better births to develop China vigorously”