Chinese Cultural Revolution

I was pretty surprised I have not heard more about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It was so interesting to read about, while even taking a revolutions course last quarter, it shocked me that I had yet to learn about it. The Chinese Cultural Revolution was a social/political movement that began in May 1966. It was set into motion by Mao Zedong, which was the chairman of the Communist Party of China. It was interesting to note that the goal was to enforce communism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from the Chinese society. Mao thought it was taking China in the wrong direction. I thought this was an extremely bold approach and it is appalling to hear that it had lasted until 1969, except it was active until the death of military leader Lin Biao in 1971.

Hearing how the youth responded also caught my attention. They responded to Mao by forming groups known as the Red Guard around the country. The movement had spread, it is explained, into the military, urban workers, and the Communist Party leadership. It resulted in widespread struggles in all walks of life. With these different groups of the Red Guard battling for dominance, many Chinese cities reached the brink of anarchy by September 1967. With these battles and movements going on it was quite engaging to read that their economy plummeted because of this. I actually wanted to note I found that the industrial production for 1968 dropped 12 percent below that of 1966. And it is also stated that 1.5 million people were killed during this revolution and millions suffered in imprisonment, seizure of property, torture or general humiliation. So it is easy to see that this revolution caused a lot of problems for China whether it was people trying to fight back or if it was the economy. Many situations were happening around this time that their society seemed to be failing. I then went on to learn that the revolution’s short-term effects were definitely felt within China’s cities, but the long term effects were even more crucial. Mao’s attempt did not end up doing what he wanted and it led China to not have faith in their government any longer. I thought this was a sad ordeal because people of a big country should have faith in their government and what is going to come next for their country. However, this was not the case.

In the few articles I read about the revolution I did not see much explaining the groups of the Red Guard. I wanted to learn more about their actions and attempt in the revolution and against Mao. I want to keep researching and reading up on this revolution. I was very astounded that this was the first time actually researching about this topic but I found it incredibly interesting and I am glad I got to do the research. I still have some questions but it was a great revolution to look into.