Breif Overview:
China's Cutural Revolution started in 1966 by chairman Mao Zedong. He wanted to rid of many things. Mao disliked intellectuals, and wanted to rid of capitalism, traditional elements, culture, and religion. Mao also had selfish reasons for starting the cultural revolution; he wanted to rid his rivals and revive his image. Mao took drastic measures to reach his goal, the revolution lasted for ten years, until 1976, the year he died. When Mao died, so did the cutural revolution (Chen, 2013).
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BBC begins to explain the Cultural Revolution in China ("What Was China's Cultural Revolution," 2016)
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Cause:
Mao wanted to modify China. He disliked to capitalist ways. Mao wanted to bring it back to the way it used to be. He wanted more control (history.com). Another cause of the revolution was to revive Mao's image. While holding a high position in the government, Mao wanted to better China's economy and came up with the plan he called, "The Great Leap Forward." In this plan, he wanted to redistribute land and organize workers into communes. This did not work out and ended up causing the greatest famine in history. Because of his failure, he wanted to revive his image, therefore launching China's Cultural Revolution (Chen). Mao sought out others who had the same goal (the goal of having farming be key, a non-communist economy, and a society with no religion, no cultural, and no tradition.) Mao created "Gang of Four" which consisted of Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing, the Shanghai Propaganda Department official Zhang Chunqiao, the literary critic Yao Wenyuan, and the Shanghai security guard Wang Hongwen (Pugh). With the Gang Of Four, and his army, known as the "Red Guards" they saught for reform and began the movement. |
The Gang of Four under arrest ("Gang of Four," 2013)