An examination of the causes, key events, and takeaways of the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Nicholas Vincent.
The Great Leap Forward
What was promised to the Chinese people by Mao Zedong, then the dictator of China who ruled from 1943 up until his death in 1976, was the picture on the left, but the Chinese people experienced the picture on the right.
Let us take a look at the years leading up to the Cultural Revolution.
Mao had been dissatisfied with China’s progress as a nation when compared to its Western enemies, Britain and America. Many of his economic ideas for how to grow China came from Karl Marx of the USSR, who is famous for popularizing communism. In 1958, Mao pushed for a massive push in steel production by mobilizing rural peasants, essentially turning farmers into amateur steel workers, to help China catch up to the West. People’s private farmland was seized by the government, and they were forced to work in communal, yet ghetto, facilities. Although the communals were intended to be steel factories, they turned into backyard furnaces manned by farmers with no experience or training in metalworking. Most of the steel produced was useless scrap, but false reports were sent to the national government because government workers who oversaw the operations of local communals had to meet Mao’s unrealistic expectations and feared punishment from Mao, which often came in the form of murder.
The National Institutes of Health estimates that 30 million Chinese people died of starvation between 1959 and 1961.
The Cultural Revolution
Chinese propaganda promising unity and prosperity for China, spearheaded by Mao Zedong.
Most propaganda pictures depict Mao as a floating person above the people, portraying him as a godlike figure.
In response to the Great Leap Forward’s massive failings, even Mao recognized his need for help because he feared the Chinese people would lose faith in him. Two people who became influential in the Chinese government were Liu Shaoqi, who became Chairman of the People’s Republic of China in 1959 directing reforms like reducing commune sizes, reviving private farming incentives, and easing cultural restrictions to restore agricultural and industrial output; and Deng Xiaoping, the party’s General Secretary, who collaborated closely with Liu on these organizational efforts, consolidating bureaucratic power and enacting policies Mao disagreed with. Their growing influence made Mao uneasy, as differing ideologies from his were being implemented.
In May of 1966, the Chinese Revolution began. Mao initiated a campaign to purge capitalist, traditional, and revisionist influences from society, forcing millions of kids to be turned into Red Guard units who were to enforce Mao’s ideas on society. By mid-1966, chaos engulfed the nation as Red Guards ransacked homes, universities, and cultural sites, destroying irreplaceable artifacts, temples, and libraries while targeting intellectuals, teachers, and party officials with beatings, humiliations, and arbitrary arrests, sparking widespread paranoia and fracturing families amid an estimated 500,000 to 2 million deaths from executions, suicides, and mob violence in the ensuing years.
Schools and universities brainwashed students with Mao’s Little Red Book, a pocket-sized collection of over 400 excerpts from Mao on his ideologies. Mao wanted it to become China’s bible, as 1 billion copies were distributed to people all over the nation. To make matters even more complicated, many Chinese citizens aligned with the Little Red Book, while many vehemently despised it. Many Chinese people appeared to agree with Mao’s Little Red Book during the Cultural Revolution, but their agreement came from a mix of different motives. Some genuinely believed in Mao’s vision. After decades of inequality and foreign domination, Mao’s ideas of national pride, anti-corruption, and social equality deeply resonated with many, especially young people who saw him as a moral guide and revolutionary hero. For others, however, agreement was driven by fear and social pressure. During the Cultural Revolution, showing loyalty to Mao was not optional—it was a matter of survival. People were required to study and quote from the Little Red Book daily, and even a hint of doubt could lead to public humiliation or punishment. Many people who were punished but were not killed, were sent to labor camps like those during the Great Leap Forward. The anarchy persisted through the early 1970s, with ongoing purges and political infighting, until Mao’s death in September 1976 finally ended the decade-long ordeal, leaving indelible scars of psychological trauma, eroded trust, and generational dislocation on the Chinese people.
Instead of being called the Chinese Revolution, a more fitting name would be the Chinese Ideological Onslaught.
Pictures from the Cultural Revolution
Takeaways
Mao’s legacy is a divisive one. Many Chinese people go to his tomb to pay homage to him, while others despise him. It is not clear whether Mao’s rule over China set the country back or paved the way for growth. Throughout history, many young revolutionists start out as leaders desiring change for the better of their country and people, but die as ruthless dictators. Mao was one of those people. This shows the dangers of unchecked government power – once people taste power, it is hard to give up. However, in modern China, Xi Jinping is pretty much a dictator. Why is this? Surely the Chinese people would know from Mao Zedong the horrors that come with a dictator. Immediately following Mao’s death, his successor, Deng Xiaoping, focused on economic development via freer economic markets and global trade, and Xi seems to have learned from Deng’s successes and Mao’s flaws. He is subtle in his approach to control. Rather than pushing specific ideals, Xi blocks sources that go against nationalism. Xi seems secular and has focused mainly on modernization via technological advancements, whereas Mao was entrenched in ideological purity more than economic development. Xi is currently receiving high approval ratings from Chinese citizens for his advancement of China and tolerance for allowing people to live freely as long as they conform to a secular way of life. Maybe you can’t force a square peg in a round hole without breaking something.