...It has been argued that most of the crucial political and ideological battles of the Cultural Revolution were fought over the issue of the nature of social class structure in post-revolutionary China. What does the Cultural Revolution teach us about class structure and struggle under socialism? The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution[1] was a political and ideological struggle spanning the decade from 1966-1976. More implicitly, it was a struggle spurned into motion by Mao Zedong to reinstitute his mass line and turn China back to the ‘Socialist Road.’ Mao urged the Chinese to undergo a ‘class struggle’ whereby those truly on the path to Communism would rise against the new bureaucracy who were implementing ideology inconsistent with the main tenets of Maoism. However, what ensued was catastrophic and referred to by Feng Jicai as “Ten Years of Madness.”[2] While the class structure of post-revolutionary Chinese society had effectively eradicated the feudal class structure, a new, elite bureaucratic class had emerged. Indeed, these new elite and the remnants of the old bourgeois class bore the brunt of the violent onslaught of Mao’s Red Guards during the CR. In this essay, I argue that class struggle, and struggle under socialism in the CR was paradoxical as “most radicals in the revolutionary campaign against revisionism were representatives not of the proletariat…but of the bourgeoisie itself.”[3] While many joined Mao in is his crusade for utilitarian reasons, many also...
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...Introduction: In Chinese history, specifically the years 1956 and 1957, Mao Zedong the then paramount leader of People's Republic of China (PRC) launched the Hundred Flower Movement which was a movement that encouraged open intellectual and political debate. The main intention of the campaign was to cause a stir in the bureaucracy and at the same time weaken the Chinese Communist Party’s position as a dominant pro-Soviet right wing and slacken its tight grip over the freedoms of thought and expression. However, the situation went rapidly out of hand resulting in an uncalled for censure of party members. Background information: The movement began in May 1957 after a secret speech by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev attacking the excesses of Stalinism came to light. Its founder, Mao adopted the slogan ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom together, let the hundred schools of thought contend’. He then invited Chinese intellectuals to openly voice their criticism over government policies and party cadets. Mao’s intention was to win over alienated intellectuals by giving them a certain degree of intellectual freedom. Such incentives included: increased access to foreign publications for intellectuals working in schools, colleges and universities since the people had began losing faith in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after it introduced a Soviet-style education system to China in 1949. The system favoured liberal arts education over science and technology education. However the campaign was slow...
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...Communist China. Being that it was, and still is, the most inhabited country in the world, China becoming a communist country affected millions of people almost instantly. Many of the traditional traditions and practices of the Chinese people were left behind as Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” was instituted across the country in 1966. During the Cultural Revolution of China, the country and its citizens experienced strict authority control with the military and the state functioning together to govern the people. The switch from traditional China to this Cultural Revolution was swift and hasty, causing much death and trouble for the Chinese people. Because of these facts, there are many people who judged the New China governed under the socialist ideas of Mao. One of these critics is the Chinese-American novelist, Ha Jin, who denounces the Cultural Revolution of China in his novel entitled Waiting. In his novel, Ha Jin addresses and brings to light the affects of Mao’s rule on the Chinese people and the country as a whole. The novel starts in 1966 and takes place during the Cultural Revolution. “Cultural conflict is the center of this novel, where two worlds collide in the story of a man seeking a divorce from his wife by an arranged marriage: the ancient feudal culture of China and the world of the Cultural Revolution led by Chairman Mao” (Moore, 124). Through the locations, settings, and characters, Ha Jin illustrates the differences between the Old China and the New China for his...
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...The Cultural Revolution lasted for a decade and saw the fragmentation of China only ending after yielding seemingly little benefit to anyone involved. Mao Zedong was foremostly, and most successfully, a revolutionary and much of his life had been spent seeking to fundamentally transform China. Mao’s goal, to form a new strong and prospering China, required the creation of a new national sense of being through the Cultural Revolution. To forge a new society and culture, rid of entrenched feudal ways was considered absolutely necessary with the omnipresent shadow of the New Culture Movement, which had been frustrated by the size of the task. Only a mass movement by the entire nation to reform themselves could succeed. Mao found his answer in the political philosophy of Marx and Lenin whose work he synthesised and altered, eventually focusing on the potentially revolutionary aspects of widespread revolution. Mao made a significant contribution to Marxist philosophy by concluding that in order to keep the results of a revolution in place, the revolution too had to be permanent. Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, motivated by this genuine desire to preserve and protect the revolution by making it impossible for China’s leaders to become comfortable and lead the nation to regress to capitalism. The Communist victory in 1949 and subsequent decade of control saw some slow improvements in the life of the ordinary Chinese, and few leaders of the CCP were adamant that a revolution was...
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...Dong Won Moon Ms. Jana Russ World Civilizations: China 23 July 2009 What were the reasons which caused Qing Dynasty to fall? And why is that important? What was the opportunity that does China got a foothold in modernization? What is the last Kingdom of the history of China? The Qing dynasty was the last kingdom ever lasted in Chinese history. In fact, the fall of the Qing dynasty facilitated modernization of China, however there were three main reasons which caused collapse of Qing dynasty: Empress Dowager Cixi, Opium war and rebellions during Qing period. First, who is Empress Dowager Cixi? As the textbook “CHINA: A Cultural, Social, and Political History” by Patricia Buckley Ebrey said the Cixi was most powerful person during the self-strengthening period. To maintain her authority, she chose her four years old cousin after her son’s death. The record also said that Cixi was a skillful political operator (p.223). However, Cixi was sided with conservative parts which caused French fleet attack on China (p.224). So this was the reason why Qing got attacked from foreign forces which the dynasty gradually got weakened, so Cixi was one of the reason why Qing dynasty got perished. This was also pretty interesting issue that it was kind of opposite view comparing to Kangxi who lived to perceive the Qing Empire firmly established (p.190). Another big issue that caused Qing dynasty to fall was the Opium War. As the textbook by Ebrey, it said that by the late 18th century...
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...and hand out sheets. | -Early Chinese History; Qing Dynasty-Mao Zedong’s reign (Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution etc..)-Deng Xiaoping reign (rebuilding China) | | | | Deng Xiaoping and the transformation of China – Ezra. F. Vogel (author) | -Deng Xiaoping reign (how it differed to Mao Zedong’s, economic zones, -Chinese socialism – against traditional Marxist beliefs. | | | | Access to History, The People’s Republic of China, 1949-1976 – Michael Lynch (author) | -Mao Zedong’s reign (Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution etc..)-Deng Xiaoping reign (rebuilding China) | | | | The Search for Modern China – Jonathan. D. Spence (author) | -Life in China before Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping-The Chinese Empire; Qing Dynasty | | | | A Bitter Revolution: China’s struggle with the modern world – Rana Mitter (author) | -China before the present day/before it became so powerful worldwide-Mao Zedong’s and Deng Xiaoping’s reignModern Day China | | | | China: From Empire to People’s Republic 1900-1949 – Michael Lynch (author) | -Mao’s communist victory/takeover.-Mao speeches/quotes. | | | | China: A History – Harlod Miles Tanner (author) | -Mao Zedong’s reign (Great Leap Forward, -Cultural Revolution etc..) | | | | Mao Zedong’s Dictatorship – Kathlyn Gay (author) | -Mao Zedong’s reign (Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution etc..) | | | | Mao’s China: A nation in...
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...In the past 60 years, Cultural Revolution was the most important event in China. It was the biggest mistake in modern Chinese history. If China didn’t have the Cultural Revolution, Chinese lives would be much better than now. Cultural Revolution was started in 1967 by Mao Tsetung who was the first chairman of the People's Republic of China. In his opinion, China had not finished socialist transformation. There were still some capitalist ideas in some persons’ minds, especially in intellectuals’ minds, so he started Cultural Revolution. 10 years later, in 1977, Cultural Revolution was ended by Deng Xiaoping who leaded China far away from closed-door policy, and made China become more and more opening. This decade was called black ten years by Chinese people, because these 10 years had huge effects on Chinese lives about education, culture, or economy and so on. Culture Revolution has influenced China in several ways. First, the education system collapsed at that time, because Cultural Revolution focused on the intellectuals, such as, teachers, professors and scientists. Mao Tsetung thought every person who had high educational background, or high political status had to go to countryside and accept labor reform. Some of them, who used to be capitalism or whose family used to be capitalisms, were put in prison, or even killed. So, in those ten years, people who had high educational background didn’t have any social status, but workers or farmers got the highest social status. So...
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...Mao’s reinvention: the destruction of the Capitalist Roader The Great Proletarian Revolution was filled of bloodshed and terror in an attempt for a dictator to regain long lost power. This revolution was to undertake the cleansing of political capitalist roaders trying to undermine Communist China. To do so, Mao needed the support of the masses in which he employed millions of students to begin to find capitalist opposition to his ideas, and regain political stature amidst the removal of opposing ideas. This event was to make use of the members of the Communist Red Guard, which Mao created to occupy the strength of teenage masses in china. The Red Guard, although great in strength, had eventually become a major weakness for the revolution. Mao used the Cultural Revolution to regain political stature through the removal of capitalist opposing thought, and did so using the removal of four olds to cover over this. This was significantly effective, but created lasting effects that he struggled to control until his death. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution had begun in 1966. The revolution was based on a sixteen point decision made by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party relating to the removal of capitalists. This decision was to remove all “old ideas, culture, customs and habits” from the bourgeoisie (a social class based on capital) and replace them with the “new ideas, culture, customs and habits of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the...
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...China during the Cultural Revolution was a place where you were told what to do, and what to say. Today I will be speaking to you about Mao’s Last Dancer, the film adaption of the autobiography of Li Cunxin. To begin with, I will speak about the Cultural Revolution in China, where the story is set. Li’s story took place during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution. This revolution took place from 1966 to 1976, lead by Mao Zedong, who was the leader of the Communist Party of China at the time. The Cultural Revolution led to millions of people being persecuted and thousands more being killed. Because of the Cultural Revolution, people no longer had freedom of speech and actions. If anyone was found criticising the Government or taking part in anti-communist operations, they would be arrested immediately. Generally, the people of China took to the idea of communism because they had been convinced and continually told that communism would bring great wealth to China. This was great news to the people of China because they had suffered a famine, which lead to the death of millions of people. The Cultural Revolution officially ended in 1976, after Chairman Mao died. Those found to be part of The Gang of Four, a group of Chinese Communist Officials, were arrested for treasonous crimes. In Mao’s Last Dancer, it is shown how Li was taught at school in Shandong that Chairman Mao would end poverty in China. After he arrived at...
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...The Cultural Revolution, formerly known as the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement which occurred from 1966-1976. The revolution came to an end when the leader, Mao Zedong passed away, and the other communist leaders, known as the Gang of Four, all got arrested. Mao Zedong led the revolution in China because his position in the government was weakened after his failed attempt at “The Great Leap Forward” (History.com Staff). His way of trying to regain power was to convince everyone that the current leaders were taking China in the wrong direction and not is not going to improve their living situations, so he decided to change and get rid of many of the traditional aspects in Chinese life and tried a communist...
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...somewhat historically important due to the fact that in 1979 he became the first New York Times correspondent to be based in Peking or later to be known as Beijing, in 30 years. He later published, in 1982, his firsthand accounts of this experience in his book titled, China, Alive in the bitter sea. This is where he had published the account of Lihua and her Family. This could not have happened without Richard Nixon’s trip to China in 1972 that ended more than two decades of Cold war hostility. This trip allowed journalist’s access to china for the first time in two decades, and created an appetite for China. This appetite was insatiable after many of American top journalists describe it as like “going to the moon.”, and therefore when US – Chinese relations were reopened in 1979. Many top Journalists jumped on this, including Fox Butterfield. This was historically important because it gave firsthand knowledge of the struggles that occurred within Chinese society especially with the destruction of intellectuals in Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and allowed for the first time in 30 years the ability for Americans to understand what was occurring overseas in China. Relevant Events background The Chinese revolution of 1949 was based on the majority of the Chinese against imperialism, feudalism, and capitalism. This was displayed quite well in the previous presenters by Mao in “the foolish old man“, speech in which Mao explains that the Chinese people hold two large mountains on their...
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...What was the Cultural Revolution all about? Why did Mao launch the Cultural Revolution? The Cultural Revolution could be regarded as a nightmare for the generation of my grandparents’ age. It was initiated by Mao Zedong and utilized by the counterrevolutionary clique that led by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing. This leading mistake was an unchangeable disaster to the whole state, the CCP, and all the Chinese people. This struggle lasted for ten years from 1966 to 1976. How could Chinese people endure this ordeal for ten year? We should understand the concept of the Cultural Revolution first according to the required readings. From 1966 to 1969, Mao wanted to change “the bourgeois dictatorship” to “the proletarian dictatorship,” which meant that Mao needed people to destroy the so-called “the capitalists.” The real meaning of the Cultural Revolution for Mao himself was to help the CCP to seize power from the KMP. For him, that meant to snatch the regime from the bourgeois leaders and gave it back to the proletarians. In 1966, the “Sixteen Articles” announced that the party should adjust those in power but took the path of “capitalism ”. The events about seizing power started from January 1967 in Shanghai. And one month later, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing led the counterrevolutionary people frame those older generations of proletarian revolutionaries up to say that the elders were disturbing the CCP by complaining their concerns about the Cultural Revolution. This movement...
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...Question: What Was the Cultural Revolution? Answer: Between 1966 and 1976, the young people of China rose up in an effort to purge the nation of the "Four Olds": old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas. In August, 1966, Mao Zedong called for the start of a Cultural Revolution at the Plenum of the Communist Central Committee. He urged the creation of corps of "Red Guards" to punish party officials and any other persons who showed bourgeois tendencies. Mao likely was motivated to call for the so-called Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in order to rid the Chinese Communist Party of his opponents after the tragic failure of his Great Leap Forward policies. Mao knew that other party leaders were planning to marginalize him, so he appealed directly to his supporters among the people to join him in a Cultural Revolution. He also believed that communist revolution had to be a continuous process, in order to stave off capitalist-roader ideas. Mao's call was answered by the students, some as young as elementary school, who organized themselves into the first groups of Red Guards. They were joined later by workers and soldiers. The first targets of the Red Guards included Buddhist temples, churches and mosques, which were razed to the ground or converted to other uses. Sacred texts, as well as Confucian writings, were burned, along with religious statues and other artwork. Any object associated with China's pre-revolutionary past was liable to be destroyed. In their...
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...The Chinese Cultural Revolution "A revolution is not a dinner party or writing an essay or painting a picture or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous"- Mao said in 1927 to a youth activist The reason for china to trying to become such a new generation was solely the opinion of Mao and his followers. Mao had seen the way the Russian revolution had gone astray and worried China would follow in its path. He mad four goals: to rectify China's communists, replace his successors with one more faithful, provide youth's with a revolutionary experience and achieve policy changes to make education, health care and cultural systems less elitist. Obviously, the goals were purely a show when his real concern was his place in history. When he launched the revolution schools were shut down and officials were publicly humiliated to test them. Elders and intellectuals were physically and verbally abused. Many died of ignorant causes, without a second thought from Mao. So as the revolution tolled on Mao truly only had himself in mind. Mao went through great lengths to make sure that everyone was Maoist. He had Lin Bao his defense minister make his whole army maoist. He shut down schools in August 1966 Mao encouraged his red army to attack all traditional values and the bourgeois. He even publicly criticized officials to see how they would react....
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...earth. He passes through China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey and describes the history, cultures and people along the way. The Silk Road was described as a huge network of arteries splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. To travel it is to trace the passage not only of trade and armies but also of ideas, religions and inventions. Shadow of the Silk Road encounters Islamic countries in many forms. Overall it explains changes in China that transformed since the Cultural Revolution. Throughout this book, Thubron discovers and identifies the transformation of history that transpired. He begins to reminisce and expresses drastic cultural changes that occurred throughout his life experience and throughout his journey on the Silk Road. Thubron portrays his journey to be momentous, but yet anonymous. He states, "Sometimes a journey arises out of hope and instinct, the heady conviction, as you finger travels along the map". (p. 2) Thubron witnessed the turmoil of a society racing to catch up with the future. At the beginning of my reading, I wondered if Thubron was associating his journey to the Cultural Revolution as pathway to his purpose. "During the Cultural Revolution I was struggled badly" (p. 56) It seems as if he felt the need to face the past and think of what was needed for the future. "After the Cultural Revolution, anything is happy." (p. 57) Thoubron believed that at the end of the Cultural Revolution, almost everyone fell victim...
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