CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Question 1

what were the reasons for a cultural revolution?

Answer 1

• Mao wanted a political comeback after the failure of the Great Leap Forwards
• For ideological reform of the Party and State

Question 2

when was the official start of the revolution?

Answer 2

May 1966 - the politburo proclaims the start - the first Red Guard squad is formed at Tsinghua high School

Question 3

what did Mao do in August 1966?

Answer 3

held the first of 8 Red Guard rallies in Tiananmen Square - closed down schools

Question 4

how did Mao initially control the Red Guard?

Answer 4

• through Lin Biau who was the head of the PLA
• through slogans

Question 5

what are some examples of the slogans Mao used?

Answer 5

• “its right to rebel”
• “sweep away all monsters and demons”
• “bombard headquaters”
• “up the villages and down the mountains”

Question 6

what were the Red Guards told to ‘destroy’?

Answer 6

The 4 Olds
- old ideas
- old customs
- old culture
- old habits
this was things such as: temples, Museums, street signs and other bourgeois items

Question 7

who were the Red Guards urged to attack?

Answer 7

Landlords, Cadres and other bourgeois people - but the attacks were often on those who people held grudges/wanted retribution on

Question 8

how did Mao use the Revolution to target rivals?

Answer 8

• use of the ‘Gang of 4’ (targeted Liao Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping)
• Peng Dahuei is publically beaten (October 1966)
• has Red Guards attack any counter revolutionaries
• Lin Biao’s ‘plane crash’

Question 9

how did Mao support rebel groups?

Answer 9

• Backed them up with military power (PLA)
• encouraged rebel factions (they attacked embassies)

Question 10

when did Mao try to stop the Red Guards?

Answer 10

• December 1968 (initiates the ‘up the villages & down the mountains’ scheme)
• April 1969 (Mao claimed the ‘active phase’ of the revolution was over)

Question 11

what happened to Lin Biao in the revolution?

Answer 11

• April 1969 (Mao makes Lin Biao his successor)
• September 1971 (alleged assassination and coup attempted by Lin Biao and him and his family die in a plane crash soon after)

Question 12

what was the ‘Little Red Book’

Answer 12

• introduced in 1964 by Mao and Lin Biao
• a book of quotations by Mao
• all Chinese citizens required to have one at one point
• read for advice for Chinese citizens
• boosted Cult of Personality and Maoism

Question 13

what happened at the 4th peoples congress of the CCP?

Answer 13

accepted the 4 modernisations - a programme to strengthen agriculture, industry, defence and technology

Question 14

when did Mao die?

Answer 14

September 1976 from motor neurone disease

Question 15

what was the ‘Gang of 4’?

Answer 15

-The Gang of Four was a group of political and economic radicals who emerged during the Cultural Revolution
- the most notable member was Jiang Quing (Mao’s wife)
- they rose to control as Mao’s health declined
- the gained control of a number of major government functions

Question 16

how did the ‘Gang of 4’ fall?

Answer 16

• they saw Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai gaining mass power as the revolution calmed (due to the PLA lessering the control of the CCP)
• upon Zhou Enlai’s death they prohibited mourning which lead to public outrage
• the public gathered in Tiananmen square to mourn Enlai and the Gang sent in the police
• when Mao died the Gang were arrested and charged with prison sentences.