Cultural Revolution 1966-76 -Political Aftermath of the CR Flashcards
(3 cards)
1
Q
How did the Fall of Lin Biao occur?
A
- Lin by 1969 was the official successor + but Mao viewed him as the ‘Chinese Bonaparte’ as he though Lin would create a military dictatorship and damage Mao’s legacy
- Mao launched the ‘throwing stones, mixing the sand and digging up the cornerstone’ campaign which made Lin carry out self-criticisms
- This humiliated Lin Biao and so in 1971 his son planned a coup
- Zhou discovered his plan to flee to Guandong so made sure his plane was under fuelled – so later crashed
2
Q
How did political factional rivalries intensify after the CR?
A
- After the Fall of Lin factional rivalries increased as no successor anymore, Zhou introduced the 4 modernisations campaign which increased connection with the west + had diplomatic relations with Nixon
- Mao announced Wang Hongwen (inexperienced) as his successor + rehabilitation of Deng Xiaoping to increase experience
- In retaliation Jiang + Gang of 4 launched the Anti – Confucius campaign that targeted Zhou + Deng for pragmatic policies - Wang Hongwen backed the radicals
- This angered Mao as he didn’t want more factional rivalry so de-selected Wang as successor due to lack of experience + independence
3
Q
How did the end of the CR bring an end to Pragmatism?
A
- Deng by 1975 was vice premier and oversaw state bureaucracy and was introducing pragmatic policies which Mao began to oppose
- Mao felt the Gang of 4 would continue the verdict of the CR whereas Deng would reverse the verdict of the CR
- After Zhou Enlai’s death in 1976 (who was beloved by Chinese people) the Go4 called him a capitalist roader which angered the public and lead to 2million people protesting at the festival of death to honour Zhou (calling Mao a mad emperor + Jiang a mad empress)
- As Deng was away, he was blamed for this ‘counter revolutionary incident’ and went into hiding
- Mao later named Hua Guofeng as his successor which angered the Go4 who sought to outmanoeuvre him
