The Cultural Revolution - Winding Down

Question 1

What was the up to the mountains and down to the villages campaign?

Answer 1

• 18 million Red guards sent to ‘cool off’
• gave red guards opportunity to learn from peasants by ‘serving the people’ through manual labour
• schools and universities remained closed as part of Rustification campaigns
• ‘lost generation’ became disillusioned and cynical about politics as red guards with party connections able to return to cities, those without feared permanent exile

Question 2

Why did Mao become distrustful in Lin Bao?

Answer 2

• official successor to Mao
• Lin attempted to reinstate the Head of State position that was previously held by Liu Shaoqi
• Mao saw this as an attempt to take the job for himself
• Mao feared the power of the PLA and a potential military coup

Question 3

What happened to Lin Bao?

Answer 3

• Lin feared he was to be purged himself
• rumour says he attacked Mao’s train with trained commando’s
• his escape plane was not fully fuelled and he was killed when it crashed alongside his family
• Lin’s death caused problems as he was previously described as Mao’s closest comrade, now he had been denounced as a traitor

Question 4

How did Deng return to power?

Answer 4

• by the early 1970s Mao’s health was deteriorating
• Mao decided to call Deng Xiaoping back from the tractor factory
• Deng picked to join the politburo’s standing committee and appointed PLA chief of staff

Question 5

What were the four modernisations?

Answer 5

• Deng supported advancement in agriculture, industry, defence, and science and technology
• focused on technical expertise the opposite of Mao’s trust in mass mobilisation
• Deng understood people wanted a return to normality and pragmatism

Question 6

How did the Gang of Four attempt to take power?

Answer 6

• attempted to gain control through the ‘criticise Lin criticise Confucius’ campaign’
• subtly targeted Deng and Zhou, Jiang Qing’s 2 main rivals
• aimed to mobilise revolutionary forces against them but failed as people saw through personal motives

Question 7

Zhou Enlai’s death

Answer 7

• Jan 1976, Zhou Enlai died in Beijing
• Treated with genuine affection by the public, 1 million payed their respects
• Deng delivered the eulogy, and was attacked by Jiang Qing
• She had misread the feeling of the public
• In April, during a traditional festival, people laid wreaths in honour of Zhou Enlai which the government attempted to remove
• Many protested, became known as ‘Tianamen square incident’

Question 8

How did the Gang of Four remove Deng from power?

Answer 8

• Gang of Four blamed Deng for ‘counter revolutionary move’ at the ‘Tianamen square incident’
• Deng was banished to a pig farm in the south
• People weren’t interested in another political campaign by the Gang of Four

Question 9

Mao’s Death

Answer 9

• Mao picked a little known bureaucrat, Hua Guofeng
• hoped he would be a compromise between the pragmatists and ideologues
• July, Earthquake killed a 1/4 million, and was interpreted as a bad omen, showing traditional superstitions remained
• Sep 1976, Mao died

Question 10

What did Guofeng do after Mao’s death?

Answer 10

• Hua Guofeng called for loyalty to Maoism
• Mao’s body was put on display in Tiananmen Square with 300,000 passing by, but few showed genuine grief
• Jiang Qing was now ignored
• Hua ordered the arrest of the Gang of Four

Question 11

How did Deng return to power after Mao’s death?

Answer 11

• Hua Guofeng was no match for the popularity of Deng Xiaoping
• He returned to Beijing and had the support of the party
• Deng became China’s paramount leader
• Deng introduced economic reforms which were embraced in China
• ‘To be rich and glorious‘ was announced by Deng