Topic 3 - The Cultural Revolution and its Aftermath - The Red Guards and the Red Terror

Question 1

Mao’s hold on young people - What did Mao realise?

Answer 1

In order to seize back power from the capitalist roaders, Mao realised he needed to mobilise the young people of China to support him

Question 2

Mao’s hold on young people - Why were the young easy to control?

Answer 2

• He knew they did not remember the worst of the Great Famine and did not blame his for it
• In school they had learnt that Mao was a great hero who defeated the Nationalists, given land to peasants, and stood up to the Americans during the Korean War
• This indoctrination meant that Mao could easily control them

Question 3

Mao’s hold on young people - What did the Little Red Book portray Mao as and what did Mao’s Big Character Poster tell the young people to do?

Answer 3

• They red the Little Red Book and believed the cult of personality that portrayed Mao to be a God who could never do wrong
• When he wrote a Big Character Poster that compelled them to ‘bombard the headquarters’ and attack the pragmatists within the CCP, they obeyed

Question 4

The mass rallies of 1966 - What were the mass rallies and how did the PLA help?

Answer 4

• In August 1966, Mao and Chen Boda invited millions of students to attend a series of mass rallies in Beijing
• PLA chief Lin Biao helped organise the transport of students to Beijing

Question 5

The mass rallies of 1966 - What did Mao do at the mass rallies and what did he tell the young people?

Answer 5

• Ecstatic at seeing their hero in person, Mao whipped them into a revolutionary fervour
• Mao told them they had a special role to play – ‘the world belongs to you’, ‘China’s future belongs to you’

Question 6

The mass rallies of 1966 - What was traditional Chinese society like?

Answer 6

China had always been a hierarchical society – Confucian thought, taught in schools, told children to be obedient to their parents and not to question authority

Question 7

The mass rallies of 1966 - How was Mao going against traditional Chinese society and what was his veiled suggestion?

Answer 7

Now Mao encouraged them to ‘dare to rebel against authority’, a veiled suggestion that the young people attack symbols of authority such as teachers and gov officials, and even his enemies within the Party like Liu and Deng

Question 8

Red Guard attacks on the Four Olds - What did Mao encourage the youngsters to do?

Answer 8

Mao encouraged the young people who idealised him to join the Red Guards, groups of violent youngsters totally dedicated to Mao

Question 9

Red Guard attacks on the Four Olds - When was the Four Olds campaign and what were the Four Olds?

Answer 9

In August 1966, Mao launched the ‘Four Olds’ campaign, urging the Red Guards to attack ‘old ideas’, ‘old customs’, ‘old culture’, and ‘old habits’

Question 10

Red Guard attacks on the Four Olds - What did Mao say the Four Olds were being used for?

Answer 10

Mao said that the olds were still used by the bourgeois feudal classes to repress the Chinese people

Question 11

Red Guard attacks on the Four Olds - What was destroyed as part of the Four Olds campaign and what were they replaced with?

Answer 11

• Religious buildings were destroyed and anyone who owned classical music or literature could be attacked
• Religious ideas like Confucianism and ancestor worship were condemned
• These old ideas needed to be destroyed and replaced with new communist ideas

Question 12

Red Guard attacks on the Four Olds - How were shop signs, children’s names, and road signs altered?

Answer 12

• Shop signs were changed to read ‘Defend Mao Zedong’ or ‘Permanent Revolution’
• Children’s names were changed to ‘Red Glory’ or ‘Face the East’
• Road signs were altered – the British embassy now stood on ‘anti-imperialism road’

Question 13

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - What happened to the Red Guards following the Four Olds campaign?

Answer 13

• Following Mao’s demand to ‘smash the four olds’, the Red Guards soon grew out of hand
• They attacked figures of authority, forcing them to make self-denunciations at struggle meetings while others were tortured and murdered

Question 14

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - What was the situation with Red Guards from bourgeois backgrounds, and what did this lead to?

Answer 14

• At first, young people who had a bourgeois background were not allowed to join the Red Guards
• When this restriction was lifted, these members of the so called ‘black elements’ were desperate to show their revolutionary credentials, committing brutal crimes to show how loyal they were to Mao
• This period was known as ‘the terror’ and was not just motivated by ideology

Question 15

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - Why did some people join the Red Guards?

Answer 15

• Many young people were violent because of peer pressure
• Others wanted to remove rivals for career advancement

Question 16

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - Examples of fighting between Red Guards and who this could be blamed on?

Answer 16

• There was anarchy when rival bands of Red Guards from different schools and colleges competed to prove that they were the most ideologically committed
• Those Red Guards who were from working class families fought against Red Guards from middle class families
• The anarchy threatened to get out of hand, with much of the blame extending to Mao himself

Question 17

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - What was the ‘January Storm’ and what was Mao’s reaction to this?

Answer 17

• In the ‘January Storm’ of 1967, Red Guards seized power from the CCP itself and set up a government modelled on the 1971 Paris Commune
• This was a step too far for Mao and he used the PLA to close down the commune

Question 18

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - What did the PLA fear, do as a result of this fear, and what was Mao’s stance on this action?

Answer 18

• Fearing that the chaos would spread into its own ranks, the PLA now rushed to crush radicals across China
• This time Mao sided with the radicals and denounced the crackdown as the ‘February Adverse Current’, encouraging the radicals to show greater violence

Question 19

The growth of anarchy and the use of terror - What did Mao realise China was vulnerable to due to the Red Guards’ actions and what did he do as a result of this?

Answer 19

• Finally, just as full scale civil war looked likely, Mao realised that the chaos meant that China might be vulnerable to attack from foreign nations
• He therefore used the PLA to once again restore order and crush the radicals

Question 20

Cultural destruction - What was attacked by the Red Guards? (6)

Answer 20

• Cultural objects relating to the four olds were attacked by hordes of Red Guards
• Sculptures, statues and artefacts were defaced and desecrated
• Libraries with Western books or traditional literature were burned
• Temples, like the temple to Confucius in Shandong, were ransacked, with priceless cultural relics destroyed
• Buddhist relics were attacked, and in Tibet any aspect of Buddhist culture was destroyed
• The treasures of the Forbidden City were only saved when Zhou Enlai sent to PLA to protect it from the Red Guards