china theme three

first battle of the cultural revolution

Wu Han's play - Hai Rai dissmissed From Office

7,000 cadre meeting (Mao withdraws from front line of politics)

January 1962

politicisation of PLA under Lin Biao

1964- continued apace

Little Red Book first used in PLA, commissioned to all soldiers and later students

at lowest levels- soldiers spent more time on political study than training

‘Learn from the PLA campaigns’

Little red book

• one disabled person declared reading Mao Zedong Thought had enabled him to walk again

Mao’s reasons for launching cultural revolution

• CCP divisions between ideologues and pragmatists

• Quest for permanent revolution

• Attacks on bureaucracy

• Divisions within CCP between supporters and opponents of Mao’s policy

why was Hai Rai controversial

clearly an allegory for Peng Dehuai

how did hai rai allow mao to discredit liu shaoqi

Wu Han's boss was Peng Zhen, one of Liu's closest allies

who denouned hai rai in november 1965

yao wenyuan (subtly, in press)

when did mao launch the socialist education movement

1963

hoped to renew sense of class struggle and mass mobilisation

why was mao unhappy with the socialist education movement

carefully controlled by liu - party work teams dealt with corruption themselves

Mao’s ideology- permanent revolution

‘A proletarian party must also get rid of the stale and take in the fresh for only thus can be full of vitality’

evidence 'capitalist roaders' were hijacking the party

liu and zhou tried to calm student unrest (as result of wall poster campaign) in June 1966, which further alienated Mao

Mao wanted rectification campaign of party from below- began talking in terms of great disorder being unleashed across the land so that order could be restored

open move against party leadership 1966

Mao got Kang sheng, lin biao, chen boda to back his proposal than peng zhen be removed from post, but left task of removing him to Liu

Liu and Deng abandoned Peng to save positions

May- set up CCRG- politburo subcommittee with task of directing cultural revolution

when did mao openly accuse liu of taking the 'capitalist road'

1964- party conference

when did mao remove peng zhen from his post

march 1966

who backed mao in removing peng zhen

chen boda, lin biao, kang sheng

who began the wall poster campaign in beijing

kang sheng- June

mao's swim in the yangtze river

july 1966, highly publicized and demonstrated he was physically ready for a showdown

After swim- returned to Beijing which he had not visited since 1965 and forced Liu and Deng to make self-criticisms before central committee for error in sending in university work teams

both accused of being ‘spearheads of the erroneous line’

why did mao choose wuhan for his swim in 1966

site of the 1911 uprising - revolution

first mass rally held

18 august 1966

5th August, Mao presents students with ‘Bombard the headquarters’ dazibao (big character poster)

Mao’s comments to Kang Sheng in 1965 on plunging young generation into revolutionary activity

‘we must liberate the little devils, we need more monkeys to disrupt the palace’

diary of lei feng published

1963- emphasised loyalty towards Mao from the ordinary man, as oppose to selfish careerism of bureaucrats who ran party and state

propaganda fabrication but supposed to be journal of PLA lorry driver

why did some young people respond so readily to calls to rise up

lack of career opportunities for students whose families carried wrong ‘class’ label

joining red army unit gave middle class way to prove dedication to communists

some also felt badly treated when forced to move from city to countryside as result of GLF, so opportunity to hit back at party cadres

CCRG set up

May 1966

Jiang Qing given responsibility to ‘purify the nations culture’

mao's wall poster aug 1966

'bombard the headquarters'

how many attended the first mass rally in tianenmen square

one million

symbolism of first mass rally

Mao’s army uniform demonstrated closeness with PLA and Lin Biao addressed crowd on Mao’s behalf

Liu, Deng and Zhou positioned on balcony but at some distance from Mao

Mao reappeared periodically to recieve applause

'four olds'

ideas, customs, culture, habits

August 1966- Lin Biao instructed red guards to attack them at 18th aug rally

colossal scale of first mass rally= genuine solidarity

anything representing China’s past denounced under blanket term ‘Confucius and co’

what made it easier to attend the mass rallies

free rail passes

‘revolutionary tourism’

PLA- logistical support in helping to transport vast numbers of people in and out

Four olds - western influences

Targeted western influences in fashion e.g high heels, winkle pickers and ‘Hong Kong’ hairstyles- ‘correction stations’ set up on street corners and offenders had heads shaved there

Houses ransacked in search of bourgeois possessions e.g musical instruments, books burnt in street bonfires and owners victims of impromptu beatings

what was the address of the bristish embassy changed to

anti imperialist street

new given names e.g ‘red hero’ or ‘militant’

took all of Zhou Enlai’s diplomatic skills to dissuade red guards from changing colours of traffic lights

respect for the dead persisting

april 1976 - festival of the dead ceremony in tribute to zhou enlai

religion considered ‘old’- no public ceremonies or worship allowed, clergy rounded up and imprisoned

fate of Huang Xinting

military leader of Chengdu region, seen as potential barrier to Lin Biao’s continued advancement (too close to Peng Dehuai)

shows previous contributions to revolution or military achievements did not guarantee immunity from attack

when did officials start to provide red guards with lists of members of 'bad classes'

aug/sep 1966

no of bodies disposed of by babaoshan crematoriun in beijing

2,000 over a two week period

trial of gang of four in 1980

accused of having sanctioned deaths of over half a million people

how many killed in guangxi

67,000 1967-76

In sichuan, Tibet and Mongolia- figure was hundreds of thousands

january storm

january 1967

From november 1966- formation of new Red Guard units by radical factory and office workers aswell as students escalated violence

results of january storm

city placed under control of the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee- combination of PLA representatives, party officials and revolutionaries- model applied to other cities the following year

February crackdown

Mao failed to give a clear lead over whether PLA would be exempt from struggle sessions

Feb- PLA took matters into own hands to suppress radicals in some provinces, leading politburo members also called on Red Guards to calm down activity

when did mao authorise the pla to crack down on radical groups

aug 1967

realised PLA might be so seriously undermined it would be incapable of defending country (US in Vietnam and degraded situation with USSR)

= radical phase giving way to consolidation

destruction of cultural artifacts by red guards

2/3 of the 7,000 places of historical importance in beijing destroyed

BUT- Zhou Enlai prevented them from attacking forbidden city by bringing in PLA unit to defend it

Even Chen Boda expressed reservations about scale of cultural vandalism

no of homes broken into in beijing

100,000

how long did the red guards spend in qufu

four weeks- vandalising books, paintings, statues, graves, monuments in connection with Confucius

some locals stepped in

when were deng and liu dissmissed

oct 1966

what happened to liu's wife wang guangmei

paraded in a necklace of table tennis balls and a revealing skirt, sentenced to death (not carried out)

what happened to liu

beaten by a mob, forced to undergo struggle sessions - died nov 1969

what happened to deng xiaoping

publicly humiliated, sent to work in a tractor factory in Jiangxi

lin biao confirmed mao's successor

1969

how did mao undermine lin

arrested chen boda, packed military affairs commission w supporters, posted lin's allies elsewhere

date of lin biao affair

1971

when was the news of the lin biao affair released

1972

how many politburo members held onto posts

9/23

how many provincial and regional officers purged

70%

when was the cr declared to be over

april 1969

what changed about the new congress

increased influence of pla

why was the new congress easier to manipulate

younger, less experienced

what proportion of delegates were pla members after the cr

2/3

effect of the cr on industrial production

down 13% in 1967

what campaign did the ccrg start in 1968

cleansing of class ranks

how many deaths in the cleansing of class ranks campaign

100,000

what campaign was launched in 1970

one strike and three antis

what was the aim of the one strike and three antis campaign

remove all attitudes that were preventing economic progress

when was violence at its peak in rural areas

between 1968 and 1971

when did red guards break into the british embassy

august 1967

when were red guard newspapers closed down

by 1968

when was the rustication programme launched

1968

what was zhou enlai's vision of the future

the four modernisations

when did nixon visit china

1972

when did mao swing his support back to the radicals

1973

when was deng xiaoping brought back into the fold

bought back 1973

who did mao choose as his successor in 1973

wang hongwen

when was china admitted to the un

1971

when was deng purged again

purged april 1976

when was the tianenmen incident

april 1976

when did mao die

september 1976

mao's final choice of successor

hua guofeng

when did deng manage to replace hua

1980

Yan Yen

'As a result of the Cultural Revolution you could say the cultural trademark of my generation is that we have no culture'

slogan of the Socialist Education Campaign

'Never forget class struggle'

how were primary schools impacted by the CR

taught to shoot airguns at pictures of Chiang Kai Shek

how many killed in beijing by september 1966

1,700

how many homes broken into in shanghai

quarter of a million

how were mogols impacted by the cr

10% of the pop of inner mongolia but 75% of victims

opening shot of cr

june 1st 1966 - article in people's daily, "sweep away all monsters and demons"