Ib History Mao’s Cultural Revolution Notes

The great Proletarian cultural revolution * All over China was the campaign to destroy the old and build the new * Abolishing the four olds * The people crowding Beijing in 1966 carried the little red book and the Mao badge * forcefully taken away anything old or has traditional values. * The children were taken into actions as well * Giving social advantages to the Red guards, thousand took advantage * The youth were educated of the revolutionary stories * Women had equal status in the revolution as men did Political figures such as Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei were persecuted and eventually dead * 1968 the red guards started to fight each other, the PLA joined different groups causing increase in violence * Same year Sino-Soviet battle in XinJiang threatening China’s national security, Mao ordered to terminate the revolution in the XinJiang Province * Later on that year he decided that the revolution has reached its primary goals, therefore declared the success of the revolution * Students were sent home, but when some university students continued to fight, PLA was sent in * Mao restructured the government by forming the Revolutionary Committee which runs the country. Power struggle pursued * 1966-1969 the dark time of the cultural revolution, half a million people died from torture * Youths were raised without supervision caused social instability * A whole generation, the realization that their loyalties earned them only manual labor jobs in rural China and that their supposed counter revolutionary targets were exonerated contributed to changing attitudes towards the Party and its ageing leadership. Economy fell as most of the urban workers were afflicted in politics, as did agriculture and production * 1971, Lin Biao tried to assassinate Mao, the 571 incident. After failure he tried to escape on a plane which was shot down * 1972, Nixon came to China due to international pressure in the UN as well as US political needs * Border tension with USSR, India, DPRK, North Vietnam, therefore needed the improved relations with US * Jan 1976, Zhou Enlai died; Later on that year Zhu De died. September 9th, Mao died * Mao’s widow Jiang Qing with three other men were arrested for crime against state, and Hua Guofeng would succeed Mao. Mao’s Impact Though his failure in the great leap forward and the cultural revolution, he remained an icon in China, but was portrayed as a tyrant in overseas. * Heightened sense of nationalism was when the CCP defeated the Japanese, which laid foundation for the overall success in 1949 * He made China to stand up, which is why he remained an icon for most Chinese people * Economically, despite the setbacks from the great leap forward and the cultural revolution, China did develop hugely in economic sector during his rule. * Life expectancy reached 65 by the time of Mao’s death. * Women gained the same social status as men did * Literacy rate increased