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Setting the Stage for the Cultural Revolution
Mao and his wife write revolutionary works and replaced key people in power with their friends and trusted allies. -
Unofficial beginning of the cultural revolution
Using the May 16 Circular, Mao creates a national student movement to hunt down revolutionists.
Short Term Effect: the rich were stripped of their money and students led the movement.
Long Term Effect: Mao gains the support of young people and uses this power in the future to have total control. -
First dazibao
A teacher at the Beijing University writes the first Marxist dazibao and it became immensely popular. -
Red guards form at Beijing University
The red guard forms in Beijing University. Their aim was to eliminate anti-revolutionary people who opposed Mao's views. They also hunted down Mao's enemies. -
Mao writes a dazibao
Mao writes a dazibao that said "bombard the headquarters" to eliminate the CCP leaders. -
Sixteen Points Directive
The Cultural Revolution officially starts after an official statement from the Chinese Government that supported Mao. -
First Red Guard Rally In Beiijng
The Red Guards are met by Mao at Tiananmen Square and are encouraged to destroy the Four Olds (Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Customs, and Old Habits) -
Chaos Escalates
The Red Guards became Mao's greatest weapon and destroyed everything that was related to the Four Olds (Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Customs, and Old Habits) or the Seven Kinds of Black. Students now started to have conflict with each other, creating even more chaos. -
Campaign to promote Mao's cult of personality
Portraits of Mao and his ideologies were posted everywhere, and everyone was mandated to carry Mao's Little Red Book to prove loyalty. -
Red Guards Dismantled
Mao creates an anarchy by disbanding the Red Guards to gain total power. -
"Down to the countryside" movement
Mao sends the former Red Guards to the countryside for them to be 'educated' by the peasants. Those who weren't sent there were sent to join the military. This eliminated the threat of the youth revolting against the CCP.
Short Term Effects: Students sent away from major cities to eliminate threats to the CCP
Long Term Effects: Limited education of the students meant that they wouldn't think of starting a revolution. Also lowered their intelligence as the education wasn't as good. -
Ninth Congress of the CCP
The Ninth Congress of the CCP declared the end of the Cultural Revolution. It emphasised a new movement that aimed to rebuild the party. -
The Lin Biao Affair
Tensions between Lin Biao and Mao was created by Mao's suspicions of Lin's agenda. Mao destroyed Lin's reputation and mysteriously, Lin's plane crashed while flying to the Soviet Union. It was only later when the public was informed of this and everyone felt betrayed.
Short Term Effects: Lin Biao was killed and Mao didn't have to worry about the threat anymore.
Long Term Effects: The public becomes skeptical of the government now as they feel betrayed. This could have led to future protests. -
Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius Campaign
A campaign was started to blame Lin for the mistakes fo the revolution. However, the people have had enough and did not believe this. -
Tiananmen Incident
A memorial for Zhou Enlai was held in Tiananmen Square which created even more criticism of Jiang Qing and her allies. A riot was started when they tried to remove the memorials. -
Events leading to the end of the Cultural Revolution
After Mao's death and Jiang Qing's arrest, the Cultural Revolution comes to an end with Hua Guofeng becoming the new leader of the CCP. -
Thesis Statement
The leaders of the CCP used the Cultural Revolution to gain absolute power, a new generation of poorly educated people who couldn't think for themselves, and atrocious acts by the government led to the doubt of the people of whether the Cultural Revolution was beneficial to them.