Title: Introduction to Chinese Cultural History / Slides / 7. Cultural Revolution

Front: How is the Cultural Revolution called in Chinese and when was it?
Back: The Cultural Revolution or Wenhua da geming took place 1966–1976.

Front: The Cultural Revolution can be divided into phases: what are they and when?
Back: - 1964–1966: “prelude”
- 1966^1–1968: “radical phase”
- 1968–1976: “late-Maoist phase”
^1 This is when the Cultural Revolution officially starts.

Front: What was the prelude to the Cultural Revolution and when?
Back: 1964–1966 "prelude": tensions within the CCP

Front: What is the name and timeframe of the first phase of the Cultural Revolution proper?
Back: 1966–1968 “radical phase”:
- most violent and destructive phase
- large-scale mass mobilization
- the Red Guards emerge

Front: What is the name and timeframe of the second phase of the Cultural Revolution proper?
Back: 1968–1976 “late-Maoist phase”:
- rise of the “Gang of Four”
- revolutionary culture and underground culture
- China-US rapprochement
- Death of Zhou Enlai
- The April Fifth Movement
- Death of Mao Zedong

Front: What event kicks off the Cultural Revolution?
Back: Starts with 16 May 1966 directive to attack ”bourgeois” and reactionary elements within the party, government, and culture.

Front: What are some political slogans of the cultural revolution?
Back: Radical iconoclasm:
- “Smash the Old World, Build a New World”
- “Destroy the Four Olds” (Customs, Culture, Habits, Ideas)
Extreme violence and social disruption:
- “Revolution is no crime; it is right to rebel” (Mao)
- “Great chaos achieves great order” (Mao)
- “Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits” (niugui sheshen) (Mao, June 1966)

Front: When does Mao return to power?
Back: 1966 July

Front: How does Mao interact with young people in 1966 besides speeches?
Back: - Swim in the Yangtze river aged 72 (July 1966)
- Writes “big character poster” (dazibao) “Bombard the Headquarters!”

Front: What inspires the formation of the Red Guards?
Back: - Mao encourages young people to attack “class enemies” and “revisionists”
- Groups of young people (mostly high school students) organize as Mao’s “Red Guards”
- Several Red Guard rallies at Tiananmen Square (1966 August–September)

Front: What are some of the things the Red Guards did?
Back: - Extreme violence, vandalism of Red Guard groups across the country
- Attacks on teachers, writers, etc. (“Red Terror, “Bloody August”: almost 2,000 killed or driven to suicide in Beijing in 1966 August–September)
- Mao describes the Revolution he unleashed as an “all-out civil war”
- Fighting each other in rival factions (not all factions violent),
- Semi-anarchy

Front: How did the Red Guards end?
Back: - PLA intervened to stop the semi-anarchy
- 1968: Red Guards sent to remote areas for re-education

Front: What's the Chinese Name for Red Guards?
Back: Hongweibing

Front: Which famous victim of the Cultural Revolution drowned themselves in a lake?
Back: Lao She, shortly after being struggled against.

Front: Which prominent CCP leaders were victims of the Cultural Revolution?
Back: - Deng Xiaoping and son Deng Pufang
- Liu Shaoqi and wife Wang Guangmei

Front: What did the Cultural Revolution aim to destroy and how did they try to do that?
Back: Destroy the Four Olds (si jiu: old habits, ideas, customs, culture):
- Destruction and vandalism of churches, temples, mosques, religious icons, imperial tombs, Jesuit tombs (e.g. Matteo Ricci), of antiques
- Burning of books
- Attack on traditional arts, e.g. Beijing Opera (jingju)
- Ransacking of private homes

Front: What are the Four Olds?
Back: The Four Olds or si jiu were to be destroyed in the Cultural Revolution:
- old habits,
- ideas,
- customs,
- culture.

Front: What new movement emerged in the summer of 1968?
Back: “Up to the Mountains, Down to the Villages” Movement (shang shan xia xiang):
- Students sent to remote areas
- Known as Educated Youth /Rusticated Youth/Sent Down Youth (zhiqing)
- ”lost generation”
- Xi Jinping also ”sent down”; his memoir of those years is now a bestseller

Front: What was the name of Mao's wife and what was her role in the Cultural Revolution?
Back: Jiang Qing, the last wife of Mao:
- Takes charge of culture and the arts after 20 years of semi-obscurity from public life
- Oversees the creation of the official culture of the CR, the “revolutionary model works” (yangbanxi)

Front: Who were the members of the Gang of Four?
Back: - Jiang Qing,
- Zhang Chunqiao,
- Wang Hongwen,
- Yao Wenyuan.

Front: Where does the name Gang of Four come from?
Back: Mao Zedong called them that 1974, warning them not to behave "like a gang of four".

Front: What was Jiang Qing's job in the 1930s?
Back: She was an actress in Shanghai and a "cover girl".

Front: Who died in 1971?
Back: 1971: Death of Mao’s successor, Lin Biao, (Vice Party Chairman) and his family in plane crash in Mongolia:
- Accusation (Lin and his son Li Liguo) of coup attempt and plot to kill Mao
- Accident and presumed plot made public a year later
- Many conspiracy theories

Front: What's this?
Back: This is a Revolutionary Ballet called The Red Detachment of Women. It is one of the Revolutionary Model Works, the creation of which was overseen by Jiang Qing in the Cultural Revolution.

Front: What are Revolutionary Model Works?
Back: Revolutionary Model Works or yangbanxi:
- Yangbanxi = Model Works/ Dramas/Operas
- Main form of cultural production during the Cultural Revolution
- Eight works officially designated as models in 1967
- 5 (revolutionary/reformed) Beijing operas; 2 ballets/dance-dramas, 1 symphony
- “Eight works for eight million people”

Front: Who are these people?
Back: These are characters from Revolutionary Modern Operas. You see the white-haired girl in the front row, second from the left.

Front: How where the Revolutionary Works used in cultural diplomacy?
Back: For example, US president Richard Nixon saw The Red Detachment of Women in 1972 while in China.

Front: When did the PRC take over Taiwan's seat in the UN?
Back: 1971

Front: Regarding China's foreign relations, what changed in 1971?
Back: The PRC took over Taiwan's seat in the UN.

Front: What were the results of Nixon's visit to China?
Back: Nixon supports the One China Policy.

Front: Who is this?
Back: This is the main fiction writer during the CR, Hao Ran.

Front: What is Hao Ran's economic background?
Back: Hao Ran has a peasant background.

Front: How many novels were produced during the Cultural Revolution?
Back: 126 novels in 10 years.

Front: What is Hao Rans representative work, or at least the only one that is mentioned on the slides?
Back: Novel: The Golden Road (jinguang dadao), 1972–1974:
- Set during Land Reform/rural collectivization of early 1950s
- Protagonist: CCP Secretary Gao Daquan (pro-collectivization) vs. conservative/corrupt village head Zhang Jinfa (pro-family farming)

Front: Types of writing during the Cultural Revolution: What was new, including new designations for unwanted works?
Back: - “Poisonous Weeds” da ducao (= problematic works)
- “Big Character Posters” dazibao:
- “Brown Cover Books” huangpi shu (for “internal” / neibu circulation)
- Hand-copied entertainment literature shouchaoben wenxue:

Front: What's to say about Unofficial Literature during the Cultural Revolution?
Back: Underground literature (1960s-1970s):
- People wrote in secret, not for publication, and read “forbidden” books that were produced (handwritten, mimeographed, photocopied, printed, etc.) and distributed through unofficial, non-government-sanctioned channels
- not necessarily critical of CCP, e.g. love poems, foreign literature
- Memories of “underground, private literary life, with access to ostensibly forbidden books and opportunities to practice calligraphy or perform” (R. Kraus)

Front: Cultural Revolution: an important development in 1973?
Back: Zhou Enlai supports Deng Xiaoping’s return as deputy premier to assist economic recovery (original idea of the “Four Modernizations”)

Front: Cultural Revolution: an important development in 1972?
Back: 1972: “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius” campaign (Gang of Four). Zhou Enlai is an implicit target as the “Duke of Zhou” (the perfect ruler according to Confucius)

Front: Factions: apart from the Red Guards, who also had a split in the Cultural Revolution?
Back: The CCP split between:
- a radical faction close to Jiang Qing,
- and a moderate faction close to Zhou Enlai.

Front: What happened in response to the death of Zhou Enlai?
Back: April Fifth Movement
- 1976 April 5^th (Qingming/ “Tomb Sweeping” Festival)
- 2 million people bring white paper flowers (mourning) to Tian’anmen Square in honour of Zhou (Beijing population then: 8 million)
- Posters denouncing “Emperor Qin Shihuang” (tyrant) and the “White-Boned Demon” (= Mao and Jiang Qing)
- Poems: e.g. Bei Dao, “The Answer”
- Protests expand to other cities
- “incident” denounced as “counterrevolutionary riot”

Front: Where is this poem excerpt taken from?
I came into this world
Bringing only paper, rope, a shadow,
To proclaim before the judgment
The voice that has been judged:
Let me tell you, world,
I – do – not – believe!
If a thousand challengers lie beneath your feet,
Count me as number thousand and one.
I don't believe the sky is blue;
I don't believe in thunder's echoes;
I don't believe that dreams are false;
I don't believe that death has no revenge.
Back: It's an excerpt from Bei Dao, “The Answer” (huida), published in the wake of the April Fifth Movement 1976.

Front: Who took control of the CCP after the death of Mao?
Back: Hua Guofeng became the new CCP chairman after Mao.

Front: Hua Guofeng: which order did he give shortly after taking power?
Back: Hua Guofeng orders arrest of Gang of Four, accused of counter-revolutionary activity.

Front: What's to say about the Gang of Four trial?
Back: - Show trial televised nationally
- Jiang Qing represented herself and disrupted CCP’s attempts at distanciating Mao from the violence and radicalism by arguing that she was only “Mao’s dog”, i.e. he was responsible for the violence, not (only) the Gang of Four
- Death penalty converted to life imprisonment. 1984 house arrest, hospital, 1991 suicide

Front: How did Jiang Qing justify her actions at the Gang of Four trial?
Back: She argued that she was only "Mao's dog".