Transcript V. The Cultural Revolution in China C.

V.
The Cultural Revolution in China
A. Background to the Cultural Revolution
B. Start of the Cultural Revolution
C. End of the Cultural Revolution
D. Lin Biao's Bid For Power
E. Death of Zhou Enlai
F. Death of Mao Zedong and the Fall of the
Radicals
Barefoot Doctors in China
"A 'barefoot' doctor is a peasant who does part-time
medical work... With their medical kits slung over their
shoulders, they called on patients in their homes, and
when not occupied with medical tasks, they worked
barefoot in the paddy fields. The peasants recognized this
type of doctor as their own and fondly gave them the
name. Hsingkuang Production Brigade has some 290
households with a total population of 1298 organized into
seven teams. The brigade provides a house for the cooperative medical station and assigns two 'barefoot'
doctors and one midwife there... These two 'barefoot'
doctors are very close to the people and serve them
devotedly. There are many moving stories about Shen
Pennan, a young man, and the young woman Hsing
Yichen... Shen's formal education was only five years of
primary school. After two months' training in the
commune hospital, he began serving as 'barefoot' doctor
in the brigade..."
This year, in many areas and in every province, productivity has been
extraordinarily high. These are the results of the commune-based system, of
the coordination of efforts under the lead o the Party... and of the intelligent
application to local conditions of the eight points of the Agricultural
Charter..."
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Factions During the Cultural Revolution
– Maoist Faction
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Closely associated with Mao
Believed in continual revolution, mass campaigns
Believed in virtues of “red over expert”
Members included Mao, Jiang Qing (wife) Ken Shang
– Party Bureaucrats
• Leaders of the party apparatus in Secretariat
• Believe in pragmatic economic development using
incentives to increae production
• Respected Mao but disliked his romantic views of change
• Great Leap policies were misplaced and damaging
• Members included Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping
– Government Faction
• Composed of governmental officials in administration
• Ideologically closer to party bureaucrats but members has
close personal relations with Mao
• Knew their skills would be necessary to administer China
• High managerial ability
• Zhou Enlai identified with this faction
– Military Faction
• Internally divided between followers of Lin Biao who
supported Mao and Lo Juijin who favored a strong,
conventional PLA
• People’s militay vs. regular military
• Improvement in relations with Russia favored by PLA
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Gang of Four
During China’s Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976), Zhang Chunqiao,
Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan, and
Wang Hongwen, clockwise from top
right, developed a series of radical
political campaigns with the support
of Communist Party leader Mao
Zedong.
The campaigns caused ten years of
chaos and violence. After Mao’s death
in 1976, the group was dubbed the
Gang of Four, and each was tried and
convicted of crimes associated with
the Cultural Revolution.
Hua Guofeng
In 1976 Hua Guofeng
became premier of China
and chairman of the
Chinese Communist Party.
He resigned from both
posts in the early 1980s.
Deng Xiaoping
After Chinese Communist Party
chairman Mao Zedong died in
1976, Deng Xiaoping became the
most influential political official in
China. Deng was the force behind
the Communist government’s
easing of cultural and political
policies and push for economic
modernization that occurred
during the 1980s. He also ordered
the military crackdown in June
1989 on the students
demonstrating for democratic
reforms at Beijing’s Tiananmen
Square.
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing, wife of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong, became well-known in Chinese
cultural circles for promoting Maoist themes in the arts. After Mao’s death in 1976, she and
three radical associates, dubbed the Gang of Four, were arrested for planning a coup. Jiang was
convicted and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Lin Biao
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Lin Biao was a Chinese Communist
military leader who won fame as the
commander of the Fourth Field
Army, which helped defeat Chinese
Nationalist forces in 1949, then
fought on the side of the North
Koreans the following year. Lin was
designated to succeed Communist
Chairman Mao Zedong in the late
1960s, and during that period he
helped lead the Cultural Revolution
in China. He allegedly died in a plane
crash in 1971 after a failed coup
against Mao, in which he was said to
have taken part.
Hu Yaobang
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Two days after Hu Yaobang’s
death in April 1989, thousands
of students from Beijing
universities marched to
Tianamen Square and laid
wreaths at the Monument to the
People’s Heroes in honor of the
former CCP Secretary-General
who had been forced to resign
his post in January 1987.
Zhao Ziyang
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Communist Party
Secretary Zhao Ziyang
urging students in
Tianamen Square to end
their hunger strick. Later
he would tearfully admit,”
I came too late, I came too
late,” but he assured them
that “The problems that
you have raised will
eventually be resolved.”
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They weren’t resolved.
Zhao Ziyang would be
purged by the hardliners in
the Politburo