Mao ZeDong and the Cultural Revolution

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Mao ZeDong and the Cultural Revolution

• By Rick Charles

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• The Cultural Revolution was started in 1966 by
  Chairman Mao Zedong it lasted for 10 years and
  ended with Maos death in 1976.
• As a child, Mao Zedong had a dream to become a
  leader of his own country, China.
• Although he was born into a poor family, it did
  not prevent him from accomplishing his dreams.
• Without his existence, there would not be a
  People's Republic of China.

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• In 1919, students, and intellectuals called for
  China's modernization.
• Mao published articles criticizing the
  traditional value of Confucianism.
• Professors at that time refused to acknowledge
  his presence because he was poor and had no
  status.
• Because of the Marxian Socialism and the May 4th
  Movement of students at Peking University, Mao
  has been turned into a pro-revolutionary.
• His early experience with China's bourgeois
  intellectuals had left him with a residue of
  destruction toward the purveyors of "book
  learning."

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• He later joined the Chinese Communist Party.
• After 7 years of controlling China, the KMT
  (Kuomintang) and the CCP (Chinese Communist
  Party), the 2 main parties in China began a civil
  war.
• The CCP won because it had a good army and great
  support from the citizens and forced KMT's leader
  Chiang Kai-Shek to flee to Taiwan.
• Mao founded The People's Republic of China in
  Beijing on October 10, 1949. He created the
  Cultural Revolution, an idea that he designed
  himself. The purpose is to destroy the
  pro-Communist China

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The Great Leap Foward

• Maos early experiences with peasant revolution
  convinced him of the immense potential of peasant
  strength. He believed that if properly organized
  and inspired, the Chinese masses could accomplish
  amazing feats.
• Beginning in the mid-1950s Mao advocated the
  rapid formation of agricultural communes, arguing
  that the energy of the people could help China
  achieve a high tide of Communist development.
• This ideology exploded in the Great Leap Forward
  in 1958. Mao called upon all Chinese to engage in
  zealous physical labor to transform the economy
  and overtake the West in industrial and
  agricultural production within a few years.
• Afraid to disappoint their leaders, peasants
  falsified grain production numbers.
• Several poor harvests caused massive famine and
  the deaths of millions of people throughout China.

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• Maos policies in the Great Leap Foward had
  failed, but those in the government who
  criticized him directly, such as Peng Dehuai,
  were humiliated and purged from office.
• Criticism of Mao from outside the government was
  also muted because the educated elite remembered
  the turmoil of the Hundred Flowers and
  Antirightist campaigns of 1957.
• Maos relationship with intellectuals was an
  uneasy one, and he was critical of the gap
  between the lives of the urban educated elite and
  the rural masses.
• These tensions were among the underlying causes
  of the Cultural Revolution

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The main ideas

• The main idea behind the cultural revolution was
  to get everyone in China living at the same level
  of wealth.
• Another aim of the Cultural Revolution was to
  stop the growth of Soviet Communism.
• 
  

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The four olds

• One of the ways to approach this is to rid every
  one of their valuable possessions.
• Maos red guards
  would raid
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  houses looking
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  for four olds.

A four old is an item or behavior that shows old
custom, old culture, old habit, or old
ideas. Remember that while Mao was draining the
people in China of their wealth and power, Mao
was a very wealthy man himself.
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this is a poster showing the red guards
raiding houses
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Education

• Not with Mao around!
• Mao told the people of China that teachers were
  against the revolution and that children
  shouldnt continue their classes.
• This left the children with free time since they
  didnt go to classes. Mao encouraged them to
  become red guards.
• If you were chosen at a red guard audition it was
  considered a great honor and was many childrens
  dream.

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Climax

• The cultural revolution brought about chaos as
  the red guards went about destroying temples,
  artwork, books, and anything that resembled a
  four old.
• Thousands of people died either of suicide or of
  torture from the red guards.
• People now despised Mao. This was completely
  opposite from 10 years ago.

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And in the end

• In 1976 Maos death brought about the end of
  the revolution. China got a new leader and the
  people of the country began to build back the
  ruins and monuments that were destroyed in
• the cultural revolution.

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Bibliography

• The Cultural Revolution, Four Olds.
  www.en.wikipedia.org
• The Cultural Revolution. www.library.thinkquest.or
  g The cultural revolution. www.fortunecity.com
• Posters of the cultural revolution.
  www.kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu The PLA and
  the
• Cultural Revolution. www.iisg.nl Cultural
  revolution. www.encarta.msn.com