the cultural revolution 1966-76

in 1966 mao created the little red book and called young people to rid china of the anti communist elements in society

he wanted to attack the four olds: old culture, old ideas, old habits and old customs

this was the cultural revolution

mao launched the cultural revolution because he was concerned about middle-class experts and townspeople getting wealthy at the expense of peasants

also chinas version of communism seemed to be similar to the soviet unions

furthermore usa had interefered with in the vietnam war and mao thought it was necessary to be able to call upon the chinese people if necessary in the event of conflict

role of the red guard:

mao formed red guards who went on a rampage

children denounced their own parents for being anti communist and schools were shut down

everything from factories to local communist party offices were ransacked

anything considered anti revolutionary was destroyed

1967 everything was out of control

red guards began street wars against the peasants and the PLA had to step in to disarm the red guards and restore peace

during the cultural revolution it is estimated at least 1 million people were killed

impact of the cultural revolution on people:

august 1966 deng xiaoping and liu…