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Development of Cultural revolution - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Campaign of destruction
        
        Restaurant visitors forced to declare class origin before being served.
        
        Surgeons stopped operating, fearing accusations of “class revenge.
        
        Owning a pet bird = bourgeois habit
        
        Public space rebranded: Shop signs renamed: “Defend Mao Zedong”, “Permanent Revolution.”
        
        Children renamed “Red Glory” or “Face the East.”
        
        Streets renamed: “Anti-Revisionism Street”, “Anti-Imperialism Road.”
        
        Traffic lights changed so red meant “Go” — stopped only by Zhou Enlai.
      - Destruction of Heritage, Religious culture
        
        Wu Xun.
        
        Begged to raise money + fund school for poor children- cultural hero
        
        Denounced as 'propagator of feudal culture'
        
        Corpse exhumed, dismembered and burned by red guards
        
        Tibet:
        
        Religious artefacts and prayer flags removed; long hair banned as an “old custom.”
        
        Monasteries looted and defaced; scriptures used as shoe-lining or toilet paper.
        
        Systematic looting by Chinese soldiers before mobs attacked precious metal and statues sold on international market
        
        Official rhetoric of “liberation” masked an attempt to eradicate Tibetan culture.
        
        Hai Rui
        
        Famous for being honest and critical of the emperor- Ming Dynasty official
        
        Burial site defaced
        
        Destruction
        
        Temples desecrated, Confucian texts burned
        
        Homes looted for Western books, instruments, antiques
        
        Libraries destroyed (≈1/3 closed, millions of books lost)
        
        Attackers labelled Confucius supporters as “monsters”
        
        Homes looted for Western books, musical instruments, and antiques.
        
        Qing-era archways and monuments demolished as symbols of China’s humiliation by the West.
        
        Buddhist sites destroyed — film crews even recorded acts of vandalism as “revolutionary propaganda.”
  - - - Initially drawn from elite middle schools (children of senior CCP officials)- first Red guards
      - Shared strong peer identity — same schools, same social circle, strong group pressure.
      - Saw themselves as true heirs to the revolution
      - Motivations: Idealism, Ambition (opp for political advancement) Revenge (chance to criticse local Party figures)
      - Red Guards told to “put daring above everything else” and “boldly arouse the masses.”
    - - Initially barred from joining.
      - Restrictions lifted autumn 1966 — suddenly allowed to “prove loyalty.”
      - Became the most violent and fanatical faction, trying to overcompensate for background (former landlords, rich peasants)
      - Adopted fierce slogans: 'It's justified to rebel!'
      - Formed groups like ‘Protectors of Mao Zedong Thought
- - - - PLA arrested 500 radical leaders → protests → armed clashes; 1,000 killed.
      - Officials criticising PLA were detained by soldiers until reinforcements restored control.
      - Commanders who used force against radicals were later denounced as “ultra-rightists”n
- - - - Mao attempted to deradicalise CR after the chaos of 1966–69.
      - Lin opposed moderation; wanting radical movement to continue.
      - Lin hoped to succeed Mao, especially as rivals (Shaoqi & Xiaoping) had been purged.
      - At the 9th Party Congress (1969) Lin was named Mao’s official successor.
    - - Lin tried to reinstate the post of Head of State, vacant since Liu’s purge.
      - Mao viewed this as an attempt by Lin to grab power + PLA growing political power
      - PLA dominated 21 of 29 provincial revolutionary committees.
      - Mao complained about “too many soldiers” and feared a military coup.
      - Reversed his earlier slogan → “Let the PLA learn from the people.”
    - - Rumours that Lin and his son planned to attack Mao’s train with artillery/commandos.
      - Possible motives: Fear of of being purged, claims of soviet involvement
      - Lin attempted to flee China but: His planes took off without sufficient fuel, Crashed in Mongolia all family killed
      - Propaganda crisis: Lin had been celebrated as Mao’s “closest comrade-in-arms.”
  - - - Zhou Enlai died on January 1976; deeply respected by the public.
      - Around one million people lined the streets as his body was taken to be cremated.
      - Mao was too sick to attend; Deng Xiaoping delivered the eulogy.
      - Jiang Qing attacked Deng as “China’s new Khrushchev”, but this went against public sentiment.
    - - Before the annual Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping) Festival, Beijing citizens began laying wreaths at the Monument to the People’s Heroes to honour Zhou Enlai.
      - Among the tributes were thinly veiled criticisms of Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four.
      - The Gang of Four were furious and ordered the wreaths removed as “bourgeois” symbols.
      - The removal triggered mass protests; tens of thousands gathered in Tiananmen Square
- - - - By early 1970s Mao was physically declining: Poor eyesight, heart problems, trembling
      - Many of his old allies were sick or dying: Zhou Enlai diagonised with lung cancer, Kang Sheng had bladder cancer
    - - Mao needed someone competent to restore order after the CR
      - Deng had been purged with Liu Shaoqi but: His 'capitalist crimes' less serious
      - Mao respected Deng’s organisational skills.
      - Deng was recalled from rural exile (repairing tractors in Jiangxi).
      - 1975: Appointed to Politburo Standing Committee + PLA chief of staff