CHAIRMAN MAO

THE GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION

OUR STARTING POINT

On October 1st 1949 Mao Zeedong made two proclaimations: The establishment

of the People’s Republic of China

The PRC would be ruled by the Chinese Communist Party

There’s something about China... In China there is a

concept that dominates society. One that we don’t appreciate as much.

Filial Piety Total respect for

ones’ elders

QUESTION› Who do you think

might have had this respect before the revolution?

› Who do you think might have this respect after the revolution?

Where did the revolution go?

By 1965 Mao was worried that a new upper class was growing in China.

There were some rich businessmen with lots of power but most were poor.

Why might this bother him?

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Mao launched the “100 Flowers Bloom and 100 Schools of Thought contend” campaign.

People were encouraged to write dazibao (big character posters) which showed their dissatisfaction with the current policies of the government.

What do you think people might have written on their dazibao?

What did people write on their dazibao?

The outcome ?

Mao identified people who opposed the regime?

He launched the cultural revolution to get the revolution back on track.

Look at the picture opposite. What do you notice about the young boy?

Mao used this ‘Red Guard’ help him carry out the Cultural Revolution.

Who were the Red Guard?

What did you notice about the Red Guard in the video?

Why do you think they were so willing to follow Mao’s orders?

Everything you ever need to know about Revolution Mao armed the

Guard with permission to do whatever they wanted, and...

The Little Red Book

The Little Red Book OR Quotations from Chairman Mao ‘All power comes

out of the barrel of a gun’

‘Revolution is a war of the masses’

‘The world belongs to you. China’s future belongs to you’

So what did Mao get his Red Guards to do?

The Four Olds

Old Customs

Old Culture

Old Habits

Old Ideas

Who might be the targets of the attacks on these ‘Olds’?

Mao told his guards to attack the “Four Olds”

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What are the men in the centre wearing on their heads?

What is going on in this slide?

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As you can see these men are wearing dunce caps with different Chinese words on their heads, used as a public form of humiliation.

These men are in fact school teachers

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Why does it seem that everyone is looking at these men?

What is the purpose of this event?

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These men are purposely being displayed to a group of normal Chinese citizens for the people to see “what not to do, and its punishments.”

Punishments like this (making a public example) were actually considered very light as apposed to many of the others enforced throughout the Cultural Revolution.

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What are the small group of men behind the dunces doing?

These boys were the “Red Guards.”

Through actions things like, imprisoning or humiliation (shown-holding dunces out). these young people caused chaos by raiding homes or destroying anything even associated to the “four olds.”

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VandalismDestruction of:•Antiques•Historical sites•Culture

Persecution•Imprisonment•Torture•Execution

SO WHAT?

Within a few years there was no opposition to the Mao and his supporters

The Cultural Revolution only came to an end with the death of Chairman Moa in 1976

80,000,000 people were dead