Chinese culture Revolution from 1967-1977 (Essay Sample)

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Chinese culture Revolution from 1967-1977
The Chinese Culture Revolution, also referred as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a political movement (event) that took place from 1966 to 1976 among the People’s Republic of China. Initiated by Zedong Mao, the Communist’s Party of China’s chairman at that time, its major goal was to ensure a communist ideology in China based on the truth by purging the remnants of traditional and capitalist elements from the society of China, and to re-initiate Maoist ideas as dominant ideologies within the party (Tatlow 56-61).
The Chinese Culture Revolution took place because of Zedong Mao’s feeling of the need for reassertion of his authority and power over the government of China. Mao believed that the communist political leaders at that era were taking control of China and its parties and were leading the Chinese towards the revisionist direction by emphasizing expertise in place of ideological purity. His own place in government had weakened following the fall in his "Great Leap Forward" and the crisis in economy (Yu 32-36). He therefore went ahead to gather the radical-grouped individuals including Jiang Qing and Lin Biao, his wife and minister for defense respectively, to assist him in launching an attack on the party leadership of the time in order for the reassertion of his authority. He also called for aid from the Chinese youths to purge the impurity in the society of China and revive the spirit of revolution that had drove China to victory during the civil war that had took place 200 years earlier. The Cultural Revolution took place in several phases until the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 (Yu 32-36).
The Chinese Cultural Revolution had largely grave effects to China in general. The short run effects include political instability due to the violent action of the Chinese people led by Zedong; a slow-down in the government’s capacity to deliver services and goods since government officials had come to learn that future policy shifts would jeopardize officials who had implemented previous policies aggressively. This also resulted to timidity in bureaucracy. The Chinese Culture Revolution also led to the death of Zedong Mao thus the end of this movement, since Mao was the initiator. This in turn led to the reinstatement of approximately three million members of the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) and other Chinese citizens being wrongfully purged (Yu 32-36). The death of Mao and the Gang of four’s purging left Guofeng Hua, a compromise political candidate promoted to the premiership position by Zedong after the purge of Xiaoping Deng, as the Communist Chinese Party chairman and thus an official leader of the Chinese. Guofeng tried to negotiate for his position by emphasizing his ties, relationship and fidelity to Zedong’ s ideas, but several among the leaders in the top position were not in support of these issues, thus Guofeng’s position eroded within that particular decade.
Bold actions were initiated in the 1970s in order to cope with the above immediate problems, but in addition, the Chinese Cultural Revolution left longer term consequences. First, it led to formation of a severe gap in the new generation since the youths were denied education and instead taught to deal with problems by taking violent actions; The Chinese Cultural Revolution also led to the growth of corruption within the Communist Chinese Party and the Chinese government since the terror and the scarcities that accompanied goods during this event had forced Chinese citizens to decline on the personal relationships based on tradition and extortion in order for things to be done (manipulation) (Tatlow 56-61).Thirdly, the leadership based on Communist Chinese Party and the body itself underwent loss in legitimacy when several Chinese from the urban centers became disillusioned as a result of the power plays that occurred because of principle in politics in the 1970s. Fourth, the Chinese Culture Revolution resulted to bitter factionalism since rival members of the factions of Cultural Revolution shared similar unit of work, with each, to date, looking for possible ways to render the other inferior.
The government of China and the Chinese citizens took part in the Chinese Culture Revolution in various ways, or rather were affected in various ways (Yu 32-36).Mao, as a Chinese government official, championed the shutting down of schools in China and called for mobilization among the youths to take party leaders of the time to task because of their act of embracing the values of the bourgeois and lack of the spirit of revolution. In the following months, the movement rapidly escalated as students formed groups (The Red Guards), and harassed the Chinese elders and intellectuals. During the Cultural Revolution’s earliest phase, President Shaoqi Liu and other leaders of communism were denied power. As a result, Shaoqi was thoroughly beaten and jailed, where he died afterwards. With Red Guard Movement’s factions struggling for dominance, several cities in China attained the anarchical brink by 1967 as a result of Mao instructions to Lin to send troops for the restoration of order. The army afterwards drove several Red Guard members into various rural areas, where the revolution movement declined. Lin was designated officially as Mao’s successor in 1969, and afterwards used the border clashes excuse with troops from the Soviet Union in the institution of marital law. As a result, Mao withdrew his support for him, working hand in ha...