Research & Analysis of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Cause, Legacy and Impact (Essay Sample)

THE CHINESE CULTURAL REVOLUTION: THE CAUSE, LEGACY, AND IMPACT
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Introduction
The Chinese Cultural Revolution, fully known as The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a 10-year long period of cultural and social transformation initiated by Mao Zedong in 1966 with the aim reestablishing communist ideologies in China, as well as reasserting his control of the Communist Party. Following the disastrous Great Leap Forward experiment which plunged China into famine and economic stagnation, Mao was wary of his waning influence in the Communist Party, and equally worried that his legacy will be discredited if he failed to achieve the objectives of his socialist ideologies. To counter the growing power of party members who were trying to revamp the economy by adopting capitalist policies, Mao sought to use the masses not only to discredit his rivals within the party, but also to keep China firmly on the Communist path. The people he perceived as his power rivals were succeeding in reversing the disastrous effects of the Great Leap Forward policies with their emphasis on expertise rather than Mao’s favored approach of ideological purity. If left unchecked, the end result of China’s new economic policies would be the discrediting of Mao and his Great Leap Forward, and consequently, his loss of relevance in the Chinese society. It was due to these concerns that Mao gathered a group of loyal supporters, including his defense minister Lin Biao and wife Jiang Qing to help him counter the influence of the current Communist Party leadership and regain his authority. The launch of the Cultural Revolution, however, was as equally disastrous as the failures of the Great Leap Forward socioeconomic reforms. While it was implemented in the pretense of promoting the original communist ideals, it has now come to be widely seen as a witch hunt tactic through which Mao hoped to destroy his enemies within the Party by unleashing the masses to purge and “purify” the Party’s ranks. This essay argues that although the Cultural Revolution was publicly promoted as a quest to strengthen China’s communist ideals by cleaning the country of imperialist and capitalist elements, it was, in part, Mao’s strategy to weaken his opponents within the Party and regain his waning control in the Chinese society.
Historical Background
Traditionally China had been an elitist society with a small group of bourgeoisies and a majority of peasants. China was lagging behind its Asian counterparts in terms of economic development, largely due to its communist policies. Under Mao Zedong, the economy stagnated as the Communist regime strived to establish a classless society. State control of the economy not only limited productivity, but also killed the spirit of entrepreneurship, as individuals were not allowed to profit from surplus production. As the Chinese rural population survived on subsistence farming, the country’s exports dwindled to the bare minimum, thereby reducing its foreign exchange earning capacity. At the same time, the government’s control over the agricultural sector limited individual earnings, which had a negative impact on the general economy. The consequences of this situation included limited purchasing powers, low rates of domestic investment, and low living standards. As retired Chinese CNN correspondent Flora Cruz observes, the four top luxury items in China during the Mao years were a bicycle, a wrist watch, a portable radio, and clothes. This description captures the picture of poverty that characterized the Chinese population as a result of the failure of the Great Leap Forward. The Cultural Revolution, in this regard, was aimed at both reversing the adverse effects of the Great Leap Forward as well as help Mao Zedong to regain and reassert his control of the Communist Party by purging it of officials who were not faithful to his communist vision.[Flora Cruz, “Looking back over China’s last 30 years, CNN.com, 2008, retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/18/china.reform.florcruz/index.html?iref=nextin]
Most historians concur that China’s decade-long Cultural Revolution began in May 1966, when the Communist Party’s top officials in Peking issued a document known as “The May 16 Notification,” warning the Party that it had been infiltrated by revisionist and bourgeoisie elements who were not only promoting counter-revolutionary policies, but were also plotting to install a capitalist dictatorship. Two weeks later, on June 1st, the party’s official newspaper urged the populace to “clear the evil habits of the old society” by way of launching an all-out attack on the “monsters and demons” of capitalism. The revolution was heralded as a struggle to inject new life China’s socialist cause. One editorial exalted the revolution with the words, “Like the red sun rising in the east, the unprecedented Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is illuminating the land with its brilliant rays.” The fears of infiltration, however, were disguised concerns over the success of the economic programs implemented by Mao’s colleagues to get China out of the economic mess caused by his Great Leap Forward mistake. Naturally, give the capitalist nature of these reforms, Mao doubted the pro-reform party members’ commitment to his revolutionary ideals. At the same time, the apparent success of these reforms made Mao not only to be aware of his waning power, but also to resent his inevitable loss of power should his colleagues succeed in reforming China’s economy through capitalist policies, rather than his favored communist ideologies.[Jiaqi Yan and Gao Gao, Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution (Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) 256] [Michael Schoenhals, China's Cultural Revolution, 1966-69: Not a Dinner Party (New York: Routledge, 2015) 47.]
To remain relevant and reassert his control of the Party, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution with four goals in mind. First, he aimed to replace his designated party successors with loyal supporters who were faithful to his revolutionary ideologies. Second, he targeted to rectify the Chinese Communist Party by placing it firmly on the communist path. Third, Mao hoped to provide China’s young population with a revolutionary experience to ensure that his legacy will outlive his critics. Finally, Mao intended to use the Cultural Revolution as a means of reforming China’s education, culture and health care systems to make them less elitist. No better way to achieve these broad goals than mobilizing urban youths to attack old traditions and party officials who were favoring western-style economic and social programs. Accordingly, Mao called on the nation’s youth to save their country from the current leaders who were taking the Party and the nation in the wrong, bourgeoisie direction. He challenged them to get rid “impure” elements of Chinese leadership and society as a means of reviving the revolutionary spirit that had led to the formation of the People’s Republic of China following the civil war 20 decades earlier.
In response to this call, Chinese students quickly sprang into action, organizing themselves into militant groups known as the Red Guards in schools and campuses around the country. By August of 1966, the Red Guards were causing mayhem in every city, with the blessing and encouragement of Mao’s allies, who urged the unruly youths to destroy the “four olds” of feudalism, namely old customs, old ideas, old culture and old habits, so as to pave the way for a truly communist Chinese society. As the assault on feudal traditions began, schools and universities were closed, churches, libraries, shrines and private homes attacked in a bid to rid them of symbols of capitalism and old traditions. Gangs of youths adorning red armbands and military uniforms roamed the city streets in Shanghai and Beijing, assaulting civilians wearing bourgeoisie clothes or with imperialist haircuts. Street signs and business posters deemed to be imperialist in their nature and message were brought down. With the ensuing madness of the Red Guard youths, one of the bloodiest phases in China’s history went into full swing, as a result of which as many as two million people are reported to have died. In the subsequent purges to get rid of bourgeoisie and feudal elements from the Chinese society, the revolution crippled the economy, destroyed millions of families, and caused hunger, untold bloodshed and a decade-long turmoil. In the end, after the violent revolution had run its course, party leaders conceded that the Cultural Revolution had been an unfortunate catastrophe to the country, which had brought nothing but “grave disorder, damage, and retrogression”. The revolution formally ended with Mao’s death in 1976, but its violence and tormented legacy lives until today in Chinese politics and society in general. It was a mistake whose realities Chinese leaders are both unwilling to confront and determined never to repeat, hence the current leadership’s obsession with social stability and absolute control of government.[Jie Chen and Peng Deng, China Since the Cultural Revolution: From Totalitarianism to Authoritarianism (Westport, Conn...