Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution had far-reaching impacts on all aspects of Chinese society. The years of chaos from 1966 to 1969 saw the slowdown and partial collapse of the Chinese economy. Rural markets were forbidden and peasants were forced to sell all produce to the state. The possibility for economic cooperation with the West was eliminated by China’s emphasis on self-reliance above all else, as well as by its xenophobia, the fear of foreigners and foreign ways. This caused economic isolation and stagnation. In contrast, during the same period the economies of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea soared.

Education suffered serious setbacks. An entire generation of young people had their education disrupted while they “made revolution” for Chairman Mao. College entrance exams, suspended in 1966, were not reinstated until 1977. During the Cultural Revolution many valuable books and collections were destroyed and many scholars at China’s leading schools died from abuse by the Red Guards.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lost much of its prestige as a result of the Cultural Revolution. People at all levels of society were disillusioned by the high-level power struggles and the instability of party policy. But the CCP remained tenaciously in control, in part because Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s attempted to wipe out the legacy of the Cultural Revolution.

Even Mao, once glorified as “The Great Helmsman” and the “Red Sun,” was officially criticized for his “leftist mistakes” in the Cultural Revolution, but was still praised for his leadership in both the war against Japan (see Sino-Japanese Wars) and the civil war against the Kuomintang. Today, while privately vilified by many Chinese, Mao is at the same time still genuinely admired as a powerful national leader.