...was launched in May 1966. Mao alleged that bourgeois elements were infiltrating the government and society at large, aiming to restore capitalism. Millions of people were persecuted in the violent factional struggles that ensued across the country, and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and seizure of property. A large segment of the population was forcibly displaced, most notably the transfer of urban youth to rural regions during the ‘Down to the Countryside Movement.’ Historical relics and artifacts were destroyed. Cultural and religious sites were ransacked.

Precursor

In late 1959, historian and Beijing Deputy Mayor Wu Han published a historical drama entitled Hai Rui Dismissed from Office (海瑞罷官). In the play, an honest civil servant, Hai Rui, is dismissed by a corrupt emperor. Mao initially praised the play, but in February 1965 his wife alleged that Hai Rui was really an allegory attacking Mao, with Peng Dehuai as the honest civil servant. 

In December, Defense Minister and Mao loyalist Lin Biao accused General Luo Ruiqing, the chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), of being anti-Mao, alleging that Luo put too much emphasis on military training rather than Maoist "political discussion." Luo was denounced, dismissed, and forced to write a self-criticism. Luo's removal secured the military command's loyalty to Mao. 

May 16 Notification

On May 16, 1966 the Politburo formalized the decisions by releasing an official document condemning Wu Han and his "anti-party allies" in the strongest terms, and declaring that the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" had been launched. It states in part: “Those representatives of the bourgeoisie who have snuck into the Party, the government, the army, and various spheres of culture are a bunch of counter-revolutionary revisionists. Once conditions are ripe, they will seize political power and turn the dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Some of them we have already seen through; others we have not. Some are still trusted by us and are being trained as our successors, persons like Khrushchev for example, who are still nestling beside us. Party committees at all levels must pay full attention to this matter.”

Early mass rallies

On May 25, Nie Yuanzi, a philosophy lecturer at Peking University, authored a big-character poster (大字報) along with other leftists and posted it to a public bulletin. Nie insinuated that the university leadership was trying to contain revolutionary fervor in a "sinister" attempt to oppose the party and advance revisionism. Mao, favoring chaos as a means to "cleanse" the leadership ranks, ordered Nie's message to be broadcast nationwide and called it "the first Marxist big-character poster in China." Classes were cancelled in Beijing primary and secondary schools, followed by a decision on June 13 to expand the class suspension nationwide. By early June, throngs of radicalized students, Red Guards (紅衛兵), lined the capital's major thoroughfares holding giant portraits of Mao, beating drums, and shouting slogans against his perceived enemies. 

Under the auspices of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, work teams - effectively 'ideological-guidance' squads of cadres - were sent to the city's schools and People's Daily to restore some semblance of order. However, the work teams came under increasing suspicion for being yet another group aimed at thwarting revolutionary fervor. 

On July 28, Red Guard representatives wrote to Mao, stating that mass purges and all such related social and political phenomena were justified and correct. Mao responded with his full support with his own big-character poster entitled Bombard the Headquarters (炮打司令部). Mao wrote that despite having undergone a Communist revolution, China's political hierarchy was still dominated by "bourgeois" elitist elements, capitalists, and revisionists, and that these counter-revolutionary elements were indeed still present at the top ranks of the party leadership itself. This was, in effect, an open call-to-arms against Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and their allies. 

"Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution"

On August 8, 1966, the party's Central Committee endorsed the Cultural Revolution: “At present, our objective is to struggle against and crush those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic ‘authorities’ and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform education, literature and art, and all other parts of the superstructure that do not correspond to the socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system.”

The Decision called on not only students but also "the masses of the workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres" to carry out the task of "transforming the superstructure" by writing big-character posters and holding "great debates."

On August 18, 1966, millions of Red Guards from all over the country gathered in Beijing for an audience with the Chairman. Atop Tiananmen Gate, Mao and Lin Biao made frequent appearances to greet approximately 11 million Red Guards, receiving cheers each time. Mao praised their actions in the recent campaigns to develop socialism and democracy. 

All politicians who had any history of being anything other than dogmatically Maoist were immediately purged. Liu Shaoqi, once the most powerful man in China after Mao, was sent to a detention camp, where he later died in 1969, alone and naked and denied treatment for his diabetes. Deng Xiaoping was himself sent away for a period of re-education three times, until he was rehabilitated in 1973 by Zhou Enlai. 

On August 22, 1966, Mao issued a notice to stop "all police intervention in Red Guard tactics and actions." Those in the police force who defied this notice were labeled "counter-revolutionaries." Mao's praise for rebellion was effectively an endorsement for the actions of the Red Guards, who grew increasingly violent. Public security in China deteriorated rapidly. 

1967

In February, Jiang Qing and Lin Biao, with support from Mao, insisted that the "class struggle" be extended to the military. Generals who expressed objections were all eventually purged. At the same time, many large and prominent Red Guard organizations rose in protest against other Red Guard organizations who ran dissimilar revolutionary messages, further complicating the situation and exacerbating the chaos. The only way to survive was to be more “red” than the others.

On July 22, Jiang Qing directed the Red Guards to replace the PLA if necessary, and thereby to render the existing forces powerless. After the initial praise by Jiang Qing, the Red Guards began to steal and loot from barracks and other army buildings. 

1968

As Red Guard units got hold of PLA weapons, their conflicts turned into open warfare. Mao summoned Red Guard leaders to Beijing to impose order. When his instructions were ignored, Mao finally sent in the PLA on July 27, 1968, to restore order. In October, Lin Biao was made the Party's Vice-Chairman, Mao's "comrade-in-arms" and "designated successor," second only to Mao. In December, the Red Guard factions were sent down to the countryside, ostensibly to learn from the peasants, but actually to dismantle this weapon of struggle that had outlived its usefulness. They were sent on a one-way trip by their beloved leader, taking their hukou with them. 

PLA gains pre-eminent role

The friction with the Soviet Union intensified after border clashes on the Ussuri River in March 1969 as the Chinese leadership prepared for all-out war. In October, senior leaders were evacuated from Beijing. The prospect of war elevated the PLA to greater prominence in domestic politics, increasing the stature of Lin Biao at the expense of Mao. Lin’s supporters further urged the restoration of the position of State Chairman, which had been abolished after the purge of Liu Shaoqi. They hoped that by allowing Lin to ease into a constitutionally sanctioned role, his succession would be institutionalized. 

Flight of Lin Biao

By 1971, Mao was troubled by the PLA's newfound prominence. Sensing the threat to his power base and Mao’s declining health, Lin plotted to oust Mao in a coup, dubbed Outline for Project 571 (武起義). Lin had planned to bomb a bridge that Mao was to cross to reach Beijing, but Mao got wind of the plot and avoided this bridge. On September 13, 1971, Lin fled by plane to the Soviet Union ostensibly to seek asylum. En route, Lin's plane apparently ran out of fuel and crashed in Mongolia, killing all on board. A Soviet team investigating the incident hypothesized that the pilot was flying low to evade radar and misjudged the plane's altitude.

The “Gang of Four” (四人幫) and their downfall

In September 1972, Mao transferred a thirty-eight year-old cadre from Shanghai, Wang Hongwen, to Beijing and made him Vice-Chairman of the Party. Wang, a former factory worker from a peasant background, was seemingly being groomed for succession. Jiang Qing's position also strengthened after Lin's flight. She held tremendous influence with the radical camp. With Mao's health on the decline, it was clear that Jiang Qing had political ambitions of her own. She allied herself with Wang Hongwen and propaganda specialists Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, to form a political clique later pejoratively dubbed the "Gang of Four."

The Gang target Zhou Enlai

By 1973, the party's core had once again become dominated by leftist radicals, whose focus remained upholding ideological purity over economic productivity. The economy remained largely the domain of Zhou Enlai, one of the few moderates left standing. Zhou attempted to restore a viable economy, but was resented by the Gang of Four, who identified him as their main political threat in post-Mao era succession.

In late 1973, to weaken Zhou's political position and to distance themselves from Lin's betrayal, Jiang Qing and the Gang began the "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" (批孔批林) campaign. Its stated goals were to purge China of new Confucianist thinking and denounce Lin Biao's actions as traitorous and regressive. Reminiscent of the first years of the Cultural Revolution, the battle was carried out through historical allegory, and although Zhou Enlai's name was never mentioned during this campaign, the Premier's historical namesake, the Duke of Zhou, was a frequent target.

With a fragile economy and Zhou falling ill to cancer, Deng Xiaoping returned to the political scene, taking up the post of Vice-Premier in March 1973, in the first of a series of promotions approved by Mao. After Zhou withdrew from active politics in January 1975, Deng was effectively put in charge of the government, party, and military. The speed of Deng's rehabilitation took the radical camp, who saw themselves as Mao's 'rightful' political and ideological heirs, by surprise. Mao wanted to use Deng as a counterweight to the military faction in government to suppress any remaining influence of those formerly loyal to Lin Biao. In addition, Mao had become disenchanted with the Gang of Four's inability to manage the economy and saw Deng as a competent and effective leader. Leaving the country in grinding poverty would besmirch the positive legacy of the Cultural Revolution, which Mao worked hard to protect. Deng's return set the scene for a protracted factional struggle between the radical Gang of Four and moderates led by Zhou and Deng.

At the time, Jiang Qing and associates still held effective control of mass media and the party's propaganda network, though Zhou and Deng held control of most government organs. On some decisions, Mao sought to mitigate the Gang's influence, but on others, he acquiesced to their demands. The Gang of Four's heavy hand in political and media control however, did not prevent Deng from reinstating his economic policies. Deng emphatically opposed Party factionalism, and his policies aimed to promote unity as the first step to restoring economic productivity. Much like the post-Great Leap restructuring led by Liu Shaoqi, Deng streamlined the railway system, steel production, and other key areas of the economy. By late 1975 however, Mao feared that Deng's economic restructuring might vitiate the legacy of the Cultural Revolution, and launched a campaign to oppose "rehabilitating the case for the rightists," alluding to Deng as the country's foremost "rightist." Mao directed Deng to write a self-criticism, a move lauded by the Gang of Four. 

Death of Zhou Enlai

On January 8, 1976, Zhou Enlai died of bladder cancer. Curiously, after Zhou's death, Mao selected neither a member of the Gang of Four nor Deng Xiaoping to become Premier, instead choosing the harmless bureaucrat Hua Guofeng.

The Gang of Four grew apprehensive that spontaneous, large-scale popular support for Zhou could turn the political tide against them. They acted through the media to impose a set of restrictions known as the "five nos": no wearing black armbands, no mourning wreaths, no mourning halls, no memorial activities, and no handing out photos of Zhou. Years of resentment over the Cultural Revolution, the public persecution of Deng Xiaoping (who was seen as Zhou's ally), and the prohibition against publicly mourning Zhou became associated with each other shortly after Zhou's death, leading to popular discontent against Mao and the Gang of Four. 

Tiananmen Incident

On April 4, 1976, on the eve of China's annual Qingming Festival (清明節), a traditional day of mourning, thousands of people gathered around the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Zhou Enlai by laying wreaths, banners, poems, placards, and flowers at the foot of the Monument. The Central Committee, under the leadership of Jiang Qing, labeled the event 'counter-revolutionary,' and cleared the square of memorial items shortly after midnight on April 6. Jiang Qing and her allies pinned Deng Xiaoping as the incident's 'mastermind,' and issued reports on official media to that effect. Deng was formally stripped of all positions "inside and outside the Party" on April 7. This marked Deng's second purge in ten years. 

Death of Mao and Arrest of the Gang of Four

On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong died. Shortly before dying, Mao had allegedly written the message "With you in charge, I'm at ease," to Hua Guofeng. Hua used this message to substantiate his position as successor. Hua had been widely considered to be lacking in political skill and ambitions, and seemingly posed no serious threat to the Gang of Four in the race for succession. However, the Gang's radical ideas also clashed with influential elders and a large segment of party reformers. With army backing and the support of Marshal Ye Jianying, on October 10, Hua had all the members of the Gang of Four arrested in a bloodless coup.