Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution

MAO Zedong and the Cultural Revolution Teacher Resource Guide

East Asia National Resource Center Compiled by Professor Carol Benedict, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

Table of Contents

I. Themes and Goals………………………………………………………………2

II. Organizing Questions………………………………………………………….3

III. Overview of Cultural Revolution’s “Manic” Phase………………………...4

IV. Student Reading and Discussion…………………………………………….8

V. Ideas for Student Activities…………………………………………………..10

VI. Resources for Educators…………………………………………………….11

MAO Zedong and the Cultural Revolution

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I. Themes and Goals

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, one of the most dramatic and traumatic events in the history of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), engulfed the nation from 1966 to 1976. The Cultural Revolution was but one in a longer series of campaigns and events undertaken by Mao Zedong in an effort to bring socialist progress to a large, poor, rural country that had been wracked by war for much of the twentieth century. Designed to overturn established structures of bureaucratic privilege and to challenge old ways of thinking, the Cultural Revolution sought to unleash the revolutionary potential of a new generation in order to fully realize the promises of the Chinese Revolution. It was, in a sense, the culmination of the political ambitions and ideological aims that had brought Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party to power in 1949.

Officially launched in 1966, the Cultural Revolution can be divided into two phases: 1) the “manic” period (1966-68) characterized by intense factional struggle within the Chinese Communist Party and widespread violence throughout society; and 2) the “stalemate” period (1969-76) when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People Liberation Army (PLA) reestablished control over society even as factional strife continued within the CCP. This guide is primarily concerned with the initial phase (1966-68). It has three aims:

1. To understand the internal “logic” of the Cultural Revolution

2. Explain how and why the early phase of the Cultural Revolution unfolded as it did

3. Explore some possible avenues and resources for teaching about Mao and the Cultural Revolution


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II. Organizing Questions

1. What were the principal causes of the Cultural Revolution? What role did Mao Zedong play in initiating the Cultural Revolution? Was he “responsible” for it?

2. To what extent was the Cultural Revolution a spontaneous, bottom-up, and broadly representative movement for social and political change? To what extent was it orchestrated from the center?

3. Why did students and other young people join Red Guard organizations? Why did so many Red Guards carry out acts of violence against their teachers, intellectuals, and party officials?

4. Why did the Cultural Revolution descend into near anarchy during the “manic” phase?

5. How did the “manic” phase of the Cultural Revolution end?

6. (For discussion): Was the Cultural Revolution an aberrant event, unique to China during the 1960s and 1970s or is it the type of historical movement that can happen (or has happened) in other times and other places? If it is a unique event, what are the characteristics that make it so? If more universal, what aspects of the Cultural Revolution make it possible that it could happen again in some other historical context?


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III. Overview of Cultural Revolution’s “Manic” Phases: Causes and Consequences

Recommended Reading for Instructors:

• Maurice Meisner (1999, 3rd ed.) Mao’s China and After, New York: Free Press, pp. 309-432.

• Jonathan Spence (1999) The Search for Modern China, NY: Norton (Second edition), pp. 544-586

1. What were the principal causes of the Cultural Revolution? What role did Mao play in initiating the Cultural Revolution? Was he “responsible” for it?

On the surface, the Cultural Revolution appears to be an episode of mass psychosis where the Chinese people were cynically manipulated by a megalomaniac leader for his own political ambitions. While elements of this popular understanding of the causes of the Cultural Revolution are true, the underlying reasons why Mao launched this mass movement are much more complicated. Scholars identify several motives for Mao’s support of the Cultural Revolution:

I. Mao Zedong wanted to regain influence within the Chinese Communist Party after the debacle of the Great Leap Forward.

In the wake of the disastrous Great Leap Forward (a massive effort in the late 1950s to develop industry and agriculture in that ended in food shortages and famine), Mao Zedong was kept out of the day-to-day operations of the Party. Liu Shaoqi, more pragmatic than Mao, was making most of the political and economic decisions. Mao increasingly disagreed with the policies Liu was implementing, believing that Liu and his lieutenant, Deng Xiaoping were following the “capitalist road.” In supporting and instigating the Cultural Revolution, Mao was able to reassert his primacy as leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the country.

II. Mao’s belief that the Chinese Communist Party, in power for more than a decade, was becoming too bureaucratic and was losing its communist values and revolutionary spirit. The Cultural Revolution can be seen as Mao’s attempt to encourage young people to tame corruption by criticizing Party officials.

By the mid-1960s, Mao believed CCP bureaucrats were getting too complacent and powerful. He was concerned about corruption in the party ranks and he was alarmed at the


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extensive economic privileges party cadres enjoyed. He had tried to “rectify” party officials once before, during the One Hundred Flowers campaign of 1957 by allowing intellectuals to criticize officials. That effort quickly spiraled out of control. The criticisms went far beyond “corrupt” officials to attacks on the Party itself. This time Mao turned not to established intellectuals but to young people born after 1949. Believing them to be more revolutionary in spirit because they were “Born Red” Mao encouraged them to rebel against their teachers and party officials.

III. The Cultural Revolution was an outgrowth of Mao’s political philosophy of “voluntarism” and the need for continual revolution.

By the 1960s, Mao was convinced that the Chinese revolution, which he had led since 1936, was stagnating. He believed the urban population was growing complacent and enjoyed a relatively lavish lifestyle at the expense of the rural peasantry. He felt something had to be done to create a more egalitarian society. Moreover, in his view Chinese intellectuals were prone to bourgeois and capitalist ways because they had been influenced by the “old”(pre-1949) society. Further class struggle (continuing revolution) was needed to bring about a truly socialist society. Only the young people, untainted by a pre-revolutionary past, could bring this about. Moreover, the Cultural Revolution would give them a chance to experience revolution and prepare them for the socialist future.

2. To what extent was the Cultural Revolution a spontaneous, bottom-up, and broadly representative movement for social and political change? To what extent was it orchestrated from the center?

Mao Zedong, his wife Jiang Qing, his Defense Minister Lin Biao, and others were the main instigators of the Cultural Revolution. They gained power and position through their support of the movement. However, it is too simplistic to see the Cultural Revolution solely in terms of inner party politics. During the “manic” phase of the movement, there were real limits on the ability of Mao Zedong and the party elite to control the actions of Red Guards and other rebels. The Cultural Revolution was at least partially an unscripted and unpredictable mass movement that could not be entirely directed from above.

3. Why did students and other young people join Red Guard organizations? Why did so many Red Guards carry out acts of violence against their teachers, intellectuals, and party officials?


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Young people joined the Red Guards for many different reasons. Raised in Maoist China, they were inspired by the romance of revolution having read novels and seen films that lauded the heroism of Chinese Communist revolutionaries. Initially the excitement of not having to go to classes and being able to travel freely around the country encouraged many to put on Red Guard uniforms. Others truly believed in the cause. They felt they were changing the world and bringing about a new China by smashing the “Four Olds” and struggling against “bourgeois” intellectuals and “corrupt” officials. Some were no doubt motivated by personal interests—initially only those with a “good” class background were allowed to become Red Guards. The first wave of Red Guards were related to high officials who subsequently came under attack as the movement progressed. Those with “bad” class backgrounds who had been shut out of the movement at first, took up arms against those who had shut them out. Finally, since Red Guards were largely from middle schools, high schools, and universities, peer pressure undoubtedly played a role.

Red Guards could use only their actions and behavior to demonstrate their revolutionary ardor and their love for Mao. Different groups competed to show that they were more “Red” than the next one. Initially this competition was limited to outward manifestations of loyalty such as wearing big Mao buttons or shouting slogans. Once struggle sessions begin, Red Guards (both boys and girls) demonstrated their ardor by not being afraid to beat their teachers or to denounce their parents.

4. Why did the Cultural Revolution descend into near anarchy during the “manic” phase?

The interplay between directives from the center and chaotic anarchy on the ground largely accounts for the chaos of the “manic” phase. Party leaders told Red Guards to struggle against “class enemies.” Under classic Marxism, “class enemies” was defined by socio-economic status: capitalists were enemies and the workers were revolutionaries. Under Mao Zedong Thought, the philosophy Mao had gradually developed since the 1930s, class status was not objective but was determined by what one thought. If one thought and acted like a revolutionary, then they were one, even if they came from a “bad” class background. While such a definition is more inclusive than classic Marxism, it posed a real problem for ardent Red Guards when they set out to struggle against class enemies. Since they could not see what a person was thinking, they could only judge a person’s revolutionary ardor by what they did or what they wore (this is one of the reasons Mao badges were so much in vogue). Without a clear set of definitions of whom to criticize, Red Guards were free to interpret enemies as they pleased. People were able to label and attack as “class enemy” anyone or


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any group against which they had a personal vendetta; such attacks led to counter-attacks setting off a cascading cycle of violence. With official encouragement from the center to attack local Party officials in January 1967, Red Guards and other rebels seized power in many cities, towns, and villages thereby bringing about the collapse of public order in many parts of the country.

5. How did the “manic” phase of the Cultural Revolution end?

The “manic” phase of the Cultural Revolution came to an end when it became clear to Mao and other Party elite that China was on the brink of a civil war. This occurred in the summer of 1967, when power struggles and factional fighting erupted within the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army itself. Mao instructed the army to restore order in September, 1967. It took quite awhile for the army to do so, however, and it was not until the summer of 1968 that the PLA is able to suppress the last pitched battles on university campuses. Red Guard units were disbanded and students were sent to the countryside and/or mobilized into the army.


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IV. Student Reading

There are many memoirs and first-person accounts of the Cultural Revolution suitable for students of varying ages and levels (see “Resources on Cultural Revolution”). One that works well for understanding the dynamics of the “manic” phase is

• GAO Yuan. Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.

Publishers’ synopsis:

“Born Red is an artistically wrought personal account, written very much from inside the experience, of the years 1966-69, when the author was a young teenager at middle school. In China, middle school lasts six years and is divided into junior middle school: grades 7-9 and senior middle school: grades 10-12. It was in the middle schools that much of the fury of the Cultural Revolution and Red Guard movement was spent, and Gao was caught up in very dramatic events, which he recounts as he understood them at the time. Gao relates in vivid fashion how students-turned-Red Guards held mass rallies against "capitalist-roader" teachers and administrators, marching them through the streets to the accompaniment of chants and jeers and driving some of them to suicide. Eventually the students divided into two factions, and school and town became armed camps. Gao tells of the exhilaration that he and his comrades experienced at their initial victories, of their deepening disillusionment as they were manipulated by political leaders, and finally of the agony of their utter defeat as the tumultuous first phase of the Cultural Revolution came to a close."

Discussion Questions:

1. According to Gao Yuan, why did Mao Zedong turn to young people to carry out the Cultural Revolution? Why did young people respond?

• Out of idealism and love for Mao • Romanticism of the revolution • Excitement and thrill-seeking • Peer pressure, need to belong

• Venting frustrations at the school system and inequalities that favored the children of officials


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2. Who was considered eligible to join the Red Guards? Who was not? What class background was Gao Yuan (p. 25)? What background does he wish he had? Why?

3. In Gao’s account, which people were criticized by the Red Guards? Why? What crimes did they supposedly commit?

4. In Gao’s hometown, when did the Red Guard movement turn violent? Why? Why did it become a war?

5. Do you think Gao Yuan and the other Red Guards in Born Red were acting on their own or were they being manipulated by Mao or other people in positions of authority?

6. Do you think the Cultural Revolution or something like it could ever happen in the United States? Why, or why not?


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V. Student Activities

A. Class Debate: Mao’s role in the Cultural Revolution

One the critical questions about the Cultural Revolution concerns Mao’s role in instigating the movement. Was the Cultural Revolution primarily Mao’s attempt to return to power after the debacle of the Great Leap Forward or was it largely motivated by Mao’s desire to build a more equitable and egalitarian society free of corruption and elite privilege? A class debate is a good way to get students to analyze Mao’s possible motivations.

Position of Team One: “Mao was a megalomaniac who lusted after power. Everything he did during the Cultural Revolution can only be understood as the outcome of his thirst for personal power.”

Position of Team Two: “Mao was a great revolutionary hero who made some

mistakes, particularly in the latter part of his life. Despite these mistakes, he had the best interests and intentions of the Chinese people at heart. He sought personal power only in order to carry out his vision of creating an egalitarian society that would be free of bureaucraticism and official corruption that had plagued earlier Chinese governments and that he believed was creeping into socialist China as well.”

B. Analyzing Images

Collect images of Cultural Revolution propaganda posters from one of the on-line sites (see “Resources on China’s Cultural Revolution.” Have students analyze the images:

1. What do propaganda posters reveal about Chinese society during the Cultural Revolution?

2. How are people dressed? What kinds of facial expressions do they have? (“determined,” “happy,” “enthusiastic,” “ardent,” etc.) What message do you think these posters are meant to send? What purpose do you think propaganda posters served during the Cultural Revolution?

3. Why do you think propaganda posters were an effective tool of communication in China during the Cultural Revolution?


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VI. Resources on China’s Cultural Revolution for Educators

1. Bibliographies and Historical Dictionaries:

• Bibliography of Asian Studies. (On-line bibliography available via academic libraries from Association for Asian Studies; covers all English-language scholarship).

• Tony H. Chang (1999) China during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976: A Selected Bibliography of English Language Works, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. (Most but not all entries are annotated).

• Yongyi Song and Dajin Sun (comps.) and Eugene W. Wu (ed.) (1997) The Cultural Revolution: A Bibliography, 1966-1996, Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Yenching Library, Harvard University. (Comprehensive bibilography but not annotated. Includes Chinese, Japanese, and Western language materials).

• Guo, Jian, Yongyi Song, and Yuan Zhou, Historical dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2006.

2. Suggested Readings (*especially recommended):

A. Surveys:

• *Maurice Meisner (1999, 3rd ed.) Mao’s China and After, New York: Free Press, pp. 309-432.

• *Jonathan Spence (1999) The Search for Modern China, NY: Norton (Second edition), pp. 544-586.

• Julia Strauss (2007) The History of the PRC (1949-1976), Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press.

B. Biographies of Mao Zedong and Studies of Mao Zedong Thought:

• *Timothy Cheek (2010) A Critical Introduction to Mao, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Stuart Schram (1989) The Thought of Mao Zedong, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

• Philip Short (2000) Mao: a life, New York: Henry Holt.


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• Edgar Snow (1994) Red Star over China: The Classic Account of the Birth of Chinese Communism, Grove Press, revised edition

• *Jonathan Spence (1999) Mao Zedong, New York: Viking.

C. Academic Studies of the Cultural Revolution:

• Barbara Barnouin and Changgen Yu (1993) Ten Years of Turbulence: The Chinese Cultural Revolution, New York: Kegan Paul, International.

• *Anita Chan, Richard Madsen, and Jonathan Unger (1992) Chen Village under Mao and Deng: the recent history of a peasant community in Mao's China, 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.

• *Joseph W. Esherick, Paul G. Pickowicz, and Andrew G. Walder, eds. (2006) The Chinese cultural revolution as history, Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press.

• Keith Forster (1990) Rebellion and factionalism in a Chinese province: Zhejiang, 1966-1976, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

• Gao Mobo (2008) The battle for China's past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution, London; Ann Arbor, MI : Pluto Press.

• Jin Qiu (1999) The Culture of Power: The Lin Biao Incident in the Cultural Revolution, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

• William A. Joseph, Christine W. Wong, David Zweig (eds.) (1991) New perspectives on the Cultural Revolution, Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University Press.

• Hong-yung Lee (1978) The Politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Berkeley: University of California Press.

• Kam-yee Lee (ed). (2003) The Chinese cultural revolution reconsidered : beyond purge and holocaust / edited by Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan.

• *Roderick MacFarquhar (1997) The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, Vol. 3 The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961-1966, New York: Columbia University Press.

• Roderick MacFarquhar (1997) “The Succession to Mao and the End of Maoism, 1969-82,” in Roderick MacFarquhar, ed., The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng, 2nd Edition, NY: Cambridge University Press.


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• *Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals (2006) Mao’s last revolution, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

• Elizabeth Perry and Li Xun (1996) Proletarian Power: Shanghai in the Cultural Revolution, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

• *Michael Schoenhals (ed.) (1999) China’s Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

• Michael Schoenhals (2005) “’Why don't we arm the left?’ Mao's culpability for the Cultural Revolution's 'great chaos' of 1967,”China Quarterly no.182 (June): 277-300.

• *Tang Tsou (1986) The Cultural Revolution and post-Mao reforms: a historical perspective, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Teiwes, Frederick C. (2007) The end of the Maoist era: Chinese politics during the twilight of the Cultural Revolution, 1972-1976. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

• *Anne F. Thurston (1987) Enemies of the People The ordeal of the intellectuals in China's Great Cultural Revolution, New York: Knopf.

• Andrew Walder and Xiaoxia Gong (eds.) (1993) China’s Great Terror: New Documentation on the Cultural Revolution, Armonk, NY: M.E.Sharpe.

• *Andrew Walder and Yang Su (2003) “The Cultural Revolution in the Countryside: Scope, Timing, and Human Impact,” The China Quarterly 173: 74-99.

• Wang Youqin (2007) “Finding a place for the victims: the problem in writing the history of the Cultural Revolution,” China Perspectives no. 72: 65-74.

• *Lynn T. White (1989) Policies of Chaos: The Organizational Causes of China’s Cultural Revolution, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

• Yan, Jiaqi and Gao Gao (1996) Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution, Trans. by D.W.Y. Kwok, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

• Zang Xiaowe (2000) Children of the cultural revolution : family life and political behavior in Mao's China Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press.

• Zuo Jiping (1991) “Political Religion: The Case of the Cultural Revolution in China,” Sociological Analysis, vol. 52, no. 1: 99-110.

D. Memoirs and First Person Accounts

• *Chang Jung (1991) Wild Swans, New York: Simon and Schuster.


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• Cao Guanlong (1996) The attic: memoir of a Chinese landlord's son, Berkeley: University of California Press.

• Da Chen (1999) Colors of the Mountain. NY: Anchor Books.

• Feng Jicai (1996) Ten years of madness: oral histories of China's Cultural Revolution, San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals.

• Michael Frolic (1980) Mao's people: sixteen portraits of life in revolutionary China, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• *Gao Yuan (1987) Born red: a chronicle of the Cultural Revolution, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

• *Kang Zhengguo (2008) Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China, NY: Norton.

• Han, Dongpin (2008) The unknown cultural revolution: life and change in a Chinese village. New York: Monthly Review Press.

• Ji, Chaozhu (2008) The man on Mao's right: from Harvard yard to Tiananmen Square, my life inside China's Foreign Ministry. New York: Random House.

• Li Lu (1990) Moving the mountain: my life in China from the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square, London: Macmillan.

• *Li Zhensheng (2003) Red-color News Soldier: Photographs of the Cultural Revolution, NY: Phaidon Press.

• Li Yan (1995) Daughters of the red land, Toronto: Sister Vision.

• *Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro (1983) Son of the revolution, New York: Knopf.

• Liu Binyan (1990) A Higher Kind of Loyalty: a memoir by China’s foremost journalist, New York: Pantheon Books.

• Lo Fulang (1989) Morning Breeze: A True Story of China’s Cultural Revolution, San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals.

• Luo Ziping (1990) A Generation Lost: China Under the Cultural Revolution, New York: Henry Holt and Company.

• *Ma Bo with Howard Goldblatt (1996) Blood Red Sunset: A Memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, NY: Penguin.

• *Min, Anchee (1994) Red Azalea. New York: Pantheon Books.

• Niu-niu (1995) No tears for Mao: growing up in the Cultural Revolution, Chicago, IL: Academy Chicago Publishers.


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• Michael Schoenhals (1994) “An Insider’s Account of the Cultural Revolution: Wang Li’s Memoirs,” Chinese Law and Government, vol. 27, no. 6, Armonk, NY: M.E.Sharpe.

• Fan Shen (2006) Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard. Bison Books. • Lila Sola (1994) Chaos and All That, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

• Wong, Jan (2009) A comrade lost and found: a Beijing story. Orlando, Florida: Houghton Miffin Harcourt

• Wu, Emily Yimao; Engelmann, Larry (2008) Feather in the Storm: A Childhood Lost in Chaos. Harpswell, Maine: Anchor.

• Yang Jiang (1984) Six Chapters from My Life “Downunder”, Seattle, University of Washington Press.

• *Rae Yang (1997) Spider Eaters, A Memoir, Berkeley: University of Hawaii Press.

• Ye, Ting-xing (2008) My name is number 4: a true story from the Cultural Revolution. Basingstoke, New Hampshire: St. Martin's Griffin.

• Yue Daiyu, with Carolyn Wakeman (1985) To the Storm: The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman, Berkeley: University of California Press.

• *Xueping Zhong, Wang Zheng, Bai Di (ed.) (2001) Some of Us: Chinese Women Growing up in the Mao Era, London: Rutgers.

• Zhu Xiao Di (1998) Thirty Years in a Red House: A Memoir of Childhood and Youth in Communist China, Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

E. Western Accounts:

• Anthony Grey (1970) Hostage in Peking, London: Michael Joseph.

• William Hinton (1972) Hundred day war: the Cultural Revolution at Tsinghua University, New York: Monthly Review Press.

• William Hinton (1983) Shenfan: The continuing revolution in a Chinese Village, New York: Vintage.

• Neale Hunter (1971) Shanghai journal: an eyewitness account of the Cultural Revolution, New York: Praeger.

• Ma Jisen (2004) The Cultural Revolution in the Foreign Ministry of China. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.

• David and Nancy Milton (1976) The wind will not subside: years in revolutionary China, 1964-1969, New York: Pantheon.


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• Victor Nee (1969) The Cultural Revolution at Peking University, New York: Monthly Review.

• Sidney Rittenberg and Amanda Bennett (1993) The Man who Stayed Behind, New York: Simon and Schuster.

F. Prison Accounts:

• Bao Ruo-wang (1973) Prisoner of Mao, New York: Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan.

• *Cheng Nien (1986) Life and Death in Shanghai, New York: Grove Press.

• Pu Ning (1994) Red in tooth and claw: twenty-six years in communist Chinese prisons, New York: Grove/Atlantic.

• Harry Wu (1994) Bitter wind: a memoir of my years in China’s Gulag, New York: Wiley. • Wu Ningkun (1993) A single tear: a family’s persecution, love, and endurance in Communist

China, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.

• Yang, Xiguang (1997) Captive Spirits: Prisoners of the Cultural Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press.

G. Red Guards and Urban Youth Rustication

• Thomas Bernstein (1977) Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: The Transfer of Youth from Urban to Rural China, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

• Anita Chan (1985) Children of Mao: personality development and political activism in the Red Guard generation, Seattle: University of Washington Press.

• John Israel (1967) “The Red Guards in Historical Perspective: Continuity and Change in the Chinese Youth Movement,” The China Quarterly, vol 30: 1-32.

• Yarong Jiang and David Ashley (2000) Mao's Children of the New China: Voices from the Red Guard Generation, London: Routledge.

• Lin Jing (1991) The Red Guards’ Path to Violence: Political, Educational, and Psychological Factors, New York: Praeger.

• Pan Yihong (2003) Tempered in the revolutionary furnace: China's youth in the rustication movement, Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books.

• Stanley Rosen (1982) Red Guard factionalism and the Cultural Revolution in Guangzhou (Canton), Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

• Peter Seybolt (ed.) (1977) Rustication of urban youth in China: a social experiment, White Plains, NY: M.E. Sharpe.


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• Yin Hongbiao (1996) “Ideological and Political Tendencies of Factions in the Red Guard Movement,” Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 5, no. 13: 269-281.

• Jonathan Unger (1982) Education under Mao: class and competition in Canton Schools, 1960-1980, New York: Columbia University Press.

• *Walder, Andrew G. (2009) Fractured rebellion: the Beijing Red Guard movement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Zang, Xiaowei (1999) Children of the Cultural Revolution: Family Life and Political Behavior in Mao's China. Boulder: Westview Press.

H. Culture and the Cultural Revolution

• *Paul Clark (2008) The Chinese Cultural Revolution: a history, Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University Press.

• Chang-Tai Hung (2007) “Oil paintings and politics: weaving a heroic tale of the Chinese Communist revolution,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 49, no.4 (October): 783-814.

• Chang-Tai Hung (2007) “Mao's parades: state spectacles in China in the 1950s,” China Quarterly, no.190 (June): 411-431.

I. Mao Cult and Mao Memorabilia:

• Geremie Barme (ed.) (1996) Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

• Lincoln Cushing and Anne Tompkins (2007) Chinese Posters: Art from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revlution, San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

• Michael Dutton (2004) “The Mao® Industry,” Current History 103, 674 (September): 268-72.

• Harriet Evans and Stephanie Donald (1999) Picturing power in the People's Republic of China: posters of the Cultural Revolution, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

• Stefan Landsberger (1996) Chinese Propaganda Posters: From Revolution to Mobilization, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

• Daniel Leese (2011) Mao Cult: Rhetoric and Ritual in the Cultural Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Lynn Pann (ed.) (1999) Mao Memorabilia: The Man and the Myth, Hong Kong: FormAsia Books.


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• Patricia Powell and Shitao Huo (1996) Mao’s Graphic Voice: Political Posters from the Cultural Revolution, Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum of Art.

• Melissa Schrift (2001) Biography of a Chairman Mao Badge: The Creation and Mass Consumption of a Personality Cult, Rutgers University Press.

3. Books for young adults:

• Da Chen (2004) China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution. Laurel Leaf (Ages 12 and up).

• Andrew Langley (2008) The Cultural Revolution: years of chaos in China. Mankato, Minnesota: Compass Point Books (Ages 9-12).

• Moying Ling (2010) Snow Falling in Spring: Coming of Age in China During the Cultural Revolution, Square Fish (Young adults).

• Ji-li Jiang (2008) Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution, NY: Harper Collins (Grades 5-9).

• [See S.P.I.C.E. Lesson plan below] • David Petrusza (1996) The Chinese Cultural Revolution, Lucent Books (Grade 5-9).

• Louise Chipley Slavicek (2010) The Chinese Cultural Revolution (Milestones in Modern World History), Chelsea House Publications. (Grade 7-10).

• Chun Yu (2005) Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, NY: Simon and Schuster. (Grades 5-8).

4. Resources for Teachers:

• S.P.I.C.E Curriculum on Cultural Revolution Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) China's Cultural Revolution, 2005. (From website): The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) was a decade of enormous upheaval under the leadership of Mao Zedong with a lasting impact on China, its citizens, and the world. This unit teaches students about the social, educational, political, and economic transformations in China during this tumultuous era. Students examine primary source materials to hone their analytical and critical thinking skills, and gain exposure to a variety of perspectives on the Cultural Revolution. As part of the lessons, students evaluate official government documents, speeches, memoirs, eyewitness accounts, propaganda art, revolutionary songs, textbook coverage from three countries, and the book, Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-li Jiang. Available for purchase: Softcover - $59.95, includes CD-ROM with 29 images/audio CD/book: Red Scarf Girl.


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http://aparc.stanford.edu/publications/chinas_cultural_revolution/\

• Asia for Educators, Columbia University http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/tps/1950.htm

o Lesson Plans from Asia for Educators: § Reading Gao Yuan's Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_born_red.htm § Reading Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro's Son of the Revolution

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_son.htm

• Education about Asia (Journal from Association for Asian Studies) o Articles about Cultural Revolution:

§ Jennifer Eagleton (1999) “There and Back Again: Teaching about the Urban Youth Generation,” Eduation about Asia 4.3 (Winter): 4-9.

§ Deborah Pellikan (2005) “The Chinese Cultural Revolution: Dynamic Times, Dramatic Lessons for Today’s Kids,” Education about Asia 10.3 (Winter): 50-57 [Handouts available on-line at http://www.asian-studies.org/eaa/10-3-supplemental.htm

§ Yihong Pan (2009) “From Red Guards to Thinking Individuals: China’s Youth in the Cultural Revolution,” Education about Asia 14.3 (Winter): 4-8.

• The National Consortium for Teaching About Asia (From website): “The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), funded by the Freeman Foundation, is a multi-year initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching and learning about East Asia in elementary and secondary schools nationwide. NCTA is a premier provider of professional development on East Asia. A nationwide program, NCTA is a collaboration of the East Asian Studies programs of seven national institutions -- Columbia University, Five College Center for East Asian Studies at Smith College, Indiana University, the University of Colorado, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Southern California, and the University of Washington.” http://www.nctasia.org/

• Insites: A Support Network for Educational Change “Valued Websites about Asia”


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http://www.insites.org/projects_asia/0309_phase/downloads/InS.0909.Webste_List.ff.pdf

• Asian Educational Media Service (From website): “Our mission is to promote understanding of Asian cultures and peoples and to assist educators at all levels, from elementary schools to colleges and universities, in finding resources for learning and teaching about Asia. The Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS) is a program of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.” http://www.aems.illinois.edu/overview/index.html

• Lesson Plan available on Asian Education Media Service website: Teacher’s Guide to “To Live,” Zhang Yimou www.aems.illinois.edu/publications/lessonplans/

5. Documents Databases and Electronic Sources:

• Chinese Cultural Revolution Database Compilation of historical resources from an abundance of publications, both official and unofficial, which appeared during the Cultural Revolution undertaken by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In Chinese with English-language translations. Available through Georgetown University Lauinger Library or Library of Congress, Asian Reading Room.

• Mao Tse-tung (Zedong) Internet Library A searchable database of English-language translations of five volumes of Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung and other texts, including Quotations from Chairman Mao. http://www.marx2mao.org/Mao/Index.html

• Morning Sun, A Film and Website about the Cultural Revolution, 2003, Long Bow Group A website that covers the origins and history of the Cultural Revolution. Associated with the fine documentary film “Morning Sun”. From site introduction: “A range of techniques and perspectives are used in the Morning Sun website to reflect on the origins and history of the Cultural Revolution (c.1964-1976). We approach the


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period not from a simplistic linear perspective, but from a panoptic one, encompassing a broad overview while allowing the user to focus in on individual histories, narratives and events that reveal the complex contradictory forces that led to an era of unrivalled revolutionary fervor and political turmoil.” Includes an on-line library with links to primary documents and scholarly articles. http://www.morningsun.org/index.html

• Virtual Museum of the Cultural Revolution Site has numerous links, including Cultural Revolution posters, memorabilia, personal narratives, and photographs. Main site is in Chinese but has an English version. http://www.cnd.org/CR/english/ or http://museums.cnd.org/CR/halls.html

• China Beat (A blog run by historians of China) Tags for Cultural Revolution, China Beat http://www.thechinabeat.org/?tag=cultural-revolution

6. Visual and Material Culture of the Cultural Revolution:

• Propaganda Posters o Chinese Posters: 200 Highlights from the collections of the International

Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, and Stefan R. Landsberger (University of Amsterdam, Leiden University). Includes many posters from Cultural Revolution period. http://chineseposters.net/

o MaoPost: Primarily a retail website dedicated to selling posters, this site features images of around 1,000 mid- to late-twentieth-century Chinese propaganda posters, with a focus on the Mao era. The posters are organized by category and each poster is accompanied by English language translations of text. http://www.maopost.com

o Picturing Power: Posters of the Cultural Revolution: Picturing Power is a travelling exhibit that originated at Indiana University (October 6-22, 1999) and makes use of a unique collection of posters held at the Centre for the Study of Democracy University of Westminster, London. (This exhibition represents approximately 10% of the total poster collection.) The posters in this exhibition were selected by Harriet Evans, Senior Lecturer in Chinese


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Studies, University of Westminster, London, and Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Associate Professor of History, Indiana University. OSU Exhibition and related programming organized by Prudence Y. Gill, Julia F. Andrews, and Xiao-mei Chen. Contextual graphics for the OSU exhibition by Leah L. Wang. http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/Exhibitions/picturingPower.html

o A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, University of Washington: A collection of images and visual resources by period and topic; includes a vast collection of maps, discussion questions, and guides for teachers. Includes some materials on the Cultural Revolution period. http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/contents.htm

• Photographs o Li Zhensheng, “Red-Color News Soldier” Collection of photographs from

Cultural Revolution period. (Also see book: Li Zhensheng (2003) Red-color News Soldier: Photographs of the Cultural Revolution, NY: Phaidon Press. Images available at: http://red-colornewssoldier.com/toc.html

o William Joseph,”Serve the People”: Images of Daily Life in China during the Cultural Revolution. William Joseph’s personal photographs from 1972: http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/China1972/intro.html

o Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images of Cultural Revolution http://hahn.zenfolio.com/f320124069

• Clothing styles o “Dress of the Cultural Revolution,” Part of “Evolution and Revolution:

Chinese dress, 1700s-1990s (On-line exhibit at Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia) http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/hsc/evrev/cultural_revolution.htm

o Antonia Finnane (2008) “Dressed to Kill in the Cultural Revolution,” in Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation, NY: Columbia University Press, pp. 227-55.

• Mao Badges o “BADGES OF CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG,” By Bill Bishop

([email protected]) Copyright 1996 by Bill Bishop. All rights reserved. http://museums.cnd.org/CR/old/maobadge/


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o Helen Wang (2008) Chairman Mao badges: symbols and slogans of the Cultural Revolution

§ British Museum Research Publication 169, London: The Trustees of the British Museum. Images available at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_publications/online_research_publications/chairman_mao_badges.aspx

7. Films, Documentaries, other media:

• CHINA: A Century of Revolution (DVD—3 part series, $49.98) Description: “Is ‘communism’ just a vocabulary word to your students? This extraordinary documentary series does for Chinese communism what Ken Burns did for the Civil War—melds human faces and voices and their heart-wrenching personal stories into a multifaceted overview of a national epic. Newsreel and news footage make history happen before your eyes, while candid interviews (Chinese with English voiceovers) with participants—who vary from party members to dissidents, from peasants to intellectuals—reveal how it felt to be swept up in China's successive revolutions. There are three programs:

o China in Revolution covers 1911–49, focusing on how Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung battled the Japanese and each other. 1989.

o The Mao Years recalls 1949–76, when Mao's experiments in social engineering brought material progress and cultural chaos.

o Born Under the Red Flag explores 1976–97 and Deng's policy of putting economic prosperity before socialist purity.

(Available from amazon.com and other retailers)

• “Morning Sun,” A Film and Website about the Cultural Revolution, 2003 (see above) Morning Sun is a production of the Long Bow Group, Inc. 55 Newton St., Brookline, MA 02445. Inquiries about distribution: [email protected]

• Feature Films set in Cultural Revolution period: o “To Live” directed by Zhang Yimou (see lesson plan above) o “The Blue Kite,” directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1993) o “Farewell My Concubine,” directed by Chen Kaige, 1993 o “Hibiscus Town,” Directed by Chen Kaige, 1993


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• Songs and political chants from Cultural Revolution (MP3) http://www.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/conf/propaganda/musik.html

• Jokes from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) http://thechinabeat.blogspot.com/2009/04/jokes-from-great-proletarian-cultural.html