Chinese Cultural Revolution

The Chinese Cultural Revolution started in October 1966 and ended in October 1976. It was launched by Mao Zedong, the late chairman and the founder of the Chinese Communist Party, during his last decade in power in an attempt to renew the spirit of the Chinese revolution. It began as a civil war of sorts—a war of slogans, ideology, and ideas, but later it became almost a nationwide military conflict among different “revolutionary units” of workers, peasants and college students. The purpose of the Cultural Revolution, as Mao claimed, was to guarantee China would never change its “Marxist color,” and in order to achieve this goal Mao said that China had to engage in class struggle at all levels, in all aspects, for all times, ...