Why young people joined the cultural revolution in china

The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement in China launched by Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong in 1966, lasting until his death in 1976. These lessons answer how young people were drawn into revolutionary upheaval and help readers understand their place in it. They trace the themes of youth, political mobilization, and life shaped by the movement.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 2 hr 2 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   Introduction to the Cultural Revolution · spice.fsi.stanford.edu · 11 min read

   The Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976, represented a release from shackles, frustrations, and feelings of powerlessness to the youth of the day. It also gave them freedom to enact revenge on people they believed exercised undue influence over them or had been told were "class enemies."

2. Read
   

   the cultural revolution in china · Wikipedia · 60+ min read

   On 18 August 1966 in Beijing, over a million Red Guards from across the country gathered in and around Tiananmen Square for an audience with the chairman. Subsequently, violence escalated in Beijing and quickly spread. Mao began the Down to the Countryside Movement in December 1968, ordering young bourgeoisie living in cities to go to the countryside to experience working life. The movement was in part a means of moving Red Guards from the cities to the countryside, where they would cause less social disruption, and it also spread revolutionary ideology geographically.

3. Watch
   

   Mao Zedong's infamous mango cult - Vivian Jiang · YouTube · 7 min watch

   Vivian Jiang investigates how Mao Zedong used mangoes as a propaganda tool during China's Cultural Revolution.

4. Book
   

   Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China · Bookshop.org

   Wild Swans by Jung Chang recounts her family history across three generations; in her own story, Chang describes joining the Red Guards despite recoiling from some of their brutality, while her father became a target after criticizing Mao over suffering caused by the Cultural Revolution.

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