From Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping

2. MAO’S CULT OF PERSONALITY
and the
CULTURAL REVOLUTION

3. WHY TALK ABOUT THE TOPIC?
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION WAS A
SIGNIFICANT EVENT BECAUSE IT
COMPLETELY CHANGED THE
CULTURE AND SOCIETY OF ONE
COUNTRY FROM ITS CORE IN ONLY A
FEW YEARS AND A DECADE OF
POLITICAL STRUGGLE. (Landin, 2013)

4. WHY TALK ABOUT THE TOPIC?
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED
CHINESE CULTURE AND WAS ONE OF
THE GREATEST SOCIO-POLITICAL
MOVEMENTS THAT THE WORLD HAS
SEEN.

5. TIMELINE
 1644 Ching dynasty was established and China was isolated
 1699 Britain gained trading post at Canton
 1839 Opium War erupted
 1842 Treaty of Nanking was signed
 1856 Britain and France gained spheres of influence in China
 1894-1895 Japan defeats China
 1899-1900 "Boxer Rebellion" in Northern China seeks to stifle
reforms in the Qing administration, drive out foreigners and re-establish
traditional rule. Defeated by foreign intervention, with Western powers,
Russia and Japan extracted further concessions from weakened Qing
government.
 1911 Ch’ing Dynasty collapsed; Republic of China was established.

6. 1916 Sun Yat Sen became president of Nationalist
Gov’t
1917 China entered WW1
1919 Marxist ideas enter China
1920 Mao organized revolution of peasants in Hunan
against KMT
1925 Chiang Kai-shek succeeded Sun

7. NATIONALISTS ATTACK COMMUNISTS
• Unlike Sun, Chiang distrusted the Soviet Union’s involvement in
China. He suspected Russian advisers were preparing to overthrow
his regime. Politically, Chiang preferred the friendship of western
bankers and capitalists.
• The westerners and rich Chinese also feared that a Soviet-style
revolution in China would destroy their privileged position. Land
distribution, a promise made by Sun Yat-sen, was ignored by Chiang.
Chiang was too dependent on landlord-support to “return the land to
the tillers”.
• By 1935, many who had supported Chiang became disillusioned with
his policies and had left the Kuomintang. (Perry, 1983)

8. • 1931-45 - Japan invades and gradually occupies more and more of China.
• 1934-35 - Mao Zedong emerges as Communist leader during the party's
"Long March" to its new base in Shaanxi Province.
• 1937 - Kuomintang and Communists nominally unite against Japanese.
Civil war resumes after Japan's defeat in Second World War.
• 1949 - 1 October - Mao Zedong, having led the Communists to victory
against the Nationalists after more than 20 years of civil war, proclaims
the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Nationalists retreat to
the island of Taiwan and set up their own government. Mao builds ties
with USSR.
• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-
13017882#story_continues_1

10. (Landin, 2013)

12. • CIA reports that starving Chinese during the GLF resorted
to prostitution to survive. (Secret CIA National
Intelligence Estimate)
• To feed his addiction to smoking, Mao’s soldiers would
exchange opium with cigarettes with the troops they were
supposed to be fighting. (Diary of Mao’s Bodyguard,
Chen Chanfeng, 1970)
• When Stalin died in 1953, he was replaced with Nikita
Khrushchev, who didn’t come into good terms with Mao.
(History channel)

14. • The effects of Collectivisation and the Great Leap Forward hit Mao’s
reputation very hard. In 1958 Mao had resigned as President of the
People's Republic of China and was replaced by Liu Shaoqui.
• In 1962 Mao handed over responsibility for the economy to President Liu
Shaoqi and CCP General Secretary Deng Xiaoping and withdrew from the
political scene.
• Rural markets began to reopen and peasants were given small plots of
land. By 1962 about half of the farm land in China was in the hands of
individual families once again. The results of these changes were sudden
increases in the amounts of food being produced in China.
• http://www.dhahranbritish.com/history/A14_ReformLiuDeng.htm

15. THE REVISIONISTS

16. • Liu and Deng also attempted to tackle the risk of famine by
introducing population control.
• Young people were required to postpone marriage and the use of
contraceptives was encouraged by the state.
• These changes reduced the influence of Mao and also reversed many
of his ideas. But whilst Mao had little influence in government or the
CCP, to the great majority of the Chinese people he remained the
embodiment of the Revolution. Mao was prepared to bide his time
and to use other tactics to re-establish his position in China.
• http://www.dhahranbritish.com/history/A14_ReformLiuDeng.htm

17. • By 1963 Mao was already regretting his loss of power and was
becoming concerned at the changes that were taking place in China. In
particular the growing dominance of the economy by an educated
elite. His response was to begin to build up support in the PLA
(People's Liberation Army) and his supporters gradually occupied key
posts in the government and gained control of the Central Cultural
Revolution Committee.
• Although Mao lacked supporters in the upper reaches of the
government and the CCP, he had many supporters in lesser positions.
Many people shared his view that the revolution was being
undermined by the policies of Liu and Deng, who appeared to be
adopting western, revisionist ideas.
• http://www.dhahranbritish.com/history/A14_ReformLiuDeng.htm

18. • Task: Remake Chinese culture for the revolution.

19. FIRST ACTS OF CULTURAL REVOLUTION
• Anounce, if not, “expose policization of arts”. Jiang Qing was put in
charge as “artistitic advisor” to the army.
• All feudal Chinese art like Chinese classical opera and artworks were
banned; Western art were even treated as worse.
• “Feudal and old culture are bad because they are symbols of the
oppressive classes before the revolution. Revolutionary culture was
good which was narrowed down to handful of operas and ballets.” (Dr.
Orville Schell; History Channel)
• Opera stories were about revolutionaries fighting the capitalists.
Traditional music and dance were replaced with machine gun and fine
and heroic poses.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATOEI_IM1vk

21. •When cultural revolution began, little children
were first taught to write “Long Live Chairman
Mao” before they were even taught to write their
names. (Mao Declassified; History Channel)
•Mao contracts a venereal disease but women are
proud to be infected as proof of their relationship
with him. (Mao’s physician, Dr. Li Zhisui, 1964)

22. WHO ARE THE ENEMIES?
•Landlords, rich farmers, intellectuals,
bureaucrats, the west and the old
communist party which Mao himself built
but which he was no longer in charge of.

23. EVILS OF THE CULTURAL
REVOLUTION
•Smashing of store sites and store names.
•Destruction of schools and other Chinese
institutions; beating of teachers and school
leaders.
•Doing “revolutionary tasks” instead of studying.
• When Party newspapers don’t print editorials Mao
has written, he tells people “their Chairman Mao is
being victimized”.

25. Mao’s named successor.
LIN BIAO- head of the
army. He made the “little
red book of Mao’s
teachings“ which he used
for his troops to foster
loyalty.

26. THE RED GUARDS
• They were allowed by Mao to travel China for free to spread
the fire of revolution.
• “Mother is close, father is close but neither is closer than
Chairman Mao”.
• In August 1966, Mao unleashed the red guards who destroy
Chinese culture, humiliate and torture intellectuals and
landowners and fall into bereaved behavior ranging from
beating their own parents to the mass slaughter of political
opponents.
• Children had power over adults.

28. • Soon, Red Guards fought among themselves, some
wanted to stop revolution, while some wanted to
continue. The economy continued to deteriorate, and the
lowest estimate of death was 500,000.
• 1969. Mao realized revolution could not last forever, he
needed somebody to bring things back to normal or else
his credibility with the people will plummet.
• 1971. Lin Biao becomes unhappy with little power
entrusted to him. His wife planned Mao’s assassination,
however, their plan was exposed. They tried to escape but
they died of plane crash.

29. Richard Nixon
Diplomatic visit
(Sep 9, 1976)

30. •Chinese doctors test new operating procedures
on elderly peasants to make sure they won’t kill
their aging Chairman Mao.
•Mao’s staff hide oxygen and medical equipment
behind large plants should his health fail during
the Nixon-Mao summit.

31. MAO DIES OF CONGESTED HEART
FAILURE (Sep 9, 1976)