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QR Challenge: How accurate is it to say that the main effect of the Cultural Revolution was the destruction of traditional Chinese culture?

QuestionAnswer
Red guards destroyed temples, shrines and works of art. They destroyed 4922 of Beijing’s 6843 ‘places of cultural or historical interest.1
Revolutionaries turned on each other, a series of local Civil Wars raged in China. Factory workers formed their own units to rival the student led Red Guards.2
Estimates of the death toll range from 750,000 to over 3 million. Guangxi alone saw 67,000 deaths in 1966-76 while Tibet saw hundreds of thousands.
Theatres and cinemas were only allowed to put on ‘revolutionary’ plays and films. Operas and ballets had to be personally approved by Jiang Qing. Libraries and Museums were closed. There were mass book burnings in town squares.4
Demise of Lui Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Lui died in solitary confinement in 1973. Deng’s son was left paralysed when he was thrown of a window.5
In a two day period in Daxing County north of Beijing, 300 peoples were clubbed to death in the public square.6
Minority cultures, including those of Mongolia and Tibet were strongly targeted.7
In British controlled Hong Kong Chinese terrorists killed 5 policemen and set off over 160 bombs in an 8 week period.8
The traditions of obedience to parents and teachers were replaced with insults and abuse.9
The PLA became more important and took over much of the work of the Red Guards in hunting down counter-revolutionaries. They were in fact event more extreme that some of the Red Guard. In the ‘cleansing of the class ranks’ campaign 68-71. In Zhejiang 100,00 were arrested and 9198 of these were killed.10
In London in 1967 staff members of the Chinese embassy demonstrated with sticks and machetes which were waved threateningly at the British police. They were safe from arrest as they had diplomatic immunity.11
Mao’s control over the CCP was strengthened. Only 9 of the 23 members of the Politburo survived the purges. A new party constitution was drawn up and may red guards replaced the purged party officials. The PLA now dominated the Central Committee with 45% of the membership.20
11 foreign embassies were attacked and their staff assaulted. This included the embassies of the USSR, Netherlands, France, India and the UK.12
Closure of schools and universities. In 1966 all universities were closed for two years. Middle schools closed between the Autumn 1966 and Spring 1967. After the Cultural revolution students sat less exams at school and more emphasis was put on practical or vocational training. Students were required to do 2 months manual labour a year.13
Lin Biao grew in importance. He is effectively nominated as Mao’s successor.14
Vandalism was especially high in Qufu province were Confucianism was strong; 929 paintings, 2700 books, 1000 statues and 2000 graves were attacked.15
The Red Guards were redirected on to the ‘up the mountains and down to the villages’ campaign. They were sent to the countryside to learn what life was like for the peasants. Between 1967-72 12 million joined this campaign.16
Cities were more affected than rural areas. Few urban residents were unaffected as ’capitalist roaders’ were driven out from almost every high school, university, factory, office and shops.17
In 1967, food supplies in Shanghai fell to dangerously low levels as the city became engulfed in street fighting and strikes and virtually cut off from the rest of China.18
Total industrial output fell by 13% during 2967 due to disruption of work in factories and transport. This further fell in 1968. Thereafter recovery was rapid. Grain production also fell in 1966 and 1967 but recovered by 1968.19

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