The Chinese Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution in China was a social movement that took place in 1966 through 1976. This movement involved major changes that took place in the political, economic and social nature of China. These changes were very often for violent and corrupted means. This Cultural Revolution threatened China for 10 years. In the beginning of the revolution. “Destructive groups such as Red Guards and The Cultural Revolution Authority grasped the power, and China drove into the severe confusion” (http://library. hinkquest. org/26469/cultural-revolution/). Mao Zedong lead these Red Guard units “which denunciated and persecuted Chinese teachers and intellectuals, engaged in widespread book burnings, facilitated mass relocations, and enforced Mao's cult of personality” (http://www. infoplease. com/ce6/history/A0814235. html). His goal was to prevent the development of a bureaucratized Soviet style of Communism. The Red Guard units turned violent and lead to the group splitting up into different sides.

Agricultural production declined, but the countryside area experienced less disorder than in the cities. “Production was reduced in the modern nonagricultural sectors in several ways. The most direct cause of production halts was the political activity of students and workers in the mines and factories. A second cause was the extensive disruption of transportation resulting from the requisitioning of trains and trucks to carry Red Guards around the country. Output at many factories suffered from shortages of raw materials and other supplies.

A third disruptive influence was that the direction of factories was placed in the hands of revolutionary committees, consisting of representatives from the party, the workers, and the People's Liberation Army, whose members often had little knowledge of either management or the enterprise they were supposed to run. In addition, virtually all engineers, managers, scientists, technicians, and other professional personnel were "criticized," demoted, "sent down" to the countryside to "participate in labor," or even jailed, all of which resulted in their skills and knowledge being lost to the enterprise” (http://countrystudies. s/china/90. htm). The Cultural Revolution also had greater effects on the economy, in which foreign equipment was imported and technological advancement was needed.

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But the most serious and enduring effect on the economy was the lack of highly educated people do to the closing of the universities. China was unable to develop new technology and work with the imported technology because of its lack of highly educated personal. As political stability was gradually restored, a renewed drive for coordinated, balanced development was set in motion under the leadership of Premier Zhou Enlai” (http://countrystudies. us/china/90. htm). During the mid 1970s, a group known as the Gang of Four attempted to dominate the power center through their network of supporters and, most important, through their control of the media (http://countrystudies. us/china/90. htm). Mao Zedong died, and one month later the Gang of Four was arrested.

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