Mao Zedong : The Revolutionary Revolution

Mao had an affinity for strong military leaders, noting George Washington and Napoleon I as a couple of his favorites (Schram 2017). While attending secondary school in Changsha, Mao began to become exposed to revolutionaries and eventually became a part of his first battle during the 1911 breakup of the Qing Dynasty. He was only enlisted for six months before he withdrew to pursue other career options. Unfortunately, none of those panned out for him and for many others during that time. He decided to continue his education and started his first organization. The “New Peoples Study Society” was created in 1918 and within it people would eventually become part of the Communist party.

The autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer written by Li Cunxin, is effective in raising awareness of the injustice the Chinese people experienced during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution and later communist policies in China. When Li’s parents got married in 1946, they were not living in poverty. However, when the Japanese invaded China during WWII and forced all the civilians into communes, Mao then kept these communes and the Li family lost their wealth—they faced injustice and marginalisation. The Chinese population were marginalised by Mao’s use of communist principles and propaganda. They were forced into believing Mao’s views—that the West (Capitalist countries) were filthy and bad, while China was good. Li’s visit to America was an eye-opener.

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

The launch of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966 was due to a culmination of political and ideological struggles that had divided the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the end of the Great Leap Forward. As said by Che Guevara, “A revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall”. Che Guevara’s statement is accurate to an extent in relation to the causes of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Although China was vulnerable during the twentieth century and Mao Tse-Tung, Chairman of the CCP, took control of this susceptibility, the Chinese Cultural Revolution was already ‘ripe’, someone just had to provoke it to ‘fall’. The Chinese Cultural Revolution can be considered a power struggle between Mao and his rivals. Mao needed to regain the control that he had lost after the failure of ‘The Great Leap Forward’ and the Chinese Cultural Revolution was a means for him to do so. Mao genuinely believed in an equal society and went about this belief in a very severe manner. Che Guevara’s statement is not entirely accurate as the Chinese Cultural Revolution was just part of a progression that was taking place and although Mao provoked it to fall, China was ultimately ripe for a revolution.

The development was in a general sense about tip top legislative issues, as Mao attempted to reassert control by setting radical young people against the Communist Party pecking order. Be that as it may, it had across the board outcomes at all levels of society. Youngsters combat Mao's apparent adversaries, and each other, as Red Guards, previously being sent to the wide open in the later phases of the Cultural Revolution. Intelligent people, individuals regarded "class foes" and those with binds toward the West or the previous Nationalist government were oppressed. Numerous

Today, throughout most of China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is realized as one of the most chaotic and deadly times in chinese history; often referred to as the “ten lost years.” However, during the revolution, many hopeful individuals sought after change and looked toward Mao as

The majority of the book looks deep into Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the main focus was Mao’s campaign was created with the simple means to destroy China’s history of hopes of a free and pure culture that would separate itself from the old Chinese culture which existed before during 1949. We will mainly focus on Liang’s treacherous life, and the obstacles he endured in spite of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, we look at the different events in which led up to the Cultural Revolution and the purpose of Mao’s culture Revolution.

Mao ZeDong is one of the greatest leaders in the history of New China. The influence of Mao’s theory is profound and lasting. He is a great thinker, poet, and a highly intelligent military strategist. Under his leadership and the actions he performed during The Long March, Chinese Civil War then defeating the Kuomintang Party to built the New China are the main epic episodes. Mao ZeDong's extravagant actions made two of the many changes to China. They are the shift from a capitalist system to a socialist system and the achievement of China's independence against Japanese imperialism (Somo, 2013a). The influence of Mao’s theory has been widespread to the world up until this day. Especially, in the countries of the third world have

Under Mao Zedong, China experienced profound social and economic changes. Industry increased, prostitution and opium use was reduced, and many experienced an increase in social standing as land was redistributed to the peasants, prior to collectivization. But many of the policies that were enacted had negative, even disastrous consequences, which were never properly apologized for or rectified. In 1981, 5 years after Mao’s death, the Chinese Communist Party stated that Mao was essentially 70% good and 30% bad. But Mao’s disconnect from the actualities of his policies, paranoia towards his status in the Party and his public image, and lack of foresight in regards to the consequences of his decisions had extreme ramifications on China that not only led to the death of millions, but fundamentally undermined legitimacy of the government. Through the specific policies of the Hundred Flowers campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s lack of understanding of his actions, and his poor treatment of those who criticized him are very apparent. And while not all of Mao’s policies and actions were disastrous, his errors outweighed his merits. In actuality, Mao’s actions were more likely 80% bad and 20% good.

A line of thousands of Chinese communists hiked up the mountains of Northern China. The years of struggle and harsh life they lived did not deter these fighters. Their goal was to create a better future for the common Chinese citizen by using communism; something which their leader called “a hammer which we use to crush our enemies.” He stayed true to his word. This bold and charismatic leader was at the head of a mass revolution in which China was forever changed. He led a movement which transformed China into the powerful and influential nation which they had never envisioned for themselves. This man’s name was Mao Zedong. Mao’s actions drove forward the process in which he turned both his nation and himself into world leaders.

Mao’s Cultural Revolution was an attempt to create a new culture for China. Through education reforms and readjustments, Mao hoped to create a new generation of Chinese people - a generation of mindless Communists. By eliminating intellectuals via the Down to the Countryside movement, Mao hoped to eliminate elements of traditional Chinese culture and create a new form Chinese culture. He knew that dumbing down the masses would give him more power so his regime would be more stable. This dramatic reform affected youth especially as they were targeted by Mao’s propaganda and influence. Drawing from his experiences as an Educated Youth who was sent down to the countryside Down to the Countryside movement, Ah Cheng wrote The King of

In Mao's era, there was also little room for free speech due to the immense censorship that pervaded the period. Individual thinking and Confucian philosophy were renounced with a youth movement, The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, to criticize everything and to revive the spirit of the revolution. Until his death in 1976, when Deng Xiao Ping took control of the Communist Party, Mao accentuated maintaining the revolutionary ideals of communal 'freedom' and the ultimate sacrifice of the individual for the enhancement of China.

Mao Zedong’s rise to political power as chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was made possible by the failings of the GouMinDan (GMD). After the fall of the Qing dynasty, in 1911, China fell into disarray where warlords had power, rather than a national government. Sun Yat-sen began a nationalist group whose militaristic tacts allowed them to unite china under a singular party, the GMD. Despite many revolutionary promises very little positive changes were made by Chiang Kai-shek, who became leader of the GMD in 1925.However because of the party’s lack of political knowledge and poor socio-economic abilities the GMD’s rule was a failure. Mao used this to project his own ideology on China in the form of Maoism. Mao’s ability to take advantage of China’s bad situation allowed him to receive the support he required in order to rise to power.

Cultural Revolution, refers to a political movement that leads by Mao Zedong during May 1966 to October 1976. The original intention for Cultural Revolution is to prevent the restoration of capitalism. Mao want to clean the force who block the development. However, because of the failure leadership, this movement goes to a wrong way and become out of control. This ten years revolution seriously impact Chinese economic and development, it gives Communist Party and its people a big damage: school closed, factories shut down; students recruit for the “Red Guard”, they took to the streets to against democracy; millions of people involved into this revolution. It is a painful memories to Chinese. Today, some people prefer to call this revolution “Civil War”. Its influence until now. It is a war between Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. Their struggle for power makes Chinese culture remains stagnant and fell far behind the world, and even go backwards.

In 1949 a powerful communist leader by the name of Mao Zedong came to power based on his idea for a, “Great Leap Forward.” This idea was meant to bring China’s economy into the twentieth century. He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history. However, the product of this revolution created a massive national shortage in vital materials and initiated a wide scale famine to China’s people (Gabriel).