[viii] The bulk of violence occurred prior to 1971, the Cultural Revolution formally ended with Maos death in September 1976. According to official statistics in 1987, 9,804 people were tortured to death or forced to commit suicide (Bu, 2008: 677-678) **. For many years, my family didnt dare talk about this, said Cheng, who couldnt bear to set foot on his high school campus, a few blocks from his home, let alone to broach the subject of his fathers beating. In Baoshan County, one of the 11 counties of the Greater Shanghai area, the violence claimed about 70 lives during the period (Zhu, 1992: 46). Among them, 188,225 were officially arrested by police; 1,433 were tortured to death, and 4,646 were driven to commit suicide (Yin, 2011: 11-16) ***. Stalin may have killed people, but he used his security forces. More than 130,000 May 16 elements were uncovered in that province after 1968. Fei guang fang ji lu de li shi zhen xiang: Gong chan Zhongguo wu shi nian [The Unofficially Recorded Historical Truth: Fifty Years of the Communist China], Hong Kong: Open Magazine Press, 1999, pp. By Mike Adams Newstarget.com Frank Miele at RealClearPolitics.com has penned an outstanding article describing the historical parallels of today's radical left-wing Antifa / Black Lives Matter riots. 1999. Xie Fuzhi, the Minister of Public Security, mirrored Maos attitude. Maos Last Revolution. War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun. In 1991, which marked the 25th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, Jiang hung herself. Almost overnight they turned against my father, said Cheng, 69, whose dry eyes belied pain. "Now, faced with political cases like yours, all prosecutorial organs and courts would rather be too severe than too lax. The very beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China immediately led to violent mass chaos in June 1966. At the time of Maos death in 1976 following protracted illness, power had become concentrated in the hands of the Gang of Four, a group of CCP officials led by Jiang Qing, Maos wife. This is because treating you too severely would just be a mistake in method, but treating you too laxly would be a mistake in political direction.". FU, Yuanyuan, Hua Guofeng ci zhi yuan you [Why did Hua Guofeng Resign?], 7 April 2007. The Cultural Revolution was a movement to erase any aspect of Chinese life not beholden to communist authority, resulting in a national terror campaign largely consisting of public executions of suspected "counterrevolutionaries." [xx], January 1967 to December 1967: An estimated 500,000 deaths occurred during this phase. During 22 large-scale armed conflicts, 1,737 captives and other unarmed civilians were executed by both sides (Chongqing, 1999:161) **. A similar . They told me my parents were bad people and my grandfather, who liked red wine, drank blood.. Infowars website staffer pleads guilty to storming Capitol, French cardinal says he abused 14-year-old girl 35 years ago, Mexicos president plans regional meeting of Latin American leaders, In rare attack on foreigner, U.S. aid worker shot dead in Baghdad, Still trying to decide how to vote? [vii] With no clear label as to which organizations were Leftist, the violence continued to escalate until 1969, when Mao finally demobilized the Red Guard. However, the militarys involvement in the political campaign soon turned the movement into one of the bloodiest episodes of factional warfare. Even as she lay unconscious on the steps outside a dormitory building, some students kicked her, accusing her of playing dead. The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. . We code for mass popular violence, although it was state directed in many ways, there is an element of this character to how the violence was encouraged and pursued. Browse 75 china execution stock videos and clips available to use in your projects, or start a new search to explore more stock footage and b-roll video clips. On Sept. 9, 1976, Mao died, and with him the Cultural Revolution. We should support whatever our enemies oppose and oppose whatever our enemies support. For half a century, Cheng Zhangong has mourned his fathers passing but didnt want to dwell on how he really died at the hands of Chengs high school classmates. On August 28, following orders from the CCP leaders in Beijing, the field army troops directly attacked unarmed civilians that sided with Zhu, killing 101 and wounding 133. Jinyi Luoedited by Kam-yee Law, 92-112..New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Revolution in Hankow / Hankou, 1911. The year 1967 was known as the year of All-round Civil War in China. Jerrald@22 Many of the books were also in English and people thought having a radio meant you were a spy. Consequently many people were not only verbally challenged but also physically abused. The revolutionary committees were formally established as the organs of government. CrossRef; Google Scholar; Gong, Jie Lu, Yi and Xie, Huihua 2014. She says: I was one of the lucky ones, I survived without going mad. The May 16 Notification, as it became known, would spark the Cultural Revolution, an all-encompassing political movement that sought to purge the country from anti-Maoist opposition and thought. [ix] Walder 2009, 5. However, to establish order and revolutionary power, the public notices also gave the green light to regional and provincial military and government leaders to suppress one of the mass factions usually the rebels by armed force. Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. Locals said rice paddies have fallen fallow to make way for roads. It will be the same for the millions who suffered in the Cultural Revolution.. May 16 marks 50 years since the start of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, one of the most traumatic periods in China's long history. Violence by the Red Guard: The Red Guard were given explicit authorization to commit violence against rightists by CCP leadership in August 1966, initiating the Red Guards transformation into a revolutionary paramilitary group. I remember them burning our furniture, books, and the radio. January 1967 to December 1967: A state of near civil war broke out as Mao attempted to have his new anti-Rightist organizations replace the old structures of political power that had been gutted by the Red Terror. Thus, Mao launched a power-seizure movement across the nation, in which mass organizations replaced the purged government officials, assuming authority in local and provincial governments. 2010. Xue is now 57 and a writer living in London with a bestselling book, The Good Women of China (Vintage, 9.99), telling others stories of growing up amid the turmoil. 1966; August October: Soon after excursions of Beijing Red Guards arrived in the major cities, the Beijing model of Red Terror was repeated in locations all across China: temples and churches were raided, books were burned, class enemies were beaten up, their homes were ransacked, and many of them were packed off to the countryside. Author Xue Xinran is still traumatised after the tyrant's brutal regime destroyed her childhood and left millions dead. [xiv] Macfarquhar and Schoenhals 2006, 303. In Zhenxiong County of Yunnan Province, a small border region, 3,000 people were beaten up, and ten were killed in August. New York, NY: Free Press. (3) failure of the Congress of Vienna. Because of the militarys involvement, large-scale armed conflicts broke out throughout the whole country. Featuring photographs, drawings, articles and other documentations of the period, it is one of 25 Cultural Revolution-related scenic spots located atop Tashan, or Tower Mountain, and the area is . [xxvi] Methodologically, these estimates attempt to control for under-reporting by the county annals, since there are good reasons to suspect that local authorities interpreted the wide latitude granted by the CCP for compiling these annals in different ways. 1968; April 30: Eight companies of armed troops in the Guangxi Provincial Military District attacked a rival mass faction in Ningmin County in the same province. Finally, armed force was used to suppress ethnic conflicts. During the crackdown, nearly 184,000 people were killed or tortured over the entire province. Women werent meant to have long hair, high heels or make up. On August 22, at the climax of the mass terror in Beijing and other major cities, the CCP CC issued a directive entitled Stipulations of the Ministry of Public Security forbidding the use of police force to suppress the revolutionary student movements, which fueled the violence and put the targets of the Red Guards, several thousand people, in a virtually defenseless position. It claimed the lives of several million people and inflicted cruel and inhuman treatments on hundreds of million people. Kam-Lee yee Law, 113-132.. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. This struggle grew to include large portions of Chinese society, which eventually brought the People's Republic of China to the brink of civil war. He slipped a note under the officer's door accusing her of criticising the Cultural Revolution and its leader, Mao Zedong. In August, the mass supported by General Zhu launched an offensive against the opponent mass organization, blocking railways and highways in the region. [xv] Third, were the dynamics of violence itself, which, once initiated fed further radicalism. execution and suicide in rural China alone. [xiv] The campaign was at its most intense in its first year, but continued for years in some major cities. China expert Frank Dikotter says: There were several dozen cases of ritual cannibalism. At the same time Hua Guofeng, the new Chinese premier, was Maos designated successor. The other mass camp was supported by a field army unit endorsed by Kang Sheng, one of Maos henchmen, and the Party Central in Beijing. The Cultural Revolution ended. Gong, Xiaoxia. Web. in the case of innocent individuals who retained the old culture or decided against Mao's thinking were humiliated or executed. Soon, 25 out of the 70 captives were executed (Wu, 2003: 46-57) **. See also White, Levine, Xia, Esherick, Apter, Macfarquhar, and Schoenhals 2008 and Schoenhals 2005. For instance, the pogroms against class enemies were also scattered across the rural areas of Jiangxi Provinces: 270 were killed in Xinguo County, 300 in Ruijin County, and over 500 in Yudu County (Ding 2007: 599)**. They were running in and out throwing things on the fire, I can still remember seeing all my dolls and toys in the flames. During this period, cannibalism became a trend widely diffused over ten counties, and resulted in a total of 300-400 victims. Why did it become such a taboo even 50 years later? Wang asked. A large armed force was used, which included a division from the 14th Corps, soldiers from Mengzi military sub-district, one artillery regiment, and thousands of local militias. In Wuhan city, Hubei Province, 32 private citizens were killed and 62 were forced to commit suicide (Wang, 1995: 72). Neatly labeled binders of interview notes were shelved above bound volumes of fraying pages of Peoples Daily from the 1960s. 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