The Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution Done by: Tioh Qi Kun (29) Shi Yao Eric (21) Tey Zhi Wei (27) Maxx Chan Yuhang (17)

Backdrop Surrounding Li Cunxin’s Birth • Li Cunxin was born in 1961 during the height of the famine caused by the Great Leap Forward. • He came from a Communist society where people lived in communes, with resources rationed centrally by the government. • The Great Cultural Revolution started in 1966 when Cunxin was five years old.

Why It started • The Great Cultural Revolution was started in 1966 and ended in 1976. • It was a social experiment aimed at rekindling revolutionary fervour and purifying the Party. • Mao Zedong believed that the progress China had made since 1949 had led to a privileged class developing – engineers, scientists, factory managers. • Mao was fearful of intellectuals taking over his rule and concern about his loss of power and influence • So, he started the Great Cultural Revolution to reassert his beliefs in China to further purge capitalist thinking from the country and to further advance socialism within the nation. • Ideological cleansing began with attacks by young Red Guards on so-called "intellectuals" to remove "bourgeois" influences.

The Red Guards • One of the key instruments employed during the Great Cultural Revolution by Mao is The Red Guards. • These are people in their teens and twenties who supported the shake-ups within the Communist Party in the Cultural Revolution. • Their key activity was to terrorise closet capitalists. • They attacked and tortured respected teachers, abused elderly citizens, humiliated old revolutionaries, and, in many cases, battled former friends in bloody confrontations. • They carried Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book with religious fervour, often using the quotations to justify their revolutionary efforts. • Most of the Red Guards did not finish their education as a result of the cultural revolution.

Impact on the Chinese Population • Many Chinese lost their jobs as a result of the Great Cultural Revolution • Education came to a halt across the country. • Many talents were suppressed as they were exiled to manual labour in the fields. • Many other skilled professionals were either persecuted or executed, leaving behind vast numbers of poorly educated people ill equipped for the 20th century. • Foreign embassies were attacked by the Red Guards. The British Embassy was even burned down completely!

Effects of Cultural Revolution on Li Cunxin’s Childhood • He did not have any hint of Western influence in his early life. • He did not have any religious beliefs other than communism as all temples and shrines were torn down. • He learnt very little academically as most of the things taught in school were propaganda phrases and songs. • He became a Little Red Scarf Guard and joined in political marches. • He hero-worshipped Mao Zedong as a living god and memorised many of his sayings. • He was emotionally scarred after witnessing public executions of “bourgeois” by the Red Guards.

Art and PoliticsDuring the Cultural Revolution • During the Cultural Revolution, under Madame Mao’s guidance, China re-defined art as a political tool. • She reinvented the Beijing Opera and Ballet dance forms to include class struggle themes. This ballet play poster depicts a scene from the Revolutionary Ballet, The Red Army Detachments. The headline of the poster says “Only by saving the entire human race can the proletarian class free itself.”

Effects of Cultural Revolution on Li Cunxin’s Ballet Career • Li Cunxin was chosen to join to the Beijing Dance Academy formed by Madame Mao. • However, he did not get to learn ballet in a classical way as it was used to further political ideologies. • His learning of ballet was often interrupted by political classes. • His ballet performances in China were mostly related to propagandas themes. • He had little exposure to most other types of ballet around the world. • He had to learn Beijing Opera Movement and Chinese folk dance. Scenes taken from the movie “Leap of Faith: Mao’s Last Dancer” Recent picture of Beijing Dance Academy

End Of the Cultural Revolution • The result of the Great Cultural Revolution was massive civil unrest. • Zhou Enlai urged for a return to normality after realising that the Cultural Revolution was spiraling out of control. • In 1968, Mao called in the People's Liberation Army to restore order after chaos and upheaval had escalated to such a point the economy was on the verge of collapse • Main chaos subsided by 1971. • At the 1977 11th Party Congress, the Cultural Revolution was declared officially to have ended with the arrest of the Gang of Four.

Credits • http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cultural_revolution.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution • http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cultural_revolution.htm • http://menso.wordpress.com

The Cultural Revolution