levo

Mao’s China, 1949–76

The Red Guards and Red Terror

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Recall questions on how the young were mobilised, the mass rallies of 1966, the four olds, who was targeted, and the factional fighting that followed.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Who were the Red Guards?

Key term

What were the 'four olds' the Red Guards attacked?

Key term

What was Nie Yuanzi's big-character poster?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Who were the Red Guards?

    Model answer

    Militant young people mobilised to attack Mao's enemies.

  2. 2

    What were the 'four olds' the Red Guards attacked?

    Model answer

    Old culture, customs, habits and ideas.

  3. 3

    How did Mao mobilise young people?

    Model answer

    By closing schools and universities, granting free travel, and telling students that to rebel is justified and that they should bombard the headquarters.

  4. 4

    What were the mass rallies of 1966?

    Model answer

    Eight rallies in Tiananmen Square at which Mao reviewed a total of some eleven million Red Guards, giving the movement enormous emotional force.

  5. 5

    What was Nie Yuanzi's big-character poster?

    Model answer

    A poster of May 1966 at Peking University denouncing its leadership, which Mao had broadcast nationally and printed in the People's Daily, encouraging student rebellion.

  6. 6

    Who were the targets of Red Guard violence?

    Model answer

    Teachers, intellectuals, officials, former landlords and capitalists and their children, and anyone with foreign connections or a bad class background.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

The Crusades, c1095–1204
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and Religion
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and Settlement
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Luis de .
RequesensAlbaGranvelle

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Mao’s China, 1949–76, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.