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Y317: China and Its Rulers 1839–1989

Depth study: The Cultural Revolution — impact of the failure of the Great Leap Forward

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the impact of the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao’s concerns about the progress of the Revolution and Liu Shao-chi, disappointment with attempts to radicalise 1963–1964, influence of Lin Boa, Chen Boda, Jiang Qing and Gang of Four.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

What part did Jiang Qing play?

Key term

Name the Gang of Four.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why did the failure of the Great Leap Forward matter for the origins of the Cultural Revolution?

    Model answer

    The famine forced Mao to hand day-to-day control to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, and he came to see their pragmatic recovery policies both as a betrayal of revolution and as a personal humiliation to be reversed.

  2. 2

    What did Mao fear was happening to the revolution by the mid-1960s?

    Model answer

    That a privileged bureaucratic class was hardening inside the Party, that young people who had never fought for the revolution were losing commitment, and that China would drift into Soviet-style 'revisionism'.

  3. 3

    Why was Liu Shaoqi the principal target?

    Model answer

    As head of state and Mao's designated successor he embodied both the Party machine and the market-leaning recovery of the early 1960s, and was condemned as 'China's Khrushchev' and the leading 'capitalist roader'.

  4. 4

    What was the Socialist Education Movement of 1963–64 and why did it disappoint Mao?

    Model answer

    A campaign to clean up rural cadres and revive revolutionary values which the Party apparatus under Liu ran as a controlled bureaucratic exercise, convincing Mao that he could not radicalise China through the Party.

  5. 5

    What problems faced China by 1966?

    Model answer

    Recovery had restored output but revived inequality and material incentives, the Party bureaucracy was entrenched, the split with the USSR had left China isolated, and Mao's personal authority had visibly declined.

  6. 6

    What part did Lin Biao play?

    Model answer

    As defence minister he politicised the army, compiled the Little Red Book of Mao's quotations, promoted the Mao cult and delivered the army's backing for the campaign, becoming the named successor in 1969.

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