1 janv. 1966 - The Cultural Revolution of 1966

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By 1966, Mao Zedong’s popularity amongst the Chinese populace had been waning, and as such, he began to look for another method of restoring the nation’s faith in his regime. As a result of this desire to restore his former influence, he launched a large-scale assault on what was considered the old traditions and customs of China - one that was later called The Cultural Revolution. He aimed to eliminate the influence of the past customs and histories on the new iteration of China, as well as actively campaigning against the intellectuals of the nation itself. The younger generation of China was sought out to lead this revolution, storming many historical buildings, destroying works of art, literature, historical texts, and anything else that was associated with the “old China”. The members of the group who perpetrated these attacks were dubbed the “Red Guards”. In conjunction with this, they beat, tortured, or killed any who were overtly opposed to the Revolution. Generally, the Revolution had a highly-detrimental effect on China as a whole, and was called off in 1968.
Throughout the Revolution, a semblance of a Cult of Personality developed around Mao Zedong, who was worshipped as a god by many within the Chinese state. Primarily, this was the work of the hundreds of thousands of brainwashed teenagers and younger people who had been turned into fanatics who had devoted their lives to carrying out the will of Mao Zedong. These Red Guards often knew no bounds, and were solely committed to eliminating any semblance of the “Old China”, even going so far as to sacrifice their family if they had expressed any form of criticism towards or distaste of the government.

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