Key Facts
- The Revolution began on May 16, 1966
- The three main causes before the Revolution were The Great Leap Forward, The Great Chinese Famine, and The Four-Clean Ups Movement
- It was led by Mao Zedong during the Maoist Phase.
- The Maoist Phase was from 1949-1976.
- Led to the death of an estimated 70 million people.
- The Revolution ended on paper by Mao in 1969, but many believe it to have ended with the arrest of the Gang of Four on October 6, 1976.
Key Dates
-1949-1976: The Maoist Phase, in which Mao was the leader of China.
-1959: The Great Leap Forward is declared as a failure and is abolished
-1959-1961: The Great Chinese Famine, which leads to the death of millions of people
-1963: Mao established the Socialist Educational Movement
-1964: Mao begins the Four Clean-Ups Movement
-May 29, 1966: The first Red Guard group was established
-June 1, 1966: The People's Daily calls for a purge of "imperialists," "imperialistic intellectuals," and others
-August 20, 1966: Red Guards gather in Beijing and begin the destruction of the "Four Olds" campaign
-September 9, 1976: Mao Zedong dies
-October 11, 1976: After purges and brutal reprisals, opinion turns and the Gang of Four are arrested