http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaz8sVaK8s4

Between the years of 1966 and 1976, Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong helped to lead what is now known as the Cultural Revolution. This was a time when his Communist Party was worried that capitalistic beliefs were going to take over Chinese society. Because of this threat, Mao Zedong and his group of young followers known as the Red Guards created a rebellion that turned violent very quickly. Within this video, victims of the Cultural Revolution, as well as former members of the Red Guards, talk about witnessing this violent time in Chinese history. Images of temples and villages being ransacked are seen as some victims such as Yu Luowen talk about their family homes being raided as they watched their parents get beaten for being capitalists. Others who were members of the Red Guards, like Xiao Ming, explain why they thought they were doing the right thing during this time period. Ming says he felt that his victims were responsible for the cultural imperialism that had hurt people like him in the past and deserved to get punished. Zhu Danian, another witness, explains that Zedong legitimized the widespread brutality because his political strategy has always been to start a revolution.

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Voices of Victims and Mao’s Red Guards appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPuvFXv8Gos

The Cultural Revolution in China began in 1966 under Chairman Mao Zedong and didn’t end until 1976 with his death. During this time, people were beginning to shift from a communist society to a free market, capitalistic society and Zedong felt like this was going to ruin China. This video reviews changes that Zedong made in order to change the cultural attitudes of the Chinese people. First, he led a mass swim across a local river in order to prove his vigor and perseverance. From there, he utilized traditional Chinese art forms such as Chinese operas, in order to spread his communist teachings. Along with this, various testimonies from teachers, government officials and members of Zedong’s Red Guards recall their memories of Mao’s rule. The opinion of one of the Red Guards at the time: “If we follow Mao, we can’t go wrong.” This video also touches on the growing hatred for capitalistic leaders like President Liu Shaoqi, the historic Tiananmen Square Protests and the brutal rebellion that Chinese students led against many of their teachers.

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Escalating Events of the Cultural Revolution appeared first on Witnify.