Overview and History 25But as with rulers before him, the possibility that his
position as the supreme ruler was under threat galvanised
Mao into action, and in 1966 Mao’s next major campaign,
the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, got underway. For
a full decade, China can best be described as existing in a
state of general anarchy. The very fabric of society—the
hierarchy that those centuries of dynastic rule had virtually
perfected—was torn to shreds, with Mao and his followers
exhorting China’s youth to question, rebel and defend against
the renewal of authority. And respond they did, as students-
turned-Red Guards believing Mao’s exhortation that ‘red is
best’ ruled the streets, each one working to prove that he
was redder than the rest.
During the ten years that the Cultural Revolution ran
its course, universities and schools were closed, historical
sites, artefacts, documents and any symbols of the West
—along with the people connected with these things—were
summarily destroyed, devastating China’s record of the last
5,000 years of her history.
By 1969, growing weary of the fighting and with little left
to destroy or overturn, the political turmoil caused by the
movement eased, though the disruptions did not completely
abate until Mao’s death in 1976. The ‘cult of Mao’ that formed
during these years reflects a remarkable ability on the part
of a tremendous leader to tap into the fears, needs and
motivations of a significant population. He had help—in the
form of his sidekick, the confidant Lin Biao, a general in the
People’s Liberation Army—but he also had his own recipe
of powerfully potent charisma.
Mao’s personality cult persisted until his death. His heir
apparent Lin Biao then disappeared in a mysterious (and
some say directed) plane crash in 1971. Mao’s death left China
with no one at the helm, resulting in a brief but significant
power struggle among the highest ranks of the Party.
The battle was between the hard-liners, more moderate
reformers and the radicals. It was won by a well-known
name, Mr Deng Xiaoping, and his supporters. The year 1978
marked Deng’s third return to prominence, having lost favour
twice before.