Thesis Rationale Thesis: Mao brainwashed Chinese citizens into revolutionizing Chinese culture was just a plot get himself back in power which brought a majority of negative outcomes. The country of China fell into chaos between The economy was in ruins, industrial and agricultural progress created by the Great Leap Forward was destroyed virtually overnight. During the Chinese cultural revolution, the Chinese were forced to purge China of the “four olds”- old thoughts, old culture, old customs, and old habits. The revolution brutally punished those who spoke out against the government to remove opposition to the Communist Party and for Mao to regain control. He wrote his thoughts in the Little Red Book which young Chinese students called Red Guards were forced to worship and spread the ideas of.

“Then for a year and a half they locked her up because her father was a well-known scholar whom they said was a ‘capitalist’. Some red guards in her school made her kneel on broken glass in front of all the students.” “…the boiler is seventy years old. But one day a Party official arrived and told me to increase the pressure in the boiler… I told him he was turning it into a bomb, he accused me of being a bourgeois” “The most powerful ideological weapon, the only one, is the great Mao Tse-tung’s thought” – PLA Daily 1966 Thesis: Mao brainwashed Chinese citizens into revolutionizing Chinese culture was just a plot get himself back in power which brought a majority of negative outcomes.

Key The PLA Daily quote at the top left is an example of the propaganda Mao put into the media that glorified his thoughts and brainwashed the Chinese into believing the idea everything Mao believed in like Communism would cure China’s hardships. Chinese citizens would often go and rally to celebrate Mao’s Little Red Book that had all his thoughts inside to show their dedication. The photograph at the middle left is a Chinese sign being burnt. This represents the Chinese citizens destroying the “old fours” and anything that was connected to old Chinese culture like the writing on the sign. The black and white photo at the middle of the top shows traditional Chinese statues being burnt and destroyed. This is an example thee Chinese obeying Mao’s demands of destroying everything that represented old China. Chinese citizens were so dedicated to Mao that they were not worried about destroying art.

Key The poster in the top right shows that in order to restore power and regain all of his followers after the Great Leap Forward had failed, Mao forced many artists create propaganda posters supporting communism and the Cultural Revolution. This relates to the thesis statement because during the Cultural Revolution Mao made many propaganda posters to help get everyone on his side, for example he gave the peasants more land in order to have them be in favor of him and not his opponent who was not a communist. The red book at the bottom middle shows how During the Cultural Revolution, something called the Red Guard was made and what the Red Guard was a group of people who strongly supported Mao, and they would travel around China and go to schools, universities, and institutions spreading the teachings and beliefs of Mao using a little red book. The Little Red Book was used by the Red Guard when they went to attacks and rallies during the Cultural Revolution and it included praises to Mao, posters to Mao, and the rules of Mao, all of this was published by a Chinese Communist military leader named Lin Biao who was a very large influence during the Cultural Revolution. This relates to the thesis statement because the Red Guard who used the little red book had a lot of negative impact on China, such as many attacks led by the Red Guard even though it had been called off in 1969, and many people started to fight with each other, many of them were Red Guard members to prove who was the most loyal to Mao.

Key The quote in the bottom right corner shows that Mao wanted to increase and improve industry which put many people in danger. The equipment that had to be used was old and outdated and the “unrealistic goals” being set endangered the worker. In this particular example a Party official wanted the manger of a chemical factory to increase the pressure of a machine which made the device explosive. Although Mao didn’t like to use modern equipment he didn’t think of the dangers it could cause and it could in fact make production slow and negatively affect a whole commune. The explosion could have caused many deaths and this is all because Mao and his party wouldn’t accept criticism.

Key The quote in the bottom left corner relates to the Cultural Revolution because during that time all of the things that were in old china or even associated with old china were destroyed or attacked. During this time anything that was associated with the west was also frowned upon, so for this girl in china during the Cultural Revolution, since her father was a capitalist like many of the westerners, she was punished because it did not follow what Madame Mao or Mao himself feels.This supports the thesis statement because this shows that the Cultural Revolution had negative impacts and effects because of how the Red Guard treated this young girl who was only 12 at the time because her father was a ‘capitalist’. The black and white picture at the bottom shows that Mao didn’t want experts in charge of modernizing the country, because he feared they held too much power and they could push him out of power. He had peasants do the work instead he could control them. Mao made life hard for people and although he said he was helping modernize China, but he was really holding China back by making peasants do much of the work instead of using machines, which would be much more efficient.

Key The black and white picture at the top left shows that Mao feared people that held power including teachers, parents, and any intellectual. He believed they would take power from him so he publically humiliated them. These people were forced to confess anything they had done wrong. They were often forced to kneel on broken glass and were cut with knives and after this was done many of them committed suicide. Mao tortured and killed people just so he could have a lot of power, he said it was for the revolution so people followed, but it was really just for him.