GenZhou

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Why was the cultural revolution "allowed" to happen? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by King_Simp@lemmygrad.ml to c/genzhou@lemmygrad.ml

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What I mean is that I get the general ideological beliefs behind the cultural revolution, but how did so much chaos occur in the first place, backed by both the party and a lot (even if not the majority) of people?

Obviously there was the famine after the GLF and a general sense of paranoia politically given both that and the conflict between China and basically all of its (major) neighbors like india, the USSR, and the capitalist east Asian countries along with American meddling in the area.

However, reading about it honestly reminds me a lot of the French revolution (not 1:1 Obviously, just a general feel of chaos and intensity and paranoia and such), but it had been 16 years since the liberation of China.

So my question basically boils down to why both the party and a lot of people were so willing to engage in the cultural revolution.

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[–] GreatSquare@lemmygrad.ml 24 points 1 day ago

After that "16 years of liberation", there was a massive economic disparity actually widening between the rural population (where >95% of China lived) and the urban population who are enjoying free healthcare, education, massive salaries, modernization of infrastructure and industry etc etc etc.

Liberal historians mourn over the destruction of ancient Chinese elite artworks but that art was completely invisible to the vast majority of Chinese who were illiterate and living in squalor working their guts out. That culture belonged to the ultra rich or royalty of China.

What about the real folk arts that were eroding because rural people were starving or barely had free time?