ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses a myriad of interpretations and explanations about the origin and meaning of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1969. The Cultural Revolution was, as interpreted by some, the manifestation of the top leadership's frustration and its inability to answer the fundamental question: what was the correct approach and strategy to promote sustained development toward the regime's ultimate goals. Some observers believe that the Cultural Revolution represented the inevitable disruption of a regime as it reached the end of its dynasty. The Cultural Revolution seen in this perspective was a struggle over a choice of priorities, a choice between development with a heavy reliance upon technology and economic production versus the Maoist vision of a good society. Thus the Cultural Revolution has been interpreted as an "ideological crusade" against the orthodox Soviet revisionistic model of development.