ABSTRACT
The so-called Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution lasted 10 chaotic years from 1966 to 1976. The movement was spearheaded by Mao Zedong and ultra-left Chinese leaders Jiang Qing,1 Zhang Chunqiao,2 Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen who came to be known as the “Gang of Four.” For intellectuals, the dominant characteristic of the Cultural Revolution was rewarding those who were “red”, or blindly loyal to the mixture of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought, and punishing those who were “expert,” espoused capitalism or, who relied on book learning. The Gang of Four had their own agenda. They led communist cadres toward determining the virtuous from the criminal and were responsible for enlarging the Cultural Revolution to include intellectuals.3
