ABSTRACT
To begin to understand the impact that the Chinese Cultural Revolution era had on any individual, it is essential to understand the depth to which the state regulated virtually every aspect of their citizen’s lives. To a Chinese citizen in the 1960s, the most consequential elements would be family background [jiating chushen], political appearance [mianmao], and the various behavior evaluations of job, political, or personal conduct. Those who came of age in the 1960s viewed the central government and its leaders less as revolutionary heroes and more as political figures who sought to maintain control of the political rule Mao had established. In the 1960s, Lin Biao compiled Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong and was named Mao Zedong’s successor in 1969. The scope, scale, and fervor of the Cultural Revolution overshadows virtually every other Chinese political campaign that came before or after it.
