China Underground > China History Images > 15+ Rare Images of The Fall of Liu Shaoqi & the “capitalist roaders” during the Cultural Revolution

15+ Rare Images of The Fall of Liu Shaoqi & the “capitalist roaders” during the Cultural Revolution

During the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi, an eminent Chinese revolutionary, politician, and theorist, was expelled, imprisoned, and tortured to death

The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement in China launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976 to preserve Chinese communism by removing remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society and re-establishing Mao Zedong Thought as the dominant ideology in the People’s Republic of China.

The Revolution signified Mao’s return to the central position of power as Chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) after a period of less radical leadership to recover from the failings of the Great Leap Forward, which caused the Great Chinese Famine (1959-1961). However, the Revolution failed to fulfill its primary objectives. Mao, who launched the movement with the support of the Cultural Revolution Group in May 1966, claimed that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society with the intention of restoring capitalism.

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Liu-Shaoqi-with-Zhou-Enlai-and-Deng-Xiaoping
In the early days of the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi also brought Red Guard armbands to meet the Red Guards. The picture shows Liu Shaoqi with Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping

Mao urged young people to “bombard the headquarters” and said that “rebellion is acceptable.” The country’s youth responded by organizing Red Guards and “rebel organizations.” The Little Red Book, which became a hallowed scripture for Mao’s personality cult, was constructed from a selection of Mao’s sayings. They periodically organized “denunciation rallies” against revisionists, seizing control from local governments and CPC sections until creating revolutionary committees in 1967.

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The committees frequently broke into competing factions and engaged in armed confrontations known as “violent struggles,” to which the army was dispatched to restore order. Mao declared the Revolution completed in 1969, although the active phase would remain until at least 1971 when Lin Biao escaped and perished in an aircraft accident, suspected of a bungled coup against Mao. The Gang of Four took control in 1972, and the Cultural Revolution lasted until Mao’s death and the arrest of the members of the group in 1976.

The Cultural Revolution was marked by bloodshed and anarchy. Death toll claims range greatly, with estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of people killed during the Revolution. Beginning with the Red August in Beijing, massacres happened across the country, including the Guangxi Massacre, which included extensive cannibalism; the Inner Mongolia incident; the Guangdong Massacre; the Yunnan Massacres; and the Hunan Massacres.

Related article: the destruction of a Confucian temple triggers the Cultural Revolution

The Red Guards damaged historical treasures and ransacked cultural and religious places. The Cultural Revolution coincided with the breakdown of the Banqiao Dam in 1975, one of the world’s largest technical disasters. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people were persecuted: senior officials, most notably Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, along with Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, and He Long, were purged or exiled; millions were accused of belonging to the Five Black Categories and were subjected to public humiliation, imprisonment, torture, hard labor, property seizure, and, in extreme cases, execution or harassment into suicide.

Criticizing-Liu-Shaoqi-during-the-Cultural-Revolution
Propaganda poster criticizing Liu Shaoqi during the Cultural Revolution

Liu Shaoqi (24 November 1898 – 12 November 1969) was a revolutionary, politician, and thinker. From 1954 to 1959, he served as the NPC Standing Committee Chairman. From 1956 to 1966, he served as the Chinese Communist Party’s First Vice Chairman. From 1959 to 1968, he served as the de facto head of state and enacted policies for China’s economic rebuilding.

Liu had prominent posts in the Chinese government for 15 years, ranking third only to Premier Zhou Enlai and Chairman Mao Zedong. Liu, who was once viewed as Mao’s heir, displeased him in the early 1960s before the Cultural Revolution. From 1966 forward, Mao reprimanded Liu before having him expelled. As the “commander of China’s bourgeoisie headquarters,” China’s leading “capitalist-roader,” and a traitor to the revolution, Liu vanished from the public eye in 1968.

During the Cultural Revolution, he was expelled, imprisoned, and tortured to death, but Deng Xiaoping’s administration restored his reputation after his passing in 1980 and gave him a national memorial service.

Criticism-Conference-Song-Renqiong
Even Song Renqiong, a general in the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and one of the Eight Elders of the Chinese Communist Party, was persecuted and severely criticized during the Cultural Revolution. He was the father of Song Binbin, also known as Song Yaowu, a senior leader in the Chinese Red Guards.

Intellectuals were dubbed the “Stinking Old Ninth” and were extensively persecuted—notable professors and scientists like as Lao She, Fu Lei, Yao Tongbin, and Zhao Jiuzhang were assassinated or committed suicide. Schools and universities were closed, and college entrance tests were postponed. The Down to the Countryside Movement transported almost 10 million urban smart adolescents to the countryside. In December 1978, Deng Xiaoping took over as China’s new paramount leader, succeeding Chairman Hua Guofeng, and launched the “Boluan Fanzheng” program, which progressively destroyed the Maoist policies associated with the Cultural Revolution and restored order to the country. Deng and his supporters then initiated the momentous Reforms and Opening-Up program, ushering in a new era in Chinese history. The CCP admitted in 1981 that the Cultural Revolution was incorrect and was “responsible for the most severe setback and heaviest losses experienced by the people, the country, and the party since the establishment of the People’s Republic.”

public humiliation cultural revolution

All images have been augmented and partially cleaned up or restored. However, the quality of some of the original pictures was very poor. We couldn’t find any better-resolution images.

Full-body-photo-of-Liu-Shaoqi-after-his-death-in-Kaifeng
Full body photo of Liu Shaoqi after his death in Kaifeng

Topics: Liu Shaoqi death, liu shaoqi cultural revolution, cultural revolution purges

Source: wikipedia, Chinese web

Last Updated on 2022/07/25

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