The Cultural Revolution,formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese socialism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society. Though it failed to achieve its main objectives,the Cultural Revolution marked the effective return of Mao to the center of power in China after his political sidelining,in the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine.
The Gang of Four was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to their responsibility for the excesses and failures in the Cultural Revolution. The gang's leading figure was Jiang Qing. The other members were Zhang Chunqiao,Yao Wenyuan,and Wang Hongwen.
Jiang Qing,also known as Madame Mao,was a Chinese communist revolutionary,actress,and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong,the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China. She used the stage name Lan Ping (藍蘋) during her acting career,and was known by many other names. Jiang was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the radical political alliance known as the Gang of Four.
The Investiture of the Gods,also known by its Chinese names Fengshen Yanyi (Chinese:封神演義;pinyin:Fēngshén Yǎnyì;Wade–Giles:Fêng1-shên2 Yan3-yi4;Jyutping:Fung1 San4 Jin2 Ji6) and Fengshen Bang (封神榜), is a 16th-century Chinese novel and one of the major vernacular Chinese works in the gods and demons (shenmo) genre written during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Consisting of 100 chapters,it was first published in book form between 1567 and 1619. Another source claims it was published in a finalized edition in 1605. The work combines elements of history,folklore,mythology,legends and fantasy.
Yang Jiang was a Chinese playwright,author,and translator. She wrote several successful comedies,and was the first Chinese person to produce a complete Chinese version of Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote.
The Blue Kite is a 1993 drama film directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang. Though banned by the Chinese government upon its completion,the film soon found a receptive international audience. Along with Zhang Yimou's To Live and Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine,The Blue Kite serves as one of the quintessential examples of China's Fifth Generation filmmaking,and in particular reveals the impact the various political movements,including Anti-Rightist Movement and Cultural Revolution,had upon directors who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.
In the Heat of the Sun is a 1994 Chinese film directed and written by Jiang Wen. The film is based loosely on author Wang Shuo's novel Wild Beast.
Red Scarf Girl is a historical memoir written by Ji-li Jiang about her experiences during the Cultural Revolution of China,with a foreword by David Henry Hwang.
The Central Cultural Revolution Group was formed in May 1966 as a replacement organisation to the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party and the Five Man Group,and was initially directly responsible to the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It consisted mainly of radical supporters of Mao,including Chen Boda,the chairman's wife Jiang Qing,Kang Sheng,Yao Wenyuan,Zhang Chunqiao,Wang Li and Xie Fuzhi. The CRG played a central role in the Cultural Revolution's first few years,and for a period of time the group replaced the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) as the de facto top power organ of China. Its members were also involved in many of the major events of the Cultural Revolution.
In People's Republic of China (1949–),revolutionary operas or model operas were a series of shows planned and engineered during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) by Jiang Qing,the wife of Chairman Mao Zedong. They were considered revolutionary and modern in terms of thematic and musical features when compared with traditional Chinese operas. Many of them were adapted to film.
Two Stage Sisters is a 1964 Chinese drama film produced by Shanghai Tianma Film Studio and directed by Xie Jin,starring Xie Fang and Cao Yindi. Made just before the Cultural Revolution,it tells the story of two female Yue opera practitioners from the same troupe who end up taking very different paths in their lives:"one succumbs to bourgeois affluence and privilege,while the other finds inspiration and fulfilment in the social commitment associated with the May Fourth movement and the thought of Lu Xun.”The film documents their journey through abusive feudal conditions in the countryside before achieving success and prestige on the stage,meanwhile historically following Shanghai's experience under Japanese and KMT rule. This original screenplay depicts the socio-political changes encompassing China from 1935 to 1950 through the theatrical world of Shaoxing,and accordingly mixes both a Chinese aesthetic with Hollywood and socialist realist forms. The main protagonist is said to be based on the life of Xie Jin's friend and opera-veteran Yuan Xuefen.
Hu Die,also known by her English name Butterfly Wu,was a popular Chinese actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She was voted China's first "Movie Queen" in 1933,and won the Best Actress Award at the 1960 Asian Film Festival for her performance in Rear Door.
Henry O is a Chinese-American former actor. He is the father of Ji-li Jiang,the author of Red Scarf Girl.
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party is a work of historical fiction written by Ying Chang Compestine and published in 2007. The story is set at the end of the Cultural Revolution in Wuhan,China. The novel is about a young girl from an upper-class family facing persecution and other challenges brought upon the upper class living in communist China.
The red scarf is a neckerchief worn by young pioneers of several countries during the socialist (“communist”) era. In the Soviet Union,it was known as pionerskiy galstuk,in Vietnam as khăn quàng đỏ,in China as hóng lǐngjīn,in Cuba as pañoleta roja,and in Hungary as úttörőnyakkendő. Blue scarves were also used by youngsters before coming of age to wear the red one,and are still seen in some countries.
Wang Huiwu was a social reformer,a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) women's organizer,as well as a proponent of women's emancipation. She ran the first Communist-sponsored journal which was written and edited mostly by women. Her husband was Li Da (1890–1966) one of the founders of CCP and a propagator of Marxist Philosophy.
Xu Lai was a Chinese film actress,socialite,and World War II secret agent. Known as the "Standard Beauty",she was active in the film industry for only three years,and quit acting after the suicide of the great star Ruan Lingyu in 1935. Her first husband was Li Jinhui,the "Father of Chinese pop music".
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow is a novel written by the contemporary Chinese author Wang Anyi. Widely considered to be one of her best works,this story follows the life and romantic encounters of a woman in a changing Shanghai,spanning roughly four decades of the twentieth century.
Hu Lanqi,also spelled Hu Lanxi,was a Chinese writer and military leader. She joined the National Revolutionary Army in 1927 and the Chinese branch of the Communist Party of Germany in 1930. She was imprisoned by Nazi Germany in 1933 and wrote an influential memoir of her experience,for which she was invited by Maxim Gorky to meet him in Moscow. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937,she organized a team of women soldiers to resist the Japanese invasion,and became the first woman to be awarded the rank of Major General by the Republic of China. She supported the Communists during the Chinese Civil War,but was persecuted in Mao Zedong's political campaigns following the Communist victory in mainland China. She survived the Cultural Revolution to see her political rehabilitation,and published a detailed memoir of her life in the 1980s.
Chi-chen Wang was a Chinese-born American literary scholar and translator. He taught as a professor at Columbia University from 1929 until his retirement in 1965.
