Negative impacts

• 1.Political upheavals

  • Under the slogans of 'to get rid of Party officials and uphold revolution' and to 'attack everything', the institutions of government were paralyzed, resulting in a state of anarchy.
  • Many leaders and officials of the Party and the government were labelled as capitalist roaders and were attacked severely, for example, Liu Shaoqi, the Chairman of the PRC.
  • Fearing of being labelled as capitalist roaders, regional officials joined the purges and neglected their actual duty of regional administration.
• 1.Political upheavals

  • At the end of the Cultural Revolution, the most serious challenge facing the CPC was the 'three-belief crises' - crises of confidence, trust and faith (people lost confidence in the government, trust in the CPC and faith in Marxism-Leninism).
• 2. Economic stagnation

  • The Cultural Revolution caused severe damage to industrial and agricultural production, which in turn made the national economy stagnant and reduced the national income.
  • Production at many factories and villages ceased because workers and peasants thought that it was more important to participate in revolutions than go to work.
• 2. Economic stagnation

  • During the period of 1966-68, industrial and agricultural productivity fell sharply.
  • For example, the industrial output of 1967 decreased by 15-20% as compared with that of 1966 before the Cultural Revolution took place.
  • The Cultural Revolution cost China 5 billion RMB of national income.
• 3. Disastrous damage to cultural heritage

  • Under the call for 'destroying the four olds' and the Anti-Lin, Anti-Confucius Campaign, the Chinese traditional culture experienced great destruction.
  • Many cultural relics, historical sites and books were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
  • Examples included Temples of Confucius, calligraphy and paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasty, etc.
• 3. Disastrous damage to cultural heritage

  • All books, plays and films had to be related to workers and peasants or spread the revolutionary message.
  • Many artists and writers suffered at the hands of the Red Guards.
  • For example, the abuse left Lao She greatly humiliated both mentally and physically, and he committed suicide in 1966.
• 3. Disastrous damage to cultural heritage

  • Almost all kinds of performances were cancelled, leading to the joke of '800 million people watching eight model plays'.
  • The Cultural Revolution was a blow to cultural creativity and hampered China's modernization on culture and thoughts.
• 4. Loss of talent

  • During the Cultural Revolution, sayings such as 'The more you study, the more stupid you become' are popular.
  • Students struggled against their teachers.
  • Many schools were shut down.
• 4. Loss of talent

  • The government only allowed those with a 'full-blooded revolutionary' background to be able to continue their studies after graduating from high schools.
  • The sons and daughters of workers and peasants were able to enter universities without taking any examinations.
• 4. Loss of talent

  • The curricula were changed to satisfy Mao's supporters, and Mao's ideas became an important subject.
  • Many of the best professors and teachers who had been thought to be contaminated with bourgeois ideas were removed from their positions.
• 4. Loss of talent

  • As a result, a generation of relatively incompetent people were promoted because of their devoted experience in the Cultural Revolution.
  • The rate of illiteracy or semi-illiteracy reached 30 to 40% among children and youths of all age groups across the country.
  • A talent fault was created.
• 5. Widespread resentment and decline in morals

  • The Cultural Revolution caused serious social disruption.
  • Millions of people were persecuted.
  • Punishment came in many forms, such as beatings, imprisonment and torture.
  • It was not just physical abuse that they suffered as property was seized.
  • The death toll was over 17 million.
• 5. Widespread resentment and decline in morals

  • People were also forcibly moved to the countryside to be re-educated.
  • Due to the cult of personality, young people thought that 'parents may love me, but not as much as Chairman Mao'.
  • They criticized and struggled against their teachers and parents, leading to a decline in morals.
• 6. Deteriorated foreign relations:

  • Anti-foreign feelings reached its peak during the Cultural Revolution.
  • Chinese people associated with foreign countries were persecuted as 'traitors'.
• 6. Deteriorated foreign relations

  • In 1967, the Red Guards set the office of the British charge d'affaires in China on fire.
  • This had been the most serious diplomatic incident since the establishment of the PRC.
  • Besides, the Red Guards attacked the Indian, Burmese and Indonesian embassies in China.
  • The attacks on foreign legations launched by the Red Guards almost broke off China's relations with foreign countries.