# Canonical recap data for China's Cultural Revolution Begins (1966)
# Source: https://recap.at/1966/cultural-revolution-china
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: cultural-revolution-china
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1966/cultural-revolution-china"
title: China's Cultural Revolution Begins
subtitle: Mao's upheaval of Chinese society unleashed a decade of chaos that fundamentally reshaped the nation's political and cultural landscape.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1966-05-16
datePrecision: day
year: 1966
decade: 1960
country:
name: China
slug: china
summaryShort: 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 CCP chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of cap
summaryLong: 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 CCP chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society.
lede: Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 as a campaign to eliminate what he saw as capitalist and traditional elements corrupting Chinese communism. Over the next decade, the upheaval shuttered schools, persecuted intellectuals, and killed an estimated 500,000 to 2 million people before ending with Mao's death in 1976.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c6/Cultural_Revolution_poster.jpg/330px-Cultural_Revolution_poster.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Cultural Revolution"
importance: 91
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution"
  title: China's cultural revolution
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- revolution
metaDescription: Mao Zedong's 1966 Cultural Revolution convulsed China for a decade, targeting intellectuals and traditional culture with deadly consequences.
wikidataQid: Q8690
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260606152503/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-06
  label: China's cultural revolution
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution"
taxonomy:
domain: social_movement
eventTypes:
- activist_campaign
canonicalClasses:
- mobilization
- transformation
impactRadius: national
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
