People's Republic of China · 1966-1976

China's Cultural Revolution

In 1966 Mao Zedong called on China's young people to attack "old ideas" and anyone who stood in the way of revolution. Schools closed, Red Guards roamed the cities, and millions of young people were later sent to the countryside. Students explore ten years that China still finds hard to discuss.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1960
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In 1966 Mao Zedong called on China's young people to attack "old ideas" and anyone who stood in the way of revolution. Schools closed, Red Guards roamed the cities, and millions of young people were later sent to the countryside. Students explore ten years that China still finds hard to discuss.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966.
  • Describe what the Red Guards did and what happened to teachers, officials and old culture.
  • Explain how the Cultural Revolution ended and how it is remembered in China.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1960

China in 1960

Open the map in 1960 and find the People's Republic of China. Ask the atlas: "What was the Great Leap Forward?" Why had Mao lost influence by the early 1960s?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1960

Tiananmen Square

Zoom in on Beijing. In August 1966 Mao greeted a million Red Guards in Tiananmen Square. Ask the atlas: "Who were the Red Guards?"

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1960

Sent to the countryside

Zoom out and find the far provinces: Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Heilongjiang in the north-east. From 1968 millions of city teenagers were sent to villages like these. How far from home were they?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Mao told young people to "bombard the headquarters". Why would a leader turn students against his own party?
  2. Red Guards attacked teachers, destroyed temples and burned books. Why were young people ready to do this?
  3. About 17 million young people were sent to work in the countryside. What did they lose, and what did some say they learned?
  4. The "Little Red Book" of Mao's quotations was printed in hundreds of millions of copies. How does a cult of personality work?
  5. In 1981 the Communist Party itself called the Cultural Revolution a catastrophe, but discussion is still limited in China. Why might a country find it hard to face its own past?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor, who is said to have burned books and buried scholars. Then compare: why did Mao, 2,000 years later, also attack old culture and learning, and what did it cost China?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.