Effects of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Chinas Cultural Revolution not only caused torpor of the productive forces and economic regression but also its economy nationally was on the verge of collapsing, destroying the Chinese traditional culture, morals, and ethics much. For example, the habits of students beating teachers, children battling with their parents, and so breaking the virtues of human nature. People’s dignity destroyed, lowering the preliminary and fundamental social, ethical standards, large families scattered in an instant. Also, the cultural treasures were heavily damaged, and a large number of traditional architecture, stone inscriptions were broken during the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution short – term effects could be observed through the desperate cities of China. Mao’s massive- scale attacks on the party and systems, in general, created an exact opposite to what he had intended causing many Chinese to lose faith and trust in the government.
In May 1984, after two years and seven months of in-depth investigations and verifications by the central committee of the CPC, the statistics showed that causalities during the revolution were as follows: 4.2 million people were detained and interrogated; more than 1.78 million people died unnatural death; more than 135000 people were sentenced to death for counter-revolutionary crimes; more than 237000 people died, and more than 7.03 million got injured in the fighting. More than 70000 homes were destroyed (Yang, 2013). The Chinese ten years Cultural Revolution caused very momentous consequences, not only to the history of China but also in the whole of human history. It can be referred to as “the bloody history”.
In the short run, political instability was felt as the crooked economic policies produced a slower growth in the economy. The capacity of the government to deliver essential goods and services declined significantly. The officials at all the levels of the political systems learnt that the future shifts in the policy would paralyze those who had aggressively implemented past policies. The consequence was bureaucratic timidity. Also, with the passing on of Mao and the end of the Cultural Revolution, almost 3 million CCP members and other citizens awaited for reinstatement after wrongly purged. The short-run effects can be measured in the serious generation gaps in which the young adults were denied education and been taught to rectify grievances by taking to the streets.
Secondly, corruption enlarged within the CCP and the government, as the terror and accompanying scarcities of essential services shortages of goods during the Cultural Revolution. People, as a result, fell back onto the traditional personal relationships and on blackmail to get things done. Third, the CCP leadership and the system entirely suffered a loss of legitimacy when millions of urban Chinese became disaffected by the apparent power plays that took place in the name of political principle in the early and mid-1970s. Another result was the rampant factionalism as members of the Cultural Revolution factions shared the same work unit, each determined to find ways to undermine the power of the other.
Ways to Avoid the Repetition of Cultural Revolution Tragedy.
The Eradication of the National Servility and blind obedience holds a lot in ensuring that such tragic incidences don’t recur in future. With the general development of Chinese people’s economic and living standards, cultural and knowledge levels, it possible to slowly dilute or even eliminate servility. The blind political authority and respect for officials and the misconceptions that the administration cannot be criticized should be replaced by reasonable doubt and criticism. Reasonable doubts and rational criticism are critical conditions for the transitioning of society from subject to civil society. Finally, such reasoning will apply for independent consciousness citizens in line with the requirements of the organization governed by the rule of law.
Notably, reformation of the political systems without civic consciousness, especially citizens’ rights and democratic consciousness, is not a success. The 1911 revolution failure in China lied on the republican reforms and was propagated in the mew intellectual class and lacks substantial mass basis. By initiating Institutional channels of political participation and accreting practical experience, the dissemination of civic consciousness such as civil political and democratic rights is the strategy to abolish blind obedience of the public. Political participation in the conservative Chinese society was either via imperial examinations or peasant uprisings. The political participation under the rule of law has an essential difference from the traditional society ruled by man. Grassroots independence, online political participation, and elections of party and government at all ranks are possible in the ancient civilisations.
Under the context of laws and regulations perfection, it is a possible and essential strategy to form citizens consciousness of right and the rule of law, which is related to the success or failure of the construction of socialist of the rule of law. The best cause of action at a time depended upon the accumulation of active participation and form notions via continuous democratic practice, and to conduct civic consciousness education through various channels. Through the principle of enlightenment and empowerment of the rule of the law society, our society could gradually improve the public consciousness, let the servility disappear in the people’s minds.
Another strategy to the avoidance of future Cultural Revolution is the aspect of rational decentralization of power in a society ruled by law. With the rest of the “gang of four”, the system diver stated by the Cultural Revolution has been review after it. Deng Xiaoping (chairman) once said, “mistakes we have made in the past are related to the thinking and style of various leaders, but the organizational systems and work systems are more crucial. Excellent and working institutions in the areas can prevent people from running rampage, and corrupt institutions can also prevent people from doing enough good things and even against the people. The growth of Chinas economy and the advancement of political reforms, the construction of systems comes with it.
Currently, the Chinas urban and rural grassroots organizations have primarily gained independence, though numerous problems are still widespread and prominent. The implementation of the local autonomy and its effects are also quite different. For more than 40 years of practice, the level of the public awareness of the rule of law and democracy took a new shape but remain very weak. The mission of strengthening civic awareness education at the local levels and sustaining vigorous promotion and improvement of the local independence is necessarily urgent. The advance reform of the market economy has reshaped the relationship between social and economic interest in China, thus changing people’s relationship from democracy to completion. Also, with many reconstructions of social structure and the segregation of the public and private fields, and a combination of social power comes into existence.
Combination of steady advance structural reforms and civic awareness should vigorously foster civil society, establish, and perfect non-governmental institutions and other public organizations. When the conditions allow the move of improvements, they should transfer the rights that should belong to society to non-governmental institutions. As the law enforcement bodies mandated to provide public services, the units of government should only accomplish the mandates that belong to them under the confines of the law. The role and responsibilities of the non-governmental organizations in the nation and the society under the rule of law are established with the objective of development of the future society under the rule of law as the orientation.
Also, by refurbishing the civil society, the notion of citizenship and civic consciousness is reconstructed to form an ideological system of essential value judgment, mode of thinking and behaviour of political and economic arenas. The existence of effective operational grassroots social institutions that are autonomous will adequately supervise and restrict the legitimacy of operations of public power in the public sector. That would enable citizens to have a more rational and clear understanding and independent judgment of the highest political, personal authority.
Finally, in the prevention of any future turmoil of such kind as of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the transformation of the personal authority of leaders to legal authority is very crucial. Political movement during the Chinese Cultural Revolution period is an essential means to realize people’s independence and class dictatorship. In such cases, efficient and consciousness confusion is the main form of citizen political participation at the time. Wu and Zhou, (2014) enumerate that this kind of political involvement strengthens the consciousness of right, subject, and democracy and the rule of law. Authority of the rule of law in a nation, first and foremost, should promote the construction of democratic politics, perfecting transformation of the party’s governance philosophy and the governing style.
The complete transformation of the revolutionary party to reconstruct party and the government transformation from dictatorship to service function is also necessary. Amidst such alterations, the socialist legal systems should improve should continuously improve. Through the establishment of a functional legal system, strict logic and fundamental norms, the legal authority that is higher than any other individual leadership rule, not subject to the individual will of leaders, and generally accepted members should be formed. In another view, the concept of constitutional supremacy and the rule of right and proper law should be widely established among the members of the society. Forming a stand, thinking, and behaviours modes of the state of law among the people of China can realize the rule of law society with legal rights under the law.
A shift from the individual leadership authority in the society by man to the power of the law in the nation ruled by the constituted law.
References
Wu, H. J., & Zhou, E. B. (2014). Research on Chinese citizenship consciousness and its cultivation (1st ed.). Hubei: Wuhan University Press