The Making of Modern China

Red Guards parade through street carrying red flags and a portrait of Chairman Mao
Bettmann / CORBIS

1969: A Cult of Personality
Red Guards parade through street carrying red flags and a portrait of Mao Zedong. The Cultural Revolution was launched by Mao in part to regain control of the party after the disasters of the Great Leap Forward, but its extremities shaped up to be another destructive period in modern China's history.

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