The day the Cultural Revolution started – level 1

18-05-1980

Mao Zedong is the leader of China after World War II. Mao wants to change the country. He thinks that China will be as good as the US or Britain.

Mao starts to change everything. Farmers stop farming. They must make steel. The steel is not good. People have nothing to eat. Millions of people die.

The Cultural Revolution starts on May 16, 1966. Mao wants to change people’s thinking. Millions of young people must leave cities. Schools and universities close.

The government destroys many old buildings. Libraries do not lend books. Mao burns the books. Mao wants to destroy everything traditional. Traditional things are dangerous for him.

The Cultural Revolution destroys the country. It is not easy to fix everything again.

Difficult words: steel (a strong and hard grey material), destroy (to damage something very badly), traditional (something that exists a long time and it is a part of people’s lives).

What impact do you think Mao's Cultural Revolution had on modern China?

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