In this podcast Dr Yangwen Zheng of the University of Manchester looks at the origins, theatre and consequences of the Cultural Revolution.

Dr Yangwen Zheng's essential textbook Ten Lessons in Modern Chinese History is now available. Written for university entry-level students and A-level teachers and students, it uses primary sources to tell the story of modern China from the First Opium War to the Xi Jinping era and fashions a new and practical way to study modern China. 

1. Introduction.
2. The failure of the Great Leap Forward and the inability of Mao to acknowledge his mistake.
3. The struggle between the fundamentalism of Mao and the pragmatism of Deng Xioping.
4. The Red Guards: The destruction of 'the old'.
5. Death, the Cold War and economic decline.
6. Consequences: the capitalist backlash to the Cultural Revolution.

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