In the late 1960s I took an elective in college called Chinese History. It was a time of the Vietnam War and something else not noted much in the Western World called The Chinese Cultural Revolution. It lasted from 1966 to 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese socialism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society. In reality, it was to consolidate the supreme power of Mao Zedong.
The revolution was characterized by violence resulting in the deaths of between 1 million and 2 million people with all centers of power such as local governments and universities being closed. Educated citizens and teachers were terrorized and sent to manual labor on farms and the country descended into 10 years of chaos with starvation and deprivation stalking the land. Finally Mao, much like Josef Stalin, did the one thing that helped the nation, he died and the slow process of rebuilding began.
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping became the paramount leader and instituted economic reforms based on a market- based economy. To his critics who said he was moving away from socialism, he replied it doesn’t matter what color the cat is if it can catch mice. Over almost 50 years China has become the second largest economy in the world.
