Editing Cultural Revolution (section)

=== End of the year ===
On 5 October, the [[Central Military Commission (China)|Central Military Commission]] and the PLA's Department of General Political Tasks directed military academies to dismiss their classes to allow cadets to become more involved in the Cultural Revolution.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=The Cold War in East Asia |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-138-65179-1 |location=Abingdon, Oxon}}</ref>{{Rp|page=147}} In doing so, they were acting on Lin Biao's 23 August 1966 for "three month turmoil" in the PLA.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=147}}

In [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]], rioting broke out during the [[12-3 incident]].<ref name="Simpson2023">{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Tim |title=Betting on Macau: Casino Capitalism and China's Consumer Revolution |year=2023 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |isbn=978-1-5179-0031-1 |series=Globalization and Community series |location=Minneapolis}}</ref>{{rp|84}} The event was prompted by the colonial government's delays in approving a new wing for a CCP elementary school in [[Taipa]].<ref name="Simpson2023" />{{rp|84}} The school board illegally began construction, but the colonial government sent police to stop the workers. Several people were injured in the resulting [[melee]]. On December 3, 1966, two days of rioting occurred in which hundreds were injured and six to eight were killed, leading to a total clampdown by the Portuguese government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mendes |first=Carmen Amado |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=kebmyB-5-IYC |page=34}} |title=Portugal, China and the Macau Negotiations, 1986–1999 |year=2013 |publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]] |isbn=978-988-8139-00-2 |page=34}}</ref> The event set in motion Portugal's de facto abdication of control over Macau, putting Macau on the path to eventual absorption by China.<ref name="Simpson2023" />{{rp|84–85}}

By the beginning of 1967, a wide variety of grassroots political organizations had formed. Beyond Red Guard and student rebel groups, these included poor peasant associations, workers' pickets, and Mao Zedong Thought study societies, among others. Communist Party leaders encouraged these groups to "join up", and these groups joined various coalitions and held various cross-group congresses and assemblies.<ref name="Thornton2019" />{{rp|60}}