Editing Cultural Revolution (section)

== Evaluations ==
{{main|Evaluation of the Cultural Revolution}}

On 27 June 1981, the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]] adopted the ''[[Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China|Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China]]'', an official assessment of major historical events since 1949.<ref name="marxists.org3">{{cite web |title=Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China (Chinese Communism Subject Archive) |url=http://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213182749/http://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm |archive-date=13 December 2012 |access-date=27 December 2012}}</ref> The Resolution declared that the Cultural Revolution was "responsible for the most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the people, the country, and the party since the founding of the People's Republic."<ref name="marxists.org3" /> 

After the Cultural Revolution, a massive social and cultural movement known as the [[New Enlightenment (China)|New Enlightenment]] took place in [[mainland China]] since the late 1970s.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Huaiyin |url=https://academic.oup.com/hawaii-scholarship-online/book/15223/chapter-abstract/169722777?redirectedFrom=fulltext |title=Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing |date=October 2012 |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi Press]] |isbn=978-0-8248-3608-5 |chapter=6 Challenging the Revolutionary Orthodoxy: “New Enlightenment” Historiography in the 1980s}}</ref> The movement lasted throughout the 1980s, and opposed the ideology of Cultural Revolution and [[Feudalism in China|feudalism]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Xu |first=Jilin |author-link=Xu Jilin |date=December 2000 |title=The fate of an enlightenment: twenty years in the Chinese intellectual sphere (1978-98) |url=https://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/20/EAH20_06.pdf |journal=East Asian History |language=en |publisher=[[Australian National University]] |issue=20 |pages=169–186}}</ref> The New Enlightenment movement ended due to the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre|Tiananmen Square protests and massacre]] in June 1989.<ref name=":522">{{Cite web |last=Pei |first=Minxin |author-link=Minxin Pei |date=3 June 2019 |title=Tiananmen and the end of Chinese enlightenment |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Tiananmen-and-the-end-of-Chinese-enlightenment |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603192225/https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Tiananmen-and-the-end-of-Chinese-enlightenment |archive-date=2019-06-03 |access-date= |website=Nikkei Asia |language=en}}</ref> After [[Deng Xiaoping's southern tour]] in early 1992, however, intellectuals in mainland China became divided and formed two major [[School of thought|schools of thought]], the [[Liberalism in China|''Liberalism'']] and the [[Chinese New Left|''New Left'']], which held different views on the Cultural Revolution.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":4022">{{Cite journal |last=Lei |first=Letian |date=2024-07-11 |title=The mirage of the alleged Chinese new left |journal=[[Journal of Political Ideologies]] |language=en |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1080/13569317.2024.2370972 |issn=1356-9317 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Meanwhile [[Maoism|Maoist]] scholars hold another view.{{cn|date=January 2025}} 

To this day, public discussion of the Cultural Revolution is still limited within mainland China. The Chinese government continues to prohibit news organizations from mentioning details, and online discussions and books about the topic are subject to official scrutiny. Textbooks abide by the "official view" of the events. Many government documents from the 1960s onward remain classified.<ref name="Fong2">Fong</ref> Despite inroads by prominent sinologists, independent scholarly research is discouraged.<ref name="Fong2" />

Mao Zedong's legacy remains in some dispute. During the anniversary of his birth, many people viewed Mao as a godlike figure and referred to him as "the people's great savior". Contemporary discussions in the CCP-owned tabloid ''[[Global Times]]'' continue to glorify Mao. Rather than focus on consequences, state media newspapers claim that revolutions typically have a brutal side and are unable to be viewed from the "humanitarian perspective".<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 December 2013 |title=China media: Mao Zedong's legacy |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-25490140 |access-date=18 May 2021 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> Critics of Mao Zedong look at the actions that occurred under his leadership from the point of view that "he was better at conquering power than at ruling the country and developing a socialist economy". Mao went to extreme measures on his path to power, costing millions of lives then and during his rule.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schram |first=Stuart R. |year=1994 |title=Mao Zedong a Hundred Years On: The Legacy of a Ruler |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |volume=137 |issue=137 |pages=125–143 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000034068 |issn=0305-7410 |jstor=655689 |s2cid=154770001}}</ref>