The Cultural Revolution: a Chinese catastrophe

For the decade between 1966 and 1976, Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution wreaked immense havoc on China – with up to 2 million killed, and another 36 million persecuted for perceived political or cultural sins. Tania Branigan is the author of a Cundill Prize-shortlisted book Red Memory, which draws on personal testimonies to chart the story of this terrifying decade. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she discusses why the Cultural Revolution was such a significant moment in Chinese history and explores its continued impact on the country’s politics, culture and psyche today.

(Ad) Tania Branigan is the author of Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution (Faber & Faber, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Memory-Remembering-Forgetting-Revolution/dp/1783352647/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine and BBC History Revealed.

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