China launches Cultural Revolution 50 years ago today (May 16 1966)


Video: 'Chairman Mao Documentary - The Cultural Revolution - Destruction Of China'

(Monday, May 16, 1966) — China today launched the Cultural Revolution, a radical, youth-driven reform movement aimed at bolstering Chairman Mao Zedong while purging the country of “counter-revolutionaries.”

It’s been estimated that during the decade of upheaval that followed, hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps more, died as a direct or indirect result of the Cultural Revolution.


Video: '16th May 1966: Start of the Cultural Revolution in China'