[[Image:Cultrev.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A Cultural Revolution poster.]]
The '''Cultural Revolution''' was a disastrous [[leftwing]] attempt to reform the economics, education, and politics of Communist China, which led to the deaths of tens of millions of people. The upheaval began in August 1966 by [[Chinese Communist Party]] Chairman [[Mao Zedong]].
Mao's objective was to replace leaders with people who would think like him and be supportive of him as Chairmen, make the Chinese Communist Party function the way he wanted, give the Chinese youth a revolutionary experience, and make changes so that education, health care, and cultural systems would be for the entirety of China and not just for the elite. In order to do this, he began to establish a cult towards himself. His party would be forced to support him as he had little patience for opponents during what he believed to be the pinnacle point of China's future as a communist state. He quickly began a system of purges to cleanse of any unwanted opposition toward him or to the gang of four, especially after he was embarrassed with the part rejecting his great leap forward policies<ref>http://asianhistory.about.com/od/modernchina/f/What-Was-The-Cultural-Revolution.htm</ref>