The Cultural Revolution was instituted in 1966 by Supreme Leader Mao Zedong, to make China modern, Communist, and unified. This took multiple forms, but particularly targeted the perceived "enemies" of the Chinese state, especially intellectuals, anyone demonstrating traditional culture, ethnic minorities, and those who voiced opposition. One of the notable methods of achieving the Cultural Revolution was to force young students to work in rural farms so they would know what it was like to participate in agrarian labor. The Cultural Revolution lasted until 1971, and caused widespread changes in Chinese society.

Mao Zedong was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the founder of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Mao drew much of his support from the peasantry, something of a curiosity amongst Communist movements, as usually the greatest Communist support base is the industrial working class.

The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Communists, lead by Mao Zedong, and the Nationalists, lead by Chiang Kai-Shek. The Communists were eventually triumphant and the People’s Republic of China was created in 1949 to consolidate their victory. The Nationalists were left in control of the island of Taiwan. The Civil War took a terrible toll on the Chinese population and contributed to China’s complete inability to resist Japanese imperialism in the years building up to and during World War Two.

Chiang Kai-Shek was a Chinese political and military leader who led the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Republic of China (in Taiwan) during the years of civil war, Japanese occupation, and the rise of Chairman Mao and Chinese Communism. His organization was the primary opposition to Mao and Communism in China, but they were eventually defeated and banished to Taiwan in the Chinese Civil War. 

The Chinese Cultural Revolution began in 1966 and lasted for approximately ten years. Its stated goal was to forcibly implement Communism throughout China by removing all capitalist, traditional, cultural and intellectual elements from Chinese society. During the Cultural Revolution Mao’s personality cult reached unparalleled levels, as state propaganda urged the rural youth to engage in violent class struggle with the bourgeoisie. An unknown number of people (speculations range from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions) were either tortured, killed, raped, or else effectively starved to death - many millions more were forcibly displaced in a movement that completely wrecked China’s already fragile economy. 

The Communists led by Mao Zedong overthrew the Nationalist regime in 1949, ending the Chinese Civil War (part of the international Cold War), and starting Communist rule under Mao. The Japanese had already been defeated and driven from China in 1945 with the end of World War II (the Nationalist-Communist civil war resumed shortly after this). The Qing dynasty, the last imperial Chinese dynasty, had already been overthrown in 1912. The Ming dynasty had immediately preceded it, and had been overthrown in 1644.