Editors’ Note

Fifty years have passed since the start of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Many young people may not be familiar with it. In order to help readers learn about the Cultural Revolution, we publish this brief history of the Cultural Revolution by Li Honglin. Mr. Li joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1940s and had been working in the ideology and theory area for the party as the head of the Art and Literature Department of the Marxism-Leninism Research Institute, director of the Chinese Communist Party History Department of the Chinese History Museum, deputy director of the Theory Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department, and president of Fujian Academy of Social Sciences. He has experienced many political movements since the 1940s. This article is based on his book, The History of Thought Movements in China: 1949-1989.