Based off my years of research (I’m not Chinese, though that shouldn’t matter) the Cultural Revolution, while being a disaster in certain aspects, wasn’t entirely a bad thing. Common people were inspired to rise up and challenge corruption in the party and across the country, were able to reinterpret and contextualize and advance class struggle, and the common people achieved great gains, such as in living standards, healthcare, political participation and horizontal organizing and social development.

It’s absolutely tragic that a lot of innocent people probably ended up dead, and many cultural relics and artifacts were looted or destroyed, but I believe the GPCR helped pave the way for modern China in many ways.

I think that while the CPC is correct in many of their critiques of the GPCR and of Mao, I think that it’s foolish and wrong to say that it was all a mistake or a complete madhouse, and it must be admitted that while Deng’s gamble was correct in the long run, it’s understandable that many saw China’s “reform and opening up” strategy at first as being a betrayal of the revolution.

Thankfully, I think that the CPC seems to be taking the best of the Maoist and “Dengist” eras together to lighten the future, while learning from the mistakes of both, and that modern China wouldn’t be as successful without both eras.