Cultural Revolution

American  

noun

1. a radical sociopolitical movement in China c1966–71, led by Mao Zedong and characterized by military rule, terrorism, purges, restructuring of the educational system, etc.

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Cultural Revolution British  

noun

1. Also called: Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.  (in China) a mass movement (1965–68), in which the youthful Red Guard played a prominent part. It was initiated by Mao Tse-tung to destroy the power of the bureaucrats and to revolutionize the attitudes and behaviour of the people

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Etymology

Origin of Cultural Revolution

Translation of Chinese wénhuà gémìng

Example Sentences

And the year marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2026

He entered a much more flexible job market in 1999 after a decade of reforms following the Cultural Revolution.

From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026

One such plenum took place during Mao Zedong’s 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, while another occurred in the early post-Mao years, when the party was sidelining Maoist ideologues and reorienting itself toward economic development.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025

At the same time, the middle managers, the men in the gray flannel suits, on occasion they got doses of rhetoric that the Cultural Revolution would've been proud of.

From Salon • Apr. 26, 2025

I learned about Margaret Thatcher and the Thirty-Eighth Parallel and the Cultural Revolution; I learned about parliamentary politics and electoral systems around the world.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover