Fifty Years On: The 'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' In the Age of the Internet Still Haunting China
This article takes as its starting point the current discussion in China about how to assess the Cultural Revolution CR of 1966 1976 and whether it might recur in one form or another. For readers unfamiliar with this movement, we first present an overview of its origins, course and consequences. Since this modern Chinese trauma is inseparable from the political views and objectives of its initiator, Mao Zedong, the latter's role will also be addressed. Second, we will show that while the CR is indeed officially a largely unaddressed and under researched issue in China (frequently described as a taboo) it nevertheless remains the subject of an intensive, ongfoing debate, particularly on the Internet. To illustrate this, we will examine recent public discourse in China to show that a societal reconstruction of collective memory about lessons learned and notions of a recurrence of the CR is actually taking place in a new social space in the form of 'connective action' Third, we will enlarge on whether there are indications of the emergence of a new CR under the leadership of Xi Jinping. We conclude that despite leftist voices there are no real indications that the Cultural Revolution will be repeated.