Introduction

The Cultural Revolution was a key milestone in Chinese history, and its role in impacting Chinese society has been greatly debated to this day. Many argue that it was an unparalleled disaster, resulting in the destruction of much of Chinese intellectual society; others say that it is a democratisation or in fact a return to the Communist roots which China had strayed from under the reforms of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.

By comparing and critiquing 3 sources: Alfred K. Ho's "Reforms and Reformers", Zhang Yimou's 1994 film "To Live", and Marianne Bastid's 1970 article "Economic Necessity and Political Ideals in Educational Reform during the Cultural Revolution", we hope to analyse how the sources differ in their depiction and portrayal of the Cultural Revolution.

Jonathan Lee & Jiang Peicun, 2011