1966 年 5 月 16 日，中共中央發布《五一六通知》，毛澤東親自發動「無產階級文化大革命」。此後十年，中國陷入全民互鬥、文化滅絕、法治崩塌的深淵。據官方學者葉劍英 1978 年講話估計，文革直接導致逾 200 萬人死於非命，受迫害者逾 1 億，是中國二十世紀最深的傷口。
紅衛兵與「破四舊」
1966 年 8 月，毛澤東在天安門城樓接見百萬紅衛兵。年輕的紅衛兵以「破四舊」（舊思想、舊文化、舊風俗、舊習慣）為名衝擊寺廟、孔廟、教堂、書院，數以萬計的文物被砸毀、書籍被焚燒。北京一個月內被打死的「黑五類」即逾 1,700 人，史稱「紅八月」。
劉少奇之死與走資派清算
毛澤東以文革為名，清算黨內政敵。國家主席劉少奇被打成「黨內最大走資派」、「叛徒、內奸、工賊」，1969 年在開封監獄中被赤身裸體死於糖尿病惡化，連姓名都不能在死亡證上書寫——只記「無業，劉衛黃」。
武鬥、清隊與下鄉
各派紅衛兵以槍砲互相攻打，重慶、武漢、廣西等地爆發大規模武鬥，死亡逾數十萬人。「清理階級隊伍」運動進一步肅清「叛徒、特務、走資派」，雲南、內蒙古發生大規模虐殺。1968 年起 1,700 萬城市青年被「上山下鄉」，幾代人的教育與青春被剝奪。
家庭、師生、夫妻互鬥
文革最深層的破壞，在於它將中國最基本的人倫——家庭、師生、夫妻——徹底撕裂。子女批鬥父母、學生毆打老師、夫妻互相揭發，是中國道德底線的徹底崩塌。北京師大附屬女中校長卞仲耘，是文革中第一個被學生活活毆打致死的教育工作者。
結語：被刪除的記憶
1981 年中共《關於建國以來黨的若干歷史問題的決議》定性文革為「毛澤東錯誤發動、被反革命集團利用，給黨、國家、人民帶來嚴重災難的內亂」。然而至今中國中學教科書中文革只剩寥寥數句，相關研究、影片、文學作品均受嚴格審查。一個拒絕直視自己歷史的國家，注定要在沉默中重複它。
On May 16, 1966, the Central Committee of the CCP issued the "May 16 Notification," and Mao Zedong personally launched the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." For the next ten years, China descended into nationwide self-destruction, cultural annihilation, and total legal collapse. Senior official Ye Jianying acknowledged in 1978 that the Cultural Revolution directly caused over 2 million unnatural deaths and persecuted more than 100 million people— the deepest wound of 20th-century China.
Red Guards and the "Smashing of the Four Olds"
In August 1966 Mao reviewed a million Red Guards from the Tiananmen rostrum. Under the slogan of destroying the "Four Olds" (old ideas, culture, customs, habits), the Red Guards stormed temples, Confucian shrines, churches, and academies. Tens of thousands of artifacts were smashed and books burned. In Beijing alone, over 1,700 members of the "Five Black Categories" were beaten to death within a single month, known as "Red August."
The Death of Liu Shaoqi and the Purges
Using the campaign as cover, Mao purged his rivals. State Chairman Liu Shaoqi—labeled "the biggest capitalist roader in the Party," "traitor, spy, scab"—died in a Kaifeng prison in 1969, naked and untreated for diabetes. His death certificate could not even bear his real name, only "unemployed, Liu Weihuang."
Armed Battles, Class Cleansing, Sent-Down Youth
Rival Red Guard factions fought with rifles and artillery; mass armed clashes in Chongqing, Wuhan, and Guangxi killed hundreds of thousands. The "Cleansing of the Class Ranks" produced further mass killings in Yunnan and Inner Mongolia. From 1968 onward, 17 million urban youth were "sent down" to the countryside, robbing entire generations of education and youth.
When Family, Teacher, and Spouse Turned on Each Other
The deepest damage of the Cultural Revolution was the shredding of China's most basic human bonds—family, teacher-student, husband-wife. Children denounced parents, students beat teachers, spouses informed on one another. The principal of the Beijing Normal University affiliated girls' school, Bian Zhongyun, became the first known educator beaten to death by her own students.
Conclusion: An Erased Memory
The CCP's 1981 "Resolution on Certain Historical Questions" labeled the Cultural Revolution "an internal disorder erroneously launched by Mao Zedong and exploited by counter-revolutionary cliques, bringing severe disaster to Party, country and people." Yet today Chinese high school textbooks dedicate only a few lines to it, and all serious scholarship, films, and literature on the topic face strict censorship. A country that refuses to look at its own history is condemned to repeat it in silence.