Mao's China: The Cultural Revolution - Full Lesson

The aim of the lesson is for the students to understand what the Cultural Revolution was and its impact.

It is useful as a stand-alone lesson on China, as part of a greater Cold War scheme of work, or in conjunction with my other China lessons (where this forms the second part). There is a lot of content in this lesson, and can be taught as two lessons allowing the teacher to go into greater depth and detail with the students.

• Lesson begins with a retrieval practice question on Stalin and Mao.

• Students then analyse a source and make a hypothesis about the Great Leap Forward.

• Students will then complete a video comprehension task on the effects of the Great Leap Forward, including the Great Famine.

• Students will analyse the personal impact of Chairman Mao and make judgements on his impact in China at the time.

• The main task is for students to analyse the Cultural Revolution. This can be done as a teacher-led task, or printed off with the students completing the investigation task individually or in groups.

• Students will analyse the following aspects of the Cultural Revolution and make judgements on their impact: The Red Guard, attacks on education, public shaming, destruction of history, aggression towards the USSR.

• Chinese writing. Students will be introduced to the simplification of written Chinese. Students will have time to look at and practice writing various words in the traditional script, then in the simplified script.

• The lesson will conclude with students making a Cultural Revolution era poster. Example posters and slogans (in English and Chinese) are provided.

• Some key words and phrases from the lesson:

  • Stalin
  • Great Leap Forward
  • Great Famine
  • Cultural Revolution
  • Red Guard
  • Traditional Chinese
  • Simplified Chinese

This is a fully resourced lesson including a PowerPoint as well as documents for printing.