Question

The Cultural Revolution set back China’s modernization because Mao believed that
monarchy
was more important.

Answer 1

That statement is incorrect and misleading.

Mao Zedong did not launch the Cultural Revolution because he favored monarchy. He was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary who opposed feudalism and bourgeois rule; the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) was driven by Mao’s desire to reassert ideological control, remove political rivals, and prevent what he saw as the restoration of bureaucratic or capitalist tendencies within the Communist Party — not to restore kings, emperors, or monarchy.

Why the Cultural Revolution happened (brief):
- Mao worried the Party and state bureaucracy were becoming conservative and corrupt and that “revisionism” (a move away from revolutionary communism) would undermine the revolution.
- He sought to purge political rivals (e.g., Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping) and re-mobilize the youth (Red Guards) to remake culture and politics.
- It was framed as continuing the revolution and combating class enemies, not as a return to pre-1911 monarchical rule.

How the Cultural Revolution set back China’s modernization:
- Education: Schools and universities were closed or disrupted for years; many students were sent to the countryside, halting higher education and creating a lost generation of skilled professionals.
- Human capital: Intellectuals, scientists, engineers, and managers were persecuted, imprisoned, sent to labor camps, or killed, producing a severe brain drain and loss of expertise.
- Economic disruption: Factories and agricultural production were interrupted by factional struggles, purges of experienced managers, and chaotic policies, depressing industrial and agricultural output.
- Institutional damage: Party-state institutions, research bodies, and administrative systems were weakened by purges and politicization, making coordinated modernization harder afterward.
- Cultural and technological setbacks: Destruction of cultural artifacts, interruption of scientific work, and isolation from international scientific and technological exchanges slowed progress.
- Human cost and instability: Widespread violence, displacement, and trauma reduced social cohesion and diverted resources from development.

After Mao’s death, Deng Xiaoping and colleagues explicitly identified the Cultural Revolution as a major obstacle to development and enacted reform and opening policies to recover and modernize China.

If you want, I can give specific examples (e.g., impacts on higher education, scientific programs, particular industries), suggest primary/secondary sources, or summarize scholarly estimates of the human and economic costs.