16 May Notification
[1]: 41 Beginning in 1965 and into spring 1966, a political dispute arose within the People's Republic of China regarding the Beijing Opera play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office.[3]: 49 In particular, Yao's article argued that play's author Wu Han had distorted the historical record and that the aspect of reversing unjust land verdicts provided a focal point for "bourgeois opposition" who wanted "to demolish the people's communes and to restore the criminal rule of the landlords and rich peasants".[4]: 145 By voiding the February Outline and dissolving the Group of Five, the 16 May Notification removed the leadership of the party's cultural apparatus and reversed its last political machination.Going beyond a condemnation of Peng Zhen, this paragraph of the Notification read: The representatives of the bourgeois who have infiltrated the Party, the government, the army, and various cultural sectors are a group of counterrevolutionary revisionists.[1]: 43 Although relatively few details are known about the meeting where the notification was issued, this paragraph made an enormous impression particularly on Mao's closest allies: Lin Biao found the statement "extremely disturbing", and Zhang Chunqiao said that at the time he did not know who this referred to.[3]: 127 The notification was initially drafted by Chen Boda and Mao made major revisions to it, including the addition of the "sleep by our side" paragraph.Mao agreed to the Central Committee circulating Lin's speech as an official document and commented in his July 1966 letter, "This is the first time in my life that, on an important point, I have given way to another against my better judgment; let us say independently of my will".
ChinesepinyinCultural RevolutionPolitburo of the Chinese Communist PartyBeijing OperaHai Rui Dismissed from OfficeMao ZedongPeople's DailyPeople's Republic of ChinaMing DynastyHai RuiPeng DehuaiGreat Leap ForwardLushan ConferenceJiang QingZhang ChunqiaoWu Hanbourgeoispeople's communesPeng ZhenZhou EnlaiGroup of Fiveclass struggleNikita KhrushchevLin BiaoChen BodaCultural Revolution GroupDuke University PressRoutledgeAnti-Rightist CampaignGreat Chinese FamineSeven Thousand Cadres ConferenceSocialist Education MovementTaoyuan ExperienceDown to the Countryside MovementCleansing the Class Ranks12-3 incidentJanuary StormFebruary CountercurrentWuhan incidentSmashing gong-jian-fa9th Party CongressOne Strike-Three Anti CampaignProject 571Lin Biao incident10th Party CongressBlack Painting incidentCriticize Lin, Criticize ConfuciusSnail IncidentHangzhou incident1975 Banqiao Dam failureCounterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend1976 Nanjing incident1976 Tiananmen IncidentRed AugustDaxing MassacreGuangxi MassacreInner Mongolia incidentGuangdong MassacreDaoxian massacreShaoyang County MassacreZhao Jianmin spy caseShadian incidentRuijin MassacreQinghai 223 IncidentLiu ShaoqiDeng XiaopingGang of FourYao WenyuanWang HongwenTao ZhuWang DongxingXie FuzhiJi DengkuiWang LiQi BenyuWu FaxianQiu HuizuoYang ChengwuChen ZaidaoKang ShengMao YuanxinHua GuofengYe JianyingA List of Cadres to Be ProtectedBombard the HeadquartersQuotations from Chairman MaoMay 16 NotificationSix Articles of Public SecuritySweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake SpiritsOn Class OriginsWith you in charge, I'm at easeFour OldsNewborn socialist thingsStruggle sessionFeudal fascismBig-character posterCow demons and snake spiritsBloodline theoryContinuous Revolution TheorySeizure of powerViolent StruggleOne Divides into TwoDemocracy WallEight model playsLoyalty danceCapitalist roaderYiku sitianLearn from Daqing in industryLearn from Dazhai in agricultureStinking Old NinthFive Black CategoriesFive Red CategoriesRed GuardsConservative FactionLittle Red GuardsRebel FactionScarlet GuardsUltra-Left FactionXiaoyao FactionMay Sixteenth elementsFive Man GroupCentral Case Examination GroupCentral Organization and Propaganda Leading GroupHunan Provincial Proletarian Revolutionary Great Alliance CommitteeRevolutionary committee