Editing Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius (section)

==Stages of the campaign==
{{Chinese Legalism}}
The events that occurred during the "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" campaign were "complex and often confusing", but can be identified as occurring through four main phases. The first phase of the campaign began after the 1st Plenary Session of the [[10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]], in 1973. Following this session, Mao encouraged public discussions focused on criticizing [[Confucius]] and [[Confucianism]], and on interpreting aspects of historical Chinese society within a [[Maoism|Maoist]] theoretical perspective. 

These initial debates focused on interpreting the issues of slavery, feudalism, and the relationship between Confucianism and [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]] according to the [[Marx's theory of history|social theories]] published by Mao and [[Karl Marx]].<ref>Hsiung 637</ref> Confucius himself was condemned as a defender of slavery and a denigrator of women who had hindered China's development by resisting historical progress.<ref name="Sullivan2012" />

In late 1973 to early 1974 the second phase of the campaign began, when the Chinese public were encouraged to adopt criticism of Confucius in a great "study campaign". The universities were mobilized to deliver special courses to workers and peasants, State propaganda photographs depicted Chinese farmers supposedly carrying on "intense debates".<ref name="Sullivan2012">{{cite book|last=Sullivan|first=Lawrence R.|title=Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Communist Party|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g0PjFe5i0iEC|year=2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7225-7|page=14}}</ref>  

The criticisms of Confucius merged with a pre-existent campaign to criticize Lin Biao, who was condemned as a "[[capitalist roader]]" by his enemies among a radical faction of the Party led by [[Jiang Qing]].<ref name="Sullivan2012" /> With the deployment of the campaign it became clear that "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius" was directed not so much against the "enemies of the past," as against the "enemies of today." During this phase, Mao's image was identified with that of China's first emperor, [[Qin Shi Huang|Qin Shihuang]] (glossed as an anti-Confucian Legalist). Praise was given to Qin based on his popular association with Mao.<ref>Hsiung 637–638</ref> Mao described Lin as a "closet Confucianist", "bourgeois careerist", conspirator, and "ultra rightist".<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=The Cold War in East Asia |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-138-65179-1 |location=Abingdon, Oxon}}</ref>{{Rp|page=154}}   

The [[Revolutionary opera|revolutionary operas]] (yangbanxi) were used as an ideological tool during the campaign, and their promotion through official state channels surged in 1974.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coderre |first=Laurence |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1250021710 |title=Newborn socialist things : materiality in Maoist China |date=2021 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4780-2161-2 |location=Durham |pages=139 |oclc=1250021710}}</ref> 

The third phase began after Zhou Enlai reorganized the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|State Council]] during the [[4th National People's Congress]], in January 1975. At the People's Congress, Zhou brought many cadres back to work who had been forced out of power during the 1966–1969 phase of the Cultural Revolution. In comparison with the first stage of the Cultural Revolution, the rehabilitated leaders led by Zhou were able to exercise significant influence.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Feeling strong support from his supporters on 31 January 1974 at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo, Zhou was able to strongly request not to involve the armed forces in a campaign for "four great freedoms", namely, writing, free expression of opinions and extensive discussion, and general criticism. [[Deng Xiaoping]], who was among those rehabilitated under Zhou, sought to turn the campaign back against the radical faction by linking Confucius to resistance to modernisation and better education – goals that Deng was pursuing at the time, against the radicals' opposition.<ref name="Sullivan2012" />

Because they had supported the purging of many career Communist Party veterans during the early Cultural Revolution, the radical faction, now dominated by the [[Gang of Four]], opposed Zhou's efforts and began to subtly criticize him and his policies.<ref name="Hsiung638">Hsiung 638</ref> In particular, they used the ongoing anti-Confucius campaign to attack the 12th century BC [[Duke of Zhou]], a major figure in Confucianism, whose name recalled that of Zhou Enlai.<ref name="Sullivan2012" />

The fourth and final phase of the campaign coincided with Zhou's illness and hospitalization. After 1974, the campaign against Lin Biao and Confucius reached its climax, and soon subsided. However, beginning in the summer of 1975 the Gang of Four started a new campaign, introducing public debates on ''The Water Margin'' and the "war on empiricism" as a tool to criticise Zhou and their other enemies, notably Deng, which sidelined "criticism of Confucius." Deng Xiaoping then took many of Zhou's responsibilities, acting as premier in Zhou's absence until Deng was again forced out of power, in 1976.{{cn|date=November 2022}} 

After Mao died, the Gang of Four also directed a campaign against [[Hua Guofeng]], who was named Mao's successor. The campaign ended with Hua's arrest of the Gang of Four, in October 1976.<ref name="Hsiung638" /> The Anti-Lin, Anti-Confucius campaign was the last campaign of the Maoist era, and with the demise of the Gang of Four, such campaigns were largely abandoned as a feature of Chinese politics.<ref name="Sullivan2012" />