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Mao Zedong Part 3: The Cultural Revolution

Real Dictators

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Mao and Zhang Qing

Zhang Qing became Mao's lover in YNN around 1940. As Mao rose through the party, Zhang Qing adopted a role as a kind of cultural secretary. She began to say what plays were worth performing and what films were worth performing. In 1961 she came to Mao and said there's a play called Hideaway Dismissed from Office, which I'm very suspicious about. 'I think it's an attack on you,' she told him. Later on during the Cultural Revolution he decided that it was an attack on him.

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