China's Cultural Revolution, whose leader was Mao Zedong (the Chairman of the Communist Party of China), had roots in 1958-61 Great Leap Forward. It has three main reasons:
- The play "The Dismissal of Hai Rui from Office". Mao stated that such play attacked him and supported the defense minister, Peng Dehaui;
- Mao criticized that the Chinese education system gave preference to children of urban families causing the rise of a privileged middle class in China;
- Mao wanted to regain his dominant position in the Party and the Cultural Revolution was also a way of drawing the attention of Chinese people.