In the 1970's Red Guards and "undesirables" were forced to toil away in rural China working at re-education camps or doing manual labor in the people's communes. The ordinary people of China continued to suffer and found little motivation to carry on the Cultural Revolution. Mao and the communist party realized they needed to add extra incentive if the revolutionary goals were to be realized. It turns out nothing motivates like a strong dose of nationalism and the fear of nuclear war.

This is part VII in a multi-part series on the Cultural Revolution in China. It focuses on the mass movement of people into the countryside, and the mobilization of the entire country for a potential war. The next episode after this will be the last episode in the series, discussing the end of the Cultural Revolution.

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