--- title: Cultural Revolution at 50: Revisiting China's Past Under Mao description: It was 50 years ago that the 'May 16 Circular' set into motion a years-long period of terror in China canonical: https://time.com/4327058/when-china-went-mad/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-16T12:00:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:28:29.629Z article:section: History og:title: Cultural Revolution at 50: Revisiting China's Past Under Mao og:description: It was 50 years ago that the 'May 16 Notification' set into motion a years-long period of terror in China og:url: https://time.com/4327058/when-china-went-mad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40972d1280497081/698892d6196cf4192303b90b/1101870608_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: June 8, 1987 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cultural Revolution at 50: Revisiting China's Past Under Mao twitter:description: It was 50 years ago that the 'May 16 Notification' set into motion a years-long period of terror in China twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40972d1280497081/698892d6196cf4192303b90b/1101870608_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read a Harrowing Memoir From China's Cultural Revolution > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 16, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  The June 8, 1987, cover of TIME The June 8, 1987, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 16, 2016 12:00 PM UTC On May 16, 1966—precisely 50 years ago Monday—the Central Committee of China’s Communist Party issued a [circular](https://books.google.com/books?id=iIEPoEL4lG0C&pg=PA253&lpg=PA253&dq=%22Those+representatives+of+the+bourgeoisie+who+have+sneaked%22&source=bl&ots=6MUj2MRBAt&sig=U42UGmAOv%5F1v8bURBgZih8e8FI0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjM3pqp-9LMAhVCNSYKHWJFAoEQ6AEILDAD#v=onepage&q=%22Those%20representatives%20of%20the%20bourgeoisie%20who%20have%20sneaked%22&f=false) that would come to be known by that very date. The nation “must not entrust” academics, experts, journalists, artist and other “representatives of the bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Party” with “the work of leading the Cultural Revolution.” The May 16 Circular is widely seen as the official beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China, a period of terror during which Mao Zedong led the Party in persecuting anyone who might be seen as counter-revolutionary. As TIME [put it ](http://time.com/vault/issue/1966-09-02/page/26/)that summer, Mao “aimed to blot out not only all traces of foreign influence, but to tear out China’s own cultural and historical roots as well.” [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) In 1987, TIME published a lengthy excerpt from Nien Cheng’s memoir _Life and Death in Shanghai_, the tale of her experience as a target of that prosecution. On the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, her story is worth revisiting as a first-hand account of what happened. Cheng worked for the oil company Shell until it pulled out of China in 1966, and ended up imprisoned for six-and-a-half years. When her story begins here, she has received an unexpected visit at home from a stranger and a man, Qi, who worked with the union at Shell: --- > “” --- **_Read the rest, here in the TIME Vault:_** [An Extraordinary Memoir of the Cultural Revolution](http://time.com/vault/issue/1987-06-08/page/1/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4327058/when-china-went-mad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4327058/when-china-went-mad/"},"headline":"Read a Harrowing Memoir From China's Cultural Revolution","datePublished":"2016-05-16T12:00:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:28:29.629Z","description":"It was 50 years ago that the 'May 16 Circular' set into motion a years-long period of terror in China","url":"https://time.com/4327058/when-china-went-mad/","keywords":["Books","Media","China","Revolution"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40972d1280497081/698892d6196cf4192303b90b/1101870608_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40972d1280497081/698892d6196cf4192303b90b/1101870608_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"June 8, 1987","caption":"June 8, 1987","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4327058/when-china-went-mad/","name":"Read a Harrowing Memoir From China's Cultural Revolution"}}]}] ```