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"Get rid of the four olds": the long-lasting impact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution on Chinese society

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  • Kerstin Schopohl

Abstract

This paper studies the long-term impact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution on interpersonal trust, mental health and perceived equality. The Cultural Revolution was a social upheaval in China between 1966 and 1976 initiated by China’s leader Mao Zedong that resulted in a period of anarchy, violence and chaos as well as a large number of deaths, injuries and much persecution across China and was in particular targeted at intellectuals and the wealthy. The Cultural Revolution is likely to have had a long-lasting impact on social capital and preferences as well as on mental well-being. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey as well as county level data on the number of abnormal deaths and victims of political persecution between 1966 and 1971 from Walder and Su (2003), I use a difference-in-difference strategy comparing individuals born before the Cultural Revolution with those born thereafter as well as across different counties to estimate the impact of Cultural Revolution intensity measured by victims and abnormal deaths on interpersonal trust, depression and perceived equality. To control for potential endogeneity due to unobservables as well as for measurement error, I instrument Cultural Revolution Intensity with the number of universities in a county at the time of the Cultural Revolution. I find that the Cultural Revolution is associated with lower levels of interpersonal trust, perceived equality and depression for more educated individuals born before the Cultural Revolution. These results are largely robust to a battery of tests. This shows that violence and conflict can have long-lasting effects on societies and that the consequences of the Cultural Revolution persist in China up to today.

Suggested Citation

  • Kerstin Schopohl, 2016. ""Get rid of the four olds": the long-lasting impact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution on Chinese society," CSAE Working Paper Series 2016-24, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2016-24
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    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:490a64c3-8615-4cc5-ab1b-c55791eaac8d
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fisman, Raymond & Khanna, Tarun, 1999. "Is trust a historical residue? Information flows and trust levels," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 79-92, January.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cultural Revolution; China; Trust; Mental Health; Persistence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights

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