Dec 15, 1966: CPC Central Committee issues instruction on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in rural areas

On December 15, 1966, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a draft order on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the rural areas, which stated that the Socialist Education Movement should be included in the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

The Socialist Education Movement, also known as the Four Cleanups Movement, was a movement launched by Mao Zedong in 1963. Mao sought to remove reactionary elements within the bureaucracy of the Communist Party of China, saying that "governance is also a process of socialist education."

The goal of the movement was to cleanse politics, economy, organization, and ideology (the four cleanups). It was to last until 1966. What this movement entailed was that intellectuals were sent to the countryside to be re-educated by peasants. They still attended school, but also worked in factories and with peasants.