The Guangxi Massacre was one of the deadliest episodes of China's Cultural Revolution. It involved mass killings across Guangxi province from 1967 to 1968.
Historical Context
Rebel Red Guards march with numerous banners, including one with Mao Zedong's portrait, in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, 1967.
The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), launched by Mao Zedong, unleashed factional violence nationwide, but Guangxi saw extreme brutality between rival Red Guard groups like the "4.22" rebels and conservative "United Headquarters." Official 1983 investigations recorded 89,810 confirmed deaths, with estimates exceeding 100,000–150,000 including undocumented cases.
Red Guard factions, such as those shown marching here, fueled the chaos that escalated into province-wide civil war.
Key Stages
Violence unfolded in three phases: rural lynchings targeting "class enemies" (Five Black Categories) in late 1967–spring 1968; revolutionary committee-led killings in spring–summer 1968; and urban assaults by PLA troops and conservatives on cities like Nanning and Guilin in summer 1968.
Brutality Methods
Killings used beheading, live burial, stoning, drowning, boiling, disemboweling, and beatings, often by village militias suppressing insurgents. Cannibalism affected at least 421 documented victims across dozens of counties, sponsored locally by Communist Party offices but not proven at national leadership levels.
Aftermath
Guangxi leader Wei Guoqing oversaw much of the suppression; his 2024 reburial with honors sparked recent outrage. Scholars liken it to counterinsurgency massacres, not just genocide.
