Down to the Countryside Movement
Political factors may also lead to anti-urbanization. In China, during the "Cultural Revolution" in 1966-1976, urbanization stagnated, and a nation-wide anti-urbanization started, which was manifested by a massive "Down to the Countryside Movement". Intellectuals and officials were persecuted and removed to rural areas. It is estimated that during the peak period of "Down to the Countryside Movement" at the end of the 1960s, more than 10 million people moved from urban China to rural areas, while the total urban population in China was 168 million in 1968. This anti-urbanization process was fundamentally different from counterurbanization as seen in developed countries, as it resulted from a far-left communist ideology.