page_title: Guangxi Massacre
section_title: Historical background
hierarchical_section_title: Guangxi Massacre / Historical background
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 韦国清上将授衔照。
context_page_description: The Guangxi Massacre, or Guangxi Cultural Revolution Massacre, was a series of events involving lynching and direct massacre in Guangxi during the Cultural Revolution. The official record shows an estimated death toll from 100,000 to 150,000. Methods of slaughter included beheading, beating, live burial, stoning, drowning, boiling, disemboweling, and more. In certain areas including Wuxuan County and Wuming District, massive human cannibalism occurred even though no famine existed; according to public records available, at least 137 people—perhaps hundreds more—were eaten by others and at least thousands of people participated in the cannibalism. Other researchers have pointed out that in a county alone, 421 people had been eaten, and there were reports of cannibalism across dozens of counties in Guangxi.
context_section_description: In May 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution. Starting from March 1967, two factions gradually formed among troops and civilians in Guangxi: one faction (known for short as "the United Headquarters") unconditionally supported Wei Guoqing—then Chairman of Guangxi and a high-ranking CPC official—to direct the revolution in Guangxi, while the other faction (known as "4.22") opposed such unconditional support, asking Wei to do self-criticism first. Clashes such as "violent struggles" between the two factions along with massacres soon took place in rural regions of Guangxi.
  Even though the "4.22 faction" received support from Premier Zhou Enlai in August 1967, it was at a disadvantage throughout Guangxi except in the city of Guilin. In February 1968, Guangzhou Military Region ordered the troops which supported "4.22 faction" to move away from the region; in April 1968, Huang Yongsheng, then head of Guangzhou Military Region, declared that the "4.22 faction" was a "reactionary organization" and started massive suppression (at the same time, the Guangdong Massacre also took place). Since the summer of 1968, the massacre had spread from rural regions to cities of Guangxi.
caption: General Wei Guoqing.
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