Daoxian Massacre (1967)

Sun Aug 13, 1967

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Image: A map of China with Hunan province highlighted

Note: most of the following entry comes from the scholarship of Song Yongyi, a Chinese-American historian who specializes in the study of Chinese Cultural Revolution, currently employed by California State University in Los Angeles.

On this day in 1967, violence broke out in Dao County, Hunan Province, China against alleged counter-revolutionaries during the Cultural Revolution. The violence, now known as the Daoxian Massacre, killed 4,519 people over 2 months, hundreds of whom were forced to commit suicide.

Approximately 90% of the victims were alleged members of the “Black Five Categories”, a term used by the state to label enemies of the communist revolution - landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, “bad elements”, and right-wingers. Family members were also targeted, with the youngest recorded death being a 10-day-old infant.

During the “Boluan Fanzheng” period following Mao Zedong’s death, the Chinese government opened an investigation into the massacre, which it concluded in 1986 by denouncing the violence and imprisoning some of its participants. In Dao County, 43 people who involved in the massacre were punished, with only 11 being prosecuted, receiving between 3 to 10 years in prison.