My source is Dongping Han. He lived through the CR himself, and his book compiled hundreds of testimonies from rural people and their feelings at the time. He argues that the time is remembered overwhelmingly positively, and people felt excited and politically empowered in a way thay never felt and haven’t since.
I think there's a big difference between people looking back in retrospect and what people on the ground thought in 1976. I would argue that by 1976, the Chinese masses were largely sick and tired of the Cultural Revolution. One major sign would be the Tiananmen Incident of 1976, where there were massive protests because the Gang of Four tried to ban public mourning of Zhou Enlai. 1976 was when Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Mao died as well as a giant earthquake where more than 300000 people died. A conservative reversal was inevitable, which was why there were massive parades when the Gang of Four were arrested and the Cultural Revolution is over. The Cultural Revolution more or less ended when it was supposed to.
In many ways, I see similarities between the end of the Cultural Revolution and the end of zero-Covid in China. They might look back at it decades later and say to themselves, "Damn, we really had something good going," but at the very moment, enough of Chinese society supported the end. You can't plan society exclusively in a paternal "you hate this now, but you'll thank us decades from now." That shit doesn't even work for raising a child, so how would it work for the masses?
I think there's a big difference between people looking back in retrospect and what people on the ground thought in 1976. I would argue that by 1976, the Chinese masses were largely sick and tired of the Cultural Revolution. One major sign would be the Tiananmen Incident of 1976, where there were massive protests because the Gang of Four tried to ban public mourning of Zhou Enlai. 1976 was when Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Mao died as well as a giant earthquake where more than 300000 people died. A conservative reversal was inevitable, which was why there were massive parades when the Gang of Four were arrested and the Cultural Revolution is over. The Cultural Revolution more or less ended when it was supposed to.
In many ways, I see similarities between the end of the Cultural Revolution and the end of zero-Covid in China. They might look back at it decades later and say to themselves, "Damn, we really had something good going," but at the very moment, enough of Chinese society supported the end. You can't plan society exclusively in a paternal "you hate this now, but you'll thank us decades from now." That shit doesn't even work for raising a child, so how would it work for the masses?