Struggle sessions, or denunciation rallies or struggle meetings, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being "class enemies" were publicly humiliated, accused, beaten and tortured, sometimes by people with whom they were close. These public rallies were most popular in the mass campaigns immediately before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and later during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), with an aim to instill a crusading spirit among the crowd to promote the Maoist thought reform.
A struggle session of Liu Shaoqi, former President of China, who was persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution. Red Guards were holding the "Little Red Book" containing quotations from Mao Zedong.
A struggle session of a landlord, during the Land Reform Movement (1946).
A struggle session of Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, at Northwest A&F University during the Cultural Revolution (September 1967). The banner reads "Anti-Party element Xi Zhongxun".
The "Five Black Categories" were classifications of political identity defined during the period of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) in the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong, who ordained that people in these groups should be considered enemies of the Revolution.
Bian Zhongyun, the first teacher or "education worker" killed by the Red Guards in Beijing ("Red August" of 1966).
