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Examines the ritual practices of the People's Republic of China's cultural revolution movement, drawing on data from published writing, official publications, Red Guard interviews with participants, & observations, 1966-1969. It is suggested that the cultural revolution movement was instigated by Mao Tse-tung in response to a loss of personal control over the party apparatus. To work around the party, Mao created a series of nationwide activities, eg, loyalty dances, public recitations of his speeches, & a daily study of his works, which paralyzed the bureaucracy & held up Mao's image as an omnipotent god & emperor. A movement designed to get the masses to rebel against party authority, the cultural revolution movement ended in developing a new cultural harmony on the basis of Mao's image. This new cultural consenus was possible only because the movement conformed to long-standing themes in Chinese culture & thus drew on the existing cultural expectations of the Chinese people. Thus, the movement is best understood as a strategic use of traditional cultural knowledge to achieve a new political environment. D. M. Smith