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What kinds of literature were permitted during the Cultural Revolution?

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Scene from Romance of the Three Kingdoms — Chinese literature *Zhang Fei on the Long Sloped Bridge Turning Away One Million Wei Troops with a Powerful Stare*, woodblock colour print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1884. It depicts a scene from the novel *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the literary landscape in China was severely restricted, reaching what is often described as a literary nadir. Rather than a diverse range of permitted works, the only literature available to the public consisted of a very limited selection of carefully screened materials.1

These permitted works were primarily restricted to:

Selected works by Lu Xun: A small number of his writings were deemed acceptable for circulation.1
Model revolutionary operas (yangbanxi): These were highly controlled forms of entertainment that combined traditional Beijing opera elements with modern Western drama to promote proletarian themes and revolutionary values.12
Revolutionary-romantic novels by Hao Ran: These works were among the few contemporary narratives permitted during this period.1

This extreme censorship was the result of a broader purge of cultural figures, authors, and scholars, as the state sought to eliminate ideological dissent and enforce strict control over all artistic expression.13