What happened during the Shanghai power seizure of January 1967?

In January 1967, the Cultural Revolution entered a new phase characterized by the actual overthrow of provincial Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committees and the attempt to establish new governing bodies. The first such "power seizure" (duoquan) occurred in Shanghai.21

This event triggered temporary confusion regarding the appropriate political structure to replace the discredited municipal government and party apparatuses. Initially, a "commune" (gongshe) was established, modeled after the 1871 Commune of Paris. However, the final structure adopted was the "revolutionary committee" (geming weiyuanhui), a designation that remained in use for Chinese government committees until the late 1970s.21

The chaos surrounding the overthrow of Shanghai's authorities, combined with political unrest across the country, prompted top CCP leaders to call for a halt to the Cultural Revolution in February 1967. This effort to curb radicalism, known as the "February adverse current," was ultimately defeated, leading to a subsequent radical upsurge.21