Daoxian massacre
The Daoxian massacre (simplified Chinese: 道县大屠杀; traditional Chinese: 道縣大屠殺; pinyin: Dào Xiàn Dàtúshā), or Dao County massacre, was a massacre which took place during the Cultural Revolution in Dao County, Hunan as well as ten other nearby counties and cities. From August 13 to October 17, 1967, a total of 7,696 people were killed while 1,397 people were forced to commit suicide. An additional 2,146 people were permanently injured and disabled. Most of the victims were labelled as "class enemies", belonging to the Five Black Categories, while at least 14,000 people participated in the massacre. The Daoxian massacre had a direct impact on the Shaoyang County Massacre in 1968.
| Daoxian massacre | ||||
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| Part of Cultural Revolution | ||||
| Date | 1967 | |||
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| Caused by | rumor of Kuomintang invasion, condemnation of Five Black Categories | |||
| Resulted in | CCP Central Committee and the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Committee sent the 47th Field Army to force all local CCP and militia members to stop the killing | |||
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After the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considered the Daoxian incident as one of the "unjust, false, erroneous" cases of the Revolution and the victims were rehabilitated, but only a small number of the perpetrators were ever punished during the "Boluan Fanzheng" period. Several leaders of the massacre were either expelled from the CCP or received various terms of imprisonment; in Dao County itself, only 11 people were prosecuted, and were sentenced to 3–10 years in prison, respectively. In total, twelve people were sentenced to life imprisonment, but none received death penalty. The mild punishments for the perpetrators sparked public outrage in the 1980s, with many local residents visiting Beijing in person, petitioning for justice.