The Campaign to Suppress "counter-revolutionaries"

• Launched in October 1950
• The definition of "counterrevolutionary" included anyone with former links to the GMD, "bandits" (those in criminal gangs) and members of religious sects
• In Shanghai the authorities claimed to have uncovered evidence against 40,000 people
• In Guangdong 52,560 'bandits' and 89,701 other criminals were caught
• Many of the executions were carried out publicly to maximise the impact

• Launched 1950
• The people's daily published long lists of political criminals alongside gruesome details of their punishment to intimidate
• Government recorded 800,000 counter revolutionary deaths in the first half of 1950