---
title: "May 16 Notification — Definition & Meaning | Model Diplomat"
description: "The May 16 Notification was a 1966 circular that launched China's Cultural Revolution, crucial for understanding Mao's political strategies."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/may-16-notification"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The May 16 Notification of 1966 was a secret circular issued by the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee that formally launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
- What did the May 16 Notification formally launch?
- Whose document did the Notification repudiate, and what replaced its drafting body?
- Who were the implied targets of the Notification's warning about 'counter-revolutionary revisionists'?
- How did the CCP later assess the Cultural Revolution the Notification began?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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## Timeline

1. 16 May 1966

   The May 16 Notification (五一六通知, Wǔ-yāo-liù Tōngzhī) was a circular adopted by the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on and is conventionally tr…

2. 17 May 1967

   The Notification was initially kept secret and circulated only within the Party; its full text was not published openly until , on the first anniversary.

3. 5 August 1966

   It was followed by the Eleventh Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee in August 1966, which adopted the "Sixteen Points" (十六条) codifying the Cultural Revolu…

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Example

In May 1966, Mao Zedong used the May 16 Notification to dissolve Peng Zhen's Group of Five and create the Central Cultural Revolution Group under Jiang Qing, formally launching the Cultural Revolution.

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