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In this final episode of the Cultural Revolution overview we look at the events that went down in 1976 as well as the massive mopping up operation that took place after the fall of the Gang of Four.

In this week's episode we get all the way up to the end of 1975. With Zhou Enlai ailing and Mao Zedong also not long for the world, there is a sudden urgency to find a successor to the chairman. Now more than ever the two opposing camps take every measure to defeat the other. To the victor will go the leadership of the Chinese nation. To the loser there is certain loss of power and perhaps of freedom. Everything is building up to the fateful year of 1976.

In this episode we finish off 1969, a year that not only saw internal revolt and anarchy but also saw armed border confrontation with the Soviet Union in the freezing northeast. Mao Zedong pulls out all the stops to quell the violence and rebellion that he himself called for at the outset of the Cultural Revolution. Mao's chosen successor, Lin Biao loses favor with The Great Helmsman. As China enters the 1970's the Cultural Revolution, though tarnished, still has plenty of life left in it.

In our fifth installment of our China History Podcast overview of the Cultural Revolution we look at the milestone events of 1967: The February Countercurrent, 8 Point Program, 10 Point Program and the Wuhan Incident. Lots of blood and violence during this difficult year in China. Added to this was no small amount of political, military and social upheavel.

The second half of 1966 and into 1967 saw some of the worst excesses of the Cultural Revolution. In this episode the violence spreads throughout China and anyone with something to hide about their class background is tracked down and forced to endure the most horrible of fates. Mao is liking what he sees and keeps fanning the flames using all the tools at his disposal. Opportunists from the CCRG down to the meanest individuals with petty gievences all grab hold of this chance that the Cultural Revolution has given them to get back at their enemies.

In this third episode of Laszlo's Cultural Revolution Overview we only advance 18 days in August of 1966. Momentous and shocking events happen one after another, day after day. With the announcement of the 16 Points, now the Cultural Revolution has a purpose and guidelines to follow. Today's episode will show that Mao had anything except an orderly execution of this plan to transform China. He was going to shake up the whole nation, like a snow globe. Like with the Great Leap Forward, Mao meant well. But this whole idea went awry almost from the very start.

This week Laszlo takes us up to August 1966 with this Cultural Revolution overview. After a nine month hiatus down in the Hangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan, Mao is now back in Beijing and ready to mount his attack on the party leadership and unleash the Cultural Revolution on the entire country.

By popular demand Laszlo begins to trace the history of the Cultural Revolution. This week's episode looks at the events leading up to the moment in 1966 when Mao called for the people to Bombard the Headquarters and to tear down the government.

Firstly, Laszlo apologizes in advance for the horrific pronunciation of all terms Hindi. This week the topic is the history behind Sino-Indian relations. This is an extremely emotive, complex and sometimes incendiary topic, conveniently encapsulated in an easy to digest half hour episode. The long history of Chinese-Indian Relations is overwhelmingly one of peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and benefit. Only in the past century have challenges presented themselves that occasionally brought the two great civilizations into conflict.

Known by many names, Guan Yu, Guan Gong, Guan Di, this great man of loyalty, integrity and justice lived during the final years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. His oath of brotherhood with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei is the stuff of legends and remembered to this very day. Guan Yu was a historical person whose life was so admired, today is viewed as a god. In today's episode we look at his life and his legend.

This week we look at a committed Communist Party leader who played an important role in steering China's economy and financial system from 1949 and into the Deng era. Like many other leaders of his generation, Shanxi-born Bo Yibo suffered terribly during the Cultural Revolution. Today he is best remembered as one of the Eight Immortals, or Party Elders who made up Deng Xiaoping's "kitchen cabinet" during China's go-go 80's and 90's.

This time we look at Missouri-born Carl Crow (1883-1945). Though pretty much forgotten today, Carl Crow lived an amazing life and was a prolific writer. From his front row seats to many of the historic events in China between 1911-1937, Crow wrote many books about his observations and opinions. He has gone down in history for his achievements in Shanghai running American-style newspapers and creating the first Western Ad Agency in China.

This week we look at the Ma Family Clique, a notorious family of Hui Muslim Warlords who ruled the northwest provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai from the period beginning in the final years of the Qing dynasty all the way to 1949.

In this farewell look at the Silk Road, we discuss a few more interesting things and then give the travels and adventures of Marco Polo a once over.

Another fortnight, another China History Podcast. We return to the Silk Road and focus our attention on the monk Xuanzang. His was an interesting life. Through looking at Xuanzang you can truly gain a sense of the importance of Buddhism in China, India and almost the entirety of Central Asia. If not for the mechanism of the Silk Road, it's unlikely Buddhism could have spread as far and wide as it did.