Soon after Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister, in May 1966, Mao Tse Tung launched the Cultural Revolution in China. Mao had been feeling that he was being isolated by some of his senior comrades, particularly Liu Shaoqi, Peng Chen and Peng Dehuai. The Revolution lasted almost ten years and China was torn apart from east to west and from north to south. The Red Guards, who answered to none, save Mao, were let loose. Their relentless attack on very senior members of the Communist Party led some to commit suicide; houses were ransacked, ancient monuments were destroyed
