Based on a wide variety of unusual and only recently available sources, this book covers the entire cultural revolution decade 196676 and shows how the cultural revolution was experienced by ordinary chinese at the base of urban and rural society. This remarkably full and efficient account provides a basic narrative of the cultural revolution, and then discusses in greater depth its politics, culture, economics, foreign relations, and memory. Born red is not a broad historical account of the cultural revolution, but the autobiography of a man who was a young student in an elite middle school at the outset of this tumultuous and destructive period of recent chinese history. Dikotter reveals that the cultural revolution failed to eradicate counterrevolutionary elements. It was launched under the direction of chinese communist party ccp chairman mao zedong, who wished to renew the spirit of the.
Launched by mao zedong, the chairman of the communist party of china, its stated goal was to preserve chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from chinese society, and to reimpose mao zedong thought as the dominant ideology in the cpc. Popular cultural revolution books showing 150 of 397 balzac and the little chinese seamstress paperback by. Chinas cultural revolution and its aftermath in fiction and. The cultural revolution by richard curt kraus, paperback. The purge of the inner mongolian peoples party in the chinese cultural revolution, 196769. A peoples history, 19621976 draws for the first time on hundreds of previously classified party documents, from secret police reports to unexpurgated versions of. A peoples history after the economic disaster of the great leap forward that claimed tens of millions of lives from 19581962, an aging mao zedong launched an ambitious scheme to shore up his reputation and eliminate those he viewed as a threat to his legacy.
Launched by mao zedong, the chairman of the communist party of china cpc, its stated goal was to preserve chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from chinese society, and to reimpose mao. At the start of the campaign, look at the peoples smiles in my pictures. Toil in the communes was arduous and unpleasant and food was seldom abundant, but like the local farmers, they endeavored to. A very short introduction takes the advantage of all of the best recent scholarship on the subject, and presents a very interesting and insightful book on this subject. The not book reading class was in power and reading books and owning books. Piereson has brilliantly added a new dimension to the bitter controversy that still rages over the jfk assassination. Chinese red guards apologize, reopening a dark chapter. Featuring a new original essay from roger chartier, the cultural revolution of the 19th century is an essential new benchmark in global and transnational history. When the army itself fell victim to the cultural revolution, ordinary people used the political chaos to resurrect the marked and hollow out the partys ideology. Apr 12, 2017 top 10 books about the russian revolution. If the cultural revolution were widely circulated in china, it could undermine the legitimacy of the current regime. A brief overview of chinas cultural revolution britannica. Mao comes across as a deep thinker, as a dogmatic person and, as a callous statesman.
The author doesnt pointlessly dwell on the cultural revolutions cruelties and other sensational aspects but, rather, soberly examines its lineages, practices, and legacies. Culture books fifty years after the madness sparked by maos cultural revolution, a book uncovers horror of mass murder spree. It was also lowered because the people put in charge of the factories did not know how to run them. The book tells the littleknown story of how chinese intellectuals and leaders, facing a ruined economy at the end of the cultural revolution, sought the help of foreign economists to rebuild. Torture and suicide became common, and it is estimated that a million died in the ensuing purges and related incidents. Production in factories was lowered because of the workers political activities. The cultural revolution cookbook mixes amusing anecdotes, engaging stories and sumptuous recipes to bring to life revolutionary chinas culinary history. Chinas cultural revolution, explained the new york times. Jan 04, 2017 this feature is not available right now. May 06, 2016 the cost of the cultural revolution, fifty years later. This book was necessary reading for all early historians of the revolution. Quotations from chairman mao tsetung simplified chinese.
The little red book was essentially the bible of the cultural revolution, and people were expected to read it daily, in an almost ritual fashion. The benignsounding moniker belies the destruction it unleashed upon the countrys population. She was the leading figure of the gang of four, radicals who. Click the title for location and availability information. Red scarf girl is a historical memoir written by jili jiang about her experiences during the cultural revolution of china, with a foreword by david henry hwang. Parallels during chinas cultural revolution, communist youth known as red guards persecuted, tortured and killed millions of chinese. An elite chinese family, ensnared in the cultural revolution.
In his book camelot and the cultural revolution, mr. It is much needed, if only to make some sense of the disputation over. The cultural revolution was a big political and sociological experiment that caused turmoil, chaos. As i gazed at maos face wearing what was intended as a benign expression but was in fact a smirk of selfsatisfaction, i wondered how one single person could have caused the extent of misery that was prevailing in china. This book is a significant event in our understanding of modern china. He thought it a shame that the youth of china had not had the opportunity to fight in the revolution. The cultural revolution a peoples history, 19621976 by frank dikotter illustrated. But just as the cultural revolution was coming to an end in china, a different kind of totalitarianism began to take its placeone based not on the enlightenment, but on religion. A cult of personality grew around mao as millions of copies of the little red book filled with his thoughts were forced to be read by those in need of reeducation. The cultural revolution would thus give them a chance to experience revolution. Michael jones gives a riveting account of how cardinal krol confronted the challenges f. Includes pictures includes maos quotes and accounts from. The book profits from krauss particular expertise on culture and the arts, and does not shy from controversial claims that are likely to provoke.
Dai sijie shelved 34 times as culturalrevolution avg rating 3. The decadelong frenzy of the cultural revolution is revealed in photographs by li zhensheng in redcolor news soldier, edited by robert pledge. The cultural revolution in full, the great proletarian cultural revolution took place from 1966 to 1976 in china. Believing that current communist leaders were taking the party, and china itself, in the wrong direction, mao called on the nations youth to purge. A captivating guide to a decadelong upheaval in china unleashed by mao zedong to preserve chinese communism.
Worst of all, it was an intellectually dishonest construct, promising to reveal the chinese cultural revolution and then failing not only to deliver it, but to even pursue it in a reasonable fashion. Your second book is the cultural revolution as history. This book is coedited by two historians at uc san diego and the same old andrew walder. In 1967, a twomonth orgy of violence and hysteria swept a rural. It quickly grew into a mass movement of millions of students who targeted the perceived enemies of communism. Prominent intellectuals rarely spoke openly about the revolution, and books on the subject were almost nonexistent. He spent the next ten years in a succession of chinese gulags and vividly relates the poignant stories of his cellmatesactivists, intellectuals, rightists.
Accurately billed as a secret archive hidden for 40 years. The book covers historical, political and sociological aspects of the cultural revolution. The contributors emphasize the complex interaction of state and society during this tumultuous period, exploring the way events originating at. The cultural revolution caused a lot of problems in china. The cost of the cultural revolution, fifty years later the. Pages in category books about the cultural revolution the following 19 pages are in this category, out of 19 total. By 1971, mao and his secondincommand, lin biao, were trading assassination attempts against one another.
The book tells the littleknown story of how chinese. A riveting account of the institution that implemented the cultural. Zheng lu peng, the beijing agent in performance anomalies, is a product of the cultural revolution, his welleducated parents having been humiliated and then beaten to death by the red guards. The cultural revolution, formally the great proletarian cultural revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the peoples republic of china from 1966 until 1976.
The chinese cultural revolution as history edited by joseph. Approximately 17 million privileged city youth were sent down to the countryside to learn from the peasants during chinas chaotic cultural revolution 19661976. Mar 24, 2008 in his new book, the chinese cultural revolution, paul clark, rather than unearthing a decade dominated by chaos and destruction, discovers instead a period characterized by great innovation and creativity. After the cultural revolution ended and mao died, yan and her family were gradually rehabilitated. This gripping and engagingly written guide to the forces that shaped the 1960s cultural revolution examines the new left, the antiwar movement, and the counterculture. With the worst of the street violence over, the cultural revolution in the following six or seven years revolved primarily around struggles for power in the upper echelons of the chinese communist party. Cultural revolution a selection of booksebooks available in trible library. By the time of jis death in 2009, little had changed, and despite its popularity, the cowshed remains one of the only testimonies of its kind.
Balzac and the little chinese seamstress by dai sijie, wild swans. This book is a great little panorama of chinese society during the cultural revolution decade 196676. An introductory historical overview provides context and puts the decade in perspective. Everywhere was full of books, and in every corner of the street you could see people discussing, various party publications were available everywhere everything ended with the cultural revolution. Chinas new cultural revolution has nothing to do with chairman mao. It is the first book to attempt to understand the socalled roman revolution as a cultural phenomenon. May 08, 2016 the cultural revolution a peoples history, 19621976 by frank dikotter illustrated. She struggles to be a good communist almost to the end of the book, even trying at one point to change her name to avoid being identified with the landlord jiangs. Captive spirits is the gripping prison memoir of yang xiguang, a high school student who was arrested during the cultural revolution for writing a political essay. In 1966, chinas communist leader mao zedong launched what became known as the cultural revolution in order to reassert his authority over the chinese government. After the army itself fell victim to the cultural revolution, ordinary people used the political chaos to resurrect the market and. The revolution marked maos return to the central position of p. Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win victory. List of books and articles about cultural revolution online.
Avaliable format in pdf, epub, mobi, kindle, e book. May 05, 2016 close overlay buy featured book title the cultural revolution subtitle a peoples history, 19621976 author frank dikotter. It is the revolution that follows logically from the economic reforms that became possible only after his death. Jili jiang was very important in her classroom and was respected until 1966 when the cultural revolution started. Kennedy shattered american liberalism piereson, james on.
The cultural revolution s official handbook was the little red book, a pocketsized collection of quotations from mao that offered a design for red guard life. She determinedly reclaimed 10 lost years of education, winning a. Memories of the chinese cultural revolution, which has just been released in english for the first time, is something of an anomaly. Popular cultural revolution books goodreads share book. Huangs memoir, unlike most others set during the cultural revolution, shows how the iconoclastic radicalism of the era impacted one familys attempt to practice their traditional beliefs. The little red book or, to give its full title, quotations from chairman mao zedong contains 267 aphorisms from the communist chinese leader, covering subjects such as class struggle. Sep 10, 2012 when the cultural revolution started, when mao announced it, everyone was very excited, including me.
The cultural revolution was a big political and sociological experiment that caused turmoil, chaos, hardship and, untold suffering to the chinese. Taken together, the abrupt, spectacular falls of both fan bingbing and meng hongwei suggest a drastic widening of a dragnet that is primarily about president xi jinpings consolidation of authority. The cultural revolution began as a campaign against political subtexts in culture in the mid1960s. A peoples history suggests an alternative to an official history. A captivating guide to the life of a chairman of the communist party of china, the cultural revolution and the political theory of maoism book by captivating history.
Richard curt klaus has written a very accessible and readable introduction to the cultural revolution, covering the years 19661976, as well as. Progressing at a dizzying, frenetic pace, the 1960s were synonymous with rebellion and conflict. Indeed, the commercial commodification of culture that has characterized chinese artistic life in the last quartercentury was made. By the time the cultural revolution sputtered to a. Top 10 books about the russian revolution books the guardian. Mao closed schools and encouraged students to join red guard units, which denounced and persecuted chinese teachers, intellectuals, writers, artists and other class enemies, engaged in widespread book. No other decade in the 20th century was so tumultuous. World book day and islamic republic censorship irantrue. List of books and articles about cultural revolution. The world was turned upside down, with fanatic red guards, armed with little red book filled chinas cultural revolution represents one of the craziest moments in history of mankind, all caused by one man, namely mao zedong. Oct 04, 2016 tsering woesers father, an officer in the peoples liberation army in lhasa when the cultural revolution broke out in 1966, photographed many public attacks on tibets old ruling class and. The cultural revolution after the cultural revolution.
The cultural revolution also caused economic disruption. Cardinal krol and the cultural revolution fidelity press. In the mid 1960s mao wanted to regain his position within the ccp, so the cultural revolution was in part motivated by a power struggle at the very top of the party. This 2008 book is a significant contribution to an ongoing process whereby chinese radicals are reappraising dominant narratives on revolutionary china and in particular on the cultural revolution cr period of 196676, thereby challenging the official chinese communist party ccp dismissive verdict over maos later policies and the socalled gang of four. Jiang qing, a former actress, was able, as maos wife, to claim authority during the cultural revolution, particularly over the arts. Joseph esherick and paul pickowicz started a yearlong seminar for their graduate students, which a number of us spoke at, and these graduate students were then encouraged to go off and do their own research projects. Mar 27, 2020 the cultural revolution was the upheaval launched by mao zedong during his last decade in power 196676. If rural china was not much affected by the cultural revolution, why do you, the ccp and many of the elite intelligentsia keep repeating that the cultural revolution was a tenyear calamity for china. Torn by conflicting emotions, author jili jiang is the perfect guide to the complexities of the cultural revolution, which many readers will encounter for the first time here. The stated goal of the cultural revolution was to purge the country of bourgeois, capitalist elements he claimed were threatening genuine communist ideology.
Instead of regarding cultural changes as dependent on political developments, the essays. Those who want to understand the culture of war that has gripped american society since the 1960s will much appreciate john cardinal krol and the cultural revolution. But the chairman also used the cultural revolution to turn on his colleagues, some of them longstanding comradesinarms, subjecting them to public humiliation, imprisonment and torture. Transportation was made worse because a lot of trains were being used to take red guards around the country. A peoples history, 19621976 draws for the first time on hundreds of previously classified party documents, from secret police reports to unexpurgated versions of leadership speeches. Cultural revolution, 196676, mass mobilization of urban chinese youth inaugurated by mao zedong in an attempt to prevent the development of a bureaucratized soviet style of communism. The cost of the cultural revolution, fifty years later. The authors unique expertise in chinese history, society and culture make this cookbook entertaining, informative and indispensable for any kitchen.
Though it was intended to renew the spirit of the chinese revolution, it instead had detrimental political, social, and economic consequences for china. I have enjoyed colonoscopies more than i did this book. At the center of the book is the cowshed, the popular term for makeshift detention centers that had sprung up. The cultural revolution had nearly disappeared from the collective memory. A reference guide is an engagingly written book that considers the forces that shaped the 1960s and made it the unique era that it was. The cultural revolution has taken a huge human toll on the chines society, and the estimates of the total number of people killed range from half a million to about a million and a half, with many more millions tortured, imprisoned, or otherwise persecuted. The best books on the cultural revolution five books. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Cultural revolution simple english wikipedia, the free. Sep 05, 2019 the cultural revolution restored mao zedongs power and prestige. As the country descended into chaos, the military intervened, turning china into a garrison state marked by bloody purges that crushed as many as one in fifty people.
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