In 1958, China's revered leader Mao Zedong instituted a programme designed to transform his giant nation into a Communist utopia. Called the Great Leap Forward, Mao's grand scheme - like so many other utopian dreams of the 20th century - proved a monumental disaster, resulting i…
"Cultural production under Mao, and how artists and thinkers found autonomy in a culture of conformity. In the 1950s, a French journalist joked that the Chinese were 'blue ants under the red flag, ' dressing identically and even marching in an identical fashion. When the Cultura…
Over the course of 66 days in 1967, more than 4.000 'class enemies' were murdered in Daoxian, a county in China's Hunan province. The killings spread to surrounding counties, resulting in a combined death toll of more than 9.000. Commonly known as the Daoxian massacre, the killi…
"Over the course of 66 days in 1967, more than 4,000 'class enemies'--including young children and the elderly--were murdered in Daoxian, a county in China's Hunan province. The killings spread to surrounding counties, resulting in a combined death toll of more than 9,000. Commo…
After the economic disaster of the Great Leap Forward that claimed tens of millions of lives between 1958 and 1962, an ageing Mao launched an ambitious scheme to shore up his reputation and eliminate those he viewed as a threat to his legacy. The stated goal of the Cultural Revo…
"Representing a lifetime of research and writing by noted historian Arif Dirlik, the essays collected here explore developments in Chinese socialism and the issues that have occupied historians of the Chinese Revolution for the past three decades. Dirlik engages Chinese socialis…
"When the Chinese communists came into power in 1949, they promised to "turn society upside down". Efforts to build a communist society created hopes and dreams, coupled with fear and disillusionment. The Chinese people made great efforts towards modernization and social change …
"When the Chinese communists came into power in 1949, they promised to "turn society upside down". Efforts to build a communist society created hopes and dreams, coupled with fear and disillusionment. The Chinese people made great efforts towards modernization and social change …
"The Chinese Cultural Revolution is the single most important internal social event in contemporary Chinese history. The plethora of historical, literary, and artistic representations inspired by this event are critical to our understanding of the diversified, often contested, i…
