Red Shadows: Volume 12
Memories and Legacies of the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Leading academics examine the consequences of the political, social, economic and cultural upheaval unleashed by Mao Zedong in 1966.

Patricia M. Thornton (Edited by), Peidong Sun (Edited by), Chris Berry (Edited by)

9781316604755, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 February 2017

340 pages
24 x 15.5 x 1.3 cm, 0.32 kg

China's convulsive Cultural Revolution was conceived in 1966 as a 'great revolution that would touch the people to their very souls'. How are we to assess its impact fifty years on? In this volume, leading social and political scientists, historians and anthropologists examine the long-lasting consequences of the political, social, economic and cultural upheaval unleashed by Mao Zedong. Contributions from authors working within and outside the People's Republic of China consider the impact of this tumultuous mass movement from perspectives as diverse as market-based economic reform, clothing and fashion, the grassroots movements of late 1960s across the globe and the so-called 'lost generation' of sent-down youth. We find that collective and personal memories of the Cultural Revolution and its enduring institutional and social legacies continue to exert a profound effect on China and the Chinese people today.

Preface. The once and future tragedy of the Cultural Revolution Roderick MacFarquhar
Introduction. The Cultural Revolution: memories and legacies fifty years on Patricia Thornton and Chris Berry
1. Bending the arc of Chinese history: the Cultural Revolution's paradoxical legacy Andrew Walder
2. The Cultural Revolution and its legacies in international perspective Julia Lovell
3. Mummify the working class: the Cultural Revolution and the fates of the political parties Alessandro Russo
4. Debates on constitutionalism and the legacies of the Cultural Revolution Wu Changchang
5. The Cultural Revolution as a crisis of representation Patricia Thornton
6. Cultural Revolution as method Michael Dutton
7. Whodunnit? Memory and politics before the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik and Cui Jinke
8. Restricted, distorted but alive: the memory of the 'lost generation' of Chinese educated youth Michel Bonnin
9. The collar revolution: everyday clothing in Guangdong as resistance in the Cultural Revolution Sun Peidong
10. The silent revolution: decollectivization from below during the Cultural Revolution Frank Dikötter.

Subject Areas: Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions [HBTV], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], Asian history [HBJF], History [HB]