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When the Chinese communists came to 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 in this period of transition, but they also experienced traumatic setbacks. Covering the period 1949 to 1976 and then tracing the legacy of the Mao era through the 1980s, Felix Wemheuer focuses on questions of class, gender, ethnicity, and the urban-rural divide in this new social history of Maoist China. He analyzes the experiences of a range of social groups under Communist rule - workers, peasants, local cadres, intellectuals, 'ethnic minorities', the old elites, men and women. To understand this tumultuous period, he argues, we must recognize the many complex challenges facing the People's Republic. But we must not lose sight of the human suffering and political terror that, for many now ageing quietly across China, remain the period's abiding memory.
Incorporates primary sources, including firsthand accounts narrating how ordinary people lived under Mao
Includes many previously unpublished images that help to visualize everyday life beyond official propaganda
Provides an accessible intersectional account of Maoist China spanning class, gender, and ethnicity
Introduction
1. Chinese society under Mao: classifications, social hierarchies and distribution
2. New democracy and the making of new China (1949–52)
3. The transformation to state socialism (1953–7)
4. The great leap into famine (1958–61)
5. The post-famine years: from readjustment to the socialist education campaign (1962–5)
6. The rebellion and its limits: the early cultural revolution (1966–8)
7. Demobilization and restoration: the late cultural revolution (1969–76)
8. Legacies and continuities of the Mao era in reform China.
Description
When the Chinese communists came to 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 in this period of transition, but they also experienced traumatic setbacks. Covering the period 1949 to 1976 and then tracing the legacy of the Mao era through the 1980s, Felix Wemheuer focuses on questions of class, gender, ethnicity, and the urban-rural divide in this new social history of Maoist China. He analyzes the experiences of a range of social groups under Communist rule - workers, peasants, local cadres, intellectuals, 'ethnic minorities', the old elites, men and women. To understand this tumultuous period, he argues, we must recognize the many complex challenges facing the People's Republic. But we must not lose sight of the human suffering and political terror that, for many now ageing quietly across China, remain the period's abiding memory.
Incorporates primary sources, including firsthand accounts narrating how ordinary people lived under Mao
Includes many previously unpublished images that help to visualize everyday life beyond official propaganda
Provides an accessible intersectional account of Maoist China spanning class, gender, and ethnicity
