Overview

The key role of intellectuals in Mao's China has confounded Western scholars. Were they potential dissidents or actual servants of Chinese communism? The Chinese Communist Party could not have taken over China or governed it without a coalition of forces that included the intellectuals who articulated its goals and administered its complex bureaucracy. Deng Tuo (1912-66) - founding editor of People's Daily, accomplished traditional scholar, and critical commentator on political issues - has served as an example of this confusion. His life illustrates an experience of intellectual service in Mao's China that contributes to our understanding of the rise, successes, and major crises of Chinese Marxism in the twentieth century. It also introduces us to the world that produced the current generation of intellectual leaders in China. This biography is a social history of intellectuals as agents in China's socialist revolution. It places Deng Tuo's writings and ideas in rich context of his social experience as a member of the Communist bureaucracy and as an elite artist and aesthete. The tension between service to politics and service to culture was ultimately disastorous for Deng and for China's revolution: his ghost haunts the halls of power in Beijing today.

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9780198290667

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This volume contributes ably to the growing scholarship on the dynamics of Mao Zedong and the people and groups he considered to be his opponents. It especially advances our understanding of the role of the intelligentsia in Mao's new China. --China Review International This multilayered biography...offers a wealth of new insight into the complicated and ultimately tragic world of intellectual service in Mao Zedong's China....Cheek provides a compelling and nuanced understanding of both [subject and historical context]....this book will remain the most sophisticated attempt to discern the meaning of Deng Tuo's life of intellectual service to the party that eventually destroyed him. --American Historical Review This is an essential book for anyone interested in intellectuals in China. It is also a rich source of information about the development and operation of China's propaganda system and the way in which the media was used for political purposes as part of the ongoing power struggles in Mao's China. But most importantly, Cheek tells a fascinating and wonderfully researched story about a complex and interesting man whose life reflected in so many ways the political currents of his time. Cheek moves between these different dimensions of his narrative with skill and impressive control. I recommend this book highly. It is one of the best books I have read on China in recent years. --China Information Well-documented, clearly organized, carefully researched, and beautifully written, this book is a great contribution to the study of contemporary China generally and the study of the Chinese intellectuals in particular. --Journal of Asian History

This volume contributes ably to the growing scholarship on the dynamics of Mao Zedong and the people and groups he considered to be his opponents. It especially advances our understanding of the role of the intelligentsia in Mao's new China. --China Review International<br> This multilayered biography...offers a wealth of new insight into the complicated and ultimately tragic world of intellectual service in Mao Zedong's China....Cheek provides a compelling and nuanced understanding of both [subject and historical context]....this book will remain the most sophisticated attempt to discern the meaning of Deng Tuo's life of intellectual service to the party that eventually destroyed him. --American Historical Review<br> This is an essential book for anyone interested in intellectuals in China. It is also a rich source of information about the development and operation of China's propaganda system and the way in which the media was used for political purposes as part of the ongoing power struggles in Mao's China. But most importantly, Cheek tells a fascinating and wonderfully researched story about a complex and interesting man whose life reflected in so many ways the political currents of his time. Cheek moves between these different dimensions of his narrative with skill and impressive control. I recommend this book highly. It is one of the best books I have read on China in recent years. --China Information<br> Well-documented, clearly organized, carefully researched, and beautifully written, this book is a great contribution to the study of contemporary China generally and the study of the Chinese intellectuals in particular. --Journal of Asian History<br>

<br> This volume contributes ably to the growing scholarship on the dynamics of Mao Zedong and the people and groups he considered to be his opponents. It especially advances our understanding of the role of the intelligentsia in Mao's new China. --China Review International<br> This multilayered biography...offers a wealth of new insight into the complicated and ultimately tragic world of intellectual service in Mao Zedong's China....Cheek provides a compelling and nuanced understanding of both [subject and historical context]....this book will remain the most sophisticated attempt to discern the meaning of Deng Tuo's life of intellectual service to the party that eventually destroyed him. --American Historical Review<br> This is an essential book for anyone interested in intellectuals in China. It is also a rich source of information about the development and operation of China's propaganda system and the way in which the media was used for political purposes as part of the ongoing p

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