Maoism at the Grassroots: Everyday Life in China’s Era of High Socialism

Author:   Jeremy Brown ,  Matthew D. Johnson ,  Jacob Eyferth ,  Wang Haiguang
Publisher:   Harvard University Press
ISBN:  

9780674287204


Pages:   480
Publication Date:   13 October 2015
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

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Maoism at the Grassroots: Everyday Life in China’s Era of High Socialism


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Overview

The Maoist state's dominance over Chinese society, achieved through such watersheds as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, is well known. Maoism at the Grassroots reexamines this period of transformation and upheaval from a new perspective, one that challenges the standard state-centered view. Bringing together scholars from China, Europe, North America, and Taiwan, this volume marshals new research to reveal a stunning diversity of individual viewpoints and local experiences during China's years of high socialism. Focusing on the period from the mid-1950s to 1980, the authors provide insights into the everyday lives of citizens across social strata, ethnicities, and regions. They explore how ordinary men and women risked persecution and imprisonment in order to assert personal beliefs and identities. Many displayed a shrewd knack for negotiating the maze-like power structures of everyday Maoism, appropriating regime ideology in their daily lives while finding ways to express discontent and challenge the state's pervasive control. Heterogeneity, limited pluralism, and tensions between official and popular culture were persistent features of Maoism at the grassroots. Men had gay relationships in factory dormitories, teenagers penned searing complaints in diaries, mentally ill individuals cursed Mao, farmers formed secret societies and worshipped forbidden spirits. These diverse undercurrents were as representative of ordinary people's lives as the ideals promulgated in state propaganda.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jeremy Brown ,  Matthew D. Johnson ,  Jacob Eyferth ,  Wang Haiguang
Publisher:   Harvard University Press
Imprint:   Harvard University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 3.80cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.816kg
ISBN:  

9780674287204


ISBN 10:   0674287207
Pages:   480
Publication Date:   13 October 2015
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

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Reviews

For years, Maoist China was opaque from the outside interpretable only by what a trickle of refugees said or by inference from government references to the masses. That bland term is now passe, but the Western tendency to homogenize the common folk of China persists, especially in fields related to international relations, where scholars and journalists casually refer to the Chinese as if government rhetoric described everyone. Maoism at the Grassroots is a magnificent antidote to this bad habit.--Perry Link, author of An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics


A new generation of Chinese and Western scholars is enriching the history of Mao Zedong s China with material from discarded personnel files, diaries, and unpublished manuscripts purchased from paper recyclers, as well as from recently opened local archives. Their view from below challenges the cliched images of regimented masses fanatically loyal to the revolution.--Andrew J. Nathan Foreign Affairs (02/10/2016)


Author Information

Jeremy Brown is Associate Professor of History at Simon Fraser University. Matthew D. Johnson is Assistant Professor of History and Chair of East Asian Studies at Grinnell College. Jacob Eyferth is Associate Professor of Modern Chinese History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Department of History, and the College, University of Chicago. Michael Schoenhals is Professor of Chinese at Chinese Lund University, Sweden.

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