Recalling Bitterness: Historiography, Memory, and Myth in Maoist China
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Mao's War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment In
Reviews Mao’s War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China, by Judith Shapiro, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2001), xvii, 287 pp. Reviewed by Gregory A. Ruf, Associate Professor, Chinese Studies and Anthropology Stony Brook State University of New York In this engaging and informative book, Judith Shapiro takes a sharp, critical look at how development policies and practices under Mao influenced human relationships with the natural world, and considers some consequences of Maoist initiatives for the environment. Drawing on a variety of sources, both written and oral, she guides readers through an historical overview of major political and economic campaigns of the Maoist era, and their impact on human lives and the natural environment. This is a bold and challenging task, not least because such topics remain political sensitive today. Yet the perspective Shapiro offers is refreshing, while the problems she highlights are disturbing, with significant legacies. The political climate of revolutionary China was pervaded by hostile struggle against class enemies, foreign imperialists, Western capitalists, Soviet revisionists, and numerous other antagonists. Under Mao and the communists, “the notion was propagated that China would pick itself up after its long history of humiliation by imperialist powers, become self-reliant in the face of international isolation, and regain strength in the world” (p.6). Militarization was to be a vehicle through which Mao would attempt to forge a ‘New China.’ His period of rule was marked by a protracted series of mass mobilization campaigns, based around the fear of perceived threats, external or internal. Even nature, Shapiro argues, was portrayed in a combative and militaristic rhetoric as an obstacle or enemy to overcome. -
Deng Xiaoping in the Making of Modern China
Teaching Asia’s Giants: China Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones Deng Xiaoping in the Making of Modern China Poster of Deng Xiaoping, By Bernard Z. Keo founder of the special economic zone in China in central Shenzhen, China. he 9th of September 1976: The story of Source: The World of Chinese Deng Xiaoping’s ascendancy to para- website at https://tinyurl.com/ yyqv6opv. mount leader starts, like many great sto- Tries, with a death. Nothing quite so dramatic as a murder or an assassination, just the quiet and unassuming death of Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the wake of his passing, factions in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) competed to establish who would rule after the Great Helmsman. Pow- er, after all, abhors a vacuum. In the first corner was Hua Guofeng, an unassuming functionary who had skyrocketed to power under the late chairman’s patronage. In the second corner, the Gang of Four, consisting of Mao’s widow, Jiang September 21, 1977. The Qing, and her entourage of radical, leftist, Shanghai-based CCP officials. In the final corner, Deng funeral of Mao Zedong, Beijing, China. Source: © Xiaoping, the great survivor who had experi- Keystone Press/Alamy Stock enced three purges and returned from the wil- Photo. derness each time.1 Within a month of Mao’s death, the Gang of Four had been imprisoned, setting up a showdown between Hua and Deng. While Hua advocated the policy of the “Two Whatev- ers”—that the party should “resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave”—Deng advocated “seek- ing truth from facts.”2 At a time when China In 1978, some Beijing citizens was reexamining Mao’s legacy, Deng’s approach posted a large-character resonated more strongly with the party than Hua’s rigid dedication to Mao. -
Why Did China's Population Grow So Quickly?
SUBSCRIBE NOW AND RECEIVE CRISIS AND LEVIATHAN* FREE! “The Independent Review does not accept “The Independent Review is pronouncements of government officials nor the excellent.” conventional wisdom at face value.” —GARY BECKER, Noble Laureate —JOHN R. MACARTHUR, Publisher, Harper’s in Economic Sciences Subscribe to The Independent Review and receive a free book of your choice* such as the 25th Anniversary Edition of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, by Founding Editor Robert Higgs. This quarterly journal, guided by co-editors Christopher J. Coyne, and Michael C. Munger, and Robert M. Whaples offers leading-edge insights on today’s most critical issues in economics, healthcare, education, law, history, political science, philosophy, and sociology. Thought-provoking and educational, The Independent Review is blazing the way toward informed debate! Student? Educator? Journalist? Business or civic leader? Engaged citizen? This journal is for YOU! *Order today for more FREE book options Perfect for students or anyone on the go! The Independent Review is available on mobile devices or tablets: iOS devices, Amazon Kindle Fire, or Android through Magzter. INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE, 100 SWAN WAY, OAKLAND, CA 94621 • 800-927-8733 • [email protected] PROMO CODE IRA1703 Why Did China’s Population Grow so Quickly? F DAVID HOWDEN AND YANG ZHOU hina’s one-child policy has come to be widely regarded as an effective piece of government legislation that saved the country from a Malthusian fate. C The Cultural Revolution of 1966–76 was the crowning achievement of Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1945 to 1976. -
The Great Leap Forward: Anatomy of a Central Planning Disaster Author(S): Wei Li and Dennis Tao Yang Source: Journal of Political Economy, Vol
The Great Leap Forward: Anatomy of a Central Planning Disaster Author(s): Wei Li and Dennis Tao Yang Source: Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 113, No. 4 (August 2005), pp. 840-877 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/430804 . Accessed: 30/03/2014 14:41 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Political Economy. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Sun, 30 Mar 2014 14:41:54 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Great Leap Forward: Anatomy of a Central Planning Disaster Wei Li University of Virginia, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and Centre for Economic Policy Research Dennis Tao Yang Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University The Great Leap Forward disaster, characterized by a collapse in grain production and a widespread famine in China between 1959 and 1961, is found attributable to a systemic failure in central planning. Wishfully expecting a great leap in agricultural productivity from collectiviza- tion, the Chinese government accelerated its aggressive industriali- zation timetable. -
The Institutional Causes of China's Great Famine, 1959–1961
Review of Economic Studies (2015) 82, 1568–1611 doi:10.1093/restud/rdv016 © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Review of Economic Studies Limited. Advance access publication 20 April 2015 The Institutional Causes of China’s Great Famine, 1959–1961 Downloaded from XIN MENG Australian National University NANCY QIAN Yale University http://restud.oxfordjournals.org/ and PIERRE YARED Columbia University First version received January 2012; final version accepted January 2015 (Eds.) This article studies the causes of China’s Great Famine, during which 16.5 to 45 million individuals at Columbia University Libraries on April 25, 2016 perished in rural areas. We document that average rural food retention during the famine was too high to generate a severe famine without rural inequality in food availability; that there was significant variance in famine mortality rates across rural regions; and that rural mortality rates were positively correlated with per capita food production, a surprising pattern that is unique to the famine years. We provide evidence that an inflexible and progressive government procurement policy (where procurement could not adjust to contemporaneous production and larger shares of expected production were procured from more productive regions) was necessary for generating this pattern and that this policy was a quantitatively important contributor to overall famine mortality. Key words: Famines, Modern chinese history, Institutions, Central planning JEL Codes: P2, O43, N45 1. INTRODUCTION -
Bayesian Analysis of China's Great Leap Forward Demographic Disaster
THREE PARTS NATURAL, SEVEN PARTS MAN-MADE: BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF CHINA’S GREAT LEAP FORWARD DEMOGRAPHIC DISASTER BY * DANIEL HOUSER BARBARA SANDS ERTE XIAO FEBRUARY, 2005 ABSTRACT The millions of deaths that occurred during China’s great famine of 1959-1961 represent one of the world’s greatest civil demographic disasters. Two primary hypotheses have been advanced to explain the famine. One is that China experienced three consecutive years of bad weather while the other is that national policies were wrong in that they reduced and misallocated agricultural production. The relative importance of these two factors to the famine remains controversial among China scholars. This paper uses provincial-level demographic panel data and a Bayesian empirical approach in an effort to distinguish the relative importance of weather and national policy on China’s great demographic disaster. Consistent with the qualitative literature in this area, we find that national policy played an overall more important role in the famine than weather. However, we provide new quantitative evidence that weather was also an important factor, particularly in those provinces that experienced excessively wet conditions. (JEL O53, E65) Keywords: China, Famine, Great Leap Forward, Bayesian Analysis, Gibbs Sampling * Houser and Xiao: Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, Department of Economics, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MSN 1B2, Fairfax, VA, 22030; Sands: Department of Economics, University of Arizona, 401 McClelland Hall, Tucson, AZ 85721. Correspondence to: [email protected], 703.993.4856. 1 I. Introduction The millions of excess deaths and lost births that occurred during China’s great famine of 1959-1961 represent one of the world’s greatest civil demographic disasters. -
On the Causes of China's Agricultural Crisis and the Great Leap Famine
ON THE CAUSES OF CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL CRISIS AND THE GREAT LEAP FAMINE Justin Yifu Lin and Dennis Tao Yang ABSTRACT: Recently researchers have conducted extensive investigations on China's Great Leap cri- sis. In this article, we critically review this literature and argue that, since the grain production collapse was not the only factor that led to the famine, the causes of these two catastrophes require separate exam- ination. At the theoretical level multidimensional factors were responsible for the crisis. However, exist- ing empirical findings mainly support the exit right hypothesis to explain the dramatic productivity fluctuations in Chinese agriculture, and support grain availability and the urban-biased food distribution system as important causes of the famine. We suggest that additional empirical research is needed to assess the relative importance of the proposed causes. I. INTRODUCTION The sharp declines in agricultural production and the widespread famine between 1959-61 are two most important aspects of China's economic crisis during the Great Leap Forward. In 1959, total grain output suddenly dropped by 15 percent and, in the following two years, food supplies reached only about 70 percent of the 1958 level. During the same period, massive starvation prevailed in China. A careful study of demographic data concludes that this crisis resulted in about 30 million excess deaths and about 33 million lost or postponed births (Ashton, Hill, Piazza, & Zeitz, 1984). This disaster is one of the worst catastrophes in human history. The crisis of the Great Leap Forward became a fertile ground for academic research immediately after the release of reliable economic and demographic information from China in the early 1980s. -
Economic Reform and Growth in China
ANNALS OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE 5, 127–152 (2004) Economic Reform and Growth in China Gregory C. Chow Department of Economics, Princeton University, USA E-mail: [email protected] This paper surveys (1)the reasons for economic reform in China to be intro- duced in 1978, (2)the major components of economic reform, (3) the character- istics of the reform process, (4) why reform was successful, (5) the shortcomings of China’s economic institutions, (6) the factors contributing to rapid economic growth, and (7) the future prospects of further reform and growth, with impor- tant conclusions summarized in the last section concerning economic reform in general. Much of the material is drawn from the author’s book China’s Economic Transformation(Blackwell, 2002). c 2004 Peking University Press Key Words: China; Economic reform; Economic growth; Institutional changes; Economic policy. JEL Classification Numbers: O4, O5, P2, P3, N00. INTRODUCTION China’s economic reform toward a market-oriented economy began in 1978 and has been recognized as essentially successful. The average rate of growth of real GDP in the first two decades of reform was about 9.6 percent annually according to official statistics. What were the reasons for the reform to be introduced (section 1)? What were its major components (section 2)? What were the characteristics of the reform process (section 3)? Why was the reform successful (section 4)? What are the shortcom- ings of China’s economic institutions that still remain (section 5)? What accounted for the rapid growth rate of the Chinese economy (section 6)? What are the future prospects of further reform and economic growth (sec- tion 7)? These are the questions to be addressed in this paper. -
The Great Leap
McGuire Proscenium Stage / Jan 12 – Feb 10, 2018 The Great Leap by LAUREN YEE directed by DESDEMONA CHIANG PLAY GUIDE Inside THE PLAY Synopsis, Setting and Characters • 4 THE CREATIVE TEAM Playwright Lauren Yee • 5 Director Desdemona Chiang • 5 Yee in Her Own Words • 6 CULTURAL CONTEXT China's Modern History Through 1989 • 7 Basketball in China • 11 People, Places and Things in the Play • 12 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION For Further Reading and Understanding • 17 Play guides are made possible by Guthrie Theater Play Guide Copyright 2019 DRAMATURG Jo Holcomb GRAPHIC DESIGNER Akemi Graves CONTRIBUTOR Jo Holcomb Guthrie Theater, 818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415 All rights reserved. With the exception of classroom use by teachers and individual personal use, no part of this Play Guide ADMINISTRATION 612.225.6000 may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic BOX OFFICE 612.377.2224 or 1.877.44.STAGE (toll-free) or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in guthrietheater.org • Joseph Haj, artistic director writing from the publishers. Some materials published herein are written especially for our Guide. Others are reprinted by permission of their publishers. The Guthrie Theater receives support from the National The Guthrie creates transformative theater experiences that ignite the imagination, Endowment for the Arts. This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation stir the heart, open the mind and build community through the illumination of our by the Minnesota State Legislature. The Minnesota State Arts Board received additional funds to support this activity from common humanity. -
Measuring Chinese Productivity Growth, 1952-2005
Draft Measuring Chinese Productivity Growth, 1952-2005 Carsten A. Holz Social Science Division Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong E-mail: [email protected] Tel/fax: +852 2719-8557 Much of the sections on capital and TFP are at very first draft stage. 22 July 2006 List of abbreviations CPI Consumer Price Index DRIE Directly reporting industrial enterprise GDP Gross domestic product GFCF Gross fixed capital formation GNP Gross national product GOV Gross output value NBS National Bureau of Statistics NIPA National Income and Product Accounts SOE State-owned enterprise SOU State-owned unit TFP Total factor productivity CH-to-Paul-Schreyer-China-prod-m-22July06.doc ii Table of Contents 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Objectives....................................................................................................................1 1.2 Coverage and structure of this paper...........................................................................1 1.3 Basic data issues..........................................................................................................2 1.3.1 Industry/ sectoral classification .......................................................................2 1.3.2 Benchmark revisions following the economic census 2004............................4 1.3.3 Limits to understanding China’s statistics.......................................................5 2. -
Popular Memories of the Mao Era
Popular Memories of the Mao Era From Critical Debate to Reassessing History Edited by Sebastian Veg Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.hku.hk © 2019 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-988-8390-76-2 (Hardback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Paramount Printing Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, China Contents Acknowledgments vii 1. Introduction: Trauma, Nostalgia, Public Debate 1 Sebastian Veg Part I. Unofficial Memories in the Public Sphere: Journals, Internet, Museums 2. Writing about the Past, an Act of Resistance: An Overview of Independent Journals and Publications about the Mao Era 21 Jean-Philippe Béja 3. Annals of the Yellow Emperor: Reconstructing Public Memory of the Mao Era 43 Wu Si 4. Contested Past: Social Media and the Production of Historical Knowledge of the Mao Era 61 Jun Liu 5. Can Private Museums Offer Space for Alternative History? The Red Era Series at the Jianchuan Museum Cluster 80 Kirk A. Denton Part II. Critical Memory and Cultural Practices: Reconfiguring Elite and Popular Discourse 6. Literary and Documentary Accounts of the Great Famine: Challenging the Political System and the Social Hierarchies of Memory 115 Sebastian Veg 7. -
Two Spheres: Mao and the Market in Chinese Architecture (1990-)
Two Spheres: Mao and the Market in Chinese Architecture (1990-) Jiawen Han A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Australian School of Architecture and Design Faculty of the Built Environment August 2014 ABSTRACT Mao and the market, meaning the centralised state and the market, as expanded by Robin Porter, is the broad subject of this thesis. The aim of this study is to examine how changes in the social-political system, the residual influence of Mao, and the acceptance of the market, have changed Chinese architecture over recent time. The process from Mao to market currently cannot be easily situated within any overarching theory, nor is it a linear and systematic transition, but it has far reaching effects on every corner of China, every Chinese social group, from bureaucratic agendas to personal motives. Looking at the architecture from this perspective provides a strategy, a fresh way of reading architecture and architects, and a solid way of framing them under the uncertain nature of the socialist transition. This research re-examines the new wave of innovative architecture through three case studies of Liu Jiakun, Cui Kai, URBANUS and their designs in the context of a longer vision and a broader perspective, extending the research to an ideological level. The market, the West, the East, the state, the architect – all these elements are decisive factors in shaping contemporary architecture, but they make different contributions in different cases, and, more significantly, they affect architectural design at different points in time under different versions of socialism. In other words, the intricate details of the historical pressures and practical approaches have been clarified through case studies.