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This extensively researched and elegantly written study offers a fine-grained analysis of the origins of the Chinese Communist Revolution in the countryside. Building on decades of research in newly available sources and multiple trips to Jiangxi, Stephen Averill provides a definitive local perspective on the rise of a revolution that reshaped China and the world. A rich work of social history, it goes beyond recently popular organizational approaches to explore the ways in which the party and social networks interpenetrated and interacted in the early stages of revolutionary base-building. The Jinggangshan highlands provided the base for Mao Zedong's first efforts at rural revolution. Chine...
It was during the period from 1942 to 1945, the subject of this eighth volume in the 10-volume translation of Mao Zedong's writings through 1949, that Mao asserted his status as the incarnation and symbol of the Chinese Revolution and the sinification of Marxism-Leninism. At the same time, with the tide of war turning against the Axis powers, both Mao and Chiang Kaishek maneuvered for advantage in asserting control over postwar China. Mao developed a model for a new China built on several pillars: the absolute authority of the Party and its supreme leader; "rectification" study and criticism in the party and the army; mass campaigns; and a clear "story" of salvation--for China and for the individual--wrapped up in Mao's personal experience and his writings. The readings in this volume develop the themes of this "Yan'an way," which--along with brilliant soldiering--brought Mao and the Chinese Communist Party to the brink of national power in 1945.
It was during the period from 1942 to 1945, the subject of this eighth volume in the 10-volume translation of Mao Zedong's writings through 1949, that Mao asserted his status as the incarnation and symbol of the Chinese Revolution and the sinification of Marxism-Leninism. At the same time, with the tide of war turning against the Axis powers, both Mao and Chiang Kaishek maneuvered for advantage in asserting control over postwar China. Mao developed a model for a new China built on several pillars: the absolute authority of the Party and its supreme leader; "rectification" study and criticism in the party and the army; mass campaigns; and a clear "story" of salvation--for China and for the individual--wrapped up in Mao's personal experience and his writings. The readings in this volume develop the themes of this "Yan'an way," which--along with brilliant soldiering--brought Mao and the Chinese Communist Party to the brink of national power in 1945.
These essays present fresh insights into the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), from its founding in 1920 to its assumption of state power in 1949. They draw upon considerable archival resources which have recently become available.
This important volume affords a panoramic view of local elites during the dramatic changes of late imperial and Republic China. Eleven specialists present fresh, detailed studies of subjects ranging from cultivated upper gentry to twentieth-century militarists, from wealthy urban merchants to village leaders. In the introduction and conclusion the editors reassess the pioneering gentry studies of the 1960s, draw comparisons to elites in Europe, and suggest new ways of looking at the top people in Chinese local social systems. Chinese Local Elites and Patterns of Dominance lays the foundation for future discussions of Chinese elites and provides a solid introduction for non-specialists. Essay...
This pioneering study explores the role of working-class militias as vanguard and guardian of the Chinese Revolution. The book begins with the origins of urban militias in the late nineteenth century and follows their development to the present day. Elizabeth J. Perry focuses on the institution of worker militias as a vehicle for analyzing the changing (yet enduring) impact of China's revolutionary heritage on subsequent state-society relations. She also incorporates a strong comparative perspective, examining the influence of revolutionary militias on the political trajectories of the United States, France, the Soviet Union, and Iran. Based on exhaustive archival research, the work raises fascinating questions about the construction of revolutionary citizenship; the distinctions among class, community, and creed; the open-ended character of revolutionary movements; and the path dependency of institutional change. All readers interested in deepening their understanding of the Chinese Revolution and in the nature of revolutionary change more generally will find this an invaluable contribution.
In a groundbreaking work, Klaus Muhlhahn offers a comprehensive examination of the criminal justice system in modern China, an institution deeply rooted in politics, society, and culture. In late imperial China, flogging, tattooing, torture, and servitude were routine punishments. Sentences, including executions, were generally carried out in public. After 1905, in a drive to build a strong state and curtail pressure from the West, Chinese officials initiated major legal reforms. Physical punishments were replaced by fines and imprisonment. Capital punishment, though removed from the public sphere, remained in force for the worst crimes. Trials no longer relied on confessions obtained throug...
"Observers have been predicting the demise of China’s political system since Mao Zedong’s death over thirty years ago. The Chinese Communist state, however, seems to have become increasingly adept at responding to challenges ranging from leadership succession and popular unrest to administrative reorganization, legal institutionalization, and global economic integration. What political techniques and procedures have Chinese policymakers employed to manage the unsettling impact of the fastest sustained economic expansion in world history? As the authors of these essays demonstrate, China’s political system allows for more diverse and flexible input than would be predicted from its forma...
This book employs multiple case studies to explore how the Chinese communist revolution began as an ideology-oriented intellectual movement aimed at improving society before China’s transformation into a state that suppresses dissenting voices by outsourcing its power of coercion and incarceration. The author examines the movement’s methods of early self-organization, grass-roots level engagement, creation of new modes of expression and popular art forms, manipulation of collective memory, and invention of innovative ways of mass incarceration. Covering developments from 1920 to 1970, the book considers a wide range of Chinese individuals and groups, from early Marxists to political pris...