The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village

by Dongping Han

The Unknown Cultural Revolution challenges the established narrative of China’s Cultural Revolution, which assumes that this period of great social upheaval led to economic disaster, the persecution of intellectuals, and senseless violence. Dongping Han offers a powerful account of the dramatic improvements in the living conditions, infrastructure, and agricultural practices of China’s rural population that emerged in this period. Drawing on extensive local interviews and records in rural Jimo County, in Shandong Province, Han shows that the Cultural Revolution helped overthrow local hierarchies, establish participatory democracy and economic planning in the communes, and expand education and public services, especially for the elderly. Han lucidly illustrates how these changes fostered dramatic economic development in rural China.

The Unknown Revolution documents a neglected side of China’s Cultural Revolution, demonstrating the potential of mass education and empowerment for radical political and economic transformation. It is a bold and provocative work, which demands the attention not only of students of contemporary Chinese history but of all who are concerned with poverty and inequality in the world today.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Asia, 20th Century, Theory

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2000

Reviews

[Zach Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and even-handed account of the Cultural Revolution's impact on rural parts of China. Dongping Han provides a high level of detail and research that challenges currently-held (across the spectrum, unfortunately) beliefs about the advancements and contradictions within this great decade. He's careful to separate individual from communal to level out his analysis, while not shying away from some of the internal dynamics within the party and in the villages that shaped these outcomes. Highly recommend!

[tara bomp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating work of history. Totally rejects typical views of the Cultural Revolution as a complete disaster, although at the same time is critical of a few aspects of Mao-era policy and mentions common criticisms and tries to respond to them. The story is told through many, many personal anecdotes and life stories of those who lived in a small area of China. This micro-history approach obviously means you don't get a good overview of the Cultural Revolution but I think what's done here is much more important - you get an idea of how it affected ordinary life through the stories of those who were actually affected by it, which is an incredibly important angle rarely touched on elsewhere. It includes a few critical perspectives but these are almost all from communist party officials criticised and financially punished during the era. The ultimate picture is positive, convincing and inspiring. Excellent book I recommend to anyone interested in communism or China.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very eye-opening, supportive and uplifting narrative of China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, by a peasant farmer who not only lived through it, but flourished. Thanks to the greatly expanded educational opportunities and political power seized by the rural poor under the leadership and encouragement of Mao Tse Tung, the privilege of both old feudal lords and new party bureaucrats, were overthrown and replaced with a new collective culture of "serve the people".

This is a far different look than the dominant and promoted narrative, which paints at the "Socialist Years" of Mao's China as a great horror, a murderous reign of ignorance, destruction of the economy and education, and the mindless subservience to authority.

[Will L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book for challenging those commonplace Western fantasies of the Cultural Revolution as a time of frenzied smashing-up of pagodas and burning of books. Looks at rural economic development, the transformation of rural education and grassroots political empowerment in the decade of 1966 to 1976.

[Severi Saaristo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cultural Revolution was bit like an anarchist revolution. It was anti-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian and was based on great cooperation, mutual aid and responsibility between people. (EDIT: It's quite misleading to call it an anarchist revolution though, because there was more centralization in the high positions of the CPC and authoritarianism against the non-Maoist section of the party of course. In a kind of dialectical fashion centralization in the party corresponded with extreme decentralization in the people's grassroots movements on the ground.) It's quite inspiring to read how the poor rural villagers and workers in China took their faiths in to their own hands, empowered by Mao's words, and loudly criticized corrupt communist party officials and created a space for open debate. For the first time in China the elitist culture was denounced and social equality was actively pursued. With this political empowerment these rural collectives built schools, clinics, factories, irrigation systems etc. and as a result agricultural production increased dramatically, rural industry and infrastructure was built and people's living standards rose and rural China was catching up to urban China. For the first time ever rural China got free universal education and health care.
Here's Dongping Han on education during Cultural Revolution.
"Critics of Cultural Revolution educational reforms note the low standards of the village schools. But what else could village people do? Should they have waited for better teachers to become available? A child has only one chance for education in a lifetime. Once that opportunity has been missed, it can never be regained!"
"From the standpoint of traditional Chinese beliefs, allowing these less educated farmers and workers to lead the educational reforms was outrageous. How could the less educated lead the better educated? Fundamentally, this was a philosophical question. The criticism reflected the arrogance of the Chinese educated elite and their narrow mind-set toward knowledge. While these workers and peasants had no formal education, what they did have were practical knowledge and a different perspective on education. They braved the traditional bias and prejudice in Chinese schools and society because they felt they had a mission in the educational reforms. Their experiences in schools varied. Those who were more capable won respect and cooperation from teachers and students quickly; those who were less capable had a harder time winning respect and cooperation."
"It was not easy for Confucian-minded, teachers and parents to accept some equality in the classroom. Understandably, they were critical of the lack of discipline during the Cultural Revolution, and they changed back to supporting a more regimented classroom when the Cultural Revolution was denounced in China. This shows that it is not easy for a new democratic culture to take root. Some people say that it takes three generations to bring up a noble man. The cultivation of democratic culture and values will definitely take time."
"The rapid expansion of schools in rural Jimo during the Cultural Revolution was typical of rural China as a whole. For the first time in history all children in rural China had the opportunity to go to primary school and the great majority of children had the opportunity to go to middle school and high school. For the perspective of the village, The Cultural Revolution decade, far from being a disaster for education, as it is routinely presented by Chinese education officials today, was a period of unprecedented development. Formally, Chinese Communist Party was beginning to seriously fulfill the promise it had made for the rural people to bring universal education to the village. This would have a profound effect on rural economic development."
Here's Dongping Han on the new political culture that was created during the CR.
"What had Lin Biao or Confucius, to do with the common villagers? Why should common farmers be concerned with the power struggles among the top leaders or with what an ancient philosopher said more than two thousand years ago? For thousands of years, Chinese villagers lived very apolitical lives, seldom getting involved in politics. The fact that Mao and other Cultural Revolution leaders saw the need to involve common villagers, most of whom were illiterate and were considered ignorant by the educated elite, was in itself revolutionary and democratic. According to some villagers, rural people were thought by the urban people to be lao niai (numb and senseless). They supposedly refused to be provoked even if they were kicked. But a central point of the campaign to criticize Lin Biao and Confucius was that rural people were not stupid. This was a completely different kind of politics that empowered farmers."
Before the cultural revolution the village leaders often abused their power and they were selected top down without democracy. That changed completely during the CR.
"The reason why the leaders worked harder during the Cultural Revolution was simple. Common villagers would not tolerate lazy leaders. If leaders did now work, villagers refused to work as well, which would lead to a decline in production and living standards. If leaders did not work hard, villagers would elect someone else to replace them in the year-end election, someone who was ready to work hard."
"The Cultural Revolution gave ordinary villagers a voice in production decisions, encouraged local initiative and compelled cadres to work together with ordinary farmers, creating political conditions in which villagers were empowered within the collective structure. The old village party structure was overthrown and in its place a new power structure, more responsive to the farmers' aspirations, was set up. The schools created as a result of Cultural Revolution reforms also provided rural areas, for the first time, with young people who had the technical knowledge required to modernize agriculture and develop rural industry."
In 1978 Deng Xiaoping comes to power and with his new policies the rural poor people suffer. (EDIT: These days I don't have a negative view of Deng Xiaoping, because the liberation of the productive forces of the country was necessary for China to build its economic base, modern infrastructure, raise the standards of living and develop the productive forces further. Socialists don't want to socialize poverty, but that is what the Gang of Four wanted to do. Of course this kind of fast industrialization in a market economy setting and disintegration of the communes meant that there was a price paid by some people in the short term. And I completely understand the criticisms against Deng, however I'd urge people to look into the work of John Ross, Enfu Cheng and others concerning the Deng Xiaoping reforms and era. One could argue which John Ross does that Deng Xiaoping's economic policies were more in line with Marx's writings than for example Stalin's post 1929 policies in the USSR which were done due to the geopolitical situation at the time, forcing the Soviets to collectivize and modernize the entire agriculture in a quick brutal sweep in order to industrialize very fast, because of the threat of war posed by imperialist capitalist countries. Anyways at the moment Xi Jinping has been and is addressing the problems that came with the very fast economic growth: inequality, environmental issues, social service accessibility, working conditions etc.)
"Political empowerment is a long process. In China, where officialdom had been dominant for thousands of years, this process will not be long but tortuous. The Cultural Revolution was one of the first attempts to empower ordinary rural Chinese against officialdom. It only succeeded to a limited extent. The complete negation of The Cultural Revolution following Deng Xiaoping's return to power in 1978 was like a quick deep frost on tender spring crops. It rolled back and in many respects destroyed the process of political empowerment in China - at least this seems to be the case for rural Jimo."
"With the change of political climate, the right to use big character posters was removed from the Chinese Constitution. Ordinary people could no longer criticize their leaders through big character posters and great debate. Corruption and abuse of power grew. People were angry but didn't dare to speak up."
"There are very real setbacks, both in organization of production and in the provision of education, medical care and other social services. The state leaders who promoted and demanded the dissolution of collectives, did not have to bear the direct consequences of their policies. -- Before they were disbanded, collectives had become and important institution in rural life. Job security, medical insurance, old age safeguards and education in rural areas had all been built around this one institution."
"Mechanization and the infrastructure of irrigation depended on the collective organization and both have faltered since the collectives were dismantled."
People basically got a lot of the same social problems again that were common before 1949, which is a shame. Although, not all of the achievements and advances that happened during the Cultural Revolution could be taken away, but a lot was taken for sure. (EDIT: In the short term a lot of people lost social welfare, but in the long term Deng's policies were correct.)
The Unknown Cultural Revolution is a fascinating book and a must read for anyone who is interested in China under Mao and/or anyone who is interested in fast progressive developments in human societies. It is extremely well researched and of course the author himself was born and lived in Jimo County during the Cultural Revolution.
Last quote from Dongping Han: "The main conclusion I hope readers will draw from the experience of Jimo County during the Cultural Revolution decade is that measures to empower and educate people at the bottom of society can also serve the goal of economic development. It is not necessary to choose between pursuing social equality and pursuing economic development. The choice is whether or not to pursue social equality."

[Chet]

It unfortunately reads like the other side of the anti-GPCR coin. When will there be a balanced perspective on this decade? Han is correct that within (and without) China the anti-GPCR voices are out of touch and miss the positives, but he overcorrects and ends up inaccurately and simplistically smearing Deng and the whole reform-and-opening-up process.

David Ownby on his blog has translated some interesting recent writings coming from supporters of Xi within China who seem willing to theorize clean continuity between the Mao years (including GPCR) and the post-Mao years. I hope more writings like these become more widely available in English, including full length books-worth of scholarship. Much needed.

[dead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, detailed book. Vital for constructing a picture of the Cultural Revolution's intentions and effects within the rural and underdeveloped areas of China.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cultural Revolution is often portrayed as an “anarchic” (as if “anarchic” were inherently pejorative) or violent chapter. Violence did occur, but it’s important to examine why it happened, and to understand the profound processes of self-reflection and ideological struggle that preceded it.

This book is a recollection of tangible, positive transformations that took place in a specific region of China during the Cultural Revolution, with statistics and interviews to villagers. What makes it so remarkable is that it offers rare, firsthand insight into a period that is almost universally condemned or dismissed in dominant narratives. It presents a grounded account that reveals how deeply the movement reshaped education, community life, and political participation in rural China.
The information here challenges both Western and Chinese state narratives, highlighting how the Communist Party itself contributed to reframing the more emancipatory aspects of the Cultural Revolution in later decades. It shows how political action translated into concrete change in rural life and how the movement, while not truly anarchist in nature, nonetheless embodied anti-authoritarian and collectivist impulses in its organization and spirit.

Definitely an invitation to rethink what revolution, education, and collective empowerment can mean when stripped of both Cold War mythologies and bureaucratic distortions. And most of all, how the deliberate rupture with long-standing cultural traditions of submission can become a driving force for transformation.

[Nacho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, contextualized and easy-to-read account of the changes that the Cultural Revolution brought to the Chinese rural population.

While the common accounts of the Cultural Revolution focus on the experience in the cities (and better-off workers and intellectuals), this book covers what this period meant for the countryside, where most Chinese people lived, both politically and economically.

The book covers aspects of political empowerment, access to education, health care and the fulfillment of basic necessities, both before, during and after the GPCR. It does it both through official data and interviews to people who lived it, making it both informative and entertaining.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great challenge to the Chinese government’s official evaluation of the Cultural Revolution.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This needed to be 200 pages longer... really loved the citations and thoroughness, a very interesting perspective on the "unmitigated chaos" that is associated with the Cultural Revolution but is normally viewed through the lens of the city inhabitants. Would have loved a more in-depth view of the actions of the peasants beyond their changes to farming techniques and education changes. Would recommend for people looking for a different view of the cultural revolution and why it's viewed as a bad thing in modern China (hint: because it targeted the elites of the Communist Party).

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

great information you won't get from the official stories.

[Rhuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dongpin Han's revisionist (save the irony) look at China's Cultural Revolution is a much-needed review of an era officially demonized in both modern China and the larger world. The prevailing consensus of convenience portrays Mao's GPCR as an economic and political disaster that retarded economic growth and political maturity through excessive egalitarianism and collectivism. The period's pervasive image is one of frenzied juvenile delinquents waving Little Red Books, forcing ordinary citizens to "go on red", destroying cultural monuments, beating up their elders and teachers, and battling each other in mass gang wars. Dongping Han, unlike most observers, grew up in rural China at the time, and was in a position to see a much different side. Westerners might be forgiven their ignorance of "the unknown Cultural Revolution," but not Chinese officials. Dongpin Han challenges not only their elitism, which motivated their discrediting of grass roots development, but the dominant global market dogma that development and social equality are by nature mutually exclusive. This is what makes his study of great relevance to not only modern China but the rest of the developing world.

Dongping Han quantitatively shows how education, political responsibility, and basic industry developed in his home region by bottom-up, grass roots mobilization, which removed corrupt officials, empowered ordinary citizens to speak their minds through "big character posters," brought technical education to country youth, and provided basic social service support. Rather than create a "global village," the Cultural Revolution sought to make a full life accessible to real village people. The author does not excuse the extremes of the period, as some allege. But he encourages us to see beyond the stereotype, and reminds us that discrediting the Cultural Revolution was a political "struggle" in its own right by self-interested parties, seeking to restore and retrench lost privileges by attacking the very idea of social equity and collective action.

I will challenge him on a couple points which stop my hand from giving the book five stars. He writes of a "culture of submission" in rural China which reinforced the class domination of the village. While the author certainly knows rural China better than I do, the idea sounds as fishy as a "culture of poverty," and is belied by the very evidence he presents. The submission of ordinary people is largely role-playing, as we see every day in our own jobs and official interaction. Once freed from imposed constraints we also see these deference patterns are not deeply ingrained at all. Such "culture" is, then, a construct contingent on continued external enforcement, not exactly a repressive psychological force in its own right. Similarly, the popular elan of "one for all" during the GPCR, while genuine, was also enforced by heavy social pressure. Participants who spoke a hard line, volunteering extra work and time, did so - as they later admitted - for status reasons, to deflect criticism, or just bent with the east wind to avoid the harsh punishment inflicted on the deviant.

But this did not detract from genuine development for the poor and neglected majority. The preceding Great Leap Forward, following Soviet-style collectivization, was a disaster that has ever after served Western critics as "proof" of socialist inhumanity. The Chinese Party itself learned its lesson. Reformers like Deng Xiaoping decided they must take the "capitalist road" or China would sink like a stone. Mao himself was too much the revolutionary to think inside the cold war's intellectual boxes. He opted for a third way, which offered (on its own terms) a form of democracy and development for China. Despite the official condemnation of resurgent restorationists, the Maoist era now looks idealistic and even naïve. Certainly the mindless urban speculation, massive unemployment and dislocation, pervasive corruption, and environmental degradation of "Reformed China" are no improvement over howling hordes of Red Guards. It was these same Maoist youth that evolved into modern dissidents; while residues of the period are still evident outside China, in the growth of paramedics or affirmative action programs. Those in the West denouncing China's current lack of democracy, while praising its market reforms and the class that promoted them, demonstrate that round-eyed obtuseness is still the prevailing condition among many China-watchers.

[Sergej Bozinovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive look at the economical and social development of the village the author grew up in.

It's filled with statistics vivified with anegdotes of the villagers. It begins by giving a very brief history of China before the GPCR and then it dives deep into the Cultural Revolution decade. Detailed descriptions are given about social change, agriculture and industry, education and health. It ends with the end of the GPCR and the immediate consequences of Deng's reforms.

The book challenges the narrative that the Cultural Revolution was a time of chaos and despair where nothing got done, no progress was made and the children got no education. In fact the author clearly shows that it was a time of unprecedented democracy in the hands of the people and the first time many villagers got any sort of education or medical treatment.

A big focus of the cultural revolution decade was rural development, sometimes to the detriment to the urban elites. It's no wonder then that, after having been sacked during the GPCR, when the elites came back to power they wanted to discredit the cultural revolution.

I found the book surprisingly emotional. Reading about how the villagers could for the first time attend school and get basic medical care really made me aware of what I took for granted.

My grandma on my mother's side is of similar age of the author. She too grew up during a revolutionary time, except that the socialist experiment she experienced was Tito's Yugoslavia and not Mao's China. The book inspired me to talk to her about her experiences.

For people in the more developed countries (the west) politics nowadays is mostly a matter of esthetics. I like team blue, red, pink or green with most of the dominant parties having very similar ideologies and economic policy (mostly neoliberalism). For people in the exploited countries, colonised and former colonised nations politics is a question of life and death. This book shows that clearly. Being able to organise for your collective benefit, having machinery for better harvests and thus bigger reserves in case of natural disaster, a doctor or a nurse in your village, those can all be a matter of life and death in an underdeveloped and (by colonialism) overexpoited country. "Life expectancy in Jimo County increased from 35 years in 1949 to 70.54 years in 1986", to quote the author. That is effective policy

My grandma was part of the first generation in her village to finish highschool. She went on to pursue higher education in the medical field. That is effective policy.

I strongly recommend anyone interested in the topic of the GPCR to read this book.

[Harry Liuson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent personal account of the rural Chinese experience during the Cultural Revolution. Han Dongping argues that between 1966-1976, rural China experienced drastic improvement on the following dimensions:

- Political: Rural China had in the communist period 1949-1966 had not experienced major political changes from the pre-revolutionary period, with villagers remaining subject to the arbitrary diktats of a handful of party members. During the Cultural Revolution, even after the initial period of intense upheaval, villagers were able to voice protest via dazibao (big character posters) and gained functional democratic oversight over political decisions within the communes.

- Educational: Pre-1966 communist education policy had centered largely on the cities. Rural schools were scarcely attended and underfunded. The few who did achieve success and attended high school or college went to work in the cities and never came back. The CR massively expanded rural access to education as well as reorienting education towards practical rural needs.

- Economical: The Cultural Revolution revived Great Leap Forward policies of rural industry oriented towards rural needs. This broke the pre-CR trend of "involution" where Chinese agricultural growth largely tracked with rising labor inputs. Rural industry produced tractors, fertilizer, and electric pumps for wells. Land was irrigated and terraced via mass labor movements. Dongping Han demonstrates that agricultural productivity in Jimo county, which did not meaningfully rise between 1949 and 1966, more than doubled between 1966 and 1976. Commune ownership of tractors and farm animals skyrocketed.

Many of these gains - political, educational, or economical, were walked back by Deng after Mao's death. While it is hard to render judgement on the economic success of Dengist China, especially given the continuities between CR-era commune industries and later Town-Village Enterprises, Han Dongping argues that politically there was a counterrevolution after 1976 where Cultural Revolution era rebels were purged from power and arrested, and in practice the lives of many rural Chinese worsened as commune governance fell apart and access to basic social services and necessities was revoked.

A short and very readable book, packed with evidence both in the form of statistics and interviews with villagers conducted by the author in his home county.

[Rhi Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "The Unknown Cultural Revolution", Dongping Han uses one Chinese county as a case study for the experience of rural people during the Cultural Revolution of the 60's and 70's. Using interviews, press from the time, and official statistics, he makes the argument that, while the Cultural Revolution was certainly flawed and the image we in the west may have of how it was in the cities may be closer to the truth, the situation of rural Chinese people improved in measurable and interesting ways compared to the periods before and after.

The book gives a lot of context to the period, which is remarkably helpful and insightful. His retelling of the reprisal violence between peasants and landlords as the area passed between the Nationalists and the Communists during the civil war, and it's echoing during the right wing blowback of Deng Xiaoping's government was eye opening. As well, his focus on the prevalence of pre-revolutionary mindsets (going back to imperial times) and their expressions in power structures was helpful to dispell the myth that new regimes suddenly change the way people act and think.

This book is at its best when it gets into explaining the misunderstood hairy details of the period. Dongping Han explains how the Mao personality cult and Little Red Book phenomenon, while open to all criticism in hindsight, at the time wasn't ideology being lapped up by ignorant peasants but rather a weapon wielded by recently literate people against corrupt officials in a way they never could before. He also makes a strong case for the collective farming of the period, and uses cases and statistics to show how some of the failed projects of the highly centralised great leap forward were successful under the decentralised Cultural Revolution. He also spends a lot of time talking about the free schools and clinics built and staffed by local people.

This is the book I wanted Mobo Gao's Battle For China's Past to be, but together the two books cover the high and low angle mythbusting of the period. The Cultural Revolution is one of the most interesting things humanity has ever gone through, and should be better understood by people in the west. This is a short book and an easy read and I recommend it to anyone.

[Javo Pacheco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought I’d tear up reading about farmers being empowered and children being able to go to school, as well as being amazed at the concept of “barefoot” doctors and “people’s education”. For a very controversial time in history, Dongping Han using interviews, stories, and records to display the beauty of the Cultural Revolution. He does a fantastic job at showing the relevance while remaining critical and providing a deeper understanding of the tragedies that transpired during China’s early years( particularly, the Great Leap Forward). It reads as a beautiful, yet sometimes terrifying, and liberating, yet chaotic chapter of history. For all of its nuances, I believe what really struck me about this book is how convincingly it displays the genuine plausibility and the chance to build a future of collective freedom. To those who want to see bright future for humanity, and the realization of democracy around the world, the Cultural Revolution’s stories, both good and bad, successes, and failures will not be forgotten. They should not be forgotten as we march towards the future.

[Maia Olive · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow I wasn't expecting this to be so lame ! Dongping Han thinks that the CPC is just a continuation of the Qing and ROC governments and he seems to share the opinion with many stupid Western so-called socialists that the GPCR was this collective communist utopia that was so perfect and good and that Deng came along and RUINED it all. I do think that it is important to discuss the GPCR in an empathetic and positive light but Dongping Han only does it by denouncing every other period of communist China. Certainly the strongest part of this book is his discussion of the positive effects that the GPCR had on people living in rural Shandong; the interviews he did of people who lived through the period are valuable. However, he seems to have little conception of continuity and developments between periods. I think he has spent too much time in America and has acquired the institutional anti-communist brainrot.

[Gage Hoefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book challenging the Western orthodox stereotype of the Cultural Revolution as an unequivocal failure. By focusing on rural life in China during 1966-1976, it makes a persuasive argument that the attempts of the Cultural Revolution to bring about a greater sense of social equality and democracy to the lives of farmers was actually successful in many ways, bringing about positive social change and strong economic development throughout much of the country. It also makes a compelling argument that, while Deng's market reforms have also brought about a certain type of economic development, the quality of rural life has suffered as a result due to the dismantling of the communes and the subsequent loss of many social institutions which had previously provided for villagers throughout their lives.

[Scott Trimble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. Told me a lot more about life on the ground during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, how it improved the lives of rural Chinese people compared to the earlier period of the post-revolutionary epoch in the PRC. It also briefly explained some of the ways that these advances were deteriorated after the Deng reforms of the late 1970s.

While some statistics will suggest that the liberalization efforts of Deng and his successors have lifted millions of Chinese people out of poverty, those data are based on monetary income, whereas much of the well-being gained during the GPCR was due to (non-monetary) communal access to goods and services, as well as a sociocultural democratization, which has regressed under the individualization of the economy.

[Anya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually great: super straightforwardly composed but a very vivid portrait, I think. I really appreciated it. I decided to read this because I don't know much about Chinese history (of the 20th century in particular) and figured it might be interesting to start learning at the "micro" level and build upwards from there, which is not a mode of history-learning I've usually had the opportunity to do. So maybe I'll learn some "macro" grand narrative big man stuff too, but I love stuff like this. I think (as a pretty uneducated outsider) that it is extremely fortunate Han decided to write this given his intimacy with the village and villagers. Also read in like a day which is what I mean by straightforward.

[Stephen S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent counterhistory to Western & CPC official narrative of the Cultural Revolution; the GPCR years were perhaps the most vibrantly democratic years this world has ever known - *real* political empowerment, education, healthcare. Dongpin Han's book *is* a big character poster, in the spirit of this bygone era, denouncing the revisionist clique for their assault on Chinese toilers & denouncing the Cultural Revolution.

Mao Tse-tung & the Chinese citizenry's attempt to overthrow the capitalist roaders in the Party was valiant, righteous, and in the end it almost won out. One can't help but feel that the world would have been a much better place had Mao & his comrades succeeded.

[Mikel Iturbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Han-ek Txinako iraultza kulturalari buruz dagoen iritzi hegemonikoari aurka egiten dio, eta landa-eremuan eragin positiboa izan zuela azpimarratzen du, nekazariak ahalduntzeko neurri-sorta izanik. Horretarako, Qingdao inguruan dagoen Jimo eskualdean zentratzen du bere ikerketa, eskualde honek izandako bilakaera aztertuz iraultza kulturalaren hamarkadan.

Liburua batzuetan anekdota-bilduma modura irakur daitekeen arren eta ondorio batzuekin guztiz ados egon gabe ere, orokorrean gertakariaren inguruko beste ikuspegi bat izateko lagungarria izan daiteke.

[Publius Decius Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book. It tells the story about the people in rural China, their historical context, and their musings around the Cultural Revolution. The book is concise, well-argued, logically structured, and succeeds brilliantly in both setting the stage and filling the gaps of the interpretation maintained by the CCP around the Cultural Revolution. Topics covered include the political development of the people, education and healthcare in the countryside, as well as the economics and economic development of the era, with comparisons to issues neglected and dismissed with Deng's reforms.

[Michael Boyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a big character poster, Dongping Han’s account of the cultural revolution breaks through the bullshit conventional wisdom, and opens up a new realm of possibilities.

His in depth accounts of the village show how cultural revolution policies enabled both an uptick in rural development and the quality of life for villagers, and a dramatic increase in the the participation in the running of society.

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books presents a revolutionary fresh perspective on the Cultural Revolution, one that locates its significance not in China's urban centers, where the era's worst excesses and upheavals were concentrated and which western historiography generally focuses on, but rather in China's rural areas, which witnessed an unprecedented level of political empowerment, educational reform, and economic development in that time. Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in this unique period.

[Yameng LT · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looks like from the reviews.. a lot of you out there just got brainwashed by the CCP.

Just because someone was close to history, doesn’t mean they have clear thought and critical understanding. A lot of intelligent, well-educated scientists, academics were smitten with Hitler and supported fascism. The authors recount of history does not match what actually happened or documented in Chinese history.

Educate yourselves.

[C.S. Malerich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rural perspective on the Cultural Revolution, I'm glad I read this after the graphic memoir We Served the People. Lots of good insights about the connection between education, agriculture, and platforms for the rank-and-file to critique authority.

[Matt Morris]

Read reviews of this & other books at https://miscmss.blogspot.com/2020/07/...

[Redspud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good repudiation of the Western narrative, an excellently written book, full of both figures and anecdotes from the common people. Emphasis on education is hugely important.