The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History - Softcover

Clark, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521697867 ISBN 13: 9780521697866

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

A groundbreaking study of cultural life during a turbulent and formative decade in contemporary China, this book seeks to explode several myths about the Cultural Revolution (officially 1966-1976). Through national and local examination of the full range of cultural forms (film, operas, dance, other stage arts, music, fine arts, literature, and even architecture), Clark argues against characterizing this decade as one of chaos and destruction. Rather, he finds that innovation and creativity, promotion of participation in cultural production, and a vigorous promotion of the modern were all typical of the Cultural Revolution. Using a range of previously little-used materials, Clark forces us to fundamentally reassess our understanding of the Cultural Revolution, a period which he sees as the product of innovation in conflict with the effort by political leaders to enforce a top-down modernity.

About this title

Book Description:

Examining a wide range of cultural forms, Clark argues that innovation, participation in cultural production, and a vigorous promotion of the modern were all typical of the Cultural Revolution, which was characterized by the conflict of innovation with the effort by political leaders to enforce a top-down modernity.

About the Author:

Paul Clark (born 1949) is Professor of Chinese at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He pioneered the study of Chinese films with his Chinese Cinema: Culture and Politics since 1949 (Cambridge University Press, 1987) and most recently updated this work with Reinventing China: A Generation and Its Films (2005), on Chinese cinema's New Wave since the 1980s. He received his PhD from Harvard University and was a researcher at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i. This present book draws on his experience as an exchange student in Beijing from 1974 to 1976, the last two years of the Cultural Revolution.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521697867
• ISBN 13: 9780521697866
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368