Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras) - Hardcover

Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; Zhou, Yuan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810854619 ISBN 13: 9780810854611

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 2006

Synopsis

The Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China started in 1966 and lasted about a decade. This revolutionary upsurge of Chinese students and workers, led by Mao Zedong, wreaked havoc in the world's most populous country, often turning things upside down and undermining the party, government, and army while simultaneously weakening the economy, society, and culture. Tens of millions of people were killed, injured, or imprisoned during this period and relatively few benefited, aside from Mao Zedong and the Gang of Four, the group that would eventually receive the blame for the events of the Cultural Revolution.

Given the turbulence and confusion, it is hard to know just what happened. The Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution tackles this task. First, in an extensive chronology, which traces the events from year to year and month to month, then in an introduction puts these events in context and helps to explain them. But most importantly, the bulk of the information is provided in a dictionary section with numerous cross-referenced entries on important persons, places, institutions, and movements. A bibliography points to further sources of information and a glossary will help those researching in Chinese.

About this title

About the Author

Guo Jian is Professor of English and Chinese at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Yongyi Song is on the library faculty at California State University, Los Angeles.

Yuan Zhou is the Curator of the East Asian Library of the University of Chicago.

From Booklist

China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) is described in the foreword as resembling a "free-for-all" that ultimately harmed or destroyed one-eighth of the country's population. In what is surely one of history's most regressive movements, Mao Zedong engineered the upheaval of landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, "bad elements," Rightists, and others by their natural or concocted enemies. The authors, each of whom "lived through the Cultural Revolution," describe the 10-year class struggle as having caused "unprecedented damage to traditional culture and to the nation's economy" and as being largely responsible for the speed and scale of pragmatic economic reforms in post-Mao China.

The main sections of the book are a chronology, an introduction, the dictionary, a glossary, and a bibliography. The 22-page chronology includes, in entries of one to several sentences, major events from November 1965 to October 1976. The 19-page introductory essay analyzes highlights of the chronology, also peeking at the years and events leading up to the Cultural Revolution. The volume's heart is the 362-page dictionary section, with hundreds of entries for events, people, publications, slogans, and terms. Among the entries are Big-character posters, Bystanders (those not belonging to any faction), July 21 University (a type of university established to train young factory workers to be engineers), Red Guards, United States-China relations, and Work groups . Many terms are given in Pinyin romanization as well as English. The 11-page glossary is organized by Pinyin spelling of a personal name or term, followed by the English equivalent for terms and Chinese characters for both names and terms. An extensive bibliography of works in English is subdivided by topics. A not-very-detailed map and 15 black-and-white photographs supplement the text.

Recommended for academic libraries and as a supplemental resource for anyone researching the Cultural Revolution. Craig Bunch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0810854619
• ISBN 13: 9780810854611
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 504