Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class

Joel Andreas

ISBN 10: 0804760780 / ISBN 13: 9780804760782

Published by Stanford University Press, 2009

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # B9780804760782

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804760780
• ISBN 13: 9780804760782
• Binding: Paperback / softback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Rise of the Red Engineers explains the tumultuous origins of the class of technocratic officials who rule China today. In a fascinating account, author Joel Andreas chronicles how two mutually hostile groups―the poorly educated peasant revolutionaries who seized power in 1949 and China's old educated elite―coalesced to form a new dominant class. After dispossessing the country's propertied classes, Mao and the Communist Party took radical measures to eliminate class distinctions based on education, aggravating antagonisms between the new political and old cultural elites. Ultimately, however, Mao's attacks on both groups during the Cultural Revolution spurred inter-elite unity, paving the way―after his death―for the consolidation of a new class that combined their political and cultural resources. This story is told through a case study of Tsinghua University, which―as China's premier school of technology―was at the epicenter of these conflicts and became the party's preferred training ground for technocrats, including many of China's current leaders.

About the Author

Joel Andreas is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. His work has appeared in various publications, including the American Sociological Review, Theory and Society, and The China Journal.