Book

Maoism at the Grassroots : everyday life in China's era of high socialism

Brown, Jeremy, 1976- editors, Johnson, Matthew D., editors

Overview

\"This edited volume explores the stunning diversity in behavior, outlook, and viewpoints at the grassroots level of society during the Mao Zedong era. Men had gay relationships in factory dormitories, teens penned searing complaints in diaries, mentally ill individuals in the Beijing suburbs cursed Mao, and farmers formed secret societies, founded new dynasties, and worshipped forbidden spirits. These diverse undercurrents were at least as mainstream in people's everyday lives as the ideas found in Mao's Little Red Book or People's Daily editorials. Bringing together senior scholars and up-and-coming researchers from China, Europe, North America, and Taiwan, the book draws on rare documents to challenge top-down historical narratives. Focusing on crime, labels, and punishment; mobilization; culture and communication; and discontent, the chapters reveal how people individually and collectively negotiated structures of power. Bringing readers stories of aggrieved schoolteachers in rural Hunan, Uyghur officials in Xinjiang, armed rebels on the southwest frontier, and disaffected youth in Tianjin, the volume sheds light on the traumas and unexpected turning points during China's years of high socialism, raising the question of whether 'Mao's China' ever existed at all\"--Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Subject: Communism Social aspects China History 20th century. / Politics and culture China History 20th century. / Crime China History 20th century. / Political participation China History 20th century. / Communication Social aspects China History 20th century. / Discontent Social aspects China History 20th century. / Power (Social sciences) China History 20th century. / China Social life and customs 1949- / China Social conditions 1949- / China Politics and government 1949-
• ISBN: 9780674287204, 0674287207

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Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
DS777.6.M36 2015	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE