chinese cultural revolution

April 7, 2005 2:59 AM

I have to give a short presentation today in my Chinese Lit. class on the cultural revolution (i.e. approx. '66-'69, the upsurge by students and workers against the Chinese Communist Party, initiated by Mao) and, aside from such sources as Wikipedia, etc, was wondering if anyone had any interesting points to make about it, or revealing links, sources, etc, that would aid me in my presentation. My teacher lived in China around this time, so anything from a unique perspective would be appreciated by both her and I. Thanks!
posted by jruckman to society & culture (5 answers total)

I like Xinran's writing. But it's probably a bit late, considering the presentation is today...
posted by the cuban at 4:00 AM on April 7, 2005

I would advise against using WikiPedia as an academic source. I would also advise going to the library and checking out academic databases and historical books about this era in Chinese history. You could look at English language news sources from the time.
Citing AskMe and WikiPedia as your primary sources is not likely to go down well (or be very accurate).
posted by cushie at 4:44 AM on April 7, 2005

Asking people at Ask.Me for help with references does not

a) constitute someone asking to do the presentation for them
b) constitute citing AskMe as a resource.

I was happy to flag the first comment, but at the risk there are more pointless answers like this can responses please address the question?
posted by nthdegx at 4:49 AM on April 7, 2005

Nevermind -- I've already given the presentation. I was just looking to see if anyone mefi members happened to have a special interest in the subject, and could offer some interesting information. The presentation was just 10 minutes or so, a rough overview -- not quite worth diving through period news sources, but not so worthless as to disregard someone's unique perspective if it were to be offered.
posted by jruckman at 9:33 AM on April 7, 2005

Incidentally, the professor for my class on the 1960s speaks Chinese, has studied the period at length, and lectured on it yesterday.

When he was in China in 1970 or thereabouts, he talked with a Chinese scholar and was a bit shocked to learn that few people had ever read a complete essay by Mao. Most of what they knew of Maoism had been disseminated via quotation. The slogan and the quotation, he argues, became more significant in the 1960s.

He also talked about the large-character poster's role in spreading revolutionary thinking. it was partly a solution to the high cost of printing, but also served to spark discussion amongst the group of people that would gather to read it.


From my notes, those look like the only somewhat-anecdotal things that couldn't be picked up in a source. Hope it helps.
posted by rfordh at 10:20 AM on April 7, 2005