Memoirs and interpretation of the cultural revolution

Abstract

In recent years a large number of memoirs providing important information and insights about contemporary China have become available in Chinese and English. These memoirs also give us an emotional dimension in our understanding of China's history and politics. However, how to read and interpret these memoirs is an important issue for historians and political scientists. This is particularly true when we read the accounts by the survivors of the Cultural Revolution (CR) since their emotional impact is very powerful. Of the six books under review here, five, including Schwarcz's conversations with Zhang Shenfu, are memoirs of some kind. The sixth book, New Perspectives on the Cultural Revolution edited by William Joseph et al., is a collection of papers from a conference held in 1987 at Harvard.

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Notes on contributors

Mobo C. F. Gao

My thanks to the editors and the anonymous readers of BCAS for their valuable and helpful comments and suggestions. Needless to say, any mistakes or errors are entirely my own.