- Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality (Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1973), 16
- Yi Zheng, Shokujin Enseki: Massatsu Sareta Chūgoku Gendaishi [Cannibal Banquet: The Forgotten History of Contemporary China], (Tokyo: Kobunsha, 1993), 47–48.
- Ivan Illich, op. cit.
- The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–1976, hereafter, the Cultural Revolution) has been one of the central topics of discussion in contemporary China studies. Hence comprehensive review of the literature is beyond the scope of this article. Brief introduction, however, is in order. Following a trajectory similar to broader studies of social movements (cf., Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer N. Zald, Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framing [Cambridge University Press, 1996]), the earliest studies (e.g., Robert Lifton, Revolutionary Immorality: Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Cultural Revolution [New York: W. W. Norton, 1968]) focused on social-psychological aspects of the irrationality of participants. Later studies focused on rational, interest-based explanations—participants from privileged “revolutionary” background supported the status quo, whereas those from “bad” class background attacked it (e.g., Anita Chan, Stanley Rosen, and Jonathan Unger, “Students and Class Warfare: The Roots of the Red Guard Conflict in Guangzhou,” China Quarterly, 3: 397–446; author Hong Yung, The Politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: A Case Study [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978]; Shaoguang Wang, Failure of Charisma: The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan [Oxford University Press, 1995]). The most recent studies, utilizing the increasing availability of data on detailed local conditions and local histories of the Cultural Revolution, have elucidated more context-dependent political complications, criticizing the overly-rational, interest-based approach (e.g., Andrew G. Walder, Fractured Rebellion: The Beijing Red Guard Movement [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012]). Some recent important studies in Chinese include, e.g., Yongyi Song, Wenhua Dageming: Lishi Zhenxiang he Jiti Jiyi [The Cultural Revolution: The Truth of History and Collective Memory] (Hong Kong: Tianyuan Shuwu, 2007), Weihua Bu, “Zalan Jiushijie”: Wenhua Dageming Fadong yu Haojie, 1966–1968 [“Destroying the Old World”: The Beginning of the Cultural Revolution and the Turmoil, 1966–1968] (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2008), and Yun Shi and Danhui Li, Nanyi Jixu de Jixu Geming: Cong Pilin dao Pi Deng, 1972–1976 [The Continuous Revolution that is Difficult to Continue: From Criticizing Lin Biao to Criticizing Deng Xiaoping] (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2008). Some recent important studies in Japanese include, e.g., Mitsuyuki Kagami, Rekishi no naka no Chūgoku Bunka Daikakumei [The Chinese Cultural Revolution in History] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2001), Shin'ichi Tanigawa, Chūgoku Bunka Daikakumei no Dynamics [The Dynamics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution] (Tokyo: Ochanomizu Shobō, 2011), and Kaiei Yo, Genocide to Bunka Daikakumei: Uchi Mongol no Minzoku Mondai [Genocide and the Cultural Revolution: The Ethnic Problem in Inner Mongolia] (Bensei Shuppan, 2014). While fully acknowledging the contributions of these recent studies that are based on increasingly detailed data and sophisticated theoretical approach, I turn to a different problem in this article by tackling the question of the nature of political rationality common to different local conditions and historical variations of the Cultural Revolution.
- Zigmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000).
- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I: An Introduction (New York: Vintage Books, 1978 [French original 1976]), 140–141, 143–144.
- Ibid., 149–150.
- Edward Said. The World, the Text, and the Critic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983). See also, Mieke Bal, Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide (University of Toronto Press, 2002).
- In summarizing the basic workings of the system of class labeling, I rely on Mitsuyuki Kagami, ed. and trans., Shiryō Chūgoku Bunkadaikakumei: Shusshin Kettō Shugi wo Meguru Ronsō [Materials, The Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Debate on the Hereditary Designation of Class Labels] (Tokyo: Rikuetsu, 1980), 12–29, who rightly points to the importance of “the principle of the hereditary designation of class labels” (Xuetonglun).
- Ibid., 17–18.
- Beijing Jiating Chushen Wenti Yanjiu Xiaozu [Beijing Research Small Group on the Problem of Family Class Background], “Chushenlun” [On Family Class Background], Zhongxue Wengebao [Junior High School Cultural Revolution News], January 18, 1967, Vol. 1: 1–3. See also, Beijing Gongye Daxue Dongfanghong Gongshe, Mao Zedong Zhuyi Hongweibing [Beijing Institute of Technology, Dongfanghong Group, Maoism Red Guards], eds., “Tan Lifu Jianghua Zhushi” [Exegesis of the Speech by Tan Lifu], Reprinted by Qinghua Daxue Dongfanghong Group, Mao Zedong Thought Red Guards, October 18, 1966. Unless otherwise noted, the primary materials quoted in this article are taken from Red Guard Publications (Hongweibing Ziliao), an archival collection of documents in Chinese, which was compiled by the Center for Chinese Materials, Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C., and published in 1975–1979. In selecting and narrowing down the primary materials I cite and discuss in this article from the vast collection of materials available in Red Guard Publications, Kagami's (op. cit.) selection of materials related to Xuetonglun was of great help. In translating the original Chinese into English, I referred to Red Guard Publications (20 volumes) available in the C. V. Starr East Asian Library of the University of California, Berkeley.
- Boda Chen, “Jianchi Maozhuxi Tichu de Jieji Luxian, Tuanjie Daduoshu” [Hold Up the Class Line Put Forward by Chairman Mao and Unite the Majority of the People], Cuihui Zifanxian [Destroy the Capitalist and Reactionary Lines], February 1968: 4.
- Expression (biaoxian) means attitudes and behavior manifested by individuals in relation to the correct political ideology. It can mean, e.g., work attitude, efforts in studying Mao's works, or even hairstyles or clothes people wear.
- Beijing Jiating Chushen Wenti Yanjiu Xiaozu, op. cit.
- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I, 139
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (New York: Vintage Books 1977 [French original 1975).
- Ibid., 135–169.
- Ibid., 195–228.
- Edward Said, op. cit. See also, Mieke Bal, op. cit.
- Boda Chen, op. cit., 4.
- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I, 94.
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 229–308.
- Ibid., 232.
- Ibid., 232.
- Ibid., 233.
- Ibid., 232.
- Ibid., 233.
- Ibid., 271.
- Ibid., 271.
- Ibid., 277.
- author Zhongyang Junwei [Central Military Commission], “Guanyu Jundui Yuanxiao Wuchanjieji Wenhua Dageming de Jinji Zhishi [Urgent Order Regarding the Proletariat Cultural Revolution in Military-Attached Schools],” October 5, 1966.
- Zhonggong Zhongyang, Guowuyuan, “Guanyu Quebao Jiyao Wenjian he Dang'an Cailiao Anquan de Jixiang Guiding [A Few Regulations on Ensuring the Security of Classified Documents and Dossier Materials],” February 17, 1967.
- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I, 138.
- Ibid., 136–137.
- These classifications varied according to the socio-economic or political situations of particular time and space. For example, in some locations, there were “Four Bad Elements” instead of five.
- Jonathan Unger, “The Class System of Rural China: A Case Study,” in James L. Watson, ed. Class and Social Stratification in Post-Revolution China (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984), 124.
- Beijing Daxue Fushu Zhongxue Hongqi Zhandou Xiaozu [Beijing University Attached Junior High School Red Flag Struggle Small Group], “Zilaihong Zhanqilaile! [Red-By-Birth Have Stood Up!],” Bingtuan Zhanbao [Army Corps Battle News], November 26, 1966: 4.
- “Guo Dajiang” Zhandouzu [”Crossing the Wide River” Struggle Group], “‘Xuetonglun’ yu Duoquan Douzheng: Pipan ‘Liandong’ Fandong Sichao zhi Yi [‘Hereditary Designation’ and Struggle for Grasping the Political Rule: Criticizing the ‘Liandong’ Reactionary Thoughts, Part One.],” Chunlei [Spring Thunder], Vol. 11, July 1967: 1.
- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I, 148.
- Ibid., 149.
- Ibid., 149–150.
- Michel Foucault, “Politics and Reason,” in Lawrence D. Kritzman, ed., Michel Foucault: Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977–1984 (New York and London: Routledge, 1988 [original lecture 1979]), 85.
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