In this sweeping portrait of the political culture of the early People's Republic of China (PRC), Chang-tai Hung mines newly available sources to vividly reconstruct how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tightened its rule after taking power in 1949. With political-cultural projects such as reconstructing Tiananmen Square to celebrate the Communist Revolution; staging national parades; rewriting official histories; mounting a visual propaganda campaign, including oil paintings, cartoons, and New Year prints; and establishing a national cemetery for heroes of the Revolution, the CCP built up nationalistic fervor in the people and affirmed its legitimacy. These projects came under strong Soviet influence, but the nationalistic Chinese Communists sought an independent road of nation building; for example, they decided that the reconstructed Tiananmen Square should surpass Red Square in size and significance, against the advice of Soviet experts sent from Moscow.

Combining historical, cultural, and anthropological inquiries, Mao's New World examines how Mao Zedong and senior Party leaders transformed the PRC into a propaganda state in the first decade of their rule (1949-1959). Using archival sources only recently made available, previously untapped government documents, visual materials, memoirs, and interviews with surviving participants in the Party's plans, Hung argues that the exploitation of new cultural forms for political ends was one of the most significant achievements of the Chinese Communist Revolution. The book features sixty-six images of architecture, monuments, and artwork to document how the CCP invented the heroic tales of the Communist Revolution.

About the Author

Chang-tai Hung is Chair Professor of Humanities Emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is the author of War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937-1945 and Going to the People: Chinese Intellectuals and Folk Literature, 1918-1937.

Reviews

Mao's New World is a series of illuminating essays on the culture of the early People's Republic.

* New York Review of Books *

Chang-tai Hung's study of political culture in China in the 1950s is rich in detailed insights that complement his earlier treatment of the entwined subjects of politics and culture in War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937-1945.

* China Journal *

Hung's meticulous research reveals the struggles over values and power behind the granite surface of revolutionary China's new look.

* Foreign Affairs *

The book contains much comparison of Mao's China with Joseph Stalin's Russia, Adolf Hitler's Germany, and the early years of the French Revolution. This authoritative survey of an important subject will be welcome to students of the period.

* Journal of Interdisciplinary History *

The book makes a definite contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of cultural politics and political culture during the PRC's formative era.

* American Historical Review *

This study of the newly established regime in China in the early 1950s will appeal to a wide range of readers. Hung is particularly good at delineating the contested areas of modernity and tradition that were crucial in creating a new national identity.

* China Quarterly *



Book Information
ISBN 9780801449345
Author Chang-tai Hung
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 28mm