The Chinese Communist Party: A Century in Ten Lives

Cambridge University Press
Edition: New, 5/6/2021
EAN 9781108822619, ISBN10: 1108822614

Paperback, 304 pages, 21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

Ten engaging personal histories introduce readers to what it was like to live in and with the most powerful political machine ever created: the Chinese Communist Party. Detailing the life of ten people who led or engaged with the Chinese Communist Party, one each for one of its ten decades of its existence, these essays reflect on the Party's relentless pursuit of power and extraordinary adaptability through the transformative decades since 1921. Demonstrating that the history of the Chinese Communist Party is not one story but many stories, readers learn about paths not taken, the role of chance, ideas and persons silenced, hopes both lost and fulfilled. This vivid mosaic of lives and voices draws together one hundred years of modern Chinese history - and illuminates possible paths for China's future.

Introduction. Telling the story of the Chinese Communist Party
1. 1920s
a Dutchman's fantasy
Henricus Sneevliet's united front for the Chinese Communist Party Tony Saich
2. 1930s
Wang Ming's Wuhan moment
a brief flowering of popular front communism Hans J. van de Ven
3. 1940s
Wang Shiwei's rectification
intellectuals and the party in yan'an Timothy Cheek
4. 1950s
from fallen star to red star
Shangguan Yunzhu Zhang Jishun
5. 1960s
Wang Guangmei and peach garden experience Elizabeth J. Perry
6. 1970s
The death of Mao and life of Chairman Gonzalo Julia Lovell
7. 1980s
Zhao Ziyang and the voices of reform Klaus Mühlhahn
8. 1990s
Wang Yuanhua
a party intellectual reflects Xu Jilin
9. 2000s
Jiang Zemin and the naughty Auties Jeremy Goldkorn
10.2010s
Guo Meimei
the story of a young netizen portends a political throwback Guobin Yang
Afterword. The party and the world Philip Bowring
Index.