China

Mao’s Last Revolution  by Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, Belknap Press, 2006.  Jiang Qing Sent to Shanghai Mao began by sending his wife, Jiang Qing, to Shanghai to contact Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan and enlist their help in a campaign against the intellectual Wu Han, vice-mayor of Beijing. Mao’s actual target was Wu Han’s superior, Peng Zhen, Beijing mayor and leader of the Group of Five. The Group of Five were the current overseers of the Cultural Revoluti

Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now  by Jan Wong, Anchor Books, 1997.  Number One Machine Tool Factory In July 1972 the Chinese government gave Jan Wong permission to go to Beijing University starting in August. While a student Jan worked at Number One Machine Tool Factory. This was part of Mao’s effort to make city dwellers and intellectuals understand the lives of peasants and workers. Big Joy Farm Jan graduated from McGill in May 1974 with honors in history. She

Life and Death in Shanghai  by Nien Cheng, Grove Press, 1987.  Mistrust This is a memoir of a businesswoman who was arrested during Mao's Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Nien Cheng was accused of being a spy for the British.The Communist Party mistrusted her, because: she came from a prosperous family background, she was well-educated, she was an employee of Shell Oil, she had extensive contacts with foreigners as part of her job, she had spent time in England and Au

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China  by Jung Chang, Simon & Schuster, 2003.  Three Generations of Chinese Women A memoir of the author, her mother, and her mother’s mother. This is a journey through the 20th century history of China: the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, World War II, the civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.  Author's Grandmother The author’s maternal grandmother had bound feet and grew up in Nor

The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited  by Louisa Lim, Oxford University Press, 2014.  Summary This is a book about the massacre of several hundred students by the Peoples Liberation Army at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989. The book also talks about similar protests that occurred on the same day in Chengdu.  Timeline April 15, 1989: Death of General Secretary Hu Yaobang April 17, 1989: Beijing Students Autonomous Federation gather at Beijing Normal

The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers  by Richard McGregor, HarperCollins, 2010.  Overview:   The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a parallel system to the official government and is not subject to government law. The CCP is the hidden power behind the governmental structures and the major businesses. CCP actions are reviewable only by its own internal methods. The CCP is not mentioned in the Chinese constitution, except briefly in the preamble. Greater Pers

The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957  by Frank Dikötter, Bloomsbury Press, 2013.  Land Reform Prior to the Communist takeover, ownership of farmland had been very egalitarian. The exploitation of the Chinese peasants by feudal landlords was mostly an imaginary problem. There was little feudalism or serfdom in China before the Communists took over. There were only mild inequalities in land ownership. Land reform was a solution to a non-exist

Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday , Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.  Goals Mao Zedong had two goals: (1) Becoming dictator of China (2) Making China into a nuclear superpower Acquiring Power Mao Zedong acquired political power with help from Joseph Stalin. Mao was also an expert at removing his rivals. In particular, any rival who advocated paying attention to reality was accused of secretly being a capitalist roader. Arming China Mao achieved his second goal by us

Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution  by Helen Zia, Ballantine Books, 2019.  Timeline 1927: Kuo Min Tang (Nationalists) White Terror 1931: Japan invades Manchuria 1932: First Japanese attack on Shanghai 1937: Second Japanese attack on Shanghai 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor 1943: Foreign nations (WWII Allies) in Shanghai are imprisoned 1943: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 repealed (United States) 1945: Japan surrenders 1945: Kuo

Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre  by Liao Yiwu, Translated by David and Jessie Cowhig and Ross Perlin. One Signal Publishers / Atria / Simon & Schuster, 2019 Hardcover.  The Proletariat Most reports on what happened at Tianmen Square in June 1989 focus primarily on the student demonstrators, the Capital Autonomous Federation of University Students. In contrast, this book describes the working-class people and peasants who worke

A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel  by Ho and Huang, PublicAffairs, 2013.  Jockeying for Position People in the upper levels of the hierarchy of the Chinese Communist Party are jockeying to go to the top and become members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Death of a British National This book is about one of these people, Bo Xilai (party chief of Chong Qing), his wife Gu Kailai (a prominent attorney),

Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom  by Jennifer Zeng, Soho Press, 2006.  The author was sent to  a women’s labor camp in Southern Beijing in 2000 as punishment for being a member of Falun Gong. At this camp she was forced to knit sweaters, deprived of sleep, and tortured by women guards with electric cattle prods.

Colors of the Mountain: A Memoir  by Da Chen, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Trade Paperback Edition, 2001. Escaping Poverty The author was born into a peasant family. He looked forward to a lifetime of backbreaking agricultural work and poverty. However, being intelligent and obtaining a good education enabled him to escape that life, and eventually to escape Communist China and come to the United States. Highly recommended.