Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST
positions of the elite intelligentsia in orthodox historiography and
opposing views expressed in the e-media.
To many outside China, especially those who have grown up with
European cultural traditions, China is an enigma, a place so different that
a first visit is most often a culture shock. On the other hand, and somewhat
paradoxically, China’s increasing similarity to the developed world
is seen as a threat. For many inside China however, despite the Maoist
revolutions, the West has for over a century-and-a-half been the yardstick
of material progress and development, and also of spiritual and
personal development. Yet, notwithstanding this view within China,
there is a Western perception that the Chinese were or are anti-Western,
China-centred and xenophobic. On the other hand, almost every time a
politician or head of a state visiting China does not take a tough stand
against China – as is perceived to be necessary on, for example, the issue
of human rights – the mainstream Western media accuses that government
or that politician of kowtowing to China. The apparently huge gap
between these conflicting images and perceptions of China requires
interpretation and understanding. This book engages with that task.
The possibility, and I still think it is only a possibility, that China
may rise to a leading position on the international stage makes China
a hot contemporary topic. The notable economic development in China
is being hailed not only as a result of post-Mao reform but also as a
proof that the era of Mao was a communist-inspired disaster. This book
shows that that position is dangerously misleading in four ways. First,
it deprives a probable majority of the Chinese of the right to speak up.
Second, it hides the ugly fact that there are millions of people who are
actually worse off since the post-Mao reform years. Third, it denies the
enormous achievements made during the Mao era that paved the way
for later development. Finally, it is misleading and it distracts from and
precludes imaginings of alternative models of development and other
possible forms of human organization.
Many issues surrounding the Mao era need to be re-examined and
new interpretations provided. For example, where in the scale of
historical achievement and worth does Mao stand? Are the ideas and
practices carried out under his leadership relevant and significant to
today’s China? To judge from much of the writings in memoirs, biographies
and autobiographies such as Li Zhisui’s Private Life of Mao,
Jung Chang and Jon Halliday’s Mao: The Unknown Story, and others
written in Chinese, Mao was a callous, calculating, inhumane, powerhungry
monster. However, in contrast to those depictions, Mao’s
bodyguards, nurses and some others who worked with him, like Chen
Boda and Wang Li, show Mao very differently and in a more positive
light. These disparate views exemplify the contradictory perceptions
and evaluations between various ‘memories’ on this and related issues.
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