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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Date: May 23, 2018 at 11:24:44 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Socialisms]: Liu on Zouw and Zürcher, 'Three > Months in Mao's China: Between the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural > Revolution' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > > Kim van der Zouw, Erik-Jan Zürcher, eds. Three Months in Mao's > China: Between the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. > Acumen Research Editions Series. Amsterdam Amsterdam University > Press, 2017. 144 pp. $24.99 (paper), ISBN 978-946298181-2. > > Reviewed by Zixian Liu (University of Toronto) > Published on H-Socialisms (May, 2018) > Commissioned by Gary Roth > > Life in Mao's China > > In recent years, scholarship about the Cold War has stepped beyond > its traditional parameters in terms of high politics and has expanded > its scope to include social and everyday life histories. The new > trend has enabled historians to incorporate a fuller range of primary > sources into their scope. _Three Months in China: Between the Great > Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution_, the publication of Erik > Zürcher's diaries and letters, written in 1964, __comes at the right > time to help us think about the Cold War's influence on daily life in > China and the historical context that framed the worldview of a > generation of leftist China observers. > > Zürcher (Chinese name 许理和) was a famous Dutch sinologist whose > expertise focused on the history of Chinese religion. On the eve of > the Cultural Revolution, accompanied by Gan Tjiang-Tek (颜昌德), a > curator at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Zürcher > traveled to Mao's China to set up an academic exchange project. His > role as a sinologist and a critical sympathizer of the Chinese > revolution distinguished him from ordinary travelers. His supportive > attitude toward the Chinese revolution and the future of China cannot > be separated from his critiques of the Chinese Communist Party's > questionable political practices. > > Zürcher's writing reflected common anxieties among left-wing > intellectuals about the future of socialism during the Cold War. In > his diaries and letters, he expressed his disillusion with Soviet > socialism when he traveled through that country and witnessed its > rural poverty. After arriving in Beijing in September 1964, Zürcher > reflected on the extent to which the Maoist regime had changed the > country. His conclusion was positive: "it is truly phenomenal what > this government has done for the masses.... China has enormous > potential and will develop into [a] first-class world power in the > coming twenty years" (p. 109). Wherever he visited, he paid close > attention to the well-being of the common people by focusing on such > problems as food shortages and workers' exploitation. His assessment > was positive regarding the progress the socialist state had made, > especially the improvement of working conditions and the amelioration > of food shortages. Given the fact that all factories and villages he > visited were "exemplary models" with better food and consumer goods > supplies, Zürcher's perceptions were certainly mistaken. As the > editors of the volume remind us, Zürcher disapproved of China's > authoritarian style of governance, but he nonetheless made excuses > for it: "We [Westerners] would not be able to live in such a system > ... but for them [the Chinese, it] is the only way" (pp. 15-16). This > quote gets to the heart of Zürcher's naïveté. Historians, however, > need to delve into the problematic of how the state exhibited itself > and how a leftist intellectual was influenced by state-approved > "showings." > > As a book written by an informed outsider with a keen interest in > ordinary people, this book sheds new light on the history of everyday > life. Zürcher portrays in detail people's leisure activities, > clothing styles, living conditions, and attitudes toward foreigners. > In Zürcher's opinion, the Chinese were much more open-minded than > what Cold War biases had led him to assume. They were not afraid of > talking with foreigners. He also experienced the country's regional > diversity by traveling to Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Xi'an, and > other cities. His observations undermine the totalitarian > understanding of Mao's China as a state of dull uniformity. For > example, he observed that people in Shanghai had adopted more > Western-style fashions compared to other regions. In industrial > construction projects and urban cleaning campaigns, he witnessed the > party's mobilization campaigns that were intended to instill a > collective lifestyle in "socialist" factories and cities. The party's > ambition to revolutionize everyday life by regulating and reforming > leisure activities, including the Peking Opera and wrestling, in > working-class neighborhoods drew special attention from him. These > rich details of everyday life in Cold War China will be of special > interest to historians. > > Zürcher's diaries and letters provide insightful portraits of the > Chinese diasporas that had returned to China after the revolution and > the dilemmas they faced during the Cold War. Through their personal > connections, Zürcher and Tjiang-Tek visited many Chinese > Indonesians. Zürcher sensed that many felt "miserable" in their new > homeland because of the poverty, intensified political inspections, > and deteriorated working conditions. Some even hoped to return to > Holland. On the other hand, he also witnessed people's "personal > pride in seeing the new China" and, in his opinion, their > "over-pronounced tendency to gloss over certain evident problems in a > naïve manner" (p. 110). Zürcher concluded that "only idealism and > the irrevocability of one's choice could keep one going in such > circumstances" (p. 52). Intertwined nationalist and idealist > sentiments conflicted with the harsh political realities of China's > attempt to incorporate its diasporas into the project of constructing > socialism. _Three Months in Mao's China_ is valuable for historians > who wish to examine the Chinese diaspora experience during the Cold > War. > > _Three Months in Mao's China _offers a means to understand the > complex, orientalist, and leftist sentiments that were entangled not > only in Zürcher's thoughts but also in the perceptions of other Cold > War era intellectuals and supporters of the Chinese revolution. He > regretted the demolition of Beijing's old city walls and the decline > of Buddhism, but he supported the revolutionary project passionately > because he felt it would help emancipate China. Nonetheless, he > disliked the increasingly Americanized consumption culture signified > by "business-like superficiality and mindless pleasure-seeking" (p. > 142). He also could not resist purchasing luxuries, clothing, and > more for himself. In his role as a foreigner and China specialist, he > noted that "the way Chinese people live and think here is so totally > different that any Western European who imagines that he can put > himself in the position of a Chinese is simply deceiving himself" (p. > 133). In contrast to his open-minded perception of the Chinese > revolution, he claimed that the only characteristic that he "really > cannot bear" is "the cruelty towards animals," a reference to the > consumption of dog meat in China (p. 117). > > Zürcher's _Three Months in Mao's China _is an important source for > scholars interested in the society and culture of the Cold War, and > in everyday life and the politics of traveling in Mao's China. It > also sheds much light on the Cold War generation of leftist Chinese > observers. Thanks to the editors, Zürcher's rich and valuable > comments on modern China are retained in this edited work. As a > primary source, I recommend it to scholars and teachers of both > modern China and Cold War history. > > Citation: Zixian Liu. Review of Zouw, Kim van der; Zürcher, > Erik-Jan, eds., _Three Months in Mao's China: Between the Great Leap > Forward and the Cultural Revolution_. H-Socialisms, H-Net Reviews. > May, 2018. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=50306 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
