The Masses in Their Own Write (and Draw) : The Heroes' Register from the Great Cultural Revolution in Yunnan
(2013) #5 in book series "Mass Dictatorship in the 20th Century".- Abstract
- This book chapter introduces the reader to an anthology of reportage, essays, eulogies, poems, proclamations, drawings, photographs, letters and more from the most chaotic phase of China’s Cultural Revolution. Entitled A Heroes’ Register, it is one of no more than a handful of surviving self-documenting accounts by the ‘dictating masses’ themselves of the ‘dictatorship of the masses’, as the Maoist socio-political order was indeed spoken of in the PRC in 1968. What it documents is the dark side of direct democracy, the unfettered ‘mass’ application of coercive powers devolved to ‘grass roots’ communities from and by the state. It is not a purely factual record, nor is it fiction, but a hybrid literary form with snippets of ‘raw’ data added... (More)
- This book chapter introduces the reader to an anthology of reportage, essays, eulogies, poems, proclamations, drawings, photographs, letters and more from the most chaotic phase of China’s Cultural Revolution. Entitled A Heroes’ Register, it is one of no more than a handful of surviving self-documenting accounts by the ‘dictating masses’ themselves of the ‘dictatorship of the masses’, as the Maoist socio-political order was indeed spoken of in the PRC in 1968. What it documents is the dark side of direct democracy, the unfettered ‘mass’ application of coercive powers devolved to ‘grass roots’ communities from and by the state. It is not a purely factual record, nor is it fiction, but a hybrid literary form with snippets of ‘raw’ data added like a docudrama script. Once the Cultural Revolution was over, ‘mass dictatorship’ was denounced as a fatally flawed experiment, and it was ordered that artefacts from it be destroyed. Four decades on, this anthology is a work out of step with the current times: the modern China bears no resemblance to what was expected or willed at the time it was written; and the present seems happy, most of the time, not to be reminded of what the past may once have been like. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2344800
- author
- Schoenhals, Michael LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- China, Cultural Revolution, Yunnan, mass dictatorship, literature, faction
- host publication
- Imagining Mass Dictatorships: The individual and the masses in literature and cinema
- editor
- Schoenhals, Michael and Sarsenov, Karin
- volume
- #5 in book series "Mass Dictatorship in the 20th Century"
- publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- ISBN
- 978-1-137-33068-0
- project
- Mass Dictatorships of the 20th Century
- FOLIO - Forum för litteraturens offentligheter
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8eefa6dc-ed1a-4a82-83c4-65ab832efd50 (old id 2344800)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 12:03:17
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:08:44
@inbook{8eefa6dc-ed1a-4a82-83c4-65ab832efd50,
abstract = {{This book chapter introduces the reader to an anthology of reportage, essays, eulogies, poems, proclamations, drawings, photographs, letters and more from the most chaotic phase of China’s Cultural Revolution. Entitled A Heroes’ Register, it is one of no more than a handful of surviving self-documenting accounts by the ‘dictating masses’ themselves of the ‘dictatorship of the masses’, as the Maoist socio-political order was indeed spoken of in the PRC in 1968. What it documents is the dark side of direct democracy, the unfettered ‘mass’ application of coercive powers devolved to ‘grass roots’ communities from and by the state. It is not a purely factual record, nor is it fiction, but a hybrid literary form with snippets of ‘raw’ data added like a docudrama script. Once the Cultural Revolution was over, ‘mass dictatorship’ was denounced as a fatally flawed experiment, and it was ordered that artefacts from it be destroyed. Four decades on, this anthology is a work out of step with the current times: the modern China bears no resemblance to what was expected or willed at the time it was written; and the present seems happy, most of the time, not to be reminded of what the past may once have been like.}},
author = {{Schoenhals, Michael}},
booktitle = {{Imagining Mass Dictatorships: The individual and the masses in literature and cinema}},
editor = {{Schoenhals, Michael and Sarsenov, Karin}},
isbn = {{978-1-137-33068-0}},
keywords = {{China; Cultural Revolution; Yunnan; mass dictatorship; literature; faction}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
title = {{The Masses in Their Own Write (and Draw) : The Heroes' Register from the Great Cultural Revolution in Yunnan}},
volume = {{#5 in book series "Mass Dictatorship in the 20th Century"}},
year = {{2013}},
}