Catastrophe and contention in rural China : Mao's Great Leap forward famine and the origins of righteous resistance in Da Fo Village / Ralph A. Thaxton, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thaxton, Ralph, 1944- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in contentious politics.

Cambridge studies in contentious politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Famines--China--Dafo Cun (Henan Sheng)--History--20th century.

Famines.

Government, Resistance to--China--Dafo Cun (Henan Sheng)--History--20th century.

Government, Resistance to.

Peasant uprisings--China--Dafo Cun (Henan Sheng)--History--20th century.

Peasant uprisings.

Communism--China--Dafo Cun (Henan Sheng)--History--20th century.

Communism.

Dafo Cun (Henan Sheng, China)--Economic conditions.

Dafo Cun (Henan Sheng, China).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 383 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Catastrophe & Contention in Rural China

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book documents how China's rural people remember the great famine of Maoist rule, which proved to be the worst famine in modern world history. Ralph A. Thaxton, Jr., sheds new light on how China's socialist rulers drove rural dwellers to hunger and starvation, on how powerless villagers formed resistance to the corruption and coercion of collectivization, and on how their hidden and contentious acts, both individual and concerted, allowed them to survive and escape the predatory grip of leaders and networks in the thrall of Mao's authoritarian plan for a full-throttle realization of communism - a plan that engendered an unprecedented disaster for rural families. Based on his study of a rural village's memories of the famine, Thaxton argues that these memories persisted long after the events of the famine and shaped rural resistance to the socialist state, both before and after the post-Mao era of reform.

Contents:

The Republican Era and the emergence of communist leadership during the anti-Japanese war of resistance

The ascent of the vigilante militia : the violent antecedents of Mao's war communism

The onset of collectivization and popular dissatisfaction with Mao's "yellow bomb" road

The mandate abandoned : the disaster of the Great Leap Forward

Strategies of survival and their elimination in the Great Leap Forward

The escape from famine and death

Indignation and frustrated retaliation : the politics of disengagement

The market comes first : the economics of disengagement and the origins of reform

Persistent memories and long-delayed retaliation in the reform era.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-18799-0

1-281-38347-3

9786611383473

0-511-39768-2

0-511-39927-8

0-511-39691-0

0-511-39618-X

0-511-75608-9

0-511-39843-3

OCLC:

476158612