The final revolution is in our hearts: Work and study in the personal diaries of the Early PRC, 1949-1959

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

This chapter explores the contradictions produced by individual efforts to implement the mass line by examining diarists from former Chinese Nationalist (KMT) strongholds. In so doing it shows how urban, educated citizens engaged with the new government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as an act of self-transformation. While writing a diary under the Maoist state was voluntary, writers used them assiduously to both understand socialism and acquire tthe language necessary for navigating the new regime. Each author digested official documents and discussions with their comrades, to define their personal role in achieving the socialist transformation of China in the 1950s. Chinese people wrote diaries on a massive scale after 1949, showing that the practice was both widespread and important.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHow Maoism Was Made
Subtitle of host publicationReconstructing China, 1949-1965
EditorsAaron William Moore, Jennifer Altehenger
Place of PublicationOxford
PublisherOxford University Press
Chapter5
ISBN (Print)9780197267813
Publication statusPublished - 26 Dec 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings of the British Academy
PublisherOxford University Press
Volume267
ISSN (Print)0068-1202

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • diaries
  • China
  • socialism
  • life writing

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