People's China

Praise for previous editions:"A major success. Written with unusual clarity and simplicity, it is also based on deeply understood, profoundly digested knowledge."--History: Reviews of New Books"The narrative is useful and rich inasmuch as it traces these campaigns quite vividly within the space of just 350 pages....The excellent portraits of Chinese leaders and the graphs add considerably to the value of this extremely useful volume."--International Studies"A lucid, dispassionate account of Chinese history during the last four decades. It is based on sound, scholarly research, and reads extremely well. A valuable contribution."--E-tu Zen Sun, Pennsylvania State UniversityPraise for previous editions:"A major success. Written with unusual clarity and simplicity, it is also based on deeply understood, profoundly digested knowledge."--History: Reviews of New Books"The narrative is useful and rich inasmuch as it traces these campaigns quite vividly within the space of just 350 pages....The excellent portraits of Chinese leaders and the graphs add considerably to the value of this extremely useful volume."--International Studies"A lucid, dispassionate account of Chinese history during the last four decades. It is based on sound, scholarly research, and reads extremely well. A valuable contribution."--E-tu Zen Sun, Pennsylvania State University

• A NOTE ON THE ROMANIZATION OF CHINESE WORDS INTRODUCTION 1: OLD CHINA AND YOUNG REVOLUTIONARIES Village China and Young Mao To the city Unification, Invasion, and Civil War Personalities and Causes Was China Ripe for Revolution? 2: REVOLUTIONARIES SEIZE POWER: 1949-52 Establishing Sovereignty Installing the New Order The Korean War Campaigns Disappointments, Ironies, and Contradictions 3: SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATION: 1953-57 The First Five-Year Plan The First Five-Year Plan The High Tide of 1955 The Eighth Party Congress, September 1956 The Hundred Flowers Campaign 4: THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD Initial Stages of the Great Leap The Great Leap in the Ascendant The Great Leap in Decline 5: DEPRESSION, RECOVERY, AND STRUGGLE AT THE TOP: 1960-65 The Immediate Repercussions of the Great Leap Political Crisis 6: THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION: 1966-69 Participants Tidal Wave The Flood Receded 7: THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN RETREAT: 1969-76 Failure to Consolidate Radical Rule: 1969-71 The Uneasy Regime of the Moderates: 1972-75 Mao's Final Months and the Arrest of the Gang of Four: 1976 An End and a Beginning 8: CROSSING THE RIVER, GROPING FOR THE STONES: REFORM IN THE 1980s Power Struggle Socialist Economies with Chinese Characteristics Political Dilemmas Foreign Policy Chinese Society Under Reform Political Tensions 9: "WE MUST NOT LET THE NEXT GENERATION POUR A BUCKET OF EXCREMENT ON OUR HEADS": THE TRAGEDY AT TIANANMEN Seven Extraordinary Weeks 10: THE NINETIES: TWO FACES OF CHINA Regaining Control The Stern Face of Authority Xiaokang: The Happy Face of "Modest Prosperity" New World, New Possibilities Chinese Society and Culture: Trends and Problems NOTES SUGGESTED READINGS INDEX