{"title":"Civil War in Guangxi: The Cultural Revolution on China’s Southern Periphery by Andrew G. Walder (review)","authors":"James J. Hudson","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925420","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925420","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141024146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Relief Campaign for the 1954 Yangzi River Flood and Rural Collectivization in Early Communist China","authors":"Yue Liang","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925425","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925425","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: In 1954, a devastating flood struck the entire Yangzi River basin, causing the first major natural disaster in the newly established People’s Republic of China (PRC). The young regime had just embarked on its First Five-Year Plan, aimed at achieving rapid economic development and industrialization. The flood swept across several provinces, displaced populations, and submerged farmlands, posing both a new challenge and an opportunity for the regime to shape the socioeconomic landscape of the affected regions. This article uses a localized perspective to examine how the rural society of Hubei Province, the hardest-hit area, responded to the disaster. The central government’s self-help doctrine delegated much power to local governments and communities. Local officials and rural cadres had considerable leeway in managing the relief campaign as they simultaneously followed the state macroeconomic policy of rural collectivization. The 1954 flood in Hubei Province serves as a case study that illustrates the complexities of disaster management in the early years of the PRC.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141027624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leaves, Silkworms, Yue Fei: Ways of Imagining the Territory in 1930s China","authors":"Yu-chi Chang","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925422","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925422","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: During the Nationalist period (1928–1949) in China, the notion that China’s territory mirrors the shape of a begonia or a mulberry leaf gained wide recognition. This analogy ingrained itself into public perceptions of modern China’s boundaries and was often assumed without question. As foreign forces—symbolized by silk-worms—encroached upon the leaf-like territory, the leaf trope emerged as a platform for various patriotic appeals during wartime. This research explores the evolution of the leaf trope for China’s territory in the 1930s, probing the historical and cultural connotations embedded in it. The discussion expands to incorporate intellectual resources associated with the Song-era military commander Yue Fei and the leaf trope, as they jointly influenced the portrayal of China’s territory across textual and visual mediums. In this light, territorial conceptualizations in modern China were shaped by ideological constructs envisioning a future rooted in the past.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141136558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda, 1942–1953 by Xiaofei Kang (review)","authors":"Linh D. Vu","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925418","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925418","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141027099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan’s Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia, 1895–1945 by Seiji Shirane (review)","authors":"Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925419","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141050746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Made for Hong Kong: Transborder Staffing, Flexible Strategizing, and the Making of Communist Propaganda Outlets in Hong Kong (1945–1956)","authors":"Mian Chen","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925423","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925423","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This article examines the processes through which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) developed its propaganda outlets in Hong Kong during the mid-twentieth century. I argue that the CCP’s operations in 1940s Hong Kong laid the foundation for its propaganda machinery in the 1950s through transborder staffing and a repertoire of flexible strategies. During the 1940s, the party trained a group of propagandists who were well acquainted with Hong Kong and frequently crossed the Hong Kong–Guangdong border to preserve the party’s power base. These propagandists developed a series of strategies, including infiltration, camouflage, and diversification. In the 1950s, the party employed these seasoned operatives in Hong Kong and Guangdong to coordinate propaganda campaigns and utilized the preestablished strategies to navigate the new Cold War geopolitics. This study also highlights the Guangdong–Hong Kong nexus, the CCP’s flexibility, and the continuities surrounding the foundation of the People’s Republic of China.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141049770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From Social Visibility to Political Invisibility: The School in Nationalist Taiwan as a Fulcrum for an Evolving World Ethos by Allen Chun (review)","authors":"Fang Yu Hu","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925417","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925417","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141051310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Family First: The Work Replacement System and Livelihood Politics in Urban China, 1962–1980","authors":"Yanjie Huang","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a925424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a925424","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: In the 1960s, a child of a worker in urban China could gain employment in the parent’s work unit upon the latter’s retirement, death, or withdrawal for medical reasons. Known as dingti , this work replacement policy allowed urban families to negotiate and secure their children’s livelihood with the help of the grassroots bureaucracy. When millions of disenchanted sent-down youths returned from rural areas to the cities, especially after 1978, the government was compelled to revive the work replacement system to accommodate the influx. After the government suspended review of the class background and political performance of candidates, the system became a confirmation ritual of the “hereditary rights” of urban workers. Drawing on factory archives and oral history interviews, this article demonstrates that the family-centered politics of livelihood among urban families and the grassroots bureaucracy continued from Mao’s China to the years of the post-Mao transition.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141025958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Writing the People's Science: One Hundred Thousand Whys and the Politics of Science Popularization in China, 1931–1975","authors":"Yinyin Xue","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a917209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a917209","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article focuses on One Hundred Thousand Whys (Shiwan ge weishenme), modern China's single most popular book series for science dissemination. A translation of a 1929 work from the Soviet Union, it took on new life throughout China's eventful twentieth century. Challenging the prevalent understanding that antisuperstition was the most important goal of science dissemination in Mao-era China, I illustrate how science dissemination in the 1960s aimed to spark readers' interest in natural sciences and prepare them to contribute to national construction. I argue that, during the Cultural Revolution, when political propaganda was bluntly integrated into science dissemination materials, these materials remained consistent with previous editions and continued to serve as reliable references for readers seeking scientific knowledge.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139539845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From \"Puppets\" to \"People's Liberators\": The Manchukuo Military and Its Participation in the Chinese Civil War, 1945–1948","authors":"Yannan Deng","doi":"10.1353/tcc.2024.a917210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcc.2024.a917210","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The Manchukuo military, the collaborationist armed forces of the Japanese client state, was formally disbanded with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945. The looming Chinese Civil War, however, provided the former collaborators with a second chance to end up on a winning side and avoid the often dire fate awaiting other former collaborators with the Axis powers. This article examines the collapse of the Manchukuo military and its aftermath, the maneuverings of the Guomindang and the Chinese Communist Party to win the support of Manchukuo units, the experience of former Manchukuo troops in the Chinese Civil War, their impact on the war, and the ways in which many of them created postwar narratives of redemption through service to the people's cause.","PeriodicalId":42116,"journal":{"name":"Twentieth-Century China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139540251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}