Massacres during the Cultural Revolution
| Author | Song Yongyi |
|---|---|
| Language | Chinese, French |
| Subject | Cultural Revolution |
| Published | |
| Pages | 298 |
| ISBN | 9627934097 |
Massacres during the Cultural Revolution (simplified Chinese: 文革大屠杀; traditional Chinese: 文革大屠殺) is a book by Chinese historian Song Yongyi.[1][2][3] The book presents historical details together with author's analysis on a number of massacres which took place in mainland China during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).[4][5] Originally published in Hong Kong in 2002,[1][2] the book was later translated into French and was published in France in 2008.[3][4][6]
Background and summary
[edit]Once a Red Guard himself during the Cultural Revolution, Song Yongyi, the author of the book, travelled to study in the United States in 1989.[6][7] In August 1999, Song went back to mainland China to collect and research on materials regarding the Cultural Revolution, but was arrested and detained by the Chinese authorities and was accused of stealing state secrets.[6][8][9] After spending more than 100 days in jail, Song was freed and returned to the US in early 2000,[8] subsequently publishing the book (Massacres during the Cultural Revolution) in 2002, which includes texts written by eight specialists in Cultural Revolution.[4][6]
The book documents a number of massacres which took place across mainland China during the Cultural Revolution, including the Daxing Massacre during the "Red August" of Beijing, Guangxi Massacre, Inner Mongolia incident, Dao County Massacre, Shadian incident, and so on.[2][5][7] In particular, Song challenged the idea which blames the Cultural Revolution on the "mob rule" of Red Guards; instead, he argues in the book that most Cultural Revolution massacres were the action of "state apparatuses" and dictatorship, or the direct slaughter by the regime towards its citizens.[5][7]
In 2008, the texts were translated into French by Marc Raimbourg, and the version published by Buchet-Chastel has 284 pages in length,[3] while the version published by Gallimard in 2009 has 432 pages in length with a preface signed by the sinologist Marie Holzman.[4][6]
Reception
[edit]In the preface of the book (Chinese edition), Hu Jiwei, former president and editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, praises Song's effort of exposing the historical facts and details of the atrocities during the Cultural Revolution to the public, and endorsed Song's argument that the massacres and violence were mainly the action of "state apparatuses" under Mao Zedong towards the citizens.[2] Xu Youyu, a Chinese scholar, also mentioned in the preface that the book made a contribution to the study of Chinese history and historiography by exposing to the public some of the most violent and brutal aspects in the modern history of China.[2] Hu Ping (胡平), a Chinese writer, commented that many young people including some western scholars always thought that the main victims of the Cultural Revolution were government officials and intellectuals, but the book shows that it was those who had low social status and were classified as "class enemies" bore the brunt; Hu called the book "very important" in terms of "refuting some arbitrary distortion of the Cultural Revolution by the New Left".[5]
French sinologist Claude Hudelot calls this book "indispensable" and "shows the true face of the Cultural Revolution"; he also mentioned that book contains "confusing accuracy of information", and that "the number of victims mentioned is anything but 'abstract' or 'arbitrary'".[10]
See also
[edit]- Five Black Categories
- Victims of the Cultural Revolution
- Collective Killings in Rural China during the Cultural Revolution
- Scarlet Memorial
References
[edit]- ^ a b Song, Yongyi (2002). Massacres during the Cultural Revolution (Wen ge da tu sha). Kai fang cong shu (in Chinese) (1 ed.). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Open Books (Kai fang za zhi she). ISBN 978-962-7934-09-7. Archived from the original on 2021-09-20.
- ^ a b c d e Song, Yongyi (2002). 文革大屠殺 (in Chinese). Hong Kong: 開放雜誌社 (Open Books). ISBN 978-962-7934-09-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c Hecht, Emmanuel (2008-04-01). "La Terreur sous Mao". Les Echos (in French).
- ^ a b c d Lenoble, Benoit (2022-07-07). "Les Massacres de la Révolution culturelle". La Cliothèque (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ a b c d Hu, Ping (2002-09-16). "中国人的三重耻辱 -- 推荐新书《文革大屠杀》" [Triple humiliation of the Chinese—recommending new book Massacres during the Cultural Revolution"]. Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09.
- ^ a b c d e "Les massacres de la Révolution culturelle". Gallimard (in French). 2009-03-12. Archived from the original on 2024-12-02. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ a b c Zhang, Weiguo (2002-09-16). "中国悲哀莫此为甚——读宋永毅主编的《文革大屠杀》" [The upper bound of China's tragedy——after reading Song Yongyi's Massacres during the Cultural Revolution]. China News Digest（华夏文摘） (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2021-07-09.
- ^ a b "Chinese historian Song Yongyi to speak at Stanford Feb. 28". Stanford University. February 23, 2000. Archived from the original on 2021-05-30.
- ^ Shenon, Philip (January 30, 2000). "Scholar Back in U.S. After China Detention". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-01-11.
- ^ Hudelot, Claude (2014-09-04). "Révolution culturelle : Alain Badiou, le Grand Prestidigitateur !". Mediapart (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-01.