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Mao Zedong

Chinese History FAQs: “What was Mao’s Deal?”

December 27, 2016

Probably the most commonly asked question in my classes is “What was Mao’s deal?” It’s a tough question to answer, even for folks from China. Approach ten people in a Beijing park, and ask them about Mao, best be prepared to get ten wildly different answers. [Read More...]

New History Walks and Talks for October

September 26, 2016

The library intern who would lead a nation? The scholar who built the capital of the Mongolian Khans? The exam candidate who lost his mind and nearly toppled an empire? The prince who tried to save a city? These are a few of the characters featured in two new walking tours and a new talk offered by The Hutong and The Granite Studio this Oc [Read More...]

Wealth and Power at Capital M

March 22, 2014

Historian John Delury gave an excellent talk at Capital M today about wealth and power as defining recent Chinese history, but how to fit a search for modernity into that equation? [Read More...]

Happy Learn from Lei Feng Day!

March 5, 2014

Just because Lei Feng's diary is about as real as a herd of purple unicorns doesn't take anything away from the central message: It's nice to be nice...and always follow the Chairman! [Read More...]

Mandela and Mao

December 10, 2013

Nelson Mandela was so many things that the current Chinese government actively fears and loathes. He was a political prisoner, an activist, a party organizer, general rabble rouser, an outspoken champion of the disenfranchised, and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. If you are Chinese, these are not activities that get you a place on the CCP Christmas card list. [Read More...]

Zhou Enlai, the Qingming Festival, and the spring demonstrations of 1976

April 5, 2011

Is our lasting image of Zhou Enlai to be the smooth, urbane diplomat showing up for talks in Geneva in a tailored-suit, silk tie, and a fedora, exchanging quips about the French Revolution? Or will it be the Zhou Enlai standing on top of Tiananmen with a red armband and a little red book, screeching in a high-pitched hysterical frenzy, “Long Live Chairman Mao!” as hordes of fanatical teenagers chant in the square and the Chairman looks on in approval? [Read More...]
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