Using the Past to Serve the Present: Historiography and Politics in Contemporary China: Historiography and Politics in Contemporary China

Under both Mao and Deng, Chinese historians and cultural figures regularly make political points about contemporary affairs through clever historical analogies, both in support of the state and in dissent. This book elucidates the Mao-era controversies over "history-writing" that sent famous intellectuals to prison and gave the Cultural Revolution its name. It examines the political debates of the 1980s over despotism in Chinese history, over Party history, and over whether China derived benefits earlier this century from capitalist operations and from intemational finance (and, by implication, whether China benefits today). It analyzes how popular culture in the 1990s re-interprets history, as popular opinion and portions of the mass media increasingly slip beyond government control. Ten scholars from three continents focus on topics and issues that will engross historians and political scientists alike. Book jacket.