New PDF release: Mao's New World: Political Culture in the Early People's

In this sweeping portrait of the political tradition of the early People's Republic of China (PRC), Chang-tai Hung mines newly to be had resources to vividly reconstruct how the chinese language Communist social gathering (CCP) tightened its rule after taking strength in 1949. With political-cultural tasks resembling reconstructing Tiananmen sq. to have fun the Communist Revolution; staging nationwide parades; rewriting reliable histories; mounting a visible propaganda crusade, together with oil work, cartoons, and New 12 months prints; and constructing a countrywide cemetery for heroes of the Revolution, the CCP equipped up nationalistic fervor within the humans and affirmed its legitimacy. those initiatives got here less than robust Soviet effect, however the nationalistic chinese language Communists sought an self sufficient street of kingdom development; for instance, they made up our minds that the reconstructed Tiananmen sq. may still surpass purple sq. in dimension and value, opposed to the recommendation of Soviet specialists despatched from Moscow.

Combining ancient, cultural, and anthropological inquiries, Mao's New World examines how Mao Zedong and senior occasion leaders reworked the PRC right into a propaganda nation within the first decade in their rule (1949–1959). utilizing archival assets just recently made on hand, formerly untapped govt files, visible fabrics, memoirs, and interviews with surviving individuals within the Party's plans, Hung argues that the exploitation of recent cultural kinds for political ends used to be essentially the most major achievements of the chinese language Communist Revolution. The ebook positive aspects sixty-six photos of structure, monuments, and paintings to rfile how the CCP invented the heroic stories of the Communist Revolution.