Week 12: Cultural Revolution and “Rapprochement”

April 12 and 14

We are spending a whole week on a decade that contains much the CCP usually tries to fast-forward over in a review of its glorious history: the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976. But we also see the first shoots of small openings created for contacts with the outside world during this time. Still, overall I’d classify this one as “another week with gruelling content in HST271: Modern China,” pandas notwithstanding.

Table of Contents

Slides

Readings and class details

Textbooks: useful background for the whole week
  • Moïse Edwin E. Modern China: A History Third ed. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman, 2008.
  • Dillon, Michael. China: A Modern History. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.

Wednesday

Ettinger 204, 9.30AM

Everybody views this
  • Williams, Sue. China: A Century of Revolution. Zeitgeist Films, 2007.
    • Available through the Internet Archive
    • Look at part 2, starting at 57mins to begin at the build-up toward the Cultural Revolution to the end. (±60min)
    • (Content warning: contains descriptions of acts of violence and torture; note: no closed captions)
Pick one of the following:

(more is fine if you have time/want to explore for a future Show and Tell)

  • Gao, Yuan. Born Red : A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1987.
    • ebook Trexler
    • Pick any section and read for at least 20 pages. The events may compel you to read more, that’s allowed!
    • (Heads up: Read up to 100 pages of your choice for a fourth Show and Tell project)
    • This is a memoir of a Red Guard, a teenager who took part in the mass rallies, battles, and everything else that went on in that first phase of the Cultural Revolution.
  • Liu, Cixin. The Three-Body Problem. Translated by Ken Liu. New York: Tor, 2014.
    • PDF, 19 pp.
    • These are two excerpts of the translation of the original Chinese sci-fi hit trilogy “The Three Body Problem”. The opening pages, long before the alien civilization appears on the scene, take you right into a “struggle session” during the Cultural Revolution. Prof. Ye’s daughter witnesses the events, and many years (and pages) later she contacts the four Red Guards who beat and killed her father during that session. (yeah, spoilers, I know, but the real story of the novel is not that). Is speculative fiction (or “sci-fi”) an unexpected location to come across the Cultural Revolution?

Friday

Everybody works through the following bullet points (a short video, one secondary source, and two official communications (primary sources)). As indicated, the rest is optional extra but may be useful for the forthcoming Show and Tell.

  • “Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World”. Richard Nixon Foundation, March 6, 2012. YouTube, https://youtu.be/Lnz7Ze71Pc0.
  • Madsen, Richard. China and the American Dream: A Moral Inquiry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
    • Chapter 3: “Nixon’s China” gives an International Relations perspective and a bit of a look behind the scenes of arranging the visit. (ebook Trexler, 26 pages)
  • Richard Nixon: Speeches, Writings, Documents. Edited by Rick Perlstein. James Madison Library in American Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010.
    • PDF
    • This is the text of the so-called “Shanghai Communiqué” or the “US-PRC Joint Communiqué, which resulted in the strange construction that either Taiwan or mainland China can get official recognition from the US, but not both at the same time.
    • Questions: To the untrained eye, it doesn’t look like a lot is being said. To the diplomats, it is pretty clear that this is an important document. What is said? What is left out? And what does it mean?
  • Richard Nixon and Zhou Enlai, “Toasts at a Banquet Honoring the Premier“, February 25, 1972.
    • Read this in addition to the Shanghai Communiqué in the Basic Set. This website has Nixon’s toast to Zhou Enlai (the premier of China) and Zhou’s response. Questions: What is interesting, in terms of the language used, the difference with the rhetoric we saw for instance earlier in Mao’s writings, and how might diplomats at the time understand the exchanges of this week?

OPTIONAL EXTRAS

  • Cunningham, Maura Elizabeth. “Panda-monium at the Bronx Zoo: A History“. Mauracunningham.org. February 8, 2018. (8 min read)
    • Premier Zhou Enlai arranged for two pandas, named Ling-ling and Xing-xing, to be sent to the US as a goodwill gift, but they were not the first pandas to come to the US.
    • Read also the story of how Pat Nixon got her two pandas. Moral of the story: be careful what you wish for!
  • Songster, E. Elena. Panda Nation: The Construction and Conservation of China’s Modern Icon. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.
    • If you can’t get enough of pandas as ambassadors, here’s a whole book! But the section connected to this week’s content is found in chapter 5, pp. 84-91. (ebook Trexler)
  • Nixon in China, by John Adams. Libretto by Alice Goodman. Metropolitan Opera, 2011. Access to Met Opera through Trexler Library (full run time, incl. interviews: 2hrs 56′, but you can select from the “Track List” in the top left corner)
    • Yes: there is an opera. It was premiered in 1987. There are some amazing arias and chorus sections, and I think it’s worth taking the time to get into the genre and watching parts of it if you can’t get through all. Personal recommended highlights: “Soldiers of heaven hold the sky”; “The people are the heroes now”; “News, news, news, news”; “I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung”; “I am old and cannot sleep forever”.
    • The libretto is based on extensive research of material from the 1972 trip, but of course with artistic liberties to bring out the internal voices of the main characters.
    • Should you want to read more, here is a study: Johnson, Timothy A. John Adams’s Nixon in China: Musical Analysis, Historical and Political Perspectives. London: Taylor and Francis, 2016. (ebook Trexler). In between the technical musical stuff there are interesting nuggets of information about the choices made in the score.
  • Taiwan,” Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Oct. 25, 2021. HBO. https://youtu.be/9Y18-07g39g
    • This does a better job than I can of summarizing the main history, points of tension and present situation in the Taiwan, PRC, US triangle, and adds in some interesting Taiwanese (political and other) culture. Warning: contains some strong language.

MEANWHILE IN TAIWAN: OPTIONAL EXTRA

Assignments

1. Weekly Blog post (content week 11)

5 points, due Tue. Apr. 11, 11:59PM [adjusted for Easter Break]

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

  • Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
  • Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
    • TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 11” in the title.
    • Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
  • Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose (if applicable)
  • Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
  • Post on your website, and add to the category hst271.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack(s) I chose.
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 11 in the title, and added the post to category hst271

2. Hypothes.is: comments on Week 11 posts

3 points, due Thu. April 13 by 11.59pm.

Below you find links to three blog posts from your fellow students. If one of the websites is your own, or it is twice the same person’s, refresh the page, and you should get new sites. [posts coming on Tuesday]

  • Post 1:
  • Post 2:
  • Post 3:

Leave feedback, questions, thoughts, insights about the contents of the posts of your fellow students using Hypothes.is group HST271. You can ask for clarifications, point out similarities and differences with the material you covered, or with your interpretation. This should encourage you to nose around in the other materials you did not read in the first round.

Use tags in Hypothes.is: question: If you have a question (obvious); answered: if you gave an answer to a question; info: if you provide more information, looking up additional facts, drawing on knowledge from other classes; and other tags you can think of. This will help us to navigate more quickly to the questions that still need answering.

Use the “Architect’s Model” of giving feedback, and engage with concrete issues. Go beyond “Yeah, I agree,” “I like” or “I think the same”, and instead explain why you have that reaction, or if you disagree, you can try to persuade the original poster of your idea or interpretation.

Remember that Hypothes.is allows for hyperlinks, e.g. to materials that support your argument, or you can include pictures (memes! [yes, there she is again]), videos etc. that help the original poster to learn more.

When you’ve commented on three posts, read this declaration carefully, and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I commented on three fellow students’ posts on the readings from Week 11 using the group HST271.
– I made sure to leave substantial comments that move the discussion forward and help to create better insights, and go beyond a “nice” or “great”.
– I left comments that I would like to receive myself: thoughtful, helpful, kind, but also pointing out errors so they can be fixed.

3. Weekly Blog post (content week 12)

5 points, due Mon. Apr. 17, 11:59PM

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

  • Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
  • Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
    • TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 12” in the title.
    • Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
  • Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose (if applicable)
  • Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
  • Post on your website, and add to the category hst271.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack(s) I chose.
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 12 in the title, and added the post to category hst271

Extra Credit tasks

EC12-1: Introduce an image

3 points, due Sunday April 16, 11.59pm

All the details on this webpage, incl. a link to declaration quiz.

EC 12-2: Rewrite a post

3 points, due by Sunday, April 16, 11.59pm.

Unhappy about a post you wrote? Feeling you can do better now than a few weeks ago? Had a bad week and rushed to get it in but now you’re ready to do something you can be proud of? Now you can rewrite that post and get some extra credit for it!

  • Pick one post from a previous weeks (not the Cat post) and use the comments you received, and your new insights, to rewrite it.
  • Add a brief paragraph at the end explaining how you rewrote the post: which comments did you address, how did you go about the process (e.g. starting from new blank page vs. tinkering; focusing on structure or word choice or adding/correcting facts,…), and what you learned through the process of rewriting.
  • tag the post with extra, and add “rewrite” to the title
    • (Note: it should already be in the category hst271)

Read the following Declaration carefully, and then head on over to Canvas to collect your points in the Declaration Quiz:

Declaration
I selected a post from a previous week and rewrote it, using feedback and insights I gained since writing it.
I added a brief paragraph at the end explaining what I did to rewrite the post, and what I learned about rewriting
I added the tag extra to the post, and added the word rewrite to the title.
I made sure the post is still in the category hst271.

Where to get assistance?

  • Tea Room on Discord:
    • open anytime for you
    • I will be hosting Tue 2PM-3PM; Wed. 1-2PM, or at other times by appointment via Google Calendar (usually a 15-20min appointment is enough). You can also find me in my office during Tea Room times.
    • Private room for confidential chat available on request.
  • Discord Text Channel #hst271
  • DLAs: Digital Learning Assistants: check the schedule!
  • Writing Center: Sunday – Wednesday 3:30 – 5:30 & 7 – 11 PM; Thursday 3:30 – 5:30 PM &  7 – 9 PM
  • Trexler Library Course Subject Guide: our own dedicated subject guide for the course 
  • Safety on/around campus: report an incident