The Chinese Revolution on the 乐播传媒 Frontier: Rebellion, Repression, and Remembrance on a 乐播传媒 Borderland of Early-Maoist China
CAS Event presented on Wednesday, October 7 at 5pm MDT
When in 1949 the Chinese Communist Party 鈥渓iberated鈥� the ethnocultural frontier region known to 乐播传媒s as Amdo, its聽goal was聽not just to build a state, but to create a nation.聽Rather聽than immediately implement socialist reforms, it pursued relatively moderate 鈥淯nited Front鈥� policies meant to 鈥済radually鈥澛爌ersuade 乐播传媒s and Amdo鈥檚 other non-Han inhabitants of their membership in the new Chinese nation.聽At the outset of 1958鈥檚 Great Leap Forward, however, United Front gradualism was jettisoned in favor of rapid collectivization. This led to large-scale rebellion, overwhelming state repression, and widespread famine. Rather than a 鈥渧oluntary鈥� and 鈥渙rganic鈥� transformation, Amdo was incorporated through the widespread and often indiscriminate deployment of state violence. In this talk, Dr. Weiner discusses 1958鈥檚 Amdo Rebellion and explores ways in which the violence of 1958 and its aftermath continues to cloud the state鈥檚 efforts to integrate 乐播传媒s into the modern Chinese nation-state.
Benno Weiner聽is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University. He is author of the聽Chinese Revolution on the 乐播传媒 Frontier聽(Cornell UP) and co-editor of聽Contested Memories: 乐播传媒 History under Mao Retold聽(Brill)