Rewriting the Cultural Revolution: From Centre to Periphery

Abstract

Although 2006 marked the 40th anniversary of the launching of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, understanding of this trau matic event in mainland China is still largely limited within the parameters established by the 1981 Resolution on CPC History} Yet as even those who were teenagers at the time move into old age, oral history is being used to explore some of the most sensitive issues. This is shown by the appearance of two books written by mainland authors and published in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chen Boda s Last Oral Recollections is an attempt by Chen Boda's son, Chen Xiaonong, to rehabilitate his father's reputation after he was condemned in 1980 by the reformist leadership as a counter-revolutionary for his part in the Cultural Revolution. In the process it provides new versions of the key events that took place at the centre of power. Memories of Tibet, by the leading Tibetan literary figure, Weise, (Woese, born 1966), gives a view far removed from Beijing by bringing together interviews with 23 grass-roots activists from various ethnic groups and setting these in the context of the debate over how much responsibility the indigenous population of Tibet should bear for the destruction wrought on its heritage. While these works take entirely different perspectives, they pose similar questions about issues of motivation and responsibility and show how the impact of the Cultural Revolution is being reassessed in the context of China's rapid social change today.