Propaganda and Culture in Mao's China: Deng Tuo and the Intelligentsia

Studies on Contemporary China

by Timothy Cheek

This biography of Deng Tuo (1912-1966) is a social history of intellectuals as agents in China's socialist revolution. It places Deng Tuo's writings and ideas in the rich context of his social experience as a member of the Communist bureaucracy and as an elite artist and aesthete. The tension between service to politics and service to culture was ultimately disasterous for Deng and for China's revolution: his ghost haunts the halls of power in Beijing today.

Genres: China

406 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 1998

Reviews

[汪先生 · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023-04-29
即使是作为单纯的传记而言，也算出彩，使用了大量邓拓的文字，采访了与邓拓交往过的亲友等，得到了完整可信的史实，对于邓拓的文人-传教士型的知识分子身份的解释很有趣。更为值得关注的是延伸出的毛泽东主义下的两种模式，行政管理式和乌托邦式的冲突，这种冲突在毛的领导下是意识形态战胜了技术官僚，邓拓也因此成为牺牲品被斥为“书生办报”。本书缺点也比较明显，首先是作者理解的知识分子的范围太过宽阔，邓拓身为党的干部，已经对党过去造成的灾难视而不见，甚至是直接参与者，也许迫害了不少其它的知识分子，这种干部也可以视为知识分子吗？至少不是传统中国文化中理想意义上或现代国家意义上的知识分子。其次是对党有着不够透彻的理解，例如民主集中制其实根本毫无民主可言，更多的是做一些政策补救，一旦独裁者决定了，那么违背独裁者意志的行为便会被打倒，邓拓的自杀其实是看清的太晚，真正有洞见的知识分子并没有被毛、共的本质所欺骗，早早的离开了中国大陆。

[Naked Fish · Rating 4 out of 5]

虎头凤尾，intro和conclusion扎实却不乏创见。但中间部分对邓拓生活的叙述稍显无趣。题目也有点欺骗性，对PRC propaganda和culture的叙述受限于邓拓的人生轨迹。总体来看瑕不掩瑜，在当时引领了知识分子研究的paradigm shift。

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was based on Cheek's dissertation and was his first monograph. It's organized in the classic style of an intellectual/political biography of a top CCP member. But Cheek inserts important distinctions and arguments to not only show the significance of Deng Tuo's career, but also to challenge some of our basic assumptions about people like him and about bureaucrat intellectuals in the PRC more broadly. The details about his career in the People's Daily are quite interesting.

[emily Ying · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to believe the author is a non-native Chinese.....the book is filled with amazing amount of details and materials of the recount of history. Some details makes you feel you sit right next to the bed talk beside Deng and Mao....
how did the author do that? Unbelievable....