安源：發掘中國革命之傳統

Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes

by Elizabeth J. Perry, 閻小駿 (Translator)

我們該如何詮釋中國共產黨出人意料的革命軌跡？為什麼中國共產黨會走上與俄國模式大相逕庭的道路？裴宜理教授認為，箇中原因在於中國共產黨從革命起義到奪取政權及之後的各階段中創新地發展和部署文化資源。毛澤東、他的同志們以及其繼任者通過精巧地運用「文化置位」和「文化操控」建立其獨有的政治形態，使人們逐漸接受那曾經陌生的共產主義體系，成為熟悉的「中國特點」。在革命初期，毛澤東和黨的早期領導人曾在安源煤礦發動過一次影響深遠的工人運動，裴宜理教授以此地為案例進行分析。安源曾被認為是「中國的小莫斯科」，其所象徵的獨特的中國革命傳統逐漸成為中國語境下「政治正確」的試金石。在當代中國學界為尋求嶄新的政治前景而就其過往的革命歷史進行爭論時，裴宜理教授對充滿爭議的中國革命傳統之意涵進行了深入分析。

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Labor

336 pages

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a history of Anyuan, both in a physical and symbolic sense. Anyuan, which has been a coal mining town for the better part of the past century, is also a key site of successful early Chinese Communist Party proletarian organizing from figures like Li Lisan and Liu Shaoqi. However, as CCP leaders vied for power as the decades progressed, Anyuan was a site of myth-making — a place to situate oneself in China's revolutionary past to derive contemporary legitimacy.

Perry is a bushwhacker in this book as she carves a path through Anyuan's contested and constructed narratives. She explores everything from personal narratives to propagandistic art to convey a fascinating, and tragic, tale of both the appropriation and abuse of historicity at the expense of mine workers the CCP was ostensibly there to help.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very well researched and the stories and details included are fascinating. I can’t say that I agree with much of the author’s broader interpretations of things in the end, though. It is probably the best account in English of what happened in Anyuan especially in the ‘20s.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the Communist Party and its changing relationship to the portrayal of its own revolution over time centered around the Anyuan coal mine. The introduction, conclusion, and blurb all seem to be about how the CCP adapted its message to preexisting traditions, ideas, and power structures, but most of the book does not focus on that. Instead it deals with the ways in which the successful strikes at Anyuan were used by various groups and actors from the 1950s to the present. There is especially strong focus on the three CCP cadres who had been important to organizing the strike (Li Lisan, Liu Xiaoqi, Mao Zedong) and how they rewrote the narrative to fit their later political interests.

This book is very a readable examination of an important set piece of the CCP's revolutionary tradition. Though sometimes the intro and conclusion feel like they are attached to the wrong book, the central narrative of the creation and adaptation of the Anyuan story is certainly a very valuable one for 20th century China scholars.

One of the biggest strengths of this book is how accessible the author makes it. Too many histories of similar topics get bogged down in infinite names and dates. In contrast, this author reintroduces minor characters or places with a quick parenthetical summary when they appear after an absence, concretely connects all names to an easy to remember identity, making it significantly easier on the reader.

I was hoping for a more substantial exploration of the traditions the Communists were linking their project to (I found the wen-wu analysis a bit perfunctory), but I did very much enjoy the details of the secret society organizations.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents a phenomenal look at the history of the Chinese revolution through the lens of the mining town of Anyuan, site of a famous strike in 1922 involving several future CCP leaders. The strike was a massive success, involving thousands of workers and achieving its goals without violence. The Communists managed to gain a great deal of support in Anyuan through a popular program of free education and a deep familiarity with local customs, which helped a foreign political ideology gain acceptance as something authentically Chinese. In the years that followed, Anyuan became China’s “little Moscow”, a center of Communist labor organizing home to the country’s largest and most active branch of the CCP at the time. All of this would come to a violent end in 1925, but former Anyuan workers would continue play a prominent role in the Chinese revolution. After 1949, Anyuan became a key political touchstone for the PRC’s leaders, its history now refracted through the distorted lens of “cultural patronage”, as first Liu Shaoqi and then Mao Zedong turned the site’s revolutionary history into an important pillar of their cults of personality. Even after the death of Mao and the end of the Cultural Revolution, Anyuan remains an important site, but its history and legacy are contested, as the party tries to use it as part of its “red tourism” initiative, while the revolutionary era is remembered fondly by many miners dissatisfied with China’s post-Mao reforms. Far more than a simple history of one town, this book explores many of the central questions of modern Chinese history: why has the Chinese revolution taken such a different course than its Russian prototype, and what does Anyuan’s revolutionary tradition (and China’s more broadly) mean for the country today? Overall, this is a brilliant, important, and very accessible book that I would recommend to anyone interested in modern China.

[MCisthebest · Rating 5 out of 5]

第一次翻开，3/7-3/16/2022）for a task, 重新拿起英文版，迅速发现英文版根本没法看，因为通篇的中国专有名词，不看中文版完全不知道在讲啥（再一次感慨汉学家们真不容易。给了我好多启发啊开心！最大的感慨是：1. 洪业需要accommodation. 2. 鄙视R家Z教，并不妨碍向它们借势，甚至在它们要倒台的初期也要“引而不发“。3. 利益面越广，越扛抗。4. 文武。高位引尊重，弯腰揽人心。5. 引经据典的力量，M总懂。6. 循序渐进。be a 福杰。7. 行动前，先调查好各方可能抓住的反对点。8. 表面：工人。实际：商会。9. club的表&里&里中里。10. 经济一定要好啊！要不站谁都危险。11. 打江山易坐江山难，还是不太喜欢看大业成后的部分。

[Tegin Ye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing her series of studies on Chinese workers, peasants, and rebellions

[Chyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

作者所使用的“文化置位”和“文化操纵”两个概念中，关于“文化置位”论述较少，有隔靴搔痒之感，而关于1949年后中共对安源革命史的“文化操纵”，似乎可以写得更详尽一些

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

revolutionary religion/cult! This is such a fun read! this is so well-written, I"ll give it a 10 star if I can.