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Mao's Children in the New China: Voices From the Red Guard Generation
Around 18 million young Chinese people were sent to the countryside between 1966 and 1976 as part of the Cultural Revolution. Mao's Children in the New China allows some of them to tell their moving stories in their own voices for the first time. In this inspiring collection of interviews with former Red Guards, members of the first generation to be born under Chairman Mao talk frankly about the dramatic changes which have occurred in China over the last two decades. In discussing the impact these changes have had on their own lives, the former revolutionaries give a direct insight into how ex-Maoists view contemporary China, revealing an attitude perhaps more critical than that of most Western commentators. These poignant memoirs tell the very personal stories of how people from all walks of life were affected by both the cultural revolution and Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. They cover subjects as diverse as marriage and divorce, the privatization of industry, family relationships, universities and the stock market. Mao's Children in the New China is essential reading for all those interested in learning more about the personal and social history of modern China.
- GenresChina
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 8, 2000
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October 22, 2025
Such a gripping book. I had a hard time putting this down
Readers should probably take some of these overall evaluations of the Cultural Revolution with a grain of salt; many of those interviewed, due to being from PB or bourgeois families and being located in Shanghai, unfortunately experienced some of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution
That aside, the accounts are fascinating. Each one reads more like a short story than an interview. Many could be a book on their own. Despite all they went through, it's interesting to see how some still look back fondly on their youth. Some of the accounts are very sad and even haunting
I'll be thinking about these stories for a long time to come
Readers should probably take some of these overall evaluations of the Cultural Revolution with a grain of salt; many of those interviewed, due to being from PB or bourgeois families and being located in Shanghai, unfortunately experienced some of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution
That aside, the accounts are fascinating. Each one reads more like a short story than an interview. Many could be a book on their own. Despite all they went through, it's interesting to see how some still look back fondly on their youth. Some of the accounts are very sad and even haunting
I'll be thinking about these stories for a long time to come
Displaying 1 of 1 review