Mao's China and Post-Mao China

If the history of modern China was written as a book, its author would be accused of losing touch with reality. During the twentieth century, China underwent two revolutions, a number of wars, endured a radical and destabilising form of communism and then hurried quickly towards a system of open market economics whilst remaining under the control of a nominally communist party. Currently the fastest growing economy in the world with an increasingly sophisticated and expanding military, China is widely expected to emerge as the world's next superpower, eclipsing the United States in the not too distant future.

However, not everything is going smoothly for Beijing. Unemployment rates are spiralling, inequality is rife and official corruption at all levels remains an Achilles heel for the Chinese Communist Party, despite Xi Jinping's best endeavours to wipe it out. Worst of all, environmental degradation is at such a serious level that it threatens the success of the Chinese economy and the stability of Chinese society.

Against this scarcely believable backdrop and based on a series of lectures, seminars and research conducted by the author, Mao's China and Post-Mao China captures the dynamics, dynamism and disasters of Chinese politics since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This advanced textbook identifies three key themes that have underpinned the post-revolutionary era, the so-called 'three Rs' Revolution, Recovery and Rejuvenation and is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics of modern China at the undergraduate and postgraduate level

Contents:

• Introduction

• Revolution:

  • The Revolutionary Helmsman: Mao and Maoism
  • Continuing the Revolution: Rural Collectivisation and the Great Leap Forward
  • Destroying the Revolution: The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
  • Revolutionary or Revisionist? Chinese Foreign Policy Under Mao

• Recovery:

  • Stuttering Towards Recovery: The Political Succession to Mao and the Rise of Deng Xiaoping
  • Abandoning the Revolution: Recovery, Reform and Repression in the 1980s

• Rejuvenation:

  • China's Economic Rejuvenation: Assessing the Price of Success
  • China's Rejuvenation on the World Stage: An International Threat or a Peaceful Regional Power?
  • A Chinese Perspective on Human Rights: Discourse, Diplomacy and Defensive Nationalism
  • China's Theory of Regime Legitimacy: Using the Past to Serve the Present
  • China and the Environment: The Discourse of Eco-Civilisation
  • The Narrative of Chinese Nationalism: National Rejuvenation or a Double-Edged Sword?
  • Conclusion

Readership: Undergraduate students studying in modern Chinese politics and history; postgraduate students specialise in Chinese human rights, legitimacy, environment, and nationalism.
Key Features:

• Provides a comprehensive overview of history and politics in China since 1949
• Applies a thematic approach revolution, recovery and rejuvenation encompassing a chronological breakdown of events
• Examines the rise and rejuvenation of China not just within an economic and military context but also within framework of increasingly dominant Chinese discourses
• Addresses topical issues such as human rights, environment and nationalism

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