Anthony Saich - New Perspectives on the Chinese Revolution

New Perspectives on the Chinese Communist Revolution brings together the work of ? new, international generation of students of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) history. Exploiting new sources made available in China in the 1980s, some chapters in this book bring new events and areas into the study of the CCP. Other chapters provide detailed analyses on the basis of new evidence of long-standing problems in the history of the CCP, such as the rise of Mao Zedong. Yet others are significant because they offer new explanatory frameworks for understanding CCP history, such as the importance of Yanan as symbolic capital. New issues are brought up, such as the role of women, internal CCP terror, the use of opium sales to sustain the Yanan economy, and the great difficulty of controlling mass peasant movements once mobilized. The most important contribution of the volume is to show that the old explanations of the CCPs successpeasant support, organizational strength, the supply of administrative servicesare incomplete and do not account for the diverse and heterogenous nature of the CCP and the great difficulties it had in building up mass support. This volume makes clear that the question of the CCPs success remains one of the most elusive but also most important that historians of China face today.

Edited by Tony Saich
and Hans van de Ven

An East Gate Book

An East Gate Book

First published 1995 by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015 by Routledge
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Copyright 1995 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

New perspectives on the Chinese Communist revolution / edited by
Tony Saich and Hans J. van de Ven.
P. cm.
Papers from a conference sponsored by Sinological Institute,
Leiden University and International Institute of Social History,
held January 812, 1990 in Leiden and Amsterdam.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1563244284 ISBN 1563244292 (pbk.)
1. Chung-kuo kung chan tangHistoryCongresses.
2. CommunismChinaHistoryCongresses.
I. Saich, Tony. II. Van de Ven, Hans J.
JQ1519.A5R57 1994
951.04dc20 9426985
CIP

ISBN 13: 9781563244292 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9781563244285 (hbk)

The chapters in this book are the result of a conference cosponsored by the Sinological Institute, Leiden University, and the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, held between 8 and 12 January 1990. The first two days of the workshop were held in Leiden, and after a days break to recuperate the International Institute of Social History hosted the final two days, including the public session held on the last afternoon.

First, the staff of both institutions must be thanked for their cooperation in ensuring that the planned program ran smoothly. Financial support was received from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninkrijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen), the International Institute of Social History (Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis), the Faculty of Letters of Leiden University, the Foundation for the Advancement of Cultural Relations Between the Royal Netherlands and China (Stichting ter Bevordering van de Culturele Betrekkingen tussen het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden en China), and AKZO nv. Without their various financial contributions, it would have been impossible to bring such an array of scholars to the Netherlands.

In addition to the participants, the following individuals deserve our thanks for their help in organizing the workshop: Dr. Woei-Lien Chong, Professor E. Fischer, Dr. Stefan R. Landsberger, Ms. A. Merens, and Professor E. Zrcher. Special thanks are reserved for Ms. Els Heye, without whose help I would have gone crazy during both the preparations for the conference and the conference itself. She dealt with all manner of technical problems with a reassuring calm and still had time to put together an entertaining social program for the conference participants.

Finally, there was the headache of publication. Two anonymous reviewers provided constructive criticisms that have improved the final product considerably. I would also like to thank Jeff Wasserstrom for his comments on restructuring the manuscript as well as for his helpful remarks on the individual chapters. We would especially like to thank Doug Merwin for his enthusiastic response to our plea for assistance. As usual, he and the staff of M. E. Sharpe offered all possible assistance to enable the volume, in its present form, to see the light of day.

Tony Saich
Leiden, January 1994