Book contents
- Justice After Mao
- Justice After Mao
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Property
- Part II The Mechanics of Rehabilitation
- Part III The Politics of Truth
- Part IV Memory
- 8 Narratives and Voices of Cultural Revolution “Perpetrators”
- 9 Coping with a Traumatic Past
- 10 From Individual Guilt to Public Remorse
- Afterword
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - Narratives and Voices of Cultural Revolution “Perpetrators”
from Part IV - Memory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2023
- Justice After Mao
- Justice After Mao
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Property
- Part II The Mechanics of Rehabilitation
- Part III The Politics of Truth
- Part IV Memory
- 8 Narratives and Voices of Cultural Revolution “Perpetrators”
- 9 Coping with a Traumatic Past
- 10 From Individual Guilt to Public Remorse
- Afterword
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter captures and closely analyzes the multiplicity of narratives developed by designated Gang of Four followers purged from the regime following the end of the Cultural Revolution. The CCP authorities have labeled these so-called followers as “perpetrators” of the Cultural Revolution. Using oral histories, the chapter shows how those officially labeled as “perpetrators” rarely and only indirectly portray themselves as such; more often they see themselves as victims or even heroes. The chapter further illustrates how the party-state has never been able to silence alternative voices on the Cultural Revolution within society, nor can it addresses the issue of responsibility for past violence by categorizing perpetrators and victims, two categories that are often confronted with a complex reality. The chapter argues that the processes of punishing perpetrators in post-Cultural Revolution China, or the absence thereof, have continued to influence the way the past is remembered and not remembered in present Chinese society.
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- Justice After MaoThe Politics of Historical Truth in the People's Republic of China, pp. 193 - 215Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023