Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:27:00.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - New Verdicts on the Printed Page

Expurgating the “Gang of Four” in the Publishing Industry, 1976–1978

from Part III - The Politics of Truth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2023

Daniel Leese
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg
Amanda Shuman
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg
Get access

Summary

The chapter examines the state publishing sector’s recall and pulping of printed materials from the Cultural Revolution years. Targeting works linked to the “Gang of Four,” this process constituted an intrinsic part of the broader reckoning with the Maoist legacy and was therefore intimately connected with the political machinations of the immediate post-Mao era. Publishers and bookstores, cleansing their backlists and stockrooms of problematic titles, strengthened the idea that the second half of the 1970s would be years of sociopolitical course correction. Retrospectively altering the bibliographic record engendered many perils and uncertainties: This chapter analyzes the difficulties faced in an environment where official narratives concerning the Gang and the Cultural Revolution were constantly in flux. At the same time, the chapter draws attention to the sheer destructiveness and material cost of the process, with tens of millions of books gradually caught in the dragnet. The marriage between politics, print, and the state had never been stronger.

Type
Chapter
Information
Justice After Mao
The Politics of Historical Truth in the People's Republic of China
, pp. 170 - 190
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×