The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese socialism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society. Though it failed to achieve its main objectives, the Cultural Revolution marked the effective return of Mao to the center of power in China after his political sidelining, in the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine.
Pierre Ryckmans, better known by his pen name Simon Leys, was a Belgian-Australian writer, essayist and literary critic, translator, art historian, sinologist, and university professor, who lived in Australia from 1970. His work particularly focused on the politics and traditional culture of China, calligraphy, French and English literature, the commercialization of universities, and nautical fiction. Through the publication of his trilogy Les Habits neufs du président Mao (1971), Ombres chinoises (1974) and Images brisées (1976), he denounced the Cultural Revolution in China and the idolizing of Mao in the West.
Dai Sijie is a Chinese French author and filmmaker.
La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire, commonly referred to simply as La Chinoise, is a 1967 French political docufiction film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard about a group of young Maoist activists in Paris.
René Viénet is a French sinologist who is famous as a situationist writer and filmmaker. Viénet used the situationist technique of détournement — the diversion of already existing cultural elements to new subversive purposes.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a 2002 Franco-Chinese romance drama film with dialogue in the Sichuan dialect directed by Dai Sijie and starring Zhou Xun, Chen Kun and Liu Ye. It premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May.
The Road Home is a 1999 Chinese romantic drama film directed by Zhang Yimou. It also marked the cinematic debut of the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. The Road Home was written by author Bao Shi, who adapted the screenplay from his novel, Remembrance.
The Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement, often known simply as the Down to the Countryside Movement, was a policy instituted in the People's Republic of China between the mid-1950s and 1978. As a result of what he perceived to be pro-bourgeois thinking prevalent during the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao Zedong declared certain privileged urban youth would be sent to mountainous areas or farming villages to learn from the workers and farmers there. In total, approximately 17 million youth were sent to rural areas as a result of the movement. Usually only the oldest child had to go, but younger siblings could volunteer to go instead.
Lucien André Bianco is a French historian and sinologist specializing in the history of the Chinese peasantry in the twentieth century. He is the author of a reference book on the origins of the Chinese Communist Revolution and has co-edited the book China in the twentieth century. His Peasants without the Party was awarded the Association for Asian Studies Joseph Levenson Book Prize in 2003.
Luo Ruiqing, formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a Chinese army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. As the first Minister of Public Security from 1949 to 1959, he established the security and police apparatus of the People's Republic of China after the Communist victory in the civil war, and then served as the Chief of the Joint Staff from 1959 to 1965, achieving military victory in the Sino-Indian War.
Mohamed Ali Yousfi is a Tunisian writer and translator.
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant is a 1995 novel by Chinese writer Yu Hua. It is his third novel after Cries in the Drizzle and To Live. It is the story of a silk factory worker, Xu Sanguan, who sells his blood over the years, in most cases in an attempt to improve the lives of himself and his family members, and overcome family difficulties. The story is set in the late 1940s until the 1980s, from the early years of the People's Republic of China until after the Cultural Revolution.
The Flower Girl is a North Korean revolutionary genre theatrical performance, which was written by the country's leader Kim Il Sung. The performance is considered one of the "Five Great Revolutionary Operas", a group of classical, revolution-themed opera repertoires well received within North Korea. It was also made into a novel. A film adaption of the opera starring Hong Yong Hee was made in 1972.
One Man's Bible is a novel by Gao Xingjian published in 1999 and in English translation in 2003. Set during the Cultural Revolution, the novel stars an alter-ego of Gao who reflects on his previous experiences around the world. Throughout the book, the chapters alternate between the narrator describing his life during and after his time in China during the Cultural Revolution. He describes how he looks for freedom and how to retain that freedom.
The Fiction Monthly was a Chinese literary journal published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. First published in July 1910, its original editors were Yun Tieqiao (恽铁樵) and Wang Chunnong (王莼农). In January 1921, Mao Dun became its chief editor beginning with Volume 10, Issue 1. Fiction Monthly closed its doors in 1932 after the Japanese invasion of Shanghai with their naval and air bombardment. Altogether there were 22 volumes or 262 issues, including four specials.
A Chinese Life is a 2012 French graphic novel co-written by Li Kunwu and Philippe Ôtié and illustrated by Li Kunwu. Edward Gauvin translated the book into English. The book describes Li Kunwu's life during the Cultural Revolution. Kana published the French version, and SelfMadeHero published the English translation.
Ina Rilke is a Mozambique-born translator who specializes in translating Dutch literature and French literature into English.
Stalin and Mao: A Comparison of the Russian and Chinese Revolutions is a non-fiction book by Lucien Bianco, published by Gallimard in 2014. Its 2018 English translation, done by Krystyna Horko, was published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. It compares and contrasts the Russian Revolution and the Chinese Communist Revolution.
Yan Lan is a Franco-Chinese lawyer, investment banker and writer who is best known for directing the Chinese activities of the U.S.-based Lazard asset management firm, and for authoring a memoir on her family's experience of China's Cultural Revolution.
