Explore the collection
Showing 75 items in the collection
75 items
Article
Peasant resistance in the years of the Great Famine
Even today in China, some people have been trying to deny that there was a great famine in 1960. One of the reasons is: If there was a great famine, why did we not see the peasants' resistance? It is true that historically, in the event of a famine, peasants would loot grain, riot, and even break out in revolt in order to survive, but during the period 1958-1962, due to the special historical conditions, it seems that there is no record of peasants' resistance. But this was not the case. This article collects facts to prove the existence of peasant resistance.
Article
Poppies under the Red Sun: The Opium Trade and the Yan'an Model
In the 1990s, history scholar Chen Yongfa made a fundamental study of the opium economy two decades before the founding of the CCP and completed a monograph, "Poppies under the Red Sun: The Opium Trade and the Yan'an Model". Since then, more and more research articles have been written on the subject, and new information has appeared. Subsequently, the phenomenon of the opium economy of the CCP's Yan'an regime has also became an important field of study.
Book
Red Life History - The Revolutionary Years (1921-1949)
Professor Pei Yiran's book is the first complete revelation of the untold revolutionary history of the CCP. The book covers many important points in the history of the CCP, including the use of Soviet rubles to build the party, the landlords fundraising campaign, and the love life of Mao Zedong and Jiang Qing, among subjects.
book
Return of the Soul from Purgatory: Memoirs of a Survivor of the "Sparks" Case from the Great Famine Era
In 1960, a group of faculty and students from Lanzhou University, who had been labeled Rightists and sent down to rural areas in Tianshui, Gansu, personally experienced the Great Famine. They self-published <i>Spark</i> magazine to expose and criticize the totalitarian rule that led to this catastrophe.<i>Spark</i> only published one issue before its participants were arrested and labeled as a counterrevolutionary group. Many were sentenced to long prison terms, and some were even executed. <a href=“http://108.160.154.72/s/china-unofficial/item/1759#lg=1&slide=0”>The first issue of <i>Spark</i> and more information about the "Spark Case" can be read here</a>.
<i>Return from Purgatory: A Survivor’s Memoir of the ‘Spark Case’ in the Great Famine Years (1957–1981)</i> is the autobiography of Xiang Chengjian, a key participant in <i>Spark</i> magazine. At the time, he and another student were responsible for printing the first issue, and he contributed six articles to <i>Spark</i>. Due to his involvement, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the Spark case and was not rehabilitated until the early 1980s.
This memoir is divided into three sections, with a total of thirteen chapters spanning over 350,000 characters. It documents Xiang’s journey from being labeled a Rightist and sent to perform forced labor, to his arrest and 19-year imprisonment for his involvement in <i>Spark</i>, and finally to his struggle for rehabilitation and efforts to rebuild his life after release. In the book’s preface, scholar Ai Xiaoming offers the following assessment:
"Xiang Chengjian’s memoir holds significant value for the study of the intellectual history of contemporary China. First, it serves as another important testimony of the “Spark Case”, following Tan Chanxue’s memoir <i><a href=“”>Sparks: A Chronicle of the Rightist Counter-Revolutionary Group at Lanzhou University</a></i>, making it a crucial historical document on this act of resistance. The author reconstructs the social context before and after the case and describes how the young intellectuals behind <i>Spark</i> bravely challenged totalitarian rule. Second, the book provides a detailed account of labor camps in western China, with the author documenting his 18 years of forced labor in Gansu and Qinghai, unveiling a western chapter of China’s Gulag system. Third, it is a deeply personal intellectual history of a resister, showing the immense suffering, trials of life and death, and personal resilience under the crushing force of state violence."
The book’s appendix includes Xiang Chengjian’s six articles for <i>Spark</i>, an in-depth investigative report on him by journalist Jiang Xue, and a chronological record of the Spark Case compiled by Ai Xiaoming.
<i>Return from Purgatory</i> is published by Borden Press in New York and is the first book in the “People’s Archives Series”, published by the China Unofficial Archives. The author, Xiang Chengjian, has generously authorized the archive to share the book’s digital edition. Readers are encouraged to purchase the book to support the author and publisher.
Book
Seventy Years of the Chinese Communist Revolution
Professor Chen Yongfa's book examines the history of the Chinese Communist Party from the perspective of modern Chinese history. It divides it into three stages: revolutionary seizure of power, continuous revolution, and farewell revolution. It delves into three major issues in CCP history: nationalism, grassroots power structure, and ideological transformation and control. published by Taiwan's Linking Publishing in 2001.
Book
Sky Burial: The Fate of Tibet
In this book, author Wang Lixiong presents his arguments with a great deal of personal experience and field work. The book covers the history of the Tibetan issue, the current situation, and various aspects. The book was first published by Mirror Books in Hong Kong in 1998, and an updated edition was released in 2009.
Periodicals
Spark, Issue 1
<i>Spark</i> was an underground magazine that appeared in the Tianshui area of Gansu Province in northwestern China during the 1959-1961 Great Famine. The magazine was lost for decades but in the late 1990s began to be republished electronically, becoming the basis of documentary films, essays, and books.
In 1959, the Great Famine was spreading across China. It was witnessed by a group of Lanzhou University students who had been branded as Rightists and sent down to labor in the rural area of Tianshui. They saw countless peasants dying of hunger, and witnessed cannibalism.
Led by Zhang Chunyuan, a history student at Lanzhou University, they founded <i>Spark</i> in the hope of alerting people to the unfolding disaster and analyzing its root causes. The students pooled their money to buy a mimeograph machine, carved their own wax plates, and printed the first issue. The thirty-page publication featured Lin Zhao's long poem, "A Day in Prometheus's Passion." The first issue also featured articles, such as "The Current Situation and Duty," which dissected the tragic situation of society at that time and hoped that the revolution would be initiated by the Communist Party from within.
The students planned to send the magazine to the leaders of the provinces and cities with a view to correcting their mistakes. But before the first issue of Spark was mailed and while the second issue was still being edited, on September 30, 1960, these students in Wushan and Tianshui were arrested, along with dozens of local peasants who knew and supported them. Among them: Zhang Chunyuan was sentenced to life imprisonment and later executed; Du Yinghua, deputy secretary of the Wushan County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for having interacted with the students, and later executed. Lin Zhao was detained and also executed. Other key members, such as Gu Yan, Tan Chanxue, and Xiang Chengjian, were all sentenced to long years in labor camps.
In the 1990s, Tan Chanxue devoted herself to researching historical information and figures to bring this history to life. She found in her personnel file (<i>dan'an</i>）photographs of the magazine, as well as self-confessions and other evidence used in the students' trial. Eventually, the photos were collated into PDFs, which began to circulate around China.
Editors' note: This site the original handwritten version and a PDF of all the articles from the first issue of <i>Spark</i>. We will also make available transcripts of the essays in Chinese and are searching for volunteers to translate the texts into English. Please contact us if you're interested in helping!
Article
Special Collections ｜Famine and Counties (7): The Great Famine in Xili County around 1960
Around 1960, Xili County experienced a famine unprecedented in modern history, resulting in massive population deaths and an exodus, with 44,608 deaths in the county in 1960 alone (43,793 according to provincial statistics). In early 1961, the momentum of population deaths continued to develop, with 525 deaths in January, rising to 729 in February. Along with the massive population deaths, various diseases began to spread. Famine and disease caused a massive exodus of population. From 1958 to 1960 the exodus of population from the county reached 14,241 people. Also due to the death and exodus of population, 170,000 acres of land in the county were left barren, only one commune of Luoyu at that time had more than 20,000 acres.
Article
Special Collections ｜Famine and County (2): Guizhou Meitan Incident
In Meitan County, Guizhou Province, from November 1959 to early April 1960, more than 120,000 people starved to death in five months. The deaths accounted for more than 20 percent of the county's total population and 22 percent of the agricultural population. During the incident, 2,938 families died in the county, 4,737 orphans and widows were left behind, and 4,737 peasants went out to escape. The most tragic and horrible thing to witness was incidents of cannibalism. The author participated in the compilation of "Meitan County Records," read the relevant historical materials, and organized this article to reproduce the real history for future generations to learn from.
Article
Special Collections ｜Famine and the county (5): Haoxian agricultural "satellite" experience collection official repair collection
The former Bo County (now Qiaocheng District, Bozhou City) in Anhui Province is located in the plains of northwest Anhui. During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, under the slogan of "how bold people are, how productive the land is," in Bo County, like everywhere else, generally produced agricultural high-yield "satellites." Afterwards, to show the great achievement, the county party committee instructed the relevant departments to compile a high agricultural yield "satellite" history book - 1958, <i>Bo County Agricultural Yield Experience Collection</i>, that was reported to the press and widely circulated. At that time, I served as deputy director of the county people's committee (government) office and was appointed by the county party committee as one of the reviewers. Now I would like to introduce the incredible circumstances for future generations with the the introduction of the history book *Collection*.
Article
Special collections ｜Famine and the County (6): The "Communist" Dream of Doing Nothing that Wreaks Havoc on the People
During the period of reorganization of the commune, a first-class propagandist from East China was sent to the commune. At a mass meeting of 10,000 people, he proposed that whoever wanted to withdraw from the society, the government would settle accounts with him. There was an account of the losses incurred when the army crossed the border; an account of the disaster relief during the past few years, an account of the poor-peasant cooperative fund when the Agricultural Society was established; and the accounts of the various expenses incurred in sending disaster relief doctors from all over the country and transferring rice and seeds from Yunnan and Sichuan ...... The honest peasants were dumbfounded. Each one privately complained: "The original said that membership was voluntary and withdrawal was free, but now they have changed their minds."
Article
Special Collections ｜Famine and Village (1) Hejiaba in the Three-Year Famine
At the time of its writing, the author of this article, He Xuejia, was a retired high school language teacher in Chongqing County, Sichuan Province. His hometown, Hejiaba, is in Chongqing County, Sichuan Province. The county is located in the Dujiangyan Artesian Irrigation District and is known as the "Land of Heavenly Capital" and the "Upper Five Counties." The author recalls what he witnessed during the Great Leap Forward. At that time, Hejiaba village had 21 families of 130 people. 17 families starved to death, a total of 32 deaths, another person was abandoned, one was given to others, the deaths include the author's own father. As for the four major teams and eight teams in the adjacent village, more than half of the population died. This paper documents some of the deaths from starvation and provides a list of population losses.
Article
Special Collections｜Famine and Village (2) The People's Commune Canteen in Zhoujiawan
"In the second month of the 1961 lunar calendar, the communal canteen was disbanded. The houses and pigsties of the members were compensated and returned. The land was set aside, and the rations were supplied. So we gradually got through the difficult times. Some said that if the communal canteens had been organized for a few more years, I wonder how many more people would have died. "This is the personal experience and oral account of a farmer in Yingshan County, Sichuan Province.
Article
Special Feature｜Famine and County (3): Hao County's Tragedy
This article is taken from six accounts by Mr. Liang Zhiyuan. Mr. Liang Zhiyuan was the deputy director of the Bo County People's Committee (i.e., the government) office during the Great Famine. He also served as the head of the Production and Welfare Section of the County Party Committee's Rural Work Department and the deputy director of the County Party Committee's Living and Welfare Office, where he was responsible for a lot of things. In 2002 and 2005, based on three years of rural work notes and relevant historical information, Mr. Liang Zhiyuan wrote a number of articles describing the Bo County famine, including "A Painful Lesson in History - The Unnatural Deaths of the Rural Population in Bo County." and several other articles. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, these have not been published publicly, and many of these materials are released to the outside world for the first time in this article.
Article
Special Features｜Famine and the County (4): Chronicle of the Great Famine caused by pompous winds
Guangdong Liangyang County was formed in 1958 by the merger of Yangjiang and Yangchun counties. This article describes the ins and outs of excess and famine in Liangyang County.
Article
Specials Collections｜ Famine and the Village (4) The Year of the Raging Left Scourge
The author of this article, whose hometown is the fourth team of Guantianba in Sichuan Province, experienced the Great Famine and witnessed one of his fellow villagers die of starvation. He records how people struggled to survive the famine and records each of the names of those who died of starvation in the hope that future generations will always remember them.
Article
Specials Collections｜ Famine and Village (4) Names and Numbers That Should Not Be Forgotten
Dali Brigade of Huangli People's Commune, Feidong County, Anhui Province, has twelve production teams. According to incomplete statistics, of the 868 people in 180 households before the disaster, 381 people died in the famine, and the death population spread over 139 households, of which 22 households were entirely annihilated. The author, Guan Zhongcun, who was only 10 years old at the time, was also orphaned during the famine. This article records the names, ages, and families of the 381 people who died.
Article
Specials Collections｜ Famine and Village (6) Memories of the 1959 Grain Shutdown
In 1959, out of 120 people in Wu Weizi Squad of Gao Dadian Brigade, Shili Commune, Guangshan County, Henan Province, 72 people died of starvation. Author Wu Yongkuan witnessed the deaths of his father and his fellow villagers. His son, Wu Ye, collected and organized a list of the dead, and readers can see that, at that time, 58% of the people in that small village died of starvation, and 63% of families died off with no descendants.