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Book
Active Life
This is a collection of essays by Cui Weiping, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy. The title, inspired by Hannah Arendt, covers a wide range of fields from poetry and movies to politics and ethics, and tells the stories of fascinating people, the construction of their inner world and external lives. These people include Hai Zi, Wang Xiaobo, Arendt, Woolf, Beauvoir, Tarkovsky, Kremer, Herbert, Havel, and many others. Behind these seemingly unrelated names, there are hints of these two interdependent spiritual dimensions: on the one hand, the construction of the external world in which we live; on the other hand, the construction of our own inner world, which cannot be neglected. This book, published by Renmin University of China Press in 2003, has had a significant impact on the development of civil society in China.
Book
Chen Cheng's Memoirs—The War between the Nationalists and Communists
Mr. Chen Cheng (courtesy name Cixiu; alias Shisou) served as the commander of the KMT army, commander-in-chief of the group army, commander-in-chief of the theater of operations, and chief of the general staff of the KMT. After the defeat of the Kuomintang army in Taiwan, Chen Cheng served the Administrative Yuan as Vice President of the Kuomintang. The volumes associated with *Chen Cheng's Memoirs* were published by Taiwan's National Museum of History in 2005. The series is divided into six volumes: *The Northern Expedition and the Chaos* (one volume), *The War between the Nationalists and Communists* (one volume), *The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression* (two volumes), and ***The Construction of Taiwan*** (two volumes). The first volume, *The War between the Nationalists and Communists* includes three parts: *Suppressing the Communists - Memories of the Military*, *Summary of Mr. Chen's Words and Actions*, and *Correspondence and Telegrams*. The book has original historical materials related to the five sieges and the counter-insurgency. In particular, this is the first time that important historical materials regarding the correspondence between Chiang Chung-cheng (courtesy name of Chiang Kai-shek) and Cixiu have been made public.
Film and Video
Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 5): Cui Weiping
The Xi’an-based videographer Zhang Shihe, or Tiger Temple, has been a fixture on the independent Chinese history scene for more than twenty years. In 2010, he began a thirty-part series of short interviews with leading Chinese thinkers called “Working Toward Civil Society,” in which he explores how China can build a true civil society. Some of those interviewed have now been silenced, passed away, or moved abroad, making the series itself a work of history.
In this episode, Zhang interviews one of China’s most thoughtful public thinkers, Cui Weiping. Cui is a professor at the Beijing Film Academy, and translator of Havel into Chinese. She was a signer of Charter 08, and friend of the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. Although the interview is only 8 minutes long, Cui touches on some of the key problems that continue to plague China: how to break free of overwhelming government control of civic life?
Note to English speakers: this interview only has Chinese subtitles. The CUA is working to add English subtitles to all of our video offerings so check back in a few months.
Article
Yang Kuisong: A Study of New China's "Counter-Revolutionary Suppression" Campaign
How many people were "killed," "imprisoned," and "controlled" in the whole "anti-revolution" campaign? Mao Zedong later said that 700,000 people were killed, 1.2 million were imprisoned, and 1.2 million were put under control. Mao's statement was naturally based on a report made in January 1954 by Xu Zirong, deputy minister of public security. Xu reported at the time that since the anti-revolution campaign, the country had arrested more than 262,000, of which "more than 712,000 counter-revolutionaries were killed, more than 12,900,000 were imprisoned, and 1,200,000 were put under control, and more than 380,000 were released through education because their crimes were not considered serious after their arrest." (3) Taking the figure of 712,000 executed, it already amounts to one and two-fourths thousandths of one percent of the country's 500 million people at that time. This figure is obviously much higher than the one-thousandth of a percent level originally envisioned by Mao Zedong.
Article
Yang Kuisong: The Beginning and End of the CCP's Seizure of the Northeast after the War
The occupation of the Northeast was key to the CCP's success in seizing power in 1949. The author of this book, Yang Kuisong, is a professor and doctoral director of the Department of History at East China Normal University, and a researcher at the Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This book describes the CCP's taking of the Northeast as well as the competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union at that time. After reading it, you will understand: how the Soviet Union played a key role in the CCP's occupation of the Northeast.