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Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 41): Guo Yushan

Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 41): Guo Yushan

How can China build a true civil society? Since 2010, independent director Tiger Temple has conducted a series of interviews with scholars and civil society participants.
Mountain Songs from the Plains

Mountain Songs from the Plains

Luo Xiaojia, a young Yunnan Yi girl was trafficked to the plains of Shandong at the age of 17 and forced to marry a young farmer in the area. The film documents her family life in the unfamiliar Shandong countryside and her longing for home. In her tenth year in Shandong, she finally fights for the opportunity to return home. After a 4,000-kilometer journey, she returns to her hometown of Yunnan and sees her mother, whom she misses day and night. However, she struggles with conflicting emotions, and returns to Shandong with a mountain song that her mother sings for her. This movie reflects the sad fate of trafficked women in China and the social psychology that follows these tragedies.
River of Oblivion

River of Oblivion

In this film, the filmmaker accompanied volunteer Xie Yihui as she visited the parents of students who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to find people with knowledge of the architectural blueprint of the Beichuan Middle School. This documentary presents the rise of earthquake tourism and records the mindset of volunteers, bereaved parents, and tourists at the anniversary of the earthquake. This film is interspersed with historical film materials of Beichuan Middle School’s building samples taken by parents in 2008, as well as architect Zhu Tao’s analysis of the construction drawings and building quality. It also shows the perceptions of mothers, teachers, and photographers. This series of films are in Chinese with Chinese subtitles.
Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 10): Ai Weiwei

Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 10): Ai Weiwei

How can China build a true civil society? Since 2010, independent director Tiger Temple has conducted a series of interviews with scholars and civil society participants.
Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 51): Hu Shigen

Working toward a Civil Society (Episode 51): Hu Shigen

How can China build a true civil society? Since 2010, independent director Tiger Temple has conducted a series of interviews with scholars and civil society participants.
Examination of the Great Famine of the 1960s in Gansu Province

Examination of the Great Famine of the 1960s in Gansu Province

This book is a series of studies on the socio-economic situation in Gansu Province during the Great Famine of 1958 to 1961. The book is, divided into two parts.  The first part consists of five research articles, which document the miserable situation of the people of Gansu during the Great Famine. According to the book, the Gansu Provincial Party Committee admitted in a report that there were incidents of cannibalism in the area during the Great Famine. The articles also expose a series of activities by local authorities during the Great Leap Forward Campaign, such as the irrational construction of mega hydraulic projects, the false reporting of grain output, the operation of communal canteens that caused huge waste, and misleading the hungry people to eat bark and mud. The articles also analyze the reasons behind the disaster.  The second part of the book contains important historical documents reflecting the situation at that time, which are the evidence to support the author's research and analysis, including Gansu Provincial Party Committee's directives on the People's Commune, as well as a number of reports on the Committee’s work submitted to the Central Party Committee. In addition, the book contains news, propaganda posters and photographs published in newspapers at the time. This book is the 20th series of the Lanzhou Literary and Historical Materials (there is a total 23 series) compiled by the Literary and Historical Materials and Study Committee of the Lanzhou Municipal Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the CCP (which is actually directly directed and supervised by CCP). This gives the book special value, as it reflects a semi-authoritative voice that supports independent historians' contention that the famine was far deeper and widespread than official historiography admits.  The book was published in 2002, written by Wu Wenjun and edited by Wang Jialuo. Wu Wenjun and Wang Jialuo also worked together on the 22nd series of the Lanzhou Literary and Historical Materials *Examination of the Great Famine of the 1960s in China* (which is also held by the archive). All but the 20th and 22nd series are available on the website of the Lanzhou Municipal Political Consultative Conference (https://www.gslzzx.gov.cn/col/col11760/index.html) .
Famine and Village: Who Starved Them to Death?

Famine and Village: Who Starved Them to Death?

The author of this article, Chen Feng, was born in 1962. His hometown is Huang Sichong, Sanjia Brigade, Bainong Commune, Feidong County, Anhui Province. According to his records, in the winter of 1959 to the spring of 1960 during the Great Famine, his grandfather, grandmother, grandfather, grandmother's relatives and relatives, and countless members of his extended family and village, 57 people died of starvation.
Xiaoniao Literature - Shanghai Lockdown Special Issues

Xiaoniao Literature - Shanghai Lockdown Special Issues

These three issues published by "Xiaoniao Literature" explore the experiences, emotions, and hardships of Shanghai residents during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2022. From poetry and photography to opinion and satirical pieces, various writers bring to life the 2022 Shanghai lockdowns for the rest of the world.  "Xiaoniao Literature" publishes twelve issues with over 300 pieces in total per year. Its content includes short novels, opinion pieces, and poetry.  Click [here](https://www.bumingbai.net/2022/06/ep-004-yi-xianfeng-yang-ying/) for an interview by *Bumingbai Podcast* with Yi Xianfeng and Yang Ying, co-founders of *Xiaoniao Literature*.
Special Collections |Famine and Counties (7): The Great Famine in Xili County around 1960

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.
Famine and County (8) Huanjiang County, Guangxi: Frenzy and Its Disasters

Famine and County (8) Huanjiang County, Guangxi: Frenzy and Its Disasters

Huanjiang County is a county in northwest Guangxi and home to multiple ethnic groups. The area is a major grain-producing county with abundant resources. In 1958, local officials followed the frenzy of the Great Leap Forward, and engaged in "satellite launches"--giving astronomically high grain production rates. This formed the basis of taxation policies, which stripped localities of grain and was a key reason for the famine. Huanjiang County exaggerated grain production up to three times the actual production. In order to complete the high procurement, the county merged all the people's rations and feed grains for pigs, cattle and livestock into the national warehouse, and implemented the policy of not opening the warehouse for relief even if people died of starvation. As a result, widespread famine occurred in the county. Huanjiang County has a population of about 150,000, and about 50,000 farmers starved to death. This article uses specific figures and historical details to fully describe how the regime created false grain figures step by step, and how the upper-level leaders encouraged such a trend. From it we can see the specific process of the Great Leap Forward policy.
Special Collections |Famine and the county (5): Haoxian agricultural "satellite" experience collection official repair collection

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*.
Specials Collections| Famine and Village (4) Names and Numbers That Should Not Be Forgotten

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.
Special Collections |Famine and Village (1) Hejiaba in the Three-Year Famine

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.
Specials Collections| Famine and Village (6) Memories of the 1959 Grain Shutdown

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.
Famine in one County: Zhenyuan&#039;s Wrongful Case during the Great Leap Forward

Famine in one County: Zhenyuan&#039;s Wrongful Case during the Great Leap Forward

The population in Zhenyuan County in Gansu was starving to death as early as 1957. However, the authorities believed that the food problem was due to "counter-revolutionaries" and created a huge case of injustice in which at least 1,650 people in the county were implicated. This article was published by the Zhenyuan Party History Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in *Hundred year tide* magazine. This article is reprinted from the "Famine Archives" website.
Historical Examination of the Purge of the &quot;AB&quot; Regiment

Historical Examination of the Purge of the &quot;AB&quot; Regiment

More than 70 years ago, a massive wave of revolutionary terror swept through the CCP-led Jiangxi Soviet Union. Thousands of Red Army officers and soldiers, as well as members of the Party and the general public in the base area, were brutally murdered in a purge called the "Purging of the AB Troupe." Gao Hua's article examines why Mao Zedong initiated the "purge of the AB Group" in the Red Army and the base areas. What was Mao's rationale for the Great Purge? What is the relationship between the Great Terror and the establishment of a new society? Why did Mao stop using the "Fighting the AB Groups" as a means of resolving internal conflicts in the Party after he assumed real power in the CCP?
Spark, Issue 1

Spark, Issue 1

Spark 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!
Several Comments on the Research of the Chinese Great Famine

Several Comments on the Research of the Chinese Great Famine

Special Features|Famine and the County (4): Chronicle of the Great Famine caused by pompous winds

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.
Peasant resistance in the years of the Great Famine

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.
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