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  3. Modern Erasures
  • Cited by 2
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
March 2022
Print publication year:
2022
Online ISBN:
9781009026512
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009026512
Subjects:
East Asian History, Area Studies, Asian Studies, History, History of Ideas and Intellectual History
Information

Book description

Modern Erasures is an ambitious and innovative study of the acts of epistemic violence behind China's transformation from a semicolonized republic to a Communist state over the twentieth century. Pierre Fuller charts the pedigree of Maoist thought and practice between the May Fourth movement of 1919 and the peak of the Cultural Revolution in 1969 to shed light on the relationship between epistemic and physical violence, book burning and bloodletting, during China's revolutions. Focusing on communities in remote Gansu province and the wider region over half a century, Fuller argues that in order to justify the human cost of revolution and the building of the national party-state, a form of revolutionary memory developed in China on the nature of social relations and civic affairs in the recent past. Through careful analysis of intellectual and cultural responses to, and memories of, earthquakes, famine and other disaster events in China, this book shows how the Maoist evocation of the 'old society' earmarked for destruction was only the most extreme phase of a transnational, colonial-era conversation on the 'backwardness' of rural communities.

Reviews

‘Modern Erasures unveils the untold story of China in pursuit of modernity. Through the juxtaposition of civic values and nation building, and hegemonic violence and communal legacy, it offers a sobering view of revolutionary history and its disavowal. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this is a great book.'

David Der-wei Wang - Harvard University

‘Through an investigation of disaster, memory, and epistemic violence, Modern Erasures shows how certain understandings of the Chinese past fostered and justified revolutionary violence. Fuller claims, provocatively and compellingly, that the violence of the Mao era was extraordinary but that it was also consistent with the broader logics of the May Fourth discourses that shaped China's 20th century.'

Aminda Smith - Michigan State University

'In a sophisticated, intriguingly sourced, and often brilliantly argued book, Fuller illustrates how the modern (revolutionary) project was grounded on the erasure of civic and community values from the pre-revolutionary ('traditional') rural society, and perhaps more importantly, he shows how in this respect the supposedly anti-colonial discourse shared by May Fourth intellectuals, Guomindang educators, and communist revolutionaries mirrored the colonizing rhetoric of Christian missionaries and Western observers.'

Fabio Lanza Source: Journal of Asian Studies

‘… a remarkably nuanced and largely persuasive contribution to the burgeoning field of memory studies and to our knowledge of the structure of China’s twentieth century revolution.’

Peter Zarrow Source: Journal of Chinese History

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