The exponential trauma produced by the Cultural Revolution is barely mentioned in China, yet has been foundational to a generation.  Now the Communist Party is using the experience of its leader Xi Jinping as one of the 17 million young people sent down to the countryside to reframe the movement as showcasing personal sacrifice in the interests of national success.  The party would like other aspects to be forgotten, such as the unimaginable violence in Chongqing or the petty brutality that set children onto their parents.  In the second part of our series on history and memory, Louisa and Graeme discuss the legacies of the Cultural Revolution with sociologist Xu Bin from Emory University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, the author of Chairman Mao's Children: Generation and the Politics of Memory in China and Guardian journalist Tania Branigan whose book Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution came out in May.

Show transcript: https://www.thechinastory.org/lrp/bombard-the-past-exhuming-the-cultural-revolution/

Image: Red Guard, June 1968. c/- Wikimedia Commons and China Pictorial

The exponential trauma produced by the Cultural Revolution is barely mentioned in China, yet has been foundational to a generation.  Now the Communist Party is using the experience of its leader Xi Jinping as one of the 17 million young people sent down to the countryside to reframe the movement as showcasing personal sacrifice in the interests of national success.  The party would like other aspects to be forgotten, such as the unimaginable violence in Chongqing or the petty brutality that set children onto their parents.  In the second part of our series on history and memory, Louisa and Graeme discuss the legacies of the Cultural Revolution with sociologist Xu Bin from Emory University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, the author of Chairman Mao's Children: Generation and the Politics of Memory in China and Guardian journalist Tania Branigan whose book Red Memory: The Afterlives of China’s Cultural Revolution came out in May.
Show transcript: <a href="https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thechinastory.org%2Flrp%2Fbombard-the-past-exhuming-the-cultural-revolution&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cgraeme.smith%40anu.edu.au%7C390b820c3d98498bd29e08dbdfee404c%7Ce37d725cab5c46249ae5f0533e486437%7C0%7C0%7C638349986593655886%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=FVium5sb8M5ceLZQMCZwtuaS57B2DWdo0J%2Byfi6zrAg%3D&amp;reserved=0">https://www.thechinastory.org/lrp/bombard-the-past-exhuming-the-cultural-revolution/</a>
Image: Red Guard, June 1968. c/- Wikimedia Commons and China Pictorial

The Little Red Podcast: interviews and chat celebrating China beyond the Beijing beltway. Hosted by Graeme Smith, China studies academic at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs and Louisa Lim, former China correspondent for the BBC and NPR, now with the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University. We are the 2018 winners of podcast of the year in the News & Current Affairs category of the Australian Podcast Awards. Follow us @limlouisa and @GraemeKSmith, and find show notes at www.facebook.com/LittleRedPodcast/

The Little Red Podcast: interviews and chat celeb…

The Little Red Podcast

Awardwinning interviews and chat celebrating China beyond the Beijing beltway. Hosted by Graeme Smith, China studies academic at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs and Louisa Lim, former China correspondent for the BBC and NPR, now with the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University. We are the 2018 winners of podcast of the year in the News & Current Affairs category of the Australian Podcast Awards and we're funded by the Australian National University's Centre on China in the World. Find us on your favourite platforms: we're on Stitcher, Spotify and even Podbean. Follow us @limlouisa and @GraemeKSmith, and find show notes at www.facebook.com/LittleRedPodcast/. Our editor is the Saturday Paper's Andy Hazel (@AndyRickie), background research is by the Asia Society's Julia Bergin (@juliabergin1) and Xu Chong (@ChongXuCheng), our stirring theme tune was composed by Susie Wilkins (@susiewilkins) and our iconic art is courtesy of Seb Danta (@SebDanta).

Awardwinning interviews and chat celebrating China beyond the Beijing beltway. Hosted by Graeme Smith, China studies academic at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs and Louisa Lim, former China correspondent for the BBC and NPR, now with the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University. We are the 2018 winners of podcast of the year in the News &amp; Current Affairs category of the Australian Podcast Awards and we're funded by the Australian National University's Centre on China in the World. Find us on your favourite platforms: we're on Stitcher, Spotify and even Podbean. Follow us @limlouisa and @GraemeKSmith, and find show notes at www.facebook.com/LittleRedPodcast/. Our editor is the Saturday Paper's Andy Hazel (@AndyRickie), background research is by the Asia Society's Julia Bergin (@juliabergin1) and Xu Chong (@ChongXuCheng), our stirring theme tune was composed by Susie Wilkins (@susiewilkins) and our iconic art is courtesy of Seb Danta (@SebDanta).

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