A Chinese Rebel beyond the Great Wall - (Silk Roads) by Tj Cheng (Hardcover)

About the Book

"During Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, hundreds of thousands of famine refugees in the recently founded People's Republic of China set their sights on the agricultural promise of Inner Mongolia. Cheng Tiejun was one of those refugees, arriving in Inner Mongolia in 1959. In 1966, as the PRC plunged into the tumultuous events of the Cultural Revolution, he joined the millions of students and young intellectuals in the Red Guards, who saw in the early days of the Cultural Revolution an opportunity to shape a new nation embracing freedom and equality. In Inner Mongolia, however, that year saw the Party-led destruction of the Mongol-centered autonomous polity led by Ulanhu. In the years after the fall of Ulanhu's administration, the region descended into a living hell for Mongols. Even those among the rebels were accused of being Ulanhu sympathizers and tortured for information. At the heart of this book are Cheng's first-person recollections of his experiences as a rebel. These are supplemented by a close examination of the documentary record of the era--as patchwork and censored as it is--from co-authors Mark Selden and Uradyn E. Bulag. The final chapter offers a theoretical framework to understand such persecution. Its goal was not to destroy the Mongols as a people or as a culture--that is, it was not a genocide. It was, however, a "politicide," an attempt to destroy an officially and politically recognized nationality in possession of an autonomous region, forcing Mongols to assimilate as "ethnic minorities" within a "Chinese nation." This unusual narrative provides urgently needed primary material to understand the events of the Cultural Revolution, while at once offering a novel way to understand contemporary Chinese minority politics"--

Book Synopsis

A striking first-person account of the Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia, embedded in a close examination of the historical evidence on China's minority nationality policies to the present.

During the Great Leap Forward, as hundreds of thousands of Chinese famine refugees headed to Inner Mongolia, Cheng Tiejun arrived in 1959 as a middle school student. In 1966, when the PRC plunged into the Cultural Revolution, he joined the Red Guards just as Inner Mongolia's longtime leader, Ulanhu, was purged. With the military in control, and with deepening conflict with the Soviet Union and its ally Mongolia on the border, Mongols were accused of being nationalists and traitors. A pogrom followed, taking more than 16,000 Mongol lives, the heaviest toll anywhere in China.

At the heart of this book are Cheng's first-person recollections of his experiences as a rebel. These are complemented by a close examination of the documentary record of the era from the three coauthors. The final chapter offers a theoretical framework for Inner Mongolia's repression. The repression's goal, the authors show, was not to destroy the Mongols as a people or as a culture-it was not a genocide. It was, however, a "politicide," an attempt to break the will of a nationality to exercise leadership of their autonomous region. This unusual narrative provides urgently needed primary source material to understand the events of the Cultural Revolution, while also offering a novel explanation of contemporary Chinese minority politics involving the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Mongols.

Review Quotes

"Riveting. . . . [Cheng's] first-hand account is invaluable."-- "The China Quarterly"

"Although scholars are increasingly considering and assessing issues of colonialism in China's working out of its nationality strategies, such work has rarely been carried out at this level of detail and analysis. With its academic depth and the sophistication of its authors' argument and research, A Chinese Rebel beyond the Great Wall will be groundbreaking in many ways."-- "Robert Barnett, SOAS, University of London"

"An eye-opening, heartrending eyewitness account of the atrocities committed against the Mongols by the Communist Party-state. Unforgettable reading and all too pertinent to our times."-- "Peter C. Perdue, Yale University"

"Inner Mongolia witnessed the most extreme brutalities of the Cultural Revolution, but the authors go beyond just narrating these horrific events to trace the cruelty to an aim of 'politicide'. A grim and timely reminder."-- "Christopher Pratt Atwood, University of Pennsylvania"

About the Author

TJ Cheng is emeritus professor of sociology at Macau University and a freelance writer based in California. Uradyn E. Bulag is professor of social anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Mark Selden is emeritus professor of sociology and history at the State University of New York at Binghamton.