HISTORY CHINA –

Although the Chinese Communist Party had achieved victory over their military foes in 1949, they faced the daunting task of getting the urban population, which had not participated in the largely peasant revolution, to culturally identify with the new regime and invest it with political legitimacy. It is this “cultural dimension of regime change” which is the subject Gao takes up in his examination of the Communist political cadres activities in the municipality of Hangzhou in the years immediately following the 1949 revolution. The chronological treatment explores the training programs of the Party, the creation of political symbolism and ritual, and power redistribution as a gendered phenomenon, and related topics.

pp. 376 First Edition #240326 (tiny gift inscription on fep)

Published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2004, this scholarly work examines the transition of the city of Hangzhou from Nationalist to Communist rule. 

• Historical Focus: The book analyzes the critical five-year period (1949–1954) when the Chinese Communist Party consolidated power in urban areas.
• Key Themes: It explores how the party transformed from a rural-based revolutionary force into an urban administrative body, detailing the tensions between veteran cadres and the urban intellectuals and elites.
• Research: Gao utilizes local archives, newspapers, and interviews to provide a “bottom-up” perspective on how national policies were implemented and adapted at the local level.