This section is designed to introduce students to contemporary China since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, by exploring what it has been like to live in China under communist rule. In recent years a number of autobiographies have emerged that recount the excitement, exhilaration, chaos, excesses, and human triumphs and tragedies of the socialist revolution and China’s economic modernization efforts. Told by young Chinese, many of whom are now émigrés, they offer a vivid picture of what it was like to be young and involved in the remaking of a nation.

Teaching Units
• Introduction to The Dragon's Village by Yuan-tseng Chen
[Theme: Establishment of the New Regime: Land Reform (1949-1953)]
This is an autobiography of a young city girl who took part in land reform in a remote mountain village as a teenager. This book will engage students personally while giving them a firsthand account of how the revolution developed. Discussion questions are included.

• Introduction to Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
[Theme: Building Chinese Socialism]
This memoir traces the transformations of twentieth century Chinese history through the lives of three generations of Chinese women. The novel is quite long. Indicated selections have been chosen for students to explore several of the important political movements and resulting social reorganization that took place during the years leading up to the Cultural Revolution. Discussion questions are included.

• Introduction to Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution by Gao Yuan and Son of the Revolution by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro
[Theme: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)]
These two autobiographies address aspects of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Assigning different books to different class members and then having them each present reviews would be a good way to discuss a very difficult and tragic period in Chinese history. Discussion questions are provided and correspond to the indicated pages. This unit also includes a background reading on the Cultural Revolution. Refer to the recommended web resources for further information. Songs of the Cultural Revolution can be found at The Internet Chinese Music Archive.

• Introduction to Almost a Revolution by Shen Tong
[Theme: The Democracy Movement and Tiananmen Square Incident (1978-89)]
This is a memoir of China's democracy movement and the June, 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident, as seen through the eyes of student leader, Shen Tong. This book highlights the bold aspirations, hopes, and political motivations of a new generation of Chinese who protested the restraints imposed by their country's government. Discussion questions are provided and correspond to the indicated pages. Background readings on democracy theory in China, newspaper coverage of the Tiananmen Square Incident, web resources, and a chronology of events at Tiananmen Square are also included.

Recommended Web Links
The People's Century: Interview with Jin Jingzhi (PBS) (www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/
greatleap/jingzhitranscript.html)
From the award-winning 26-part PBS series The People's Century, which examines the turbulent years of the 20th century through the personal testimony of the people who lived them, this is the story of Jin Jingzhi, a Chinese citizen in Shanghai who lived through the revolution of 1949.

Shaping Hong Kong's Future: A Conversation with Anson Chan (Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley)
(globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Chan/)
A conversation (taking place on January 27, 1997) with Dr. Anson Chan, then Chief Secretary of Hong Kong. A career public servant, Dr. Chan was a principal advisor to Hong Kong's Chief Executive and head of Hong Kong's 190,000-member civil service. Dr. Chan was the first woman, and the first person of Chinese ancestry, to hold that position. This interview is part of the "Conversations with History" series from the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. The page includes the interview in video format, as well as an annotated transcript.

The Political Education of a Chinese Dissident: A Conversation with Wei Jingsheng (Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley) (globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Wei/wei-con0.html)
A conversation (taking place on November 19, 1998) with Chinese dissident and human rights activist Wei Jingsheng. This interview is part of the "Conversations with History" series from the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. The page includes the interview in video format, as well as an annotated transcript.

Virtual Museum of the Cultural Revolution (China News Digest) (www.cnd.org/CR/english/)
Materials related to the Cultural Revolution in Chinese and eventually in English are accessible on this site. An English version table of contents indicates what is included in the Chinese version and will be translated to English.

The Chairman Smiles (International Institute of Social History) (www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/chnintro.html)
This exhibition from the International Institute of Social History examines propaganda posters from the Soviet Union, Cuba, and China. The Chinese posters section, relevant here, is divided into three periods from China's modern history: Early Years (1949-1965), Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and Modernization (1977-1997).