A look at three recent papers published in the China Quarterly, and what they say about local governance, internal propaganda and the politics of 'getting things done' in modern China.

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China’s post 90s and 00s generation are burnt out, mentally and emotionally drained, and apparently are not getting enough sunlight. While grinding in the city seems to have led to a law of diminishing returns -- typically referred to as ‘involution’ -- many young hopefuls are still seeking opportunity elsewhere. In this episode I explore the phenonmenon of the ‘rural reset’, the idea that one can up sticks and move down to a beautiful rural idyll and live out the dream life running a coffee shop and farming a small veg patch.

But is taking your urban ways of life and grindset mentality down to the countryside the true path to happiness? Is a bucolic setting all one really needs to reinvent the self? Is it really possible to outrun admin? We discuss all this and more as we try to determine whether or not this is a sustainable, long-term vision that can be supported by the government, or another flash in the pan fad for the downtrodden laobaixing to cling to while they can.

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Today's guest is Yaling Jiang. Yaling is a former journalist who currently uses her research and reporting skills to provide businesses with insights and analysis on the Chinese consumer market. She is the founder of research agency Aperture China, alongside which she runs the newsletter Following the Yuan on Substack, which provides nuanced takes on Chinese consumer trends.

We discuss how Chinese people see themselves as consumers first and political citizens second, the CCP's attempts to influence the consumer market, and how a rise in China's soft power is linked to trends like Chinamaxxing. We also talk about how movements like involution, lying flat, and feminism present in people's lives, and prove once more that Chinese people and Americans are more similar than we think.

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This is a recording of the livestream of our monthly book club. In this livestream we discuss the book Serve the People! by Yan Lianke, a banned book set during the Cultural Revolution in China.

If you would like to find out more about the book club and which books we’re reading, please click here.

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Part 8 of reuploading classic history episodes in the run up to our book club review of Serve the People! by Yan Lianke.

The death of Mao Zedong and the trial of the Gang of Four are traditionally used as the signifiers of the end of the Cultural Revolution. The violent and turbulent 10 year period came to a sudden stop as political in-fighting continued until Deng Xiaoping was able to quash his foes and come out on top.

In this episode, we cover how the Cultural Revolution finally came to an end, how the period is interpreted both in the West and in China, and what effect the Cultural Revolution has had on Chinese society as a whole.

Intro: 00:00
Opening: 01:09
The end of the Cultural Revolution: 6:20
Interpreting the CR: 20:25
Aftermath of the CR and memory in contemporary China: 31:23
Outro: 41:25

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Part 7 of reuploading classic history episodes in the run up to our book club review of Serve the People! by Yan Lianke.

In this episode, we discuss the changes made to China's cultural realm during the Cultural Revolution. As the main target of the Cultural Revolution Group, cultural production including art, literature, theatre, and film were all subject to the new rules of the decade. But were those rules made to last? And were the CRG able to impose their will completely when they relied on the existing bourgeois cultural producers to cultivate their new vision?

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Part 6 of reuploading classic history episodes in the run up to our book club review of Serve the People! by Yan Lianke.

In this episode we look at how the economy and educational system fared during the Cultural Revolution decade. We discuss how a period of chaos led into a period of stagnation, where things neither got much better nor much worse. We also talk about differences between the countryside and the cities, and how every day life was irrevocably impacted by the social turmoil that occurred.

0:00 Introduction
2:11 Economy and Education to 1969
9:57 The Economy after 1969
22:45 Education after 1969
29:28 Urban and Rural life during the CR
38:53 Conclusions

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Part 5 of reuploading classic history episodes in the run up to our book club review of Serve the People! by Yan Lianke.

In this episode we explore the mysterious and complex character of Lin Biao, and his even more mysterious demise. We ask how he rose to prominence so quickly after being a largely background figure in the party for so many years, and what effect his vice-chairmanship and sudden death had on the Cultural Revolution.

*I accidentally say Liu instead of Lin at around the 22:30 minute mark*

00:00 Introdution
05:02 Early career in the CCP
13:05 Lin Biao in the Cultural Revolution
19:58 Lin's position challenged?
27:51 The 'conspiracy'
36:31 Evaluating the coup theory
39:10 The impact of Lin's death

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Part 4 of reuploading classic history episodes in the run up to our book club review of Serve the People! by Yan Lianke.

In episode 4 of the Cultural Revolution series, we look at how the party began to rebuild itself in the period 1968-1972 through a series of internal meetings, some last-minute purges, and a few devastating mass campaigns that would end up having a much higher impact than anything the Red Guards had carried out in previous years.

Though much had happened in China during the last few years, to many people it seemed like nothing had fundamentally changed. Though the people running the government were different, the structure of the party-state itself had remained the same. If anything, the only real difference was the preeminence that Mao Zedong Thought gained during this period, largely thanks to the support of the PLA.

Songs: Long Live Chairman Mao and March of the Revolutionary Youth

0:00 Introduction ("Long live Chairman Mao")
3:18 Rebuilding the system
14:45 "March of the revolutionay youth"
15:05 The dismissal of Liu Shaoqi
25:40 The 9th plenum
28:20 The final campaigns
43:00 Lessons learned
50:22 Outro

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Part 3 of reuploading classic history episodes in the run up to our book club review of Serve the People! by Yan Lianke.

In this episode, we look at how Mao reversed the course of the Cultural Revolution, bringing in the army to end the violence and destruction caused by the factionalism between the Red Guards and other mass organisations. We discuss the much vaunted revolutionary committees, temporary governments made up of a triple alliance between the mass organisations, the Cultural Revolution Group, and the People's Liberation Army.

The original aim of the revolution to promote the masses to positions of power in place of corrupt cadres was replaced by the singular quest to restore the country to order. To do this, Mao relied heavily on the PLA, as well as the cadres who not too long ago were seen as public enemy #1.

Music clips are from "Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman" and "The People of the World Will Surely be Victorious"

00:00 Song "Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman"
00:25 Introduction
06:23 January Revolution
11:50 Song "The People of the World Will Surely be Victorious"
12:05 The Triple Alliance
14:10 The February adverse current
23:20 The Wuhan incident
26:24 The 516 purge
29:30 Resitance to demobilisation
38:10 The failure of the revolution

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