The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution Book PDF, ePub eBook

Join our eBook service for unlimited books & audiobooks. Get a free 7 day subscription! ↓↓↓↓↓


Book Descriptions:
The Chinese Cultural Revolution began in 1966 and led to a ten-year-long reign of Maoist terror throughout China, in which millions died or were sent to labor camps in the country or subjected to other forms of extreme discipline and humiliation. Ji Xianlin was one of them. The Cowshed is Ji’s harrowing account of his imprisonment in 1968 on the campus of Peking University and his subsequent disillusionment with the cult of Mao. As the campus spirals into a political frenzy, Ji, a professor of Eastern languages, is persecuted by lecturers and students from his own department. His home is raided, his most treasured possessions are destroyed, and Ji himself must endure hours of humiliation at brutal “struggle sessions.” He is forced to construct a cowshed (a makeshift prison for intellectuals who were labeled class enemies) in which he is then housed with other former colleagues. His eyewitness account of this excruciating experience is full of sharp irony, empathy, and remarkable insights into a central event in Chinese history.

In contemporary China, the Cultural Revolution remains a delicate topic, little discussed, but if a Chinese citizen has read one book on the subject, it is likely to be Ji’s memoir. When The Cowshed was published in China in 1998, it quickly became a bestseller. The Cultural Revolution had nearly disappeared from the collective memory. Prominent intellectuals rarely spoke openly about the revolution, and books on the subject were almost nonexistent. By the time of Ji’s death in 2009, little had changed, and despite its popularity, The Cowshed remains one of the only testimonies of its kind. As Zha Jianying writes in the introduction, “The book has sold well and stayed in print. But authorities also quietly took steps to restrict public discussion of the memoir, as its subject continues to be treated as sensitive. The present English edition, skillfully translated by Chenxin Jiang, is hence a welcome, valuable addition to the small body of work in this genre. It makes an important contribution to our understanding of that period.”

The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ji Xianlin

From reader reviews:

Sharon Gaines:

Information is provisions for those to get better life, information presently can get by anyone from everywhere. The information can be a know-how or any news even restricted. What people must be consider when those information which is inside former life are hard to be find than now's taking seriously which one is appropriate to believe or which one typically the resource are convinced. If you receive the unstable resource then you obtain it as your main information there will be huge disadvantage for you. All those possibilities will not happen in you if you take The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as your daily resource information.

Rhonda Robitaille:

The book The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution will bring that you the new experience of reading a book. The author style to explain the idea is very unique. If you try to find new book to see, this book very ideal to you. The book The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is much recommended to you you just read. You can also get the e-book from official web site, so you can quicker to read the book.

Herman Lewis:

Spent a free the perfect time to be fun activity to accomplish! A lot of people spent their leisure time with their family, or their own friends. Usually they doing activity like watching television, going to beach, or picnic from the park. They actually doing same every week. Do you feel it? Would you like to something different to fill your own personal free time/ holiday? Could be reading a book might be option to fill your free time/ holiday. The first thing that you will ask may be what kinds of guide that you should read. If you want to try out look for book, may be the guide untitled The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution can be great book to read. May be it might be best activity to you.

Emilie Lechner:

A lot of publication has printed but it differs. You can get it by world wide web on social media. You can choose the top book for you, science, amusing, novel, or whatever by searching from it. It is referred to as of book The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. You can contribute your knowledge by it. Without leaving behind the printed book, it can add your knowledge and make a person happier to read. It is most significant that, you must aware about reserve. It can bring you from one location to other place.