The Battle For China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution

Introduction: Mao the known story, a general outline -- Evidence of the known story -- So what was the problem? -- The famine death toll -- The economy in the Mao era -- The yardstick of Hitler: a favourite European comparison -- Mao's personality: the known story -- The logic of denial of the known story -- Academic reception -- Revolution: from farewell to burial -- Furet and the French Revolution -- Is revolution inevitable? -- An alternative model of development -- 6. How a medical doctor doctors history: a case study of Li Zhisui -- Introduction -- expatriate Chinese memories - a literary phenomenon -- Memories and the politics of knowledge production -- The book -- Knowledge gap -- Knowledge production and the market -- The logic of the differences in two versions -- Who is to be fooled and why? -- Protests from the insiders -- Was Li Mao's personal physician? -- How much did the doctor know? -- What did the medical doctor know about politics? -- The politics of sex -- History as doctored by the doctor and his US mentors: a critical analysis -- Conclusion: history what history? -- 7. Challenging the hegemony: contrary narratives in the e-media (I) - Mao and the Cultural Revolution -- Introduction: emerging contrary narratives -- Media effect, public space and e-media -- Ma Yinchu, population control and elite attitudes -- The credibility of Li Rui -- Challenging the late-Mao thesis -- Challenging Jung Chang and Jon Halliday -- Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and the Great Leap Forward -- Debates on issues related to the Cultural Revolution -- Disagreement between Mao and Liu Shaoqi: the two-line struggle thesis -- Other unofficial views of the Cultural Revolution -- Sea change of attitudes -- Wang Xizhe the dissident -- Kong Qingdong and the cowshed -- Memoirs of different narratives -- Challenging Wang Youqin -- Conclusion: the question of truth