Research Catalog

Title

The killing wind : a Chinese county's descent into madness during the Cultural Revolution / by Tan Hecheng ; translated by Stacy Mosher and Guo Jian.

Author

Tan, Hecheng, 1949-

Publication

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Mosher, Stacy
• Guo, Jian, 1953-

Description

xxviii, 505 pages; 25 cm

Summary

"Over the course of 66 days in 1967, more than 4,000 'class enemies'--including young children and the elderly--were murdered in Daoxian, a county in China's Hunan province. The killings spread to surrounding counties, resulting in a combined death toll of more than 9,000. Commonly known as the Daoxian massacre, the killings were one of many acts of so-called mass dictatorship and armed factional conflict that rocked China during the Cultural Revolution. However, in spite of the scope and brutality of the killings, there are few detailed accounts of mass killings in China's countryside during the Cultural Revolution's most tumultuous years. Years after the massacre, journalist Tan Hecheng was sent to Daoxian to report on an official investigation into the killings. Tan was prevented from publishing his findings in China, but in 2010, he published the Chinese edition of The Killing Wind in Hong Kong. Tan's first-hand investigation of the atrocities, accumulated over the course of more than 20 years, blends his research with the recollections of survivors to provide a vivid account exploring how and why the massacre took place and describing its aftermath. Dispelling the heroic aura of class struggle, Tan reveals that most of the Daoxian massacre's victims were hard-working, peaceful members of the rural middle class blacklisted as landlords or rich peasants. Tan also describes how political pressure and brainwashing turned ordinary people into heartless killing machines. More than a catalog of horrors, The Killing Wind is also a poignant meditation on memory, moral culpability, and the failure of the Chinese government to come to terms with the crimes of the Maoist era. By painting a detailed portrait of this massacre, Tan makes a broader argument about the long-term consequences of the Cultural Revolution, one of the most violent political movements of the twentieth century. A compelling testament to the victims and survivors of the Daoxian massacre, The Killing Wind is a monument to historical truth: one that fills an immense gap in our understanding of the Mao era, the Cultural Revolution, and the status of truth in contemporary China."--Book jacket.

Uniform Title

Xue de shen hua. English

Alternative Title

Xue de shen hua.

Subjects

• China > History > Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
• Dao Xian (China) > History > 20th century
• Political violence > China > Dao Xian > History

Note

• Translated from the Chinese.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language (note)

• Translated from the Chinese.

Contents

The Origin of the Massacre. The River of Death ; My Destiny with Daoxian ; Daoxian on the Eve of the Massacre (The August 5 county seize-and-push meeting ; The August 8 gun-snatching incident) ; The Random Killings Begin (First blood at the Xiaba production brigade ; Xique Zhengjia sparks off the massacre) -- Assembling the Machinery of Slaughter. The Killing Wind Spreads through Administrative Lines ; Qingtang District and the Rise of the Peasant Supreme Courts (In the hometown of the philosopher ; The rise of the peasant supreme courts ; A commune Communist Party secretary's story) ; The Red Alliance Role in the Killing Wind (Establishment of the Yingjiang Frontline Command Post ; The August 21 Yingjiang reporting meeting ; The Yingjiang Political and Legal Work Conference) -- Chetou and Shangguan Districts : Murder as Spectacle. Chetou District's Model Killings (The real story of Chetou District's "landlord and rich-peasant insurrection" ; Blood-soaked Meihua ; An advanced commune encounters a new challenge) ; Shangguan District : in the Eye of the Storm (Shangguan Commune's on-the-spot killing rallies ; Killing turncoats as well as landlords) ; Other Communes in Shangguan District (Dongmen Commune : Graffiti on a cottage wall ; The killings at Wanjiazhuang Commune ; The unbearable lightness of Futang Commune) -- Gongba District, the County's Top¡Killer. A Dubious Honor (One day in Yanhetang) ; The Killings at Daoxian's Deadliest Commune (Interview with the Butcher of Gongba Commune) ; Some Who Got Away ; Death before Marriage -- Qingxi District's PAFD Commander. High-Level Participation in Qingxi District (The Great Leap brigade's killing sputnik ; Killings approved by the county organization department head) ; When the Pebble Rises from the Water -- Xianglinpu District's Militia Push. The Shangdu Militia Headquarters (The pressure to stay in the lead) ; Even Heaven Wept ; Two Classic Cases ; The Banality of Evil ("The tough job is left to me" ; A brigade secretary's story ; Whatever the Communist Party says) -- Deadly Politics. A Little Education Is a Dangerous Thing (The legend of Widow's Bridge ; If you loved the Communist Party, would the party kill you?) ; The Price of Truth (The destruction of two Rightist families ; Death of a "little Peng Dehuai") ; The Scapegoated Landlord Class -- The Killers. Beyond the Pale (The "big rice pot" ; Between humans and beasts) ; Brainwashed (The Communist Party secretary who killed a poor-peasant association chairman ; Duty before family ; The iron maiden of Daoxian) -- The Outliers. The Anomalous Xianzijiao District (Qiaotou Commune's mass-killing rally ; The last victim) ; The Zhenggangtou Phenomenon ; The Miracle of Life ; The Story of an Execution Ground Survivor -- The Crackdown. The 6950 Unit Arrives in Daoxian (The hard task of halting the killing) ; No Regrets (An interview with Revolutionary Alliance leader Liu Xiangxi ; An interview with Red Alliance leader He Xia) ; The Petitioners (Master petitioner Li Niande ; A mansion and a family's fate ; Rise of a master petitioner) ; Change of Plans (A drinking mishap) ; Killings in the Counties and Cities Surrounding Daoxian -- The End of the Killing Wind. Huang Yida and the Fall of the Red Alliance (Midnight run to the provincial capital ; Hua Guofeng's directive ; The September 23 Tragedy ; The exposure study sessions) ; Reversals (In prison ; Heaven's unfathomable will) -- Afterword : Living for Truth -- Appendix I : Basic Statistics on the Victims of the Daoxian Cultural Revolution Killings -- Appendix II : Official Culpability in Daoxian's Killing Wind.

Call Number

JFE 17-1657

ISBN

• 9780190622527
• 0190622520

LCCN

2016016713

OCLC

947145264

Author

Tan, Hecheng, 1949- author.

Title

The killing wind : a Chinese county's descent into madness during the Cultural Revolution / by Tan Hecheng ; translated by Stacy Mosher and Guo Jian.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language

Translated from the Chinese.

Added Author

Mosher, Stacy, translator.

Guo, Jian, 1953- translator.

Other Form:

Online version: Tan, Hecheng, 1949- author. Killing wind New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017] 9780190622534

Research Call Number

JFE 17-1657