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Mao's Cultural Army Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)

Mao's Cultural Army By Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)

Mao's Cultural Army by Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)

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Summary

This study explores the role of drama troupes that were tasked with roaming the countryside in support of Mao's communist revolution in China. Caught between the party and their audiences, the book illustrates how drama troupes, through performance, attempted to resist the ever growing reach of the People's Republic of China state.

Mao's Cultural Army Summary

Mao's Cultural Army: Drama Troupes in China's Rural Revolution by Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)

Charting their training, travels, and performances, this innovative study explores the role of the artists that roamed the Chinese countryside in support of Mao's communist revolution. DeMare traces the development of Mao's 'cultural army' from its genesis in Red Army propaganda teams to its full development as a largely civilian force composed of amateur and professional drama troupes in the early years of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Drawing from memoirs, artistic handbooks, and rare archival sources, Mao's Cultural Army uncovers the arduous and complex process of creating revolutionary dramas that would appeal to China's all-important rural audiences. The Communists strived for a disciplined cultural army to promote party policies, but audiences often shunned modern and didactic shows, and instead clamoured for traditional works. DeMare illustrates how drama troupes, caught between the party and their audiences, did their best to resist the ever growing reach of the PRC state.

Mao's Cultural Army Reviews

'While most previous work about drama has focused on cities, DeMare draws on rich material, including local archives, to examine rural cultural production and organizations. DeMare's focus on the countryside, where most people lived and where the operas were most powerful, is a significant contribution.' Jeremy Brown, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
'A fascinating study of how the Maoist remodelling of folk culture actually worked at the grassroots both before and after 1949.' Paul Clark, University of Auckland
'Rich in ethnographic detail and the first-hand experiences of former members of Mao Zedong's 'cultural army', this book provides a superb analysis of rural drama troupes as would-be agents of political change. An important account which adds much-needed historical depth to wider discussions of how the Communist Party has itself been transformed through encounters with China's vast countryside.' Matthew D. Johnson, Grinnel College, Iowa
'While historians have been wary of relying too heavily on the memory literature (Wenshi Ziliao) that has emerged since the 1980s, DeMare demonstrates the value of such works, when they have been carefully parsed. The result is a rich story that sheds light not just on the world of cultural production from the early Soviets to the early years of the People's Republic, but also on the reality of day-to-day life outside the Soviets (a particular focus for DeMare) for early party members and the struggles of the CCP to reach out to rural people.' Kate Merkel-Hess, Frontiers of Literary Studies in China
'I recommend this book strongly. Though it is highly specialized, it adds to our understanding not only of Chinese theater but also the revolutionary history of China's rural areas. Although some of the content is already known, much of it is new and highly perceptive - a valuable contribution to the literature in its field.' Colin Mackerras, The China Journal

About Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)

Brian James DeMare is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Tulane University, Louisiana, where he teaches courses on modern Chinese history. He has published articles in two of the top journals in the field, The China Journal and Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, and lived in China for five years. During that time, he conducted several research trips into the countryside, visiting archives and interviewing active drama troupes, and has ties with Chinese academics studying the countryside in Shanxi. One of his main research sites is Long Bow, well-known in the West due to William Hinton, who wrote Fanshen, about land reform in that village.

Table of Contents

Preface; List of abbreviations; Introduction: performing Mao's revolution; 1. The revolution will be dramatized: Red drama troupes; 2. Acting against Japan: drama troupes in North China; 3. Playing soldiers and peasants: civil war and agrarian reform; 4. Staging rural revolution: land reform operas; 5. State agents and local actors: cultural work in the early PRC; 6. Peasants on stage: amateur actors in socialist China; 7. Tradition in conflict: professional drama troupes and the PRC state; Conclusion; Select bibliography.

Additional information

NLS9781107432222
9781107432222
1107432227
Mao's Cultural Army: Drama Troupes in China's Rural Revolution by Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)
Brian James DeMare (Tulane University, Louisiana)
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China
New
Paperback
Cambridge University Press
2017-06-01
269
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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