Everyday Lives in China's Cold War Military-Industrial Complex: Voices from the Shanghai Small Third Front, 1964-1988 (Palgrave Studies in Oral History)

This book translates and contextualizes the recollections of men and women who built, lived, and worked in some of the factory compounds relocated from Chinas most cosmopolitan cityShanghai. Small Third Line factories became oases of relatively prosperous urban life among more impoverished agricultural communities. These accounts, plus the guiding questions, contextual notes, and further readings accompanying them, show how everyday lives fit into the sweeping geopolitical changes in China and the world during the Cold War era. Furthermore, they reveal how the Chinese Communist Partys military-industrial strategies have shaped Chinas economy and society in the post-Mao era. The approachable translations and insight into areas of life rarely covered by political or diplomatic histories like sexuality and popular culture make this book highly accessible for classroom use and the general-interest reader. Xu Youwei is Professor of History at Shanghai University, China. Y. Yvon Wang is Associate Professor of History at the University of Toronto, Canada. Units, Measures, Currency, Ages, and Names Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures Translator’s Introduction A Brief History of Shanghai’s Small Third Front The Third Front: Assessments, Outcomes, and Narratives About This Collection Suggestions for Discussion, Debate, and Classroom Projects Using All or Part of the Book Further Reading Overviews of PRC History Overviews of the Great Leap Forward Overviews of the Cultural Revolution Overviews of the Third Front Other Materials and Resources Memoirs and Autobiographies Chapter 1: An Official Account of the Small Third Front in Guichi, Anhui Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Chapter 2: Going to the Small Third Front Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading On the PRC’s “Class Background” System On the “Sending Down” and Exile of Urban Dwellers Chapter 3: On the Job Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading Chapter 4: Material Life and Healthcare Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading On Medicine and Healthcare On Material Life Chapter 5: Education, Media, and Culture Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading On Literature, the Arts, and Popular Culture On Education On Media and Information Chapter 6: Gender and Sex Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading On Gender On Sexuality Other Materials and Resources Chapter 7: Marriage, Reproduction, Family Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading Chapter 8: Politics, Social Order, and Military Affairs Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading On Social Order and Law Enforcement On the Military and Militias Chapter 9: Shanghainese vs. Locals Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion Further Reading On Workers and Industrial Culture On Agriculture and Rural Life On Rural–Urban Differences Chapter 10: Appraisals and Critiques Translator’s Note Questions for Discussion: Further Reading On Environment and Ecology in the Mao era On Post-Mao Social, Political, and Economic Transformations On Remembering the Mao Era Informant Biographies Glossary Index