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Debating the Memory of the Cultural Revolution in China Today

Veg, Sebastian. Debating the memory of the cultural revolution in China today. MCLC Resource Center Publication, Online Series, 7 August 2016. URL : http://u.osu.edu/mclc/online-series/veg2/ (Consulté le 9 août 2016)

Yanhuang chunqiuFifty years ago, on August 5, 1966, Bian Zhongyun (卞仲耘), the head of a Beijing girls’ school, died after being beaten and mishandled by Red Guards, in an incident that marked the beginning of “Red August.” Within a month, more than a thousand people were killed in Beijing, triggering a tide of violence that swept the whole country. Despite heated debates, the exact circumstances of Bian’s death remain contentious and shrouded in secrecy, no doubt compounded by the fact that at the time the daughters of several top state leaders attended the school. Song Binbin (宋彬彬), the head of a Red Guard group in the school and daughter of a PLA general, offered a vaguely worded apology in early 2014 that was challenged by Bian’s widower, Wang Jingyao (王晶垚), now aged 95. Exchanges of letters, interviews, and witness accounts ensued, on the internet, social media, and in some unofficial publications that circulate by email. Previously, an independent documentary had been made (Hu Jie’s Though I Am Gone, 2006), in which a janitor (a former teacher who had been demoted) offered an eyewitness account. But in the absence of key witnesses and official approval to discuss the events, there is no definite way of attributing responsibility. This case highlights the incipient public sphere that emerged in China in the last decade to debate historical issues, the constraints it must deal with, and the increasing difficulties it has faced over the last year or two. In July, the shutdown, after an administrative reshuffle, of a prominent journal devoted to debating history, Annals of the Yellow Emperor, highlighted these growing restrictions.

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OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Monique Abud (9 août 2016). Debating the Memory of the Cultural Revolution in China Today. . Consulté le 17 mai 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/mfp1


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