History 691C - S-Chinese Cultural Revolution

This graduate course will be an in-depth investigation of China?s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), in which Mao Zedong urged the people to wrest control away from the Communist Party itself and recreate Chinese culture and society based on revolutionary principles. What motivated people, and particularly youth, to participate in activities that often brought suffering to themselves and their families and destruction to China's cherished cultural sites? What were the ideals they strove to realize, and to what extent can anything they did be considered in positive light? How has the Cultural Revolution been remembered in years since?

Open to Doctoral and Masters History students only.