A very exciting announcement: On January 9-10, Book TV (C-SPAN2) will be broadcasting Dongping Han's talk on his new book "The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village."
* Saturday, Jan 9 at 1:15pm Eastern Time12:15pm Central or 10:15am Pacific)
* Sunday, Jan 10 at 12:30am Eastern Time (Sat 11:30pm Central or 9:30pm Pacific)
(These times may change, check http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102920265650&s=2494&e=00164huexyaQt3EzESoRs1IauX0NKWDZh64-G7psKJEfTL3TEeNrc-fVWxDhFnxiujNnwehgYsEJdXIuA-OoUNLGoM1FL21wbgPs6n0_JZ_82iLeuy_pJZnruJ4x4eEEqP4 or look for our email notification of any changes).
Dongping Han grew up in a village in rural China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). In his talk, he paints an inspiring picture of a time when ordinary people, motivated by an ethos of "serve the people," worked together, looked out for each other, and were empowered to transform society -- all in sharp contrast to the selfishness, atomization, and powerlessness of capitalism.
This will be the first time that most in the Book TV audience will have the opportunity to hear such a first-hand account of what this "revolution within a revolution" in socialist China was really about, in contrast to the dominant narrative demonizing the Cultural Revolution. I would encourage everyone to forward or post this announcement far and wide.
This book event was part of the Symposium, "Rediscovering China's Cultural Revolution-Art and Politics, Lived Experience, Legacies of Liberation," which took place November 6-8 at University of California Berkeley. A complete video of the entire Symposium and listing of all the other panelists will be posted this weekend at www.revolutionbooks.org.
For coverage of the Symposium, see "Report from the symposium at UC Berkeley," Revolution Online.
Original: The Unknown Chinese Cultural Revolution