-How has history been constructed and recorded over time?

-Why have the approaches to the construction of history changed over time?

This essay was originally to deal with debates regarding Soviet Russian history. This sphere of interest became more specific and eventually led to a study of inconsistencies regarding historical justifications of Khrushchev’s dismissal of war hero Marshall Zhukov. However, while a variety of sources were available regarding his Western counterparts such as Montgomery and Eisenhower, copies of books written or translated into English regarding the matter were rare, to say the least. This seemed to be a trend for many aspects of Russian history. Consequently, this subject was dropped in favour of studying the history of the Chinese Communist Party, as it was an area which I was keen to learn about, overlapped in many places with Soviet history and had a relatively large amount of data published about it. It was also an event for which no definite argument had been published, so it was optimal for this task. The main problem with this subject was the difficulty in ascertaining the bel

The objective truth is likely to lie between the allegations of both parties. On one hand, when reaching conclusions on the subject, it is necessary to acknowledge the existing need for social and political reform, to oppose the predisposed conclusions of post-Cold war audiences and to recognise the conditions in which historians write today, which are unquestionably connected with their recent anti-Cultural Revolution sentiment. On the other, there are the violent extremes, the strategic attacks on figures such as President Liu and later Marshall Lin and the complete overhaul of the system leading to a higher military role in politics, and Mao’s return as dictator, all of which indicate a self-seeking desire for power as the motivation for the Cultural Revolution’s instigation. By allowing for the partialities existing from the time a work was published, and those of the historian, and comparing a variety of sources, a happy medium can be reached.

The eventual denunciation of the Cultural Revolution can be partly attributed to the position of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP, despite scepticism surrounding its assurances and interpretations, has since heavily influenced the historiography of the Cultural Revolution. New statistics and evidence which it releases are unavoidable in the interpretation of this history, and force new conclusions. This is seen in Bill Brugger’s China, Liberation and Transformation in which he laments the out datedness of an earlier book, Contemporary China, before it was published:

Brown, Pete, The rise and suppression of the 'ultra-left' in the Chinese cultural revolution. Communist Voice #20, March 28 1999

Becker, Jasper, Why I was fired in Hong Kong. Washington post Asia, Saturday, May 4, 2002

The individual context of the historian, as well as the events surrounding their time of writing, obviously adds impact on the nature of their works. Where possible, this was expanded on. So Marcy’s pro-Mao work is attributed to his left wing beliefs, Chang’s work is linked to her experiences as a participant in the events, and Becker’s works are attributed to his insubordination to the Chinese government in his writings for the South China Morning Post. There were exceptions- MacFarquhar’s recent works are not as apologist to Mao as Origins of the Cultural Revolution, and the main cause of this seems to be the changing nature of evidence and world events. Waung’s individual context was impossible to track down. While most historians were analysed according to their general and individual perspectives at the time of writing, others were simply defined by their general perspective.

Some topics in this essay:
Cultural Revolution, Communist Party, cultural revolution, Mao Zedong, Myth’s Maoism, Soviet Union, Revolution’ Series, Chairman Mao, North Korea, Arthur Waldron, Red Guard, communist party, chinese communist, chairman mao, proletarian cultural, wild swans, popular opinion, proletarian cultural revolution, social political, private life, origins cultural, life chairman mao, private life chairman, chinese communist party, origins cultural revolution,