Beschreibung
The articles in this issue deal with various aspects of the on-going
re-evaluation and reconsideration of the far-reaching political, economic
and ideological transformation of China in the 1950s, exploring the
broader themes in various subfields and from different perspectives. There
is a special focus on specific developments in the early 1950s: on land
reform and the significance of this for the political consolidation of the
new People’s Republic, on state violence and mass crimes; on the state
discourse on housewives and housework; on the establishment of Chinese as
a foreign language at Peking University from the perspective of an
eye-witness. Two studies deal with developments in the field of
historiography: the first analyses the discussions of Chinese
intellectuals in the late 1950s who were seeking to establish historical
legitimacy; the second highlights recent debates among historians and
intellectuals who have been creating new master narratives and have been
involved, in pluralistic terms, in newly constructing the history of the
1950s, especially with regard to the Great Leap Forward and the 1957
Anti-Rightist Movement.
Frau Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Mechthild Leutner
ist Professorin für Sinologie an der Freien Universität Berlin.
