Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 1. The Early Years of the People's Republic of China: An Introduction Jeremy Brown and Paul G. Pickowicz Part I: Urban Takeover 2. "Clean-Up": The New Order in Shanghai Frederic Wakeman, Jr. 3. Masters of the Country? Shanghai Workers in the Early People's Republic Elizabeth Perry 4. New Democracy and the Demise of Private Charity in Shanghai Nara Dillon Part II: Occupying the Periphery 5. From Resisting Communists to Resisting America: Civil War and Korean War in Southwest China, 1950-51 Jeremy Brown 6. The Chinese Communist "Liberation" of Tibet, 1949-1951 Chen Jian 7. Big Brother is Watching: Local Sino-Soviet Relations and the Building of New Dalian, 1945-1955 Christian Hess 8. The Call of the Oases: The "Peaceful Liberation" of Xinjiang, 1949-1953 James Z. Gao Part III: The Culture of Accommodation 9. The Crocodile Bird: Xiangsheng in the Early 1950s Perry Link 10. "The Very First Lesson": Teaching about Human Evolution in Early 1950s China Sigrid Schmalzer 11. Acting Like Revolutionaries: Shi Hui, the Wenhua Studio, and Private-Sector Filmmaking, 1949-1952 Paul G. Pickowicz 12. Creating "New China's First New-Style Regular University," 1949-50 Douglas A. Stiffler Part IV: Family Strategies 13. The Ye Family in New China Joseph W. Esherick 14. Birthing Stories: Rural Midwives in 1950s China Gail Hershatter 15. Capitalists Choosing Communist China: The Liu Family of Shanghai, 1948-1956 Sherman Cochran Notes Index

Promotional Information

The history of the early People's Republic is one of the more exciting frontiers in the study of modern China. These essays show that it is possible to address many central issues in the history of the early 1950s from perspectives other than those of the central government or party. Very well researched and well written, Dilemmas of Victory will receive wide attention, and I recommend it with enthusiasm. -- William C. Kirby, Harvard University This important book opens up a critical, and virtually unresearched, period in PRC history in strikingly original ways. Combining strong essays by leading specialists with the creative work of a new generation of scholars, it will be widely discussed by China specialists and comparativists across history, the social sciences, and the humanities. -- Mark Selden, Cornell University Strongly recommended. This rich and textured book brings to life a complex period, filling a major gap in our understanding of the early years of the People's Republic of China. In discussing the viability of "New Democracy," the book will provoke debate about how and under what circumstances the transition to socialism began. The many thoroughly researched stories in this important book will be of interest to a large audience. -- Thomas P. Bernstein, Columbia University

About the Author

Jeremy Brown is Associate Professor of History at Simon Fraser University. Paul G. Pickowicz is Distinguished Professor of History and Chinese Studies at the University of California, San Diego and inaugural holder of the UC San Diego Modern Chinese History Endowed Chair. Elizabeth J. Perry is Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. Nara Dillon is a Lecturer in the Departments of Government and East Asian Studies at Harvard University. Jeremy Brown is Associate Professor of History at Simon Fraser University. A leading scholar of the Cold War and the history of modern China, Chen Jian is Distinguished Global Network Professor of History at New York University and NYU Shanghai; Hu Shih Professor of History Emeritus at Cornell University; and Zijiang Distinguished Visiting Professor at East China Normal University. Perry Link is retired from a career teaching at Princeton University and now is Chancellorial Chair for Teaching Across Disciplines at the University of California, Riverside. He publishes on Chinese language, literature, and cultural history, and also writes and speaks on human rights in China. Paul G. Pickowicz is Distinguished Professor of History and Chinese Studies at the University of California, San Diego and inaugural holder of the UC San Diego Modern Chinese History Endowed Chair. Sherman Cochran is Hu Shih Professor of Chinese History at Cornell University.

Reviews

The history of the early People's Republic is one of the more exciting frontiers in the study of modern China. These essays show that it is possible to address many central issues in the history of the early 1950s from perspectives other than those of the central government or party. Very well researched and well written, Dilemmas of Victory will receive wide attention, and I recommend it with enthusiasm.
*William C. Kirby, Harvard University*

This important book opens up a critical, and virtually unresearched, period in PRC history in strikingly original ways. Combining strong essays by leading specialists with the creative work of a new generation of scholars, it will be widely discussed by China specialists and comparativists across history, the social sciences, and the humanities.
*Mark Selden, Cornell University*

Strongly recommended. This rich and textured book brings to life a complex period, filling a major gap in our understanding of the early years of the People's Republic of China. In discussing the viability of "New Democracy," the book will provoke debate about how and under what circumstances the transition to socialism began. The many thoroughly researched stories in this important book will be of interest to a large audience.
*Thomas P. Bernstein, Columbia University*

The authors of the essays contained in this volume bring with them an extraordinarily wide range of different disciplinary and personal interests ranging from Chen Jian's political history of the takeover of Tibet, through Perry Link's literary analysis of comic skits, to Gail Hershatter's accounts of the changing lives of rural midwives...[It's] a fascinating read sparking a whole variety of new ways of looking at the 1949 revolution and the early People's Republic.
*Chinese Historical Review*

Taking advantage of access to new sources in Chinese and even U.S. archives, personal papers, and oral interviews with surviving individuals, these essays compel a reconsideration of the early communist period...Indispensable reading for understanding Chinese society and the nascent communist state in 1949-1953.
*Choice*