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£12.99
Published
29 April 2025
Hardback
9781913083946
Ebook
9781913083731
Press Release
Coming soon.
By Linda Jaivin:

 

Mao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1966 to purge his critics and blood a new generation of fighters. Ten years later, almost two million people had been killed and much of China’s heritage, from precious manuscripts to ancient temples, had been obliterated.

The shadow of these terrible years lies heavily over the twenty-first-century nation. The history of this period is so toxic that China’s rulers have gone to great lengths to bury it – while a few brave men and women risk their freedom to uncover the truth. For as both they and the Party know, to grasp the history of the Cultural Revolution is to understand much about China today.

Bombard the Headquarters! is not just Mao’s story. It’s the unforgettable stories of countless individuals, mass manias, of sacred mangos, and spectacular falls from grace. At once rigorous and readable, brief yet teeming with colourful detail, this is a marvel of historical storytelling.

Old Street Publishing Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China

Mao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1966 to purge his critics and blood a new generation of fighters. Ten years later, almost two million people had been killed and much of China’s heritage, from precious manuscripts to ancient temples, had been obliterated.

The shadow of these terrible years lies heavily over the twenty-first-century nation. The history of this period is so toxic that China’s rulers have gone to great lengths to bury it – while a few brave men and women risk their freedom to uncover the truth. For as both they and the Party know, to grasp the history of the Cultural Revolution is to understand much about China today.

Bombard the Headquarters! is not just Mao’s story. It’s the unforgettable stories of countless individuals, mass manias, of sacred mangos, and spectacular falls from grace. At once rigorous and readable, brief yet teeming with colourful detail, this is a marvel of historical storytelling.

 12.99
 
 

'Excellent: a powerful account of a truly extraordinary period in recent Chinese history, surefooted and perceptive, enlivened by a wealth of vignettes and anecdotes which bring to life the dramatic and frequently horrific events that have played a seminal role in forming Chinese society as it exists today’
—Philip Short, author of Mao: A Life

 
 
  • 'Deftly narrated in precise, pellucid prose, Jaivin wears her meticulous research lightly to provide a lively and essential reading on the maddeningly complex politics of the Cultural Revolution. With insightful commentary and vivid sketches of some of its operatic protagonists, this brilliant short history is a great start for anyone who wants to understand a central decade in the Maoist epoch whose catastrophic legacy endures to this day. A tour de force'
    —Jianying Zha, author of T
  • 'A beautifully concise account that makes sense of a hugely complex event in modern Chinese history. Linda Jaivin puts her formidable, deep experience both of Chinese history and language to excellent use, conveying in 100 pages what most would struggle to achieve in a thousand.'
    —Professor Kerry Brown
  • 'A fast-paced and witty survey of China’s past. Jaivin knows her stuff but wears her erudition lightly. Iconoclastic, informative and more attentive to female figures than many comparable works. Highly recommended'
    —Jeffrey Wasserstrom on The Shortest History of China
  • 'So many people, so much history, so much culture – China's a challenge – but like a jade snuff bottle, this book holds it all in one finely chiselled vessel'
    —Jasper Becker on The Shortest History of China
  • 'Virtuoso… brings together statesmen, court chronicles, poetry, fiction, mythology, painting, pottery, pop music and myriad other sources to construct a fascinating, enormously dynamic portrait of a superpower. Essential reading'
    —Julia Lovell on The Shortest History of China
 
 

LINDA JAIVIN is the acclaimed author of The Shortest History of China and The Monkey and the Dragon, as well as other works of non-fiction, novels, essays and literary translations from Chinese. She has lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Beijing, and has been writing about Chinese politics, culture and history for more than four decades.