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£8.99
Published
3 February 2026Paperback
9781913083724Ebook
9781913083731Press Release
Coming soon.By Linda Jaivin:
*‘A beautifully concise account that makes sense of a hugely complex event in modern Chinese history, conveying in 100 pages what most would struggle to achieve in a thousand’
KERRY BROWN, author of _The Taiwan Story_*
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 had been obliterated.
From mass manias to spectacular falls from grace, The Cultural Revolution in China is not just Mao’s story, but the unforgettable stories of countless individuals across the political spectrum. At once rigorous and readable, brief yet teeming with colourful detail, this is a marvel of historical storytelling.
Audiobook also available
Published in hardback as Bombard the Headquarters! The Cultural Revolution in China
‘Excellent… a powerful account of a truly extraordinary period in recent Chinese history, surefooted and perceptive, enlivened by a wealth of vignettes and anecdotes’
—Philip Short, author of Mao: A Life
- ‘Jaivin writes with effortless familiarity of Chinese politics. While telling a sweeping story of horrendous events, she still has an eye for vivid details and character sketches’
—GUOBIN YANG, Los Angeles Review of Books - ‘Linda Jaivin expertly and concisely dissects the origins and the gruesome trajectory of China’s Cultural Revolution – Mao’s ego, the Party’s compliance and the ideological mass hysteria that left perhaps 1–2 million ordinary Chinese citizens dead’
—PAUL FRENCH, author of Midnight in Peking - ‘Essential… 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 China Pop - ‘Immensely readable and accessible…Excellent’
—Books+Publishing - ‘Jaivin’s narrative flair and sense of drama give new life to what is almost certainly the sorriest period in recent Chinese history… a consummate storyteller’
—WANNING SUN, The Conversation
Linda Jaivin
LINDA JAIVIN has lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Beijing, and has been writing about Chinese politics, culture and history for more than four decades. She 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.