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Introduction
Bin Xu, Emory University, Atlanta
Book:

Chairman Mao's Children

Published online:

11 June 2021

Print publication:

17 June 2021, pp 1-39
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Summary

This chapter introduces the main themes, case, argument, theory of this book, followed by a reflection on the fieldwork.

Conclusion
Bin Xu, Emory University, Atlanta
Book:

Chairman Mao's Children

Published online:

11 June 2021

Print publication:

17 June 2021, pp 229-240
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Summary

In the conclusion, I return to where I start. I first discuss how the research presented in this book can help us understand the Chinese state’s official memory of President Xi Jinping’s zhiqing experience. Then I recapitulate the major arguments and discuss in detail the broader empirical and theoretical implications of this study. I will end the book with a discussion of the political ethics of the zhiqing generation’s memory, the normative goal of my book, to reflect on the ethical issues in similar cases of memory.

Generation and the Politics of Memory in China
Bin Xu
Published online:

11 June 2021

Print publication:

17 June 2021
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In the 1960s and 1970s, around 17 million Chinese youths were mobilized or forced by the state to migrate to rural villages and China's frontiers. Bin Xu tells the story of how this 'sent-down' generation have come to terms with their difficult past. Exploring representations of memory including personal life stories, literature, museum exhibits, and acts of commemoration, he argues that these representations are defined by a struggle to reconcile worthiness with the political upheavals of the Mao years. These memories, however, are used by the state to construct an official narrative that weaves this generation's experiences into an upbeat story of the 'China dream'. This marginalizes those still suffering and obscures voices of self-reflection on their moral-political responsibility for their actions. Xu provides careful analysis of this generation of 'Chairman Mao's children', caught between the political and the personal, past and present, nostalgia and regret, and pride and trauma.