Red Memory The Afterlives Of Chinas Cultural Revolution Tania Branigan by Tania Branigan 9781324051954, 1324051957, 978132405196 instant download after payment.

Shortlisted for the 2023 Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction

Shortlisted for the 2023 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction

Shortlisted for the 2023 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding

“...a heartbreaking, revelatory evocation of ‘the decade that cleaved modern China in two.’” — Kirkus Reviews

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An indelible exploration of the invisible scar that runs through the heart of Chinese society & the souls of its citizens.

"It is impossible to understand China today without understanding the Cultural Revolution," Tania Branigan writes. During this decade of Maoist fanaticism between 1966 & 1976, children turned on parents, students condemned teachers, & as many as two million people died for their supposed political sins, while tens of millions were hounded, ostracized, & imprisoned. Yet in China this brutal & turbulent period exists, for the most part, as an absence; official suppression & personal trauma have conspired in national amnesia.

Red Memory uncovers forty years of silence through the stories of individuals who lived through the madness. Deftly exploring how this era defined a generation & continues to impact China today, Branigan asks: What happens to a society when you can no longer trust those closest to you? What happens to the present when the past is buried, exploited, or redrawn? And how do you live with yourself when the worst is over?

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Tania Branigan writes editorials for the Guardian & spent seven years as its China correspondent, reporting on politics, the economy, & social changes. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post. Red Memory is her first book.