1959 & its Aftermath: New Years Past : Two oral history interviews by Sang Ye. Translated and annotated by Geremie R. Barmé.

Abstract

Given the hysterical gluttony that is today the main feature of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) celebrations, it is salutary to reflect on what two people, one from rural China, the other from a major metropolis, say about the not-so-distant past following on from the disastrous Great Leap Forward.

The following paired interviews by the oral historian Sang Ye were translated from his 1999 book 1949, 1989, 1999, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. An edited English version of that work appeared in 2006 under the title China Candid: the People on the People's Republic, Berkeley: University of California Press. For reasons of length, this material could not be included in that book. These interviews were translated by the editor although Miriam Lang made many useful editorial and stylistic suggestions.—The Editor. Show more