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China’s Civil War: A Social History, 1945-1949

Posted: May 5th, 2015 | No Comments »

Diana Lary’s China’s Civil War: A Social History, 1945-49 is a compact and enjoyable read about the period concentrating on how the CCP’s rise to power affecting ordinary people as well as notables such as Lao She, JG Ballard etc….social history getting beyond the technicalities of the ‘Who Lost China?’ debate…

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China’s Civil War is the first book of its kind to offer a social history in English of the Civil War in 1945–9 that brought the Chinese Communist Party to power. Integrating history and memory, it surveys a period of intense upheaval and chaos to show how the Communist Party and its armies succeeded in overthrowing the Nationalist government to bring political and social revolution to China. Drawing from a collection of biographies, memoirs, illustrations and oral histories, Diana Lary gives a voice to those who experienced the war first-hand, exemplifying the direct effects of warfare – the separations and divisions, the exiles and losses, and the social upheaval that resulted from the conflict. Lary explores the long-term impact on Chinese societies on the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which have all diverged far from pre-war Chinese society.



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