Mao Cult: Rhetoric and Ritual in China's Cultural Revolution

by Daniel Leese

• ISBN13: 9780521193672
• ISBN10: 0521193672
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Although many books have explored Mao's posthumous legacy, none has scrutinized the massive worship that was fostered around him during the Cultural Revolution. This book is the first to do so. By analyzing secret archival documents, Daniel Leese traces the history of the cult within the Communist Party and at the grassroots level. The Party leadership's original intention was to develop a prominent brand symbol, which would compete with the nationalists' elevation of Chiang Kai-shek. However, they did not anticipate that Mao would use this symbolic power to mobilize Chinese youth to rebel against party bureaucracy itself. The result was anarchy and when the army was called in it relied on mandatory rituals of worship such as daily reading of the Little Red Book to restore order. Such fascinating detail sheds light not only on the personality cult of Mao, but also on hero-worship in other traditions.

Author Biography

Daniel Leese is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chinese Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. He is the editor of Brill's Encyclopedia of China (2009).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations, Figures, Maps, and Table	p. viii
Preface	p. ix
Chronology of Major Events	p. xiii
List of Abbreviations	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Coming To Terms With The "Cult Of The Individual"	p. 25
The Secret Speech and Its Impact	p. 27
The Dual Nature of Commodities	p. 47
Redefining the Cult	p. 67
Charismatic Mobilization	p. 87
Lively Study and Application	p. 89
The Little Red Book	p. 108
Spectacles of Worship	p. 128
Cult And Compliance	p. 149
Ambiguous Symbols	p. 151
The Language of Loyalty	p. 174
Rituals and Commodities	p. 195
Curbing the Cult	p. 226
Conclusion	p. 253
Bibliography	p. 265
Glossary	p. 285
Index	p. 291
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