Written in 1989, a couple of weeks after the June 4 incident at Tiananmen square, this companion to the Radio 4 and World Service documentary series of the same name The Chinese People Stand Up examines forty turbulent years of Chinese history. From the founding of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949 in Tiananmen Square, to the June 4 incident, author Elizabeth Wright presents an authoritative view of the domestic concerns and foreign policy of a country of over one billion inhabitants. Mao Zedong was the first leader of the People’s Republic, who propelled the country into the catastrophic Great Leap Forward, and the equally disastrous Cultural Revolution of 1966. When Mao died in 1976 the country was left in a desparate state. Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, brought in a series of reforms. These not only encouraged the accumulation of wealth and a yearning for consumer goods, but also unleashed a desire for democracy and freedom. The Chinese People Stand Up attempts to explain why the high hopes of 1949 ended with the disillusion and violence of 1989.
