The Compelling Ideal: Thought Reform and the Prison in China, 1901-1956

The Compelling Ideal: Thought Reform and the Prison in China, 1901-1956
ISBN-10
0300185944
ISBN-13
9780300185942
Category
History
Pages
416
Language
English
Published
2014-05-27
Publisher
Yale University Press
Author
Jan Kiely

Description

In this groundbreaking volume, based on extensive research in Chinese archives and libraries, Jan Kiely explores the pre-Communist origins of the process of systematic thought reform or reformation (ganhua) that evolved into a key component of Mao Zedong’s revolutionary restructuring of Chinese society. Focusing on ganhua as it was employed in China’s prison system, Kiely’s thought-provoking work brings the history of this critical phenomenon to life through the stories of individuals who conceptualized, implemented, and experienced it, and he details how these techniques were subsequently adapted for broader social and political use.

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