6 - Local Reassessment versus Central Prestige

Summary

This chapter looks at the publication of a series of books in Guangdong in the 1990s on the “Pine Hill incident,” a miscarriage of justice that took place during land reform (1950–1953) and directly implicated Tao Zhu, an important figure in the CCP’s post-Cultural Revolution pantheon of veteran revolutionary leaders. The process leading to the publication of these volumes – which, the chapter argues, should be understood as a form of moral rehabilitation – sheds light on the complex dynamics of research and publication on sensitive topics in the context of partial transition. The volumes’ author and his collaborators made effective use of institutions, policies, and discourses that emerged during the 1980s to overcome major obstacles to publication, but Tao Zhu’s prestige at the central level ultimately limited the extent to which facts relating to the Pine Hill incident could became part of the public record. The chapter thus illustrates both the way local narratives on party history could emerge in the post-Mao period and the limited ability of such narratives to challenge those of the Party Center.