Guobin Yang

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *

Guobin Yang has written a very insightful and affecting account of the lives of the people caught in the extended lockdown of Wuhan, a city of 8 million people. Guobin sets the scene by giving some background on CCP party policies, social media usage in China and other germane matters. Most of the material in the book is gathered from social media diaries written by people directly involved in the lockdown, and the reactions to what they wrote.

One thing that struck me the most was that, in our own extended lockdown here in Australia, pretty much the same issues came up. The key difference was that we tended to blame the government and demand that "they" do something about it, whereas the Chinese people took it on themselves to solve problems such as getting essentials to locked-down people, caring for abandoned pets, providing professional mental health support, raising money to support the Wuhan people, and so on. Guobin describes how vital the role of social media was in accomplishing this, despite having to resort to some clever tactics to beat the official censors.

I got a lot out of this book, but felt that it ran out of steam at the end, as the author tried to draw some sociological conclusions from the various stories discussed, rather than just let them speak for themselves. The dry academic discussion that the book ends in weakens its impact and takes away from the stories of the Wuhan people.… (more)

Professor Yang has enriched our understanding of the Red Guard movement by putting together his scholarly summary of interviews, journals, newspaper articles and other items that portray aspects of this cultural change and the attitude of its participants some forty or more years later. The Red Guard phenomenon was probably fermenting twenty years before its actual advent in the 1960’s. There were youth movements around the world in which young people filled with the idealism of the young were advocating change being moved by various ideologies. Youth in China were no exception. Mao and his writings were an inspiring force and propelled them as if on a sacred mission for the sake of revolution. The movement was a collection of factions who were often attacking each other. What ensued were social unrest, destruction, murder and the undermining of China’s cultural roots. Those who were “sent down” to poor rural villages were soon disabused of their revolutionary romanticism since they now had to contend with the same poverty and starvation rations of the villagers. Those sent to communes fared somewhat better. There was a real test to the Communist party when these same young people wanted to return to their cities bringing forth questions of employment and daily sustenance and social mobility or lack of it. Some of the survivors are now veterans of the Communist party apparatus and are not apologetic over what transpired in the past. This is a good read to broaden your viewpoint. My own viewpoint was previously framed by live discussions with some of my Chinese friends who were adversely affected young people at that time and the aftermath of the destruction I witnessed during several visits to China.

I was given an electronic copy in return for an honest review.… (more)