Shanghai Tai Chi offers a masterful portrait of daily life under socialism in a rich social and political history of one of the world’s most complex cities. Hanchao Lu explores the lives of people from all areas of society – from capitalists and bourgeois intellectuals to women and youth. Wielding the metaphor of Tai Chi, he reveals how people in Shanghai experienced, adapted to, and manipulated the new Maoist political culture launched in 1949. Exploring the multifaceted complexity of everyday life and material culture in Mao’s China, Lu addresses the survival of old bourgeois lifestyles under the new proletarian dictatorship, the achievements of intellectuals in an age of anti-intellectualism, the pleasure that urban youth derived from reading taboo literature, the emergence of women’s liberation and the politics of greening and horticulture. Lu argues that an undercurrent of non-confrontational but nevertheless powerful and effective defiance characterized Mao’s China, paved the way for the post-Mao reform, and illustrated how the public might, through accommodation and manipulation, resist even the most repressive of regimes.
Hanchao Lu is Professor of History at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the China Research Center in Atlanta. He is the author of three award-winning books: Beyond the Neon Lights (1999), Street Criers (2005), and The Birth of a Republic (2010).
Shanghai Tai Chi
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
Series Editors
Jacob Eyferth, Daniel Leese, Michael Schoenhals
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China is a major series of ambitious works in the social, political, and cultural history of socialist China. Aided by a wealth of new sources, recent research pays close attention to regional differences, to perspectives from the social and geographical margins, and to the unintended consequences of Communist Party rule. Books in the series contribute to this historical re-evaluation by presenting the most stimulating and rigorously researched works in the field to a broad audience. The series invites submissions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, based on written, material, or oral sources. Particularly welcome are those works that bridge the 1949 and 1978 divides, and those that seek to understand China in an international or global context.
JIANGSU PROVINCE
JIANGSU PROVINCE Map of Shanghai Municipality
YANGZIRIVER
JIADING JIADING
QIAOZHEN
CHONGMING
BAOSHAN
URBAN
DISTRICT QINGPU
ZHUJIN QINGPU
XINZHUANG
SONGJIANG SHANGHAI
SONGJIANG
CHUANSHA CHUANSHA
EAST CHINA SEA
HUINAN NANHUI
NANQIAO
FENGXIAN
JINSHAN
ZHEJIANG PROVINCE HANGZHOU BAY
Map 1. Shanghai Municipality
BAOSHAN
Wuning Road
Long hu a
ghai Botanica l G ar d en uminH Ch abao Ro ad xiChao adRo nHuasha Road adRo rveRi Ro ad Zho ng hu a Lujia bang Huangpi nHena adRo Rado Roda adRo Ho n gqia
hang hai Te l e vi s io n Towe r Mu nicipal People’s Go vern m ent South ngdoPu Hua ngpu
1 2T he site of the F irst Nation a l Congr e ss of th e Chines e Co m munist Part y Jinjiang Hote Peace Ho te Shang hai Ma n sion s Gu o j i ( P a rk) Ho te l Over seas Chin e se S t or e Jing’a n P a rk Shang hai Usedbook Stor e Heng shan Gue sthouse Yuyua n Gard e n Ja d e B u ddha T em p l e Child r en’s Palace Shang hai Exhibition Hal l Shang hai Muse um F orme r Residen ce of Su n Yat-se n and Fuxing Pa r k T omb o f Lu Xu n Shang hai Inte r natio n al S e amen’s Club F riendsh i p S to re Jing’a n Te m pl e Shang hai No. 1 De part m ent Stor e Huan gpu Park 3
Districts
Map 2. Shanghai’s Urban
Shanghai Tai Chi
The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s China
Hanchao Lu Georgia Institute of Technology
Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8EA, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India
Cambridge University Press is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge.
We share the University’s mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781009180986
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
First published 2023
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Limited, Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lu, Hanchao, author.
Title: Shanghai tai chi : the art of being ruled in Mao’s China / Hanchao Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Other titles: Art of being ruled in Mao’s China
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022029325 | ISBN 9781009180986 (hardback) | ISBN 9781009180979 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Shanghai (China) – History – 20th century. | City and town life – China – Shanghai – 20th century. | Mao, Zedong, 1893–1976 – Influence. | Shanghai (China) – Politics and government – 20th century.
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029325
ISBN 978-1-009-18098-6 Hardback
Cambridge University Press & Assessment has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Shanghai Tai Chi offers a masterful portrait of daily life under socialism in a rich social and political history of one of the world’s most complex cities. Hanchao Lu explores the lives of people from all areas of society – from capitalists and bourgeois intellectuals to women and youth. Wielding the metaphor of Tai Chi, he reveals how people in Shanghai experienced, adapted to, and manipulated the new Maoist political culture launched in 1949. Exploring the multifaceted complexity of everyday life and material culture in Mao’s China, Lu addresses the survival of old bourgeois lifestyles under the new proletarian dictatorship, the achievements of intellectuals in an age of anti-intellectualism, the pleasure that urban youth derived from reading taboo literature, the emergence of women’s liberation and the politics of greening and horticulture. Lu argues that an undercurrent of non-confrontational but nevertheless powerful and effective defiance characterized Mao’s China, paved the way for the post-Mao reform, and illustrated how the public might, through accommodation and manipulation, resist even the most repressive of regimes.
Hanchao Lu is Professor of History at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the China Research Center in Atlanta. He is the author of three award-winning books: Beyond the Neon Lights (1999), Street Criers (2005), and The Birth of a Republic (2010).
Shanghai Tai Chi
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
Series Editors
Jacob Eyferth, Daniel Leese, Michael Schoenhals
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China is a major series of ambitious works in the social, political, and cultural history of socialist China. Aided by a wealth of new sources, recent research pays close attention to regional differences, to perspectives from the social and geographical margins, and to the unintended consequences of Communist Party rule. Books in the series contribute to this historical re-evaluation by presenting the most stimulating and rigorously researched works in the field to a broad audience. The series invites submissions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, based on written, material, or oral sources. Particularly welcome are those works that bridge the 1949 and 1978 divides, and those that seek to understand China in an international or global context.
JIANGSU PROVINCE
JIANGSU PROVINCE Map of Shanghai Municipality
YANGZIRIVER
JIADING JIADING
QIAOZHEN
CHONGMING
BAOSHAN
URBAN
DISTRICT QINGPU
ZHUJIN QINGPU
XINZHUANG
SONGJIANG SHANGHAI
SONGJIANG
CHUANSHA CHUANSHA
EAST CHINA SEA
HUINAN NANHUI
NANQIAO
FENGXIAN
JINSHAN
ZHEJIANG PROVINCE HANGZHOU BAY
Map 1. Shanghai Municipality
BAOSHAN
Wuning Road
Long hu a
ghai Botanica l G ar d en uminH Ch abao Ro ad xiChao adRo nHuasha Road adRo rveRi Ro ad Zho ng hu a Lujia bang Huangpi nHena adRo Rado Roda adRo Ho n gqia
hang hai Te l e vi s io n Towe r Mu nicipal People’s Go vern m ent South ngdoPu Hua ngpu
1 2T he site of the F irst Nation a l Congr e ss of th e Chines e Co m munist Part y Jinjiang Hote Peace Ho te Shang hai Ma n sion s Gu o j i ( P a rk) Ho te l Over seas Chin e se S t or e Jing’a n P a rk Shang hai Usedbook Stor e Heng shan Gue sthouse Yuyua n Gard e n Ja d e B u ddha T em p l e Child r en’s Palace Shang hai Exhibition Hal l Shang hai Muse um F orme r Residen ce of Su n Yat-se n and Fuxing Pa r k T omb o f Lu Xu n Shang hai Inte r natio n al S e amen’s Club F riendsh i p S to re Jing’a n Te m pl e Shang hai No. 1 De part m ent Stor e Huan gpu Park 3
Districts
Map 2. Shanghai’s Urban
Shanghai Tai Chi
The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s China
Hanchao Lu Georgia Institute of Technology
Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8EA, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India
Cambridge University Press is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge.
We share the University’s mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781009180986
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
First published 2023
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Limited, Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lu, Hanchao, author.
Title: Shanghai tai chi : the art of being ruled in Mao’s China / Hanchao Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Other titles: Art of being ruled in Mao’s China
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022029325 | ISBN 9781009180986 (hardback) | ISBN 9781009180979 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Shanghai (China) – History – 20th century. | City and town life – China – Shanghai – 20th century. | Mao, Zedong, 1893–1976 – Influence. | Shanghai (China) – Politics and government – 20th century.
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029325
ISBN 978-1-009-18098-6 Hardback
Cambridge University Press & Assessment has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Shanghai Tai Chi offers a masterful portrait of daily life under socialism in a rich social and political history of one of the world’s most complex cities. Hanchao Lu explores the lives of people from all areas of society – from capitalists and bourgeois intellectuals to women and youth. Wielding the metaphor of Tai Chi, he reveals how people in Shanghai experienced, adapted to, and manipulated the new Maoist political culture launched in 1949. Exploring the multifaceted complexity of everyday life and material culture in Mao’s China, Lu addresses the survival of old bourgeois lifestyles under the new proletarian dictatorship, the achievements of intellectuals in an age of anti-intellectualism, the pleasure that urban youth derived from reading taboo literature, the emergence of women’s liberation and the politics of greening and horticulture. Lu argues that an undercurrent of non-confrontational but nevertheless powerful and effective defiance characterized Mao’s China, paved the way for the post-Mao reform, and illustrated how the public might, through accommodation and manipulation, resist even the most repressive of regimes.
Hanchao Lu is Professor of History at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the China Research Center in Atlanta. He is the author of three award-winning books: Beyond the Neon Lights (1999), Street Criers (2005), and The Birth of a Republic (2010).
Shanghai Tai Chi
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
Series Editors
Jacob Eyferth, Daniel Leese, Michael Schoenhals
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China is a major series of ambitious works in the social, political, and cultural history of socialist China. Aided by a wealth of new sources, recent research pays close attention to regional differences, to perspectives from the social and geographical margins, and to the unintended consequences of Communist Party rule. Books in the series contribute to this historical re-evaluation by presenting the most stimulating and rigorously researched works in the field to a broad audience. The series invites submissions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, based on written, material, or oral sources. Particularly welcome are those works that bridge the 1949 and 1978 divides, and those that seek to understand China in an international or global context.
JIANGSU PROVINCE
JIANGSU PROVINCE Map of Shanghai Municipality
YANGZIRIVER
JIADING JIADING
QIAOZHEN
CHONGMING
BAOSHAN
URBAN
DISTRICT QINGPU
ZHUJIN QINGPU
XINZHUANG
SONGJIANG SHANGHAI
SONGJIANG
CHUANSHA CHUANSHA
EAST CHINA SEA
HUINAN NANHUI
NANQIAO
FENGXIAN
JINSHAN
ZHEJIANG PROVINCE HANGZHOU BAY
Map 1. Shanghai Municipality
BAOSHAN
Wuning Road
Long hu a
ghai Botanica l G ar d en uminH Ch abao Ro ad xiChao adRo nHuasha Road adRo rveRi Ro ad Zho ng hu a Lujia bang Huangpi nHena adRo Rado Roda adRo Ho n gqia
hang hai Te l e vi s io n Towe r Mu nicipal People’s Go vern m ent South ngdoPu Hua ngpu
1 2T he site of the F irst Nation a l Congr e ss of th e Chines e Co m munist Part y Jinjiang Hote Peace Ho te Shang hai Ma n sion s Gu o j i ( P a rk) Ho te l Over seas Chin e se S t or e Jing’a n P a rk Shang hai Usedbook Stor e Heng shan Gue sthouse Yuyua n Gard e n Ja d e B u ddha T em p l e Child r en’s Palace Shang hai Exhibition Hal l Shang hai Muse um F orme r Residen ce of Su n Yat-se n and Fuxing Pa r k T omb o f Lu Xu n Shang hai Inte r natio n al S e amen’s Club F riendsh i p S to re Jing’a n Te m pl e Shang hai No. 1 De part m ent Stor e Huan gpu Park 3
Districts
Map 2. Shanghai’s Urban
Shanghai Tai Chi
The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s China
Hanchao Lu Georgia Institute of Technology
Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8EA, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India
Cambridge University Press is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge.
We share the University’s mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781009180986
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
First published 2023
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Limited, Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lu, Hanchao, author.
Title: Shanghai tai chi : the art of being ruled in Mao’s China / Hanchao Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Other titles: Art of being ruled in Mao’s China
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022029325 | ISBN 9781009180986 (hardback) | ISBN 9781009180979 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Shanghai (China) – History – 20th century. | City and town life – China – Shanghai – 20th century. | Mao, Zedong, 1893–1976 – Influence. | Shanghai (China) – Politics and government – 20th century.
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029325
ISBN 978-1-009-18098-6 Hardback
Cambridge University Press & Assessment has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Shanghai Tai Chi offers a masterful portrait of daily life under socialism in a rich social and political history of one of the world’s most complex cities. Hanchao Lu explores the lives of people from all areas of society – from capitalists and bourgeois intellectuals to women and youth. Wielding the metaphor of Tai Chi, he reveals how people in Shanghai experienced, adapted to, and manipulated the new Maoist political culture launched in 1949. Exploring the multifaceted complexity of everyday life and material culture in Mao’s China, Lu addresses the survival of old bourgeois lifestyles under the new proletarian dictatorship, the achievements of intellectuals in an age of anti-intellectualism, the pleasure that urban youth derived from reading taboo literature, the emergence of women’s liberation and the politics of greening and horticulture. Lu argues that an undercurrent of non-confrontational but nevertheless powerful and effective defiance characterized Mao’s China, paved the way for the post-Mao reform, and illustrated how the public might, through accommodation and manipulation, resist even the most repressive of regimes.
Hanchao Lu is Professor of History at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the China Research Center in Atlanta. He is the author of three award-winning books: Beyond the Neon Lights (1999), Street Criers (2005), and The Birth of a Republic (2010).
Shanghai Tai Chi
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
Series Editors
Jacob Eyferth, Daniel Leese, Michael Schoenhals
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China is a major series of ambitious works in the social, political, and cultural history of socialist China. Aided by a wealth of new sources, recent research pays close attention to regional differences, to perspectives from the social and geographical margins, and to the unintended consequences of Communist Party rule. Books in the series contribute to this historical re-evaluation by presenting the most stimulating and rigorously researched works in the field to a broad audience. The series invites submissions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, based on written, material, or oral sources. Particularly welcome are those works that bridge the 1949 and 1978 divides, and those that seek to understand China in an international or global context.
JIANGSU PROVINCE
JIANGSU PROVINCE Map of Shanghai Municipality
YANGZIRIVER
JIADING JIADING
QIAOZHEN
CHONGMING
BAOSHAN
URBAN
DISTRICT QINGPU
ZHUJIN QINGPU
XINZHUANG
SONGJIANG SHANGHAI
SONGJIANG
CHUANSHA CHUANSHA
EAST CHINA SEA
HUINAN NANHUI
NANQIAO
FENGXIAN
JINSHAN
ZHEJIANG PROVINCE HANGZHOU BAY
Map 1. Shanghai Municipality
BAOSHAN
Wuning Road
Long hu a
ghai Botanica l G ar d en uminH Ch abao Ro ad xiChao adRo nHuasha Road adRo rveRi Ro ad Zho ng hu a Lujia bang Huangpi nHena adRo Rado Roda adRo Ho n gqia
hang hai Te l e vi s io n Towe r Mu nicipal People’s Go vern m ent South ngdoPu Hua ngpu
1 2T he site of the F irst Nation a l Congr e ss of th e Chines e Co m munist Part y Jinjiang Hote Peace Ho te Shang hai Ma n sion s Gu o j i ( P a rk) Ho te l Over seas Chin e se S t or e Jing’a n P a rk Shang hai Usedbook Stor e Heng shan Gue sthouse Yuyua n Gard e n Ja d e B u ddha T em p l e Child r en’s Palace Shang hai Exhibition Hal l Shang hai Muse um F orme r Residen ce of Su n Yat-se n and Fuxing Pa r k T omb o f Lu Xu n Shang hai Inte r natio n al S e amen’s Club F riendsh i p S to re Jing’a n Te m pl e Shang hai No. 1 De part m ent Stor e Huan gpu Park 3
Districts
Map 2. Shanghai’s Urban
Shanghai Tai Chi
The Art of Being Ruled in Mao’s China
Hanchao Lu Georgia Institute of Technology
Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8EA, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India
Cambridge University Press is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a department of the University of Cambridge.
We share the University’s mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781009180986
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
First published 2023
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Limited, Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lu, Hanchao, author.
Title: Shanghai tai chi : the art of being ruled in Mao’s China / Hanchao Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Other titles: Art of being ruled in Mao’s China
Description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022029325 | ISBN 9781009180986 (hardback) | ISBN 9781009180979 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Shanghai (China) – History – 20th century. | City and town life – China – Shanghai – 20th century. | Mao, Zedong, 1893–1976 – Influence. | Shanghai (China) – Politics and government – 20th century.
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029325
ISBN 978-1-009-18098-6 Hardback
Cambridge University Press & Assessment has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Shanghai Tai Chi offers a masterful portrait of daily life under socialism in a rich social and political history of one of the world’s most complex cities. Hanchao Lu explores the lives of people from all areas of society – from capitalists and bourgeois intellectuals to women and youth. Wielding the metaphor of Tai Chi, he reveals how people in Shanghai experienced, adapted to, and manipulated the new Maoist political culture launched in 1949. Exploring the multifaceted complexity of everyday life and material culture in Mao’s China, Lu addresses the survival of old bourgeois lifestyles under the new proletarian dictatorship, the achievements of intellectuals in an age of anti-intellectualism, the pleasure that urban youth derived from reading taboo literature, the emergence of women’s liberation and the politics of greening and horticulture. Lu argues that an undercurrent of non-confrontational but nevertheless powerful and effective defiance characterized Mao’s China, paved the way for the post-Mao reform, and illustrated how the public might, through accommodation and manipulation, resist even the most repressive of regimes.
Hanchao Lu is Professor of History at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the China Research Center in Atlanta. He is the author of three award-winning books: Beyond the Neon Lights (1999), Street Criers (2005), and The Birth of a Republic (2010).
Shanghai Tai Chi
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
Series Editors
Jacob Eyferth, Daniel Leese, Michael Schoenhals
Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China is a major series of ambitious works in the social, political, and cultural history of socialist China. Aided by a wealth of new sources, recent research pays close attention to regional differences, to perspectives from the social and geographical margins, and to the unintended consequences of Communist Party rule. Books in the series contribute to this historical re-evaluation by presenting the most stimulating and rigorously researched works in the field to a broad audience. The series invites submissions from a variety of disciplines and approaches, based on written, material, or oral sources. Particularly welcome are those works that bridge the 1949 and 1978 divides, and those that seek to understand China in an international or global context.
