Contenu du sommaire : Photo Essay: Deng Xiaoping's Failed Reform in 1975-1976

For once, this issue of China Perspectives is not a special feature made of a collection of articles. We have decided on this occasion to publish a rare and previously unreleased document that narrates and illustrates the rivalries, struggles, and political campaigns that were carried out in Beijing from the summer of 1975 to the spring of 1976 and reached their climax with several demonstrations at Tiananmen Square within the first few days of April 1976. While the Ninth Party Congress in April 1969 aimed at officially legitimating the Cultural Revolution, Mao also wanted it to be the beginning of a reconstruction phase for the Party. Despite this desire for Party unity, in consideration of the political succession of an ever more isolated and increasingly physically fragile Chairman, the tensions at the top of the Party continued to intensify until the death of the Great Helmsman in September 1976. These tensions took the form of a series of political campaigns and public demonstrations on the capital's university campuses as well as on Tiananmen Square. While this period remains rather weakly documented in the political history of the People's Republic of China, it is nonetheless quite important for the understanding of the political dynamics of the late Mao era, particularly among the elites of the Communist Party as well as in the relationship between these elites and the Chinese population. (…) David Zweig, who has since become a renowned China specialist, was an eye-witness to these events. Hence, a few months ahead of the 40th anniversary of these demonstrations, the opportunity for China Perspectives to publish David Zweig's narrative, analysis, and photographs of this political drama was self evident. Plunging us into the unfolding of these crucial events of the end of the Mao era, these unique photos qualify as valuable political anthropology…

In mid-1975, Deng Xiaoping, with Mao's blessing, initiated reforms that targeted the negative consequences of the Cultural Revolution. To bolster Deng's effort, Mao endowed him with penultimate authority over the Party, government, and military. However, in late October, Mao turned on Deng, and within five months, Mao and the radicals toppled Deng from power. As a foreign student at Peking University, David Zweig observed and photographed four key points in this historic struggle: (1) the initial establishment of a “big character poster” compound at Peking University; (2) emotional mourning for Zhou Enlai in Tiananmen Square following his death: (3) the intensified assault on Deng in February 1976 in the posters at Peking University; and (4) the massive demonstration of support in Tiananmen Square on 3-4 April for the end of Maoist politics.

The study of Taiwanese entrepreneurs who live and invest on the Chinese mainland (Taishang) has only recently started to attract attention. Taishang have been referred to as a “linkage community” that connects Taiwan and the Chinese mainland through its economic undertakings, political influence, and social experiences as a migrant community. Against this background, this article clarifies the extent to which Taishang have contributed to and shaped the ongoing process of cross-strait interaction and the development of cross-strait policies. It revisits the field of Taishang studies, takes stock of the knowledge that this field has generated so far, and explores future directions for meaningful research.

It is now recognised that China's industrial clusters have played a particularly significant part in the prodigious economic transformations the country has experienced since the launch of reforms at the end of the 1970s. By studying the case of Yongkang, a county-level city in Zhejiang Province specialising in the manufacture of metal products, this article aims to increase understanding of how this rural area with a tradition of small-scale metal production has become, over the course of a few decades, an industrial cluster built around specific operations, and which economic, social, and political approaches have made these transformations possible.

The French doctor, archaeologist, novelist, and poet Victor Segalen (1878-1919) was known above all for his works inspired by China and his theory of the “Diverse.” Despite the numerous studies devoted to him in recent years, very few Western researchers have taken any interest in the reception of his work in China. By focusing critically on the latest research by Chinese specialists on the author of Stèles, this review essay will attempt to show that Segalen owes his undeniable success in China not only to the intrinsic worth of his literary output, but also to ideological considerations that combine to make him the “best” representative of learned “Sinophilia.”