E mily H onig and X iaojian Z hao . Across the Great Divide

If China’s socialist project was one of the defining revolutions of the twentieth century, then its Cultural Revolution–era movement of sent-down youth—relocating some seventeen million urban youngsters to the countryside—is surely one of the most significant social experiments that continue to shape our times. In their new book, Across the Great Divide: The Sent-Down Youth Movement in Mao’s China, 1968–1980, Emily Honig and Xiaojian Zhao, scholars of modern Chinese history and Asian American history, respectively, trace the sent-down youth movement from its origins in 1968 to its dismantling in 1980. Although the book addresses the movement as a nationwide phenomenon, it takes as a case study the industrial city of Shanghai, which at 1.1 million youth was the largest sender (11). Across the Great Divide zooms in further on those Shanghai youth sent to production teams in remote rural areas, like Heilongjiang Province on China’s northern frontier and Yunnan...

Archaeology · Art · China · Cultural revolution · Economic history · Frontier · Geography · Movement (music) · Political science · Rural area · Chinese history and philosophy · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies