In 1957, Chinese university students mobilized to share forbidden information about Khrushchev's secret speech and unrest in Eastern Europe. Responding to Mao's call to criticize the party, they did so in the belief that they were perfecting socialism. In the devastating campaigns that followed Mao's call, over 550,000 people were labeled 'rightists' by 1958, destroying lives for generations. Neither heroes nor villains, student participation in these campaigns ran across the political spectrum and represented impossible choices made under authoritarian pressure. Drawing on oral history, memoir, and archival documents, Yidi Wu recovers the history of a suppressed student movement and reveals the full spectrum of participation in Mao's political campaigns in the late 1950s. Placing the movement in the context of activism from 1919 to 1989, Wu shows how students accessed information about the communist world, created communication networks across China, and the resonance of this movement in the present day.

‘Drawing on extensive oral histories and a remarkable archive of student writings, Yidi Wu's book brings to life the excitement, creativity, and political energy of 1957. It captures a moment when political expression and debate surged with extraordinary force, while also tracing the lasting impact of that brief opening on those who continued to pursue justice and historical meaning long after Mao.'

Yiching Wu - University of Toronto