spark

Sparks: China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future

The latest masterpiece by Zhang Yan, the Pulitzer Prize winner and author of "The Soul of China", is the only Chinese translation in the world, with a new preface dedicated to Taiwanese readers.
Chen Deping, Zeng Ruisheng, Hua Zhijian, and Cheng Yangyang all recommend this!
The "Spark" incident is a tragedy under Chinese rule, which has been buried for more than half a century. However, there is a group of "underground historians" who are not afraid of power and danger.
Striving to piece together the story covered up by the CCP, we must spread the spark of "freedom"...

★These stories explain why Xi Jinping wants to control history. -- Yuan Li ★We wouldn't have known these stories otherwise. -- Zhang Jieping ★They need to unite and expose the lies that the dictatorship relies on. -- Cui Weiping

In traditional China, the interpretation of history was a battleground, crucial to the legitimacy of power. New dynasties would revise the history of the previous dynasty to prove their right to rule by claiming the "Mandate of Heaven." In contemporary China, the Chinese Communist Party, inheriting the "virtues" of its ancestors, is willing to distort history, whitewash mistakes, and conceal facts to embellish its rule in order to consolidate its power.

However, a magazine called "Spark," born in a labor camp in rural northwest China in 1960, changed all that. At the time, China was ravaged by a famine caused by human negligence, with tens of millions dying across the country, yet the news remained largely unknown. Among the few who knew, a group of university students sent to the countryside became part of the group. With knowledge in their heads, pens in their hands, and a deep sense of vengeance in their hearts, they founded "Spark." The inaugural issue contained only eight pages, devoid of photos or illustrations, yet every word expressed their indignation and anger.

"Why did the once progressive Communist Party become so corrupt and reactionary after less than a decade in power?"

"When millions and tens of millions of farmers died of hunger in their beds, on trains, on the railways, at the bottom of ditches..."

Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist regime would not tolerate such rebellious behavior. The young people who founded Spark received prison sentences ranging from ten to fifteen years, and some were even brutally executed. Ultimately, Spark magazine only produced a print run of thirty-odd copies. Like a fleeting spark, it posed no threat to the regime, and this episode in history was hushed up and rewritten.

More than fifty years later, a group of independent Chinese journalists, writers, and directors stumbled upon the story of "Spark," finding witnesses and survivors of the incident. These self-proclaimed "underground historians" not only unearthed "Spark's" story but also sought to challenge the official historical narrative of the Anti-Rightist Movement, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the SARS epidemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic, uncovering the truth beneath the Chinese Communist regime's lies. Though merely dropping a pebble into a deep, dark well, these "underground historians" are determined to carry the spark of "freedom" forward.

Recommended by all parties

Akio Yaita | Reporter and author He Wei | Reporter and author of the "China Trilogy" Li Xueli | The Reporter's COO and editor-in-chief A-Qing | Reporter and author Yuan Li | The New York Times columnist and host of the "Understand Podcast" Cui Weiping | Scholar, social critic, and translator of the "Collected Works of Havel" Zhang Jieping | Reporter and founder of the independent bookstore "Enclave Nowhere" Chen Deping | Author of "Strong Nation" Zeng Ruisheng | UK-based Chinese scholar and director of the China Institute at the University of London Hua Zhijian | Professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, and China expert Cheng Yangyang | China experts at Yale Law School (listed in alphabetical order)

Highly recommended by all walks of life

▸For decades, Zhang Yan has conducted some of the most important grassroots research ever done by a foreign journalist in China. With Spark, he turns his attention to history—not the official history that has been censored, selected, and promoted by the Communist Party, but the independent history written and filmed by courageous people across China who have defied the powerful. This book is a powerful reminder that China's future will depend on who controls its past. —Peter Hessler, journalist and author of the "China Trilogy"

▸We would never have known these stories. Like so many nameless protesters who leapt for their lives, the light of their resolve was completely swallowed up before anyone could see it. If it weren't for them, these "underground historians" of China, as Zhang Yan calls them, who have been sketching with such fragile yet steadfast determination for three generations, this spark of hope would never be extinguished. -- Zhang Jieping, journalist and founder of the independent bookstore "Enclave Nowhere"

▸ Countless Chinese people, knowing it was impossible, resolutely resisted, refusing to let their history be forgotten. Zhang Yan's book, Spark, tells their stories. What a privilege it is to read such a book. --Chen Deping, author of Land of Big Numbers

▸ "Sparks" tells the stories of underground historians determined to write about China's dark history of famine, massacres, and epidemics. These stories help us understand why Xi Jinping wants to control history. Because in the darkness, such memories can bring a little starlight. -- Yuan Li, New York Times columnist and host of "Understand Podcast"

▸This book powerfully depicts the story of the human spirit that survived Maoist dictatorship and brutal repression and is once again fighting for survival in the face of the new digital totalitarian repression of Xi Jinping's regime. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the Chinese and China. -- Zeng Ruisheng, a Chinese scholar living in the UK and director of the China Institute at the University of London

▸ Throughout the Chinese people's long pursuit of justice and fairness, safeguarding historical truth has always been a fierce, yet invisible, battle. As Zhang Yan's "Spark" illustrates, today's historical truth fighters have a vast support network, both visible and invisible, living and deceased. They must unite to expose the lies that dictatorships rely on to construct. -- Cui Weiping, scholar, social critic, and translator of "The Collected Works of Havel"

▸With a shocking impact, this article presents the portraits of some of the most courageous people in China today who dare to expose scandals and speak out. -- Cheng Yangyang, China expert at Yale Law School

▸A truly moving book, a true masterpiece of history and journalism. —Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, and expert on China

▸A poignant and moving portrait of China's underground history. —The New York Times

▸ Zhang Yan vividly describes the journey of independent Chinese documentary filmmakers, journalists, amateur historians, novelists, and memoirists, who risked their lives to uncover the truth about the perverse actions of authoritarian rulers. — Foreign Affairs

▸Thought-provoking… (Zhang Yan) offers a valuable and hopeful perspective. —Melanie Kirkpatrick, The Wall Street Journal

▸Among Western journalists writing about China, Zhang Yan is the most experienced and thoughtful. Now he has turned his attention to the most important battle in contemporary China: the battle to control history… His narrative is intimate and moving, the characters vivid, and the plot vivid. This is a beautifully written and irresistible book, the product of years of painstaking research and observation across China… It is a masterpiece. —Rana Mitter, Literary Criticism

▸A compelling book...offers a rare glimpse into the extraordinary risks Chinese people took to expose the darkest corners of communism. —The Economist

▸ In the best sense of the word, Zhang Yan has always been a "student of China"... His characters are endless, and no matter how briefly they appear, he never tires of recording each person's name, as if he is also fighting against historical erasure. As the landscapes he depicts become more and more extensive, he insists that readers can also observe China as he does: how all the chaotic geography, history and people that give China its vitality are intricate and tightly intertwined. - The Atlantic Magazine

▸Excellent, tasteful writing. --The New Yorker

▸A good book that emphasizes the values ​​of freedom, independence, and courage, and inspires people to move forward courageously. ——Kirkus Reviews

2024-06-05

八旗文化

440

9786267234914