The Communist Takeover of Hangzhou

For anyone who is doing research on the history of crucial turnover period of the late civil war to early 1950s in China, then this is an important city study that provides a lot of rich local detail and findings based on a variety of great archives. It also is a great example of a turnover which involves CCP cadres from Shandong, mostly rural Luzhongnan, in a mid-sized city.

There is not too much new here, and the arguments advanced are neither terribly original or the writing inspiring. There is an emphasis in the introduction of the book on political ritual and transformation of political culture, but the book seems to stray considerably from this and resemble much more closely a description of Hangzhou's experience of some of the important events that most books on China during the period address: the disciplined nature of troops when taking over the city, the gradual squeeze, the suppression of counterrevolutionaries, the three antis, the five antis, and the new three antis, with a chapter on cultural reforms and women cadres thrown in which both feel a bit detached.

It was, however, all interesting material and looks solid in terms of content and research.