Recent Interpretations on Party History in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

After the fall of the Gang of Four, many wrongs have been righted in the study of Party history. From the central to the provincial capitals and even down to certain counties, various units and institutes are actively collecting materials and conducting research on Party history, and much achievement have been made. This is true especially after the Third Plenum (of December 1978) which had adopted the new spirit and direction of liberating thoughts and ‘Seeking truth from facts’; (as a result), many ‘forbidden’ areas have been broken, (and) various problems on the Party’s history that could not be studied in the past can now be examined.¹

These words by a Chinese Communist historian in 1982 may not be taken at their face-value; for historians there are not allowed complete freedom in interpreting historical events, especially in such a highly sensitive area as Party history. As in the past, one can expect the new interpretations to play the role of legitimiser for the present leaders’ position and policies. Yet it cannot be denied that Chinese historians are making a concerted effort to rectify what they consider as non-historical in past historical research. Under the slogans of ‘Seeking truth from facts’, ‘Breaking down the “forbidden areas”’, and ‘Only when you are loyal to the facts can you be loyal to truth’,² they call into being a new orientation on research into Party history.