Bombard the Headquarters!

'Excellent... surefooted and perceptive, enlivened by a wealth of vignettes and anecdotes which bring to life the dramatic and frequently horrific events that have played a seminal role in forming Chinese society as it exists today' PHILIP SHORT, author of Mao: A LifeMao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1966 to purge his critics and blood a new generation of fighters.

Ten years later, almost two million people had been killed and much of China's heritage, from precious manuscripts to ancient temples, had been obliterated. The shadow of these terrible years lies heavily over the twenty-first-century nation.

The history of this period is so toxic that China's rulers have gone to great lengths to bury it while a few brave men and women risk their freedom to uncover the truth.

For as both they and the Party know, to grasp the history of the Cultural Revolution is to understand much about China today. Bombard the Headquarters! is not just Mao's story. It's the unforgettable stories of countless individuals, mass manias, of sacred mangos, and spectacular falls from grace.

At once rigorous and readable, brief yet teeming with colourful detail, this is a marvel of historical storytelling. 'A beautifully concise account that makes sense of a hugely complex event in modern Chinese history.

Linda Jaivin puts her formidable, deep experience both of Chinese history and language to excellent use, conveying in 100 pages what most would struggle to achieve in a thousand' KERRY BROWN, author of China Incorporated