Chinese Cultural Revolution Resources: Primary Resources
Archival Materials
For E-resources off-campus access is limited to UNC faculty, students, and staff.
- Chinese Cultural Revolution Database (中国文化大革命文库)The most comprehensive source covering primary sources on the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The database contains more than 10,000 Central Party documents, Communist party leaders' speeches, official newspaper articles from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, selections of some of the key Red Guard texts, and hard-to-reach archives that often buried within diverse Chinese newspapers many of which are not publicly available The database is updated annually.
- Chairman Mao talks to the people; talks and letters: 1956-1971This is a volume of primary documents from Mao. There are speeches, letters, essays, and personal notations, all of which have been translated into English.
- “Talk to Leaders of the Centre.” Pages 253-255.
- “Speech at a Meeting with Regional Secretaries and Members of the Cultural Revolutionary Group of the Central Committee.” Pages 256-259.
- “A Letter to the Red Guards of Tsinghua University Middle School.” Pages 260-261.
- “Talk at a Meeting of the Central Cultural Revolution Group.” Pages 275-276.
- Essays p.16-18, 22
- Resolution On Certain Questions In The History Of Our Party Since The Founding Of The People's Republic Of China (March 1980 - June 1981) byBetween March 1980 and the Sixth Plenary Session of the Party's Eleventh Central Committee in June 1981, Deng Xiaoping gave his opinions on the drafting and revision of the resolution. These are excerpts from nine of his talks.
- Interview with MaoBY EDGAR SNOW (FEBRUARY 26, 1965)
- Wu chan jie ji wen hua da ge ming wen jian hui bian. / 无产阶级文化大革命文件汇编.Beijing hua gong xue yuan Mao Zedong si xiang xuan chuan yuan [bian]./北京化工学院毛泽东思想宣传员[编].
See also resources at Center for Reserch Libraries
Search by keywords: Chinese cultural revolution, China, 1966-1976, Mao Zedong
- Cultural Revolution, 50 Years OnA multimedia report by the South China Morning Post examining the pain, passion and power struggle that shaped China today.
- Down to the Countryside MovementDocumenting the cultural memory of this period as experienced by the participants provides a unique perspective on the Down to the Countryside Movement. Since 2016, the Dartmouth Library has been collecting original materials from the rustication period including diaries, letters, photographs, and artifacts. These materials include participants' first-hand accounts reflecting on their experiences, shifting their perspectives, and recalling their living conditions during rustication.
Newspapers/Archives
Off-campus access is limited to UNC faculty, students, and staff.
- Chinese Foreign Policy DatabaseAn online resource containing nearly 1,500 declassified documents on the international relations of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 1949. Documents in the new database--the vast majority available with English translation--include diplomatic cables, high level correspondence, meeting minutes, and other internal documents retrieved from dozens of archives around the world. Over 600 records from the now-closed Chinese Foreign Ministry Archives in Beijing are included.
- ProQuest Historical NewspapersSearch hundreds of thousands of pages of full-text and full-image newspaper articles. Includes news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements; historical photos, graphics, and advertisements are also included; display the complete image of any page in any issue or browse the database to scan individual issues page by page.
- Wall Street JournalAccess full-text articles from The Wall Street Journal: Eastern Edition, published 6 days a week.
- Washington Post Historical NewspaperOffers hundreds of thousands of pages of full-text and full-image newspaper articles covering the entire publishing history of the newspaper from 1877 to 1990. Researchers and students can use the images to find not only news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements, but also historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements.
- Newspaper Source PlusProvides complete full-text coverage of 149 national and international newspapers, such as Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, Times (London), Toronto Star, Washington Post, and Washington Times. Additionally offered is selective full text from over 400 regional U. S. newspapers and transcripts from CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NPR, etc.
- People's Daily (人民日报) 1946 - PresentThe Chinese Communist Party official mouthpiece, first published in 1946. The digital People's Daily was developed in early 2000 by the People's Daily Press in Beijing China.
- Chinese Local Newspapers, pre-1966This resource contains three newspapers, Anqing Daily《安庆报》, Huainan Daily《淮南日报》, and Wuhu Daily《芜湖报》 published in the Anhui Province, during 1951-1966. Local newspapers are primary materials for understanding local politics and social life during this period.
The CR/10 Project: China's Cultural Revolution in Memories
CR/10 (Cultural Revolution: 10) is an oral history project initiated by the University of Pittsburgh in 2015, which was developed as a crowd-sourcing project in 2016. UNC Library contributed to the source content with interviews of CR witnesses or family members who lived in North Carolina. You may visit The CR/10 Project site for more information.
Here are three audio/video interviews that were conducted in person in Cary and Chapel Hill of North Carolina. The interviewees are asked to discuss the experiences that left the deepest impressions on them—what they most want to share with the audience. At the interviewee's request, some of the videos have been replaced with a still photo obscuring the interviewee's identity.
"You may not believe in me, you may doubt me, but you may not doubt the Communist Party."
The interview subject was born in the 1960s and lived in a small city in Anhui from 1966 to 1976. Her family background was classified as military and her occupation during the Cultural Revolution was a student. The highest level of education she has achieved is college.
"Each person carried a bit of dust when the Cultural Revolution ended."
The interview subject was born in the 1950s and lived in an urban area of Heilongjiang from 1966 to 1976. His family background was classified as intellectual and his occupation during the Cultural Revolution was a student. The highest level of education he has achieved is college.
"[We] were all brainwashed."
The interview subject was born in the 1960s and lived in an urban area of Beijing from 1966 to 1976. His family background was classified as intellectual and his occupation during the Cultural Revolution was a student. The highest level of education he has achieved is graduate.
Feature-length documentary: The Revolution They Remember (in English) 口述文革历史
The Revolution They Remember presents the Chinese Cultural Revolution era of 1966-1976 via the memories of those who experienced it and have reflected on its legacies. The Revolution They Remember is based on two video oral history projects: one by the EAL and the other by Dartmouth Library. Initiated by the EAL in 2015, The Cultural Revolution: 10 (CR/10) Project recorded, preserved, and published video interviews with Chinese citizens sharing their memories and impressions of China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The Revolution They Remember features selections from the interviews from these two projects, as well as images contributed by interview participants, archival footage, and photos. The film also comprises commentary by scholars of modern Chinese history.
