{"product_id":"9780141997957-sparks","title":"Sparks","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChina's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA\u003ci\u003e FINANCIAL TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e AND \u003ci\u003eNEW STATESMAN \u003c\/i\u003eBOOK OF THE YEAR 2023\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Johnson’s stories bring … this history chillingly alive’ Christina Patterson, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An indelible feat of reporting and an urgent read . It's a privilege to read books like these' Te-Ping Chen, author of \u003ci\u003eLand of Big Numbers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA documentary filmmaker who uncovered a Mao-era death camp; an independent journalist who gave voice to the millions who suffered through Covid; a magazine publisher who dodged the secret police: these are some of the people who make up \u003ci\u003eSparks: China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future\u003c\/i\u003e, a vital account of how some of China's most important writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on its most sacred ground - its monopoly on history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. The Chinese Communist Party builds on these ideas to whitewash its misdeeds and justify its rule.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut in recent years, critical thinkers from across the land have begun to challenge this state-led disremembering. Using digital technologies to bypass China's legendary surveillance state, their samizdat journals, guerilla media posts, and underground films document a pattern of disasters: from past famines and purges to the ethnic clashes and virus outbreaks of the present.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on years of research in Xi Jinping's China, \u003ci\u003eSparks\u003c\/i\u003e challenges stereotypes of a China where the state has quashed all free thought, revealing instead a country engaged in one of humanity's great struggles of memory against forgetting - a battle that will shape the China that emerges in the mid-21st century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41540096884833,"sku":"9780141997957","price":10.77,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_32419997.jpg?v=1737274787","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780141997957-sparks","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}