意外的聖地

Overview & Synopsis

Yan’an, known as China’s “revolutionary holy land,” was the former capital of the Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Border Region governed by the Chinese Communist Party. From 1935 to 1947, the CCP implemented policies and practices here that established the framework for the entire Mao era, making Shaanbei the “cradle” of the Chinese revolution. The creation of this revolutionary holy land was a long and complex process. Joseph W. Esherick, renowned American historian, dedicated over thirty years to studying this period, offering profound insights into the historical trajectory and the contingencies that shaped it. Drawing on extensive contemporary documents, memoirs, oral interviews, and multiple field investigations, he provides observations on the social, political, economic, and military dynamics of the region since the Qing dynasty. Esherick analyses the decisions made by key figures at critical historical junctures with both objectivity and sympathy. Through “a compelling and richly documented narrative,” he elucidated various chances, accidents, and coincidences that led to the emergence of the revolutionary holy land, and how the communist revolution grew through “a long process of multiple contingent events.”