Leading academics examine the consequences of the political, social, economic and cultural upheaval unleashed by Mao Zedong in 1966.

Preface. The once and future tragedy of the Cultural Revolution Roderick MacFarquhar; Introduction. The Cultural Revolution: memories and legacies fifty years on Patricia Thornton and Chris Berry; 1. Bending the arc of Chinese history: the Cultural Revolution's paradoxical legacy Andrew Walder; 2. The Cultural Revolution and its legacies in international perspective Julia Lovell; 3. Mummify the working class: the Cultural Revolution and the fates of the political parties Alessandro Russo; 4. Debates on constitutionalism and the legacies of the Cultural Revolution Wu Changchang; 5. The Cultural Revolution as a crisis of representation Patricia Thornton; 6. Cultural Revolution as method Michael Dutton; 7. Whodunnit? Memory and politics before the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik and Cui Jinke; 8. Restricted, distorted but alive: the memory of the 'lost generation' of Chinese educated youth Michel Bonnin; 9. The collar revolution: everyday clothing in Guangdong as resistance in the Cultural Revolution Sun Peidong; 10. The silent revolution: decollectivization from below during the Cultural Revolution Frank Dikötter.