Following World War II, the Korean War (1950–1953), and the Sino-Indian War (1962), nearly seven million Chinese veterans were reintegrated back into society. The Vietnam War in the 1970s produced another generation of soldiers, and the government demobilized an additional three million in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s to pare down the People's Liberation Army. Conditions greeting these veterans over the past six decades were hardly ideal. Drawing on detailed archival work, Diamant depicts the arduous plight of demobilized veterans and their families, masterfully portraying their frustrating interactions with government officials, factory bosses, and local cadres. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may have publicly praised the soldier as a hero, veterans often characterized government policy as “slaughtering the mule after he's finished grinding the wheat” (p. 185). This derisive attitude also extended to veterans' families: local cadres took advantage of the wife left behind or appropriated the extra farmhand...

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