Enchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda, 1942–1953

Anyone who grew up in China must be familiar with The White-Haired Girl. At least when I was in elementary school, almost every classmate of mine was able to sing “The North Wind Blows,” the most famous excerpt from the opera version of The White-Haired Girl. Although it is an extremely successful piece of artistic propaganda, few people have inquired about or understood the gender and religious elements behind The White-Haired Girl. There are obviously many similar works or propaganda produced by the Chinese Communist Party. In Xiaofei Kang's new book, she explores how, amid the seemingly incompatible exclusionary relationship between the Marxist-Leninist Party and traditional religion, the CCP's propaganda organs strategically and consciously utilized elements of religious culture to create new revolutionary concepts and solidify its rule. In recent years, more and more studies have pointed out that the repressive policies of the CCP during the...