Most standard curricula related to Chinese socialist culture in the United States relied on popular memoirs and films that reflected upon the horrors of the Chinese socialist period in retrospect. Many of these materials were written originally in English, primarily targeted a Western audience, and tended to affirm a lingering Cold War paradigm that regarded Chinese people as victimized sufferers oppressed by a totalitarian government, or as “brainwashed” subjects incapable of critical thinking in contrast with the free, democratic, and creative citizens of the Western world. But what were cultural texts from the Mao era actually like? What kind of films did people watch, and what did they like about them? What was actually inside Mao’s famous “Little Red Book”?
In this online two-part workshop, we examined primary sources from the Mao era (1949–1976) to investigate what policies, ideas, and values attracted millions of people to the socialist project. We explored the rise of communism in China, examined the mechanisms by which Maoist propaganda operated, and interrogated our own biases in approaching this complex historical period while acknowledging the tragedies that occurred.
During the first half of the program, Dr. Huerta lectured on major historical events from the Chinese socialist period and offered context on socialist cultural production. Participants were provided with discussion questions in advance and invited to share their own questions and insights during the second half of the workshop. At the end of the program, participants were expected to submit a short project that included creating a lesson plan around a text of their choice.
All texts for this workshop were freely available online – socialist culture belongs to the people!
Program expectations
Participants were expected to view and read the following materials in advance of each session:
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Before the October 6 session:
Watch The Red Detachment of Women (1962 film) and read Mao Zedong’s Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art (1942). -
Before the October 13 session:
Read the following sections from Quotations of Chairman Mao (Little Red Book): (2) Classes and Class Struggle, (3) War and Peace, (4) Women, and (5) Culture and Art.
Program details
Monday, October 6, 2025; 4:00 – 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Monday, October 13, 2025; 4:00 – 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)
All sessions tookplace online on Zoom.
Program Benefits
- Online Resources.
- Free WA OSPI clock hours.
Program Leader
Elise Huerta is a cultural studies scholar and educator who specializes in modern and contemporary China. Her research explores the cultural politics of touch in modern Chinese literature, film, and visual culture. She holds a PhD in East Asian Languages & Cultures from Stanford University and a BA in Asian Languages & Cultures from the University of Michigan.
This program was sponsored by the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington and funded by a Freeman Foundation grant in support of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA)