In Collective Killing in Rural China During the Cultural Revolution, UCI sociologist Yang Su presents a sobering reminder of the bloodshed that enveloped China more than four decades ago under the rule of the communist country's first leader, Mao Zedong. Drawing upon local archives, personal interviews and witness accounts, the book provides detailed reports on extreme violence which pitted neighbors against one another as categorical executions of “class enemies” were carried out. 

Since its release in February 2011, the book has received strong reviews in international publications, including its recent listing as one of the books of the year in The Spectator (UK).

According to reviewer Jonathan Mirsky: “Collective Killings in Rural China During the Cultural Revolution is one of the best books I’ve read on China in recent years and the most horrible and frightening. It is horrible because of the ghastly events in the years 1967 and 1968 in Guangdong and Guangxi, where hundreds of thousands of innocent people were slaughtered by their neighbours. It is frightening, as Yang Su writes, because while Mao’s ‘criminal’ regime inspired the mass murders, ‘the Cultural Revolution has been a taboo topic since the late 1980s, especially after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Movement.’”

Read more about Collective Killings at http://www.socsci.uci.edu/node/6883.