Timothy CHEEK (University of British Columbia)

Three worlds met in northern Shaanxi province centered in the county town of Yan’an: the world of Shaanbei local elites fighting for a new order, the world of the Leninist elite of the Party engaged in national power competition, and the world of the cultural elite among metropolitan intellectuals dedicated to a new cultural order. Local revolution, national revolution, and cultural revolution met and contended with their competitors and each other in the fourth year of brutal total war with invading Japanese forces. The crucible year for all three saw the tide begin to turn for the victory of Leninism over local revolution, the victory of Mao and his vision in the Party leadership, and the victory of a nationalist revolutionary culture over the cosmopolitan vision of international socialism (the establishment intellectual cadre in this emerging revolutionary order over the cosmopolitan intellectual visionary).