Heaven cracks, earth shakes
Subtitle: the Tangshan Earthquake and the death of Mao's China
By: James Palmer
Publisher: Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 273
ISBN-13: 9780465014781; 9780465023493
Subjects: Tangshan Earthquake, China, 1976; Earthquakes; History
Description: In Heaven cracks, earth shakes, acclaimed historian James Palmer tells the story of 1976, the most tumultuous year in modern Chinese history. The year began with the death of the popular Premier Zhou Enlai, whose passing was widely mourned by the masses-- but this public grief quickly turned to anger when the Gang of Four stifled attempts to mourn Zhou publically. When a massive earthquake struck Tangshan a few months later, the disaster revealed the profound failures of Mao's China. As Tangshan lay in ruins, the central government cared more about ideological struggles than rescuing its own people. The year climaxed with Mao's death, followed in short order by a palace coup, which wrested the reins of power from the Gang of Four and put an end to the Cultural Revolution. -- Jacket, p. [2].
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-264) and index.
Table of contents: title: Who will protect us now?; title: Living in coal country; title: Tomb-Sweeping Day; title: Four hundred Hiroshimas; title: Everybody saved me; title: You die, I live; title: Aftershocks.