This book translates and contextualizes the recollections of men and
women who built, lived, and worked in some of the factory compounds
relocated from China's most cosmopolitan city--Shanghai. Small Third
Line factories became oases of relatively prosperous urban life among
more impoverished agricultural communities. These accounts, plus the
guiding questions, contextual notes, and further readings accompanying
them, show how everyday lives fit into the sweeping geopolitical changes
in China and the world during the Cold War era. Furthermore, they reveal
how the Chinese Communist Party's military-industrial strategies have
shaped China's economy and society in the post-Mao era. The approachable
translations and insight into areas of life rarely covered by political
or diplomatic histories like sexuality and popular culture make this
book highly accessible for classroom use and the general-interest
reader.