Teaching China’s Cultural Revolution through Film: Blue Kite as a Case Study

“The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” (1966-76), or Wenge, as it is referred to in its condensed Chinese equivalent, represents a collective trauma for the Chinese nation and people in the twentieth century. However, compared with more amply researched and lucidly presented parts of modern Chinese history in English language scholarship outside China, its ambiguity, complexity, and political sensitiveness all make this period more elusive and harder to grapple with for scholars and teachers of Chinese history and culture. Within China, although more diverse historical narratives about this period have emerged in recent years, the Cultural Revolution is still barely mentioned in standard high school history textbooks even today.