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1 - Between Revolution and Law

Merchant Families’ Struggles for Property Rights and Justice under Mao and Deng, 1949–1984

from Part I - Property

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2023

By
Zhaojin Zeng
Edited by
Daniel Leese  and
Amanda Shuman
Daniel Leese
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg
Amanda Shuman
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg
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Summary

This chapter explores the reclamation of property rights in the 1980s at a local state-owned enterprise in eastern Shanxi. It draws on previously unexamined company archives and local government documents to trace how descendants of Shanxi’s “small capitalists” petitioned the government to recognize their ownership and redeem the loss of private property when the new communist government had nationalized the factory without compensation in the early 1950s. The chapter highlights the tensions in administering historical justice in a transitional environment, where a mix of revolutionary practices, family traditions, and modern law came to shape the procedures, capacity, and legitimacy of a socialist state.

Keywords

property rightsownershipnationalizationstate capacityruling legitimacy
Type
Chapter
Information
Justice After Mao
The Politics of Historical Truth in the People's Republic of China
 , pp. 23 - 44
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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