與老毛算帳

香港大學人文學院院長 Frank Dikotter教授，會在11月11日根據他的新書「毛式大飢荒」為題，作免費公開講座。我收到英文通知，現在轉貼在下面，並摘譯部分內容：

Professor Dikotter has produced a groundbreaking history of China's Great Famine. It recasts the era of Mao Zedong and the history of the People's Republic of China.
His presentation on November 11, will explore how "between 1958 and 1962, China descended into hell." Dikotter will discuss how Mao Zedong threw his country into a mass frenzy with the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to catch and overtake Britain in less than 15 years. "The experiment," Dikotter writes, "ended in the greatest catastrophe the country had ever known, destroying tens of millions of lives."(....探討在1958至1962年間，中國怎樣陷入萬劫不復。Dikotter教授會討論毛澤東如何使中國舉國若狂，一頭栽進「大躍進」，要在15年內超英(趕美)。Dikotter教授認為，這個實驗卒之一敗塗地，中國遭遇前所未有的大災難，幾千萬人因而喪生。)

Dikotter makes clear, as nobody has before, that far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not only of one of the most deadly mass killings of human history, as at least 45 million people were worked, starved or beaten to death, but also the greatest demolition of real estate in human history, as up to a third of all housing was turned into rubble. The experiment was a catastrophe for the natural world as well, as the land was savaged in the pursuit of steel and other industrial accomplishments. (....毛的原意是藉著這些運動，證明共產主義確能提升國力，令中國擠身世界強國之林。事與願違，大躍進史無前例的令中國人民大量死亡---起碼有四千五百萬人因工作過勞、飢餓和遭受毆打而死；同時也前所未有的毀人家園---全國三分之一的房屋夷為平地。大躍進中亂挖土地開採鋼材和大搞工業建設，也嚴重破壞自然環境。)

In a powerful meshing of exhaustive research and narrative drive, Dikotter for the first time links up what happened in the corridors of power – the vicious backstabbing and bullying tactics that took place among party leaders – with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. His magisterial account recasts the history of the People's Republic of China.
 
Professor Frank Dikotter, Chair Professor of the Humanities, the University of Hong Kong. He will speak about his book, Mao's Great Famine, published in September 2010.

Date and time: November 11, 6.30pm
Location: Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong 
Registration: http://www.hku.hk/history/maosgreatfamine.html
Free admission. All welcome.
Programme enquiries: 2859 2874, history@hku.hk

講座系列介紹
History in the Making Public Lecture Series
Department of History
The School of Humanities, HKU

The Department of History at the University of Hong Kong is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting public lecture series entitled "History in the Making". The aim of this series is to highlight the importance and relevance of history to the broader community. A focus of this series is to facilitate exposure to, and engagement between, eminent historians and the Hong Kong public. The series is designed to demonstrate that the discipline of history is not only valuable to scholars and students, but also to the everyday concerns of people and society. Speakers in our series will illustrate that apart from content and knowledge, the discipline of history teaches us the skills of critical thinking, creative thinking, analysis, and persuasion. In doing so, our series aims to illustrate the discipline's important—if often underestimated—civic role in informing and empowering citizens.
 
Newsweek 書評：http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/26/mao-s-great-famine.html

The Guardian書評： http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/05/maos-great-famine-dikotter-review

 百度百科「大躍進」： http://baike.baidu.com/view/8601.htm