Frank Dikötter: How Communism Won China

Book Talk: Red Dawn Over China

The outcome of China's Communist Revolution might still be open, but it is overdue to understand its origins. How did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) take control of the nation less than three decades after it was founded? And what does the path the Party blazed through China (often literally) tell us about its rule today?

Renowned historian Frank Dikötter offers a revisionist history of China's path to Communism, from the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 to its victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In his new book Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity (Bloomsbury, February 2024), Dikötter skewers the David and Goliath story of the Party's rise as Communist guerrillas fighting against imperialist giants. Using the Central Party Archives, Dikötter pieces together the Party’s origin story in its own words. At its heart, he finds "violence, and a willingness to inflict it" — a more traditional pursuit of power than its self-mythologizing narratives of class liberation. He also finds that it was Moscow's funding, more than Mao's leadership, that made a decisive difference in the revolution.

Register now to join us for the book launch of Red Dawn Over China and understand the origins of China’s communist revolution. Frank Dikötter will be in discussion with Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Vice President of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society. Copies of Red Dawn Over China will be on sale, with the author available to sign them.

This event is presented by China Books Review, a digital magazine on all things China and bookish. Follow us for more.

All ticketholders for films, performances, and talks at Asia Society throughout the week receive same-week complimentary access to the museum (within seven days of the date of the event).