‘Non-People’ in the People’s Republic: Class Enemies in Maoist China
Mao Zedong famously defined the distinction between friends and enemies as the primary question of the revolution, and this divide remained one of the basic parameters of political and social life in China for three decades after the establishment of the PRC, with a minority of the Chinese population being formally designated as enemies and excluded from the community of the ‘People.’ Dr Czellér’s forthcoming monograph, Non-People in the People’s Republic, focuses on the two labels, ‘landlord地主’ and ‘rich peasant富农’, that were responsible for rendering the largest number of Chinese citizens ‘non-People’ during the Mao era.

Why did these labels, which were supposed to be temporary and were assigned right as their material referents (i.e. renting out land and hiring labour) were being eliminated through land reform and collectivization, continue to form the basis for such exclusion until the late 1970s? To what extent did political exclusion produce social stigma within communities and across generations? And were there any channels through which those labelled class enemies could nevertheless preserve some of their pre-revolutionary advantages and pass them on to their descendants? Dr Czellér’s talk will address these questions, and consider how this case compares to other instances of enemy-making by modern states.

Dr Mark Czellér is an IHR Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, where he was Past and Present Fellow (2022-2024) following the completion of his doctorate at the University of Oxford. His research interests are in the political and social history of Maoist China, with a particular focus on ideas, practices, and experiences of policing and repression.
Date: 12 June 2025, 17:00
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Speaker: Dr Mark Czellér (University of London)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organisers: Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford), Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford), Professor Margaret Hillenbrand (University of Oxford), Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford), Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford), Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: information@chinese.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford)
Part of: China Studies Seminar series
Booking required?: Not required
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard