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A Tale Of “Ku” (Bitter) V.S. “Tian” (Sweet): Understanding China's “Yiku Sitian” Movement In The 1960s And 1970s From The Perspective Of Cultural Discourse Analysis, Xinmei Ge

Doctoral Dissertations

“Yiku sitian” is a political movement prevalent in P. R. China in the 1960s and 1970s. It means, literally, to “recall bitterness” and to “reflect on sweetness”. It identifies a particular type of social practice commonly enacted publicly and privately for people to recall how “bitter” life was in “jiu shehui” (the old society) and how “sweet” life was in “xin shehui” (the new society). This study examines “yiku sitian” as a cultural and communicational practice. Its theory and methodology draw upon the ethnography of communication, cultural terms for talk, and cultural …