Unmasking China’s Great Leap Forward and Great Famine (1958-1962) ThroughShunkouliu(顺口溜)

Abstract

Satiric Shunkouliu (顺口溜), an oral folklore tradition among Chinese peasants known as “slippery jingles” or “doggerels,” express discontent and often contain disguised critiques of official propaganda. In this article, I call upon Shunkouliu to expose the reality behind the dogma during China’s Great Leap Forward and Great Famine (1958-1962). This departs from existing scholarship that has focused on written texts and interviews as primary data. Analyzing Shunkouliu demonstrates the collective efforts of Chinese peasants in speaking the truth. Through its satiric and disruptive qualities, Shunkouliu challenged official rhetoric by making erased realities visible and silenced voices audible. Recognizing Shunkouliu as legitimate data also challenges positivist criteria (representativeness and sample size) in assessing data credibility. I conclude this article by urging qualitative practitioners in the global South to explore forms of data beyond those traditionally examined within the parameters of qualitative research originating in the global North.

The Concepts of Qualitative Data: Challenges in Neoliberal Times for Qualitative Inquiry

“…It is a vernacular style of folklore consisting of short sentences and punctuated by rhythmic intonation. Its content is “satiric, humorous, and/or offensive, depending on its topic and context” (Hsiung, 2019). These forms of cartoons were a way of communicating diverting opinions in a period when other forms of communication were not accepted.…”

Statistical Examination of Status Quo and Potential Problems of College Students Participating Gig Economy in China

“…At that time, education was an enormous financial burden for most families. Due to the great famine in 1950s to 1960s, many people were killed, not to mention supporting kids to school [3]. Also, at that time, there was an emphasis on participating in work for practical skills.…”

Networks, Politics, and the Literary Public Sphere: The Foundation of Modern Democracy in Taiwan (1970s–1990s)

“…In such societies, literature is one of the few social spaces for free speech and political resistance (Diouf, 2003;Sinha, 2001). Echoing Habermas's conception of the public sphere, scholars of Chinese and Caribbean literature have demonstrated how the act of writing is a political one-creating variant media as vehicles for subversion against state ideology, reclaiming memories and narratives of nationhood and identity in favor of self-determination, and organizing shifts in public opinion (Dalleo, 2010;Donnell, 2007;Hsiung & Wang, 2018;Nesbitt, 2003). The literary public sphere, thus, embodies and visualizes the rhetorical frames adopted by social movements in contestation against those of the state (Habermas, 1962(Habermas, /1989; see also Hamzah, 2013).…”