The people's Peking man popular science and human identity in twentieth-century China - Schmalzer, Sigrid (University of Chicago Press, 2008)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-326) and index
"From 'dragon bones' to scientific research" : Peking Man and popular paleoanthropology in pre-1949 China -- "A united front against superstition" : science dissemination, 1940-1971 -- "The content of human" : in search of human identity, 1940-1971 -- "Labor created science" : the class politics of scientific knowledge, 1940-1971 -- "Presumptuous guests usurp the hosts" : dissemination and participation, 1971-1978 -- "Springtime for science," but what a garden : mystery, superstition, and fanatics in the post-Máo Era -- "From legend to science," and back again? : Bigfoot, science, and the people in post-Máo China -- "Have we dug at our ancestral shrine?" : post-Máo ethnic nationalism and its limits
In the 1920s an international team of scientists and miners unearthed the richest evidence of human evolution the world had ever seen: Peking Man. After the communist revolution of 1949, Peking Man became a prominent figure in the movement to bring science to the people. In a new state with twin goals of crushing?superstition? and establishing a socialist society, the story of human evolution was the first lesson in Marxist philosophy offered to the masses. At the same time, even Mao?s populist commitment to mass participation in science failed to account for the power of popular culture?repr