I just read Gao's Battle for China's Past, and I wouldn't recommend it for what OP is asking for. Gao is more concerned with macro narratives told about the CR and who tells them, and he says very little about actual life during the time.
However, I also just read Dongping Han's The Unknown Cultural Revolution, and it has been incredibly enlightening. It gives a very close look at daily life for rural people in China at the time, the changes they went through, the gains they made, and contextualizes it all within the policies of the time.
I really highly recommend it. It really completely changed my perspective on things.
I think most narratives told about the CR are actually from urban people, but the narrative has been so focused on their victimization that it's hard to get an actual feel for what life was like for them.
Maybe just reading a historical accounts to the time might be helpful because it will likely focus on urban areas and the changes society was going through.
Mobo Gao: The Battle for China's Past
I just read Gao's Battle for China's Past, and I wouldn't recommend it for what OP is asking for. Gao is more concerned with macro narratives told about the CR and who tells them, and he says very little about actual life during the time.
However, I also just read Dongping Han's The Unknown Cultural Revolution, and it has been incredibly enlightening. It gives a very close look at daily life for rural people in China at the time, the changes they went through, the gains they made, and contextualizes it all within the policies of the time.
I really highly recommend it. It really completely changed my perspective on things.
Have you found any good books on urban life during this period? I read a few chapters of Red Azalea in despair a while ago.
Unfortunately, not.
I think most narratives told about the CR are actually from urban people, but the narrative has been so focused on their victimization that it's hard to get an actual feel for what life was like for them.
Maybe just reading a historical accounts to the time might be helpful because it will likely focus on urban areas and the changes society was going through.