*1 At 2007 rates, approximately US$700, €460, £350.
*2 A revolt against the Guomindang government of Xinjiang.
*3 The idea of "Harmonious Society" was introduced by China's president, Hu Jintao, in an attempt to address some of the increasingly serious inequalities and divisions of Chinese society.
*4 A valued medal given to outstanding women workers, awarded each year on 8 March (International Women's Day) at different levels: national, provincial, county and city.
*5 Shenzhou VI was the second human spaceflight of the People's Republic of China, launched on 12 October 2005 on a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
*6 Caramel-like sweet, high in energy and milk protein.
*7 To give some idea of the scale, most Chinese provinces are the size of a medium-sized European country. Some of the military areas mentioned here, such as the Chengdu military area, cover several provinces.
*8 Shang dynasty: 1600–1046 BC; Zhou dynasty: 1046–256 BC.
†1 Spring and Autumn Period: 770–476 BC.
*9 12,500 kilometres/8,000 miles.
*10 The Central Soviet Area, also known as the Jiangxi Soviet, was an independent government established by the Chinese Communist Party in Jiangxi province in southeastern China, 1931–34.
†2 Li De was the Chinese name given to Otto Braun, the German advisor sent by the Communist International to advise the Chinese Communist Party in 1934. Later that year, Braun, Zhou Enlai and Bo Gu became the leaders of the early First Front Army and made all decisions, despite opposition to them and their tactics from revolutionary leaders Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai. Much of the Communist Army was destroyed due to Braun's doctrine of direct attacks on the far larger and better-equipped GMD Army.
*11 In fact, some units did not participate in the Long March, but of course a single soldier could not know what was happening in detail to the whole army.
*12 Canadian surgeon, b. 1890, Ontario. He joined the Communist Party, after a visit to the Soviet Union, and went to China in 1938 where he became a hero for his dedicated work, and died in 1939.
*13 Guomindang planes.
*14 Post-war liberation from Guomindang control by the People's Liberation Army, the troops of the Chinese Communist Party.
*15 130 hectares/330 acres.
*16 See the following chapter p.307, for a selection of these remarkable letters.
*17 Its English title was Random Harvest.
*18 This phenomenon is also recounted in Cao Jinqing's China Along the Yellow River: Reflections on Rural Society.
*19 16 acres / 7 hectares.
*20 Part of the Chinese court system, formed of a hierarchy of prosecuting offices called People's Procuratorates, the highest being the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
*21 Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) was Chairman of the People's Republic of China from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968 but during the Cultural Revolution he was labelled a "traitor". In July 1966 he was displaced as Party Deputy Chairman by Lin Biao. By 1967 Liu Shaoqi and his wife Wang Guang-mei were under house arrest in Beijing.
*22 Tao Zhu (1908–1969) was Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee and Commander of the Guangzhou Military Region. He later became First Secretary of the Central-South region, and in 1965 was moved to Beijing as Director of the Central Propaganda Department. He was a Vice Premier of the State Council and Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the CCP, as well as an advisor to the Central Cultural Revolution Group. In May 1966, he was promoted to No. 4 in the Party, behind Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao, but was purged during the Cultural Revolution in early 1967 and died under house arrest in 1969.
†3 Xu Haidong (1900–1970) was born into poverty and was made Grand General in the People's Liberation Army of China in 1955. Mao Zedong praised him as "a banner of the working class". He died in Zhengzhou in March 1970.
*23 After Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978, Liu Shaoqi was politically rehabilitated (in February 1980) with a state funeral.
*24 Date is 2005. This text as been reproduced a number of times on blogs and even university websites.