"Speaking and Recalling Bitterness" in the Anti-schistosomiasis Campaign of Hubei Province in the 1960s

Based on the archives of Hubei Province, this article discusses a new promotional method termed “speaking and recalling bitterness” used in the anti-schistosomiasis campaign in 1963–1964. The anti-schistosomiasis campaign was a nationwide public health campaign that started in the 1950s but was interrupted during the Great Leap Forward period (1960–1962). In 1963, the People’s Republic of China revived this campaign in in the 9th national meeting for preventing schistosomiasis in Shanghai. In the meeting, “speaking and recalling bitterness” was highlighted as an important way to educate the masses to participate in the campaign actively. It explores how the Communist Party of China made use of “speaking and recalling bitterness” in the campaign and organized meetings for it in villages. Finally, it discusses the contents of “speaking and recalling bitterness”, and describes how they were fictionalized as promotional materials.