A new book by Neil J. Diamant, associate professor of Asian law and society at Dickinson College and chair of its political science department, offers a rare insight at the plight of Chinese veterans. "Embattled Glory: Veterans, Military Families and the Politics of Patriotism in China, 1949-2007," is available at bookstore websites and through the website of the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Interested readers can also contact Diamant for purchasing information at diamantn@dickinson.edu.

"Embattled Glory" is the first-ever book-length scholarly analysis of how veterans of the People's Liberation Army were treated after World War II, the Korean War, and China's war against Vietnam in 1979. Based almost entirely on never-before-seen archival materials from urban and rural China, Diamant traces how veterans — including those who were disabled in war — were treated by employers, families, officials, and fellow citizens in the context of their struggles to obtain rights, jobs, medical care, housing and respect. He also questions the repeated emphasis in press reporting about Chinese affairs concerning the "rise" of Chinese patriotism. If patriotism has been so important in China, then why did many veterans, ostensibly the heroes of the country, complain that they were treated "like tossed-away dirty socks" and "donkeys slaughtered after they finished grinding the wheat"?

 

The book also looks at how Chinese veterans compared to their counterparts in the United States, the former USSR, Australia, several European countries and Israel in order to figure out what leads to better or worse treatment of returning veterans.