Katrin Heilmann (KCL) - 2017-18 Students
katrin.heilmann@kcl.ac.uk

Behind the shield: civil defence in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1984

This historical study examines the ways in which civil defence –passive preparatory measures against an aerial attack– shaped the socio-economic fabric of Modern China. Drawing on extensive archival research, it demonstrates that the paramilitary –broadly conceived– played a bigger role than previously conceived in post-revolutionary Chinese state-building. It not only shaped social and economic policy, but also –as this research underlines– civil emergency planning.