ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with stories of bandits and heroes in a mountainous area of south central China known as West Hunan. It looks at accounts of the past which are not concerned with the progression of ‘discrete periods of time’. The writing of history in Communist states has been concerned to show Communism as ‘the inevitable and glorious outcome of a discernable historical purpose’. The story of Long Yunfei can also be seen as part of another tradition of stories, one which does not depend on ideas of a break or of successive periods of time. Ideas of social memory have been applied to stories of heroic/bandit figures in Southern Europe. Similarities between local strongmen and local deities in China have been widely noted. Both are in some ways superhuman individuals, whose authority is based on charisma and strength.
