ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter is to spell out the distinctive features of the book. First, it focusses on the roles of the civilians who were thrown into the revolution, instead of the chief perpetrators of the revolution such as Chairman Mao and the Gang of Four. Its prime concerns are therefore the violent and fanatic actions committed by civilians and the harm they had inflicted on their fellow nationals, many of whom they knew dearly. Second, it addresses the underexplored normative question of how we should judge those civilians who got involved in the revolution and played a concrete role in either persecuting others or witnessing other people being persecuted. In particular, it will assess the moral responsibility, if any, that may be ascribed to three major categories of vulnerable civilians, namely, sincere participant, reluctant participants, and bystanders. Third, to bring up the normative question of responsibility ascription is not simply out of academic curiosity but also out of a concern with transitional justice, that is, how the participants who committed wrongdoing could make peace with both the victims and their wrongful past. Fourth, through this exercise of responsibility ascription, not only the practical task of assignment of blame and responsibility to the parties concerned can be fulfilled; the attempt to ascribe responsibility on vulnerable civilian participants can contribute to the theoretical task of crafting a more precise picture of the intricate relationship between human vulnerability and moral responsibility.
