Part I. Introduction
Perspectives
Part II. Leaders: self-construction from the functional perspective
Radical intellectuals as the guiding force of change: beginning of the political odyssey
Manufacturing political leadership I: the Yaqian intellectuals and Peng Pai
Manufacturing political leadership II: Mao Zedong
Part III. Heroes: self-construction from the emotional perspective
Narrating politicized subjectivity
The nobility of ambivalence and devotion
Part IV. Sophisticates: self-construction from the aesthetic experience
Clinging to refinement in the revolution
Part V. Epilogue
Self-construction, politics and culture: some general reflections
Conclusion.