Chapter 14 10. Mao's labor camp

Will there be a Sakharov-style figure in China?Chinese science and technology!Wang Yi developed and no longer made political demands on experts.In what will be a crowded future world, the degree to which 'sweeping countries will express their freedom of individuality is more unpredictable than in any other country because China is highly organized and anti-individualistic in customs and morals.Will they prove that individualism is outdated? The international community often uses two theories: "China's development has been delayed" or "China is unique" to incorporate China into the world.The first theory is that China just started late on the road to modernization, but once it embarks on the road of modernization, it will develop industries like us, and with it will bring evil and glory.The second theory, and of course the usual theory of most China experts, is that China is unique and will always be different from other countries. (Since China clearly has similarities and dissimilarities with other countries, the debate on this issue is ambiguous, and both sides of the debate can justify themselves.)

Many Marxists believe that China must follow the laws of global development. This view leads us to the conclusion that the study of modern scientific theory in China lags behind that of the Soviet Union. Not yet, but there will be in the future.We can speculate in this way that perhaps there will eventually be a special elite among intellectuals who will express their personal views.But People's China is in the process of evolution, at this stage, egalitarianism is still the main philosophy, education is only for the public day, training personnel to acquire skills is to avoid the resurrection of the old ruling class tradition, no student aristocrats are allowed in universities .Accordingly, China, like the Soviet Union, has begun to follow in our footsteps, but the road ahead is still very long.

If we emphasize the particularity of Chinese society, we can draw the conclusion that China's social organization and politics are more complex than those of us outsiders admit.This point of view is consistent with Mao's orthodox philosophy.Mao's philosophy held that the Soviet Union was no longer truly communism, while China remained communist, free from the evils of capitalism, including American-style individualism. From these two points of view, China is establishing a new model to come up with new solutions to the difficult problems of how to use science and technology to serve modern life.For example, due to its large population, it is impossible to mass-produce small cars for personal consumption. In this way, China has avoided the destructive consequences of automobile civilization.In China, a country with a large population, social groups do not easily disintegrate, and in the countryside, farmers have a high degree of moral restraint, which shows that a nation can widely absorb modern technology without causing local social chaos.

This point of view shows that the reason why China lacks Western individualized political expressions has both traditional reasons and the influence of today's environment.In China, people's lives are governed by moral rules rather than the Declaration of Human Rights, because people pay more attention to common moral common sense, public opinion and personal interests subordinate to the collective interests of society, and do not value resorting to the law to solve problems.Although organized tourism brought people into increasing contact with the international community, China was densely populated enough that this Maoist way of life could be maintained through industrialization.Given China's population, resources, and traditions, the Chinese had to create a whole new anti-individualist society.They got a lot of experience from the Soviets, but no country could provide a model for their development.

However, those Western scholars who believe that they have sufficient personal freedom will continue to look for signs of individualism that may appear in China in the future in the vast ocean of Chinese books.Are all Chinese dutiful and interchangeable parts of a vast production machine?What is the role of dissidents in society?How restricted are they?How are dissidents dealt with? China's treatment of various types of people in labor camps was inspired by the Soviet Union, but it was indeed developed in a Chinese way rather than a Soviet way.A French-Chinese man of mixed race who spent seven years in poverty in a labor camp in China knew how to adapt and was released in 1964 after France recognized China.He wrote a memoir, recording his encounters in the years before the "Cultural Revolution".

Jean Pascalini was born in China in 1926. His father was a French soldier and his mother was Chinese.He grew up with his Chinese partners, and he looks and talks like a native Chinese.He learned French and English at a French Catholic school and holds a French resident passport in China. From 1945 to 1948, he served successively as a civilian specialist with the Military Police of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and the Criminal Investigation Department of the U.S. Army. In 1953, he worked in a Western embassy in Beijing. In December 1957, he was arrested during the Anti-Rightist Movement. Sentenced to 12 years in prison for his criminal activities, he spent seven years in a Chinese labor camp under the Chinese name Bao Ruowang, becoming one of millions.Reform through labor is different from reeducation through labor.He was released in 1964 after Charles de Gaulle recognized People's China; he then returned to Paris for the first time.He is now a respected Chinese teacher in Paris.

In 1969, Rudolf Karminsky, a correspondent for Life magazine in Paris, came to Paris after two years working in the Moscow agency and heard Pascleni's shocking story.After three years of cooperation, the two of them wrote the book "Mao's Prisoner".Soon, Karminsky "discovered that neither Gene nor our books were anti-Chinese or even anti-Communist (which amazed me). Frankly speaking, he was subjected to forced labor in a labor camp, But he had to admire the great spiritual strength of the Chinese people and the integrity and dedication of most of the Chinese cadres he encountered."

This book is truly unique and perhaps a classic.Like Bill Hinton's 1966 book Deep Turn: The Continued Revolution in a Chinese Village, the book cleverly interweaves dialogues, characters, and dramatic events together, and creatively combines Soviet labor camps with China's labor camps make comparisons that favor China.Pascalini described in detail a severe interrogation of him in a stern tone, but this incident was based on the social background of absolute loyalty to the revolution in words and deeds.According to the doctrine of Confucius in ancient China, through education and guidance, people can be perfected day by day.Therefore, the individual must completely tame and strive to transform himself.

Pascalini confirmed the impression the researchers had gained from interviews with Cantonese fleeing to Hong Kong that "cliques of prisoners" rarely formed in Chinese labor camps.In modern American prisons as well as in Stalinist labor camps, compulsory prison life has created an informal subcultural structure among prisoners that controls prisoners and hinders their rehabilitation.The labor camps in the Stalin era did not pay much attention to political re-education. On the contrary, those criminal prisoners were often placed under the jurisdiction of political prisoners. This may promote production, but it has no reform effect.

The Chinese avoid these disadvantages.Pasklini said that China managed the labor camps very effectively and benefited from it; the Chinese, unlike the Soviets, knew that coercion alone could not make prisoners work hard.During Pascleni's sentence, the Chinese system used starvation as a major punishment, coupled with mutual supervision, mutual criticism and self-identification as self-discipline means.Apart from labour, the main emphasis is on learning and self-transformation.For the millions of people who went to labor camps, the experience often stayed with them for life, and few lived the lives of ordinary people.Most of them stayed in the labor camp factories as "free workers" after serving their sentences.They can enjoy some rights under strict discipline, because at this time they are already completely reformed and productive people.

After Pascleni (Bao Ruowang) was arrested, he was held in an interrogation center for 15 months, under close surveillance by guards. The 12 roommates often encourage each other to reform and thank the government for giving them a chance to redeem their sins.The government's policy is: "Leniency for confession, strictness for resistance, meritorious service and atonement." But the key is to absolutely obey the leadership. Bao was led into an interrogation room full of horrific torture instruments. He was shocked at first, but was later told that it was a museum preserved from the Kuomintang era.Physical torture was strictly prohibited throughout his sentence.Prison life is so intense that it often takes up almost a full day.The prisoners all bowed their heads and trotted regardless of left and right.They all performed various daily tasks on a strict schedule, including sitting cross-legged on the bed and reflecting on time "like a group of Buddhists".There are 5 days in a week for confession and interrogation.Everyone has to rack their brains with the interrogator.Bao wrote a total of 700 pages of confessional material.Political study on Sunday, cleaning on Tuesday, including passing a "nail box" to each other.Prison staff collect the boxes every month and sell the nails to Chinese medicine stores for medicinal materials.This money can be used to organize a film every four months.During the 15 months in this detention center, Bao "had only once eaten rice and never meat. Six months after my arrest, my stomach was sunken, and characteristic bruises began to appear in my joints due to the contact between my body and the pao." Cyanide block".Due to lack of vitamins, he started to lose his hair and lose his hair. "We must learn collectively, supervise each other, and be worthy of the government," read the slogan on the wall.Struggle meetings are often interspersed in the study, which is "a civilized struggle invented by the Chinese, where many or even thousands of people criticize one person, mixed with threats, insults and purely physical torture. The person being fought cannot defend himself. Not even the right to tell the truth."This kind of struggle can go on and on until the person being fought expresses remorse.The only way out is to develop a revolutionary zeal, and to do this you must first fully confess everything about yourself.According to regulations, prisoners have to take a two-hour nap every day in summer. "Anyone with open eyes will receive written criticism. If there are too many criticisms, a struggle meeting will be held. We are very obedient, like obedient children." . After the interrogation, Bao saw the dossier that exposed the charges against him.He found that all kinds of friends and colleagues have written critical materials, and now it is his turn to write materials that criticize others. "We want you to turn over a new leaf, but if you don't expose the people you are related to, how can we judge that you have really gone to the end? Criticizing others is a good way for you to atone for your sins." Another way to prevent prisoners from clumping together is to let the prisoners in the same room decide for themselves the ration of food for each person according to the requirements of each person.No one will help friends eat better, so mutual criticism and struggle cannot be avoided.In the end, Bao was put on trial. "There is no need to explain, I will ask you to answer. We have appointed someone to defend you." The defense lawyer gave a brief explanation: "The defendant has admitted to the crime he committed, so he does not need any defense." While waiting for the verdict, Bao was transferred to the Beijing Experimental Scientific Instrument and Equipment Factory located near the scenic Taoranting Park.There, together with other prisoners, he folded a 3-foot-by-2-foot piece of paper three times to make book paper.The large bed board for 12 people to sleep at night has to be dismantled and used as a workbench during the day.In the beginning, it was difficult for the newly arrived prisoners to meet the quota of 30 papers per day, but the average quota was 4,500 papers per person per day, while the government's requirement was Yixiang) papers.The ration of food for each person is determined according to the labor performance. Newly arrived prisoners are 31 catties per month, and those who can complete 3,000 sheets a day are 41 catties per month.Working hours are from 5 am to 7:30 pm every day.After getting used to it for a while, the bag can fold 3500 sheets a day, but his weight dropped to only 100 catties.By the time he left the factory, his nails had almost fallen off, but he could fold 10,000 sheets of paper a day.In the end he was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.Perhaps because he was a foreigner, his sentence was quite clear.In many cases, shorter sentences, such as 10 years, are not announced to the person, making him feel like 20 years or life imprisonment.In this way, when he was told that he had completed his sentence and became a free laborer, he would feel that his sentence was clearly shortened and be grateful to the government, although he was still in the camp. After a year and a half in detention, Bao only met his wife and one of their children for six minutes.Prisoners must be thoroughly searched before meeting guests, and the lining of their clothes must be cut open with a razor for inspection; when meeting guests, they must talk loudly through the wooden fence.But this is also better than the "disgraceful interview", because if any prisoner dares to resist and refuses to obey the discipline, the management staff will call in his family members to reprimand him and advise him to work hard to reform his words and deeds. Prisoners were also involved in the movement in 1958-1959.Bao made a mistake when supervisors urged him to write about how he felt about his sentence and the crime he committed.He took the matter very seriously, and wrote that the government's interest in him was feigned, and that what the government wanted was convict labor.Soon, in the later stages of this political reform movement, the phrase made him a target of struggle.He was handcuffed and locked in a 4-foot-by-4-and-a-half-foot-high confinement cell that was only big enough for him to sit up and not stand up or lie down.There is also a big light bulb in the room that stays on all day long.When eating, his hands were handcuffed from the back to the front, so that he would not resist the food like a dog.But with his hands handcuffed, he was helpless against the rapidly infesting lice. Five days later, he asked to speak to someone from the Ministry of Public Security, saying that the government had lied to him.The guards promised him a reward for the confession, and told him to put his worst thoughts on paper. "I had great trust in the government and the party, so I did it. But what I got was solitary confinement. What did I do wrong?" In this way, he was released from solitary confinement because "Mao's instructions were very consistent and be proud of it." In September 1959, Bao was transferred to Beijing No. 1 Prison, a model prison.There, "I was treated like a human being, so I was surprised".The food in the prison is of good quality and quantity, and the guards are kind and humane. "Perhaps it was a Pavlovian form of discipline... He was strongly moved by the return to a decent life after two painful years of humiliation," Bao wrote for the first time in a comprehensive thought report.In this prison, as outside the prison, criticism and self-criticism must also be practiced.If you make a mistake, you must confess it immediately, and others must help the person who made the mistake immediately so that he can recognize the mistake more quickly.Struggle meetings and confinement are held only when all this fails.In his thought report, Bao specifically wrote that his sentence was very lenient and fair, and frankly said that he did not abide by the prison’s regulations that two people must move together. Several times he went to the toilet alone, and he did not follow the regulations when studying. Way to sit; work time to talk.Unfortunately, he is reluctant to tip off those he likes, although in fact exposing others "benefits both parties, it helps the government understand what happened, and it helps the accused realize their own mistakes." .He finally swore to follow the instructions of the government in everything.He knew that at this time, he could only be wise and safe. "Before I left the Chinese prison, I kept writing and thinking like this. An old prisoner told me: 'The only way to survive in prison is to confess. And tell your sins. The deeper the better, ... but never imply that prison leadership or the government bears any responsibility for your crimes'." Bao was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent several months in hospital.After he was discharged from the hospital, he went to Qinghe Labor Camp to do farm work.At that time, China was in a difficult period of malnutrition, and the ration of prisoners in prisons was naturally affected.There are old people or sick people around the bag, the discipline is relatively loose, there are few rules, and there are almost no guards.He is a strong laborer, responsible for handling pig manure, and has learned how to survive.On cold nights, he snuggled up to the pigs to keep warm. Because of the poor food, he never saw any sexual problems among the prisoners: but one day the barber in the camp seduced a mentally handicapped young prisoner.Within hours, the barber was taken to a mass meeting, criticized, denounced, and executed by shooting. "I've read that rape happens in Western prisons, but in China, such criminals are shot on the spot." In mid-October, as a volunteer, Bao trekked to the famous Xingkai Lake Farm in the wilderness east of Harbin on the Sino-Soviet border. "In the northeast, everything looks so rich, it doesn't look like a prison at all." The labor camp occupies a large field, with barracks, watchtowers and villages. "Everything is in order and well managed." The residents warmly welcomed the new prisoners as ordinary people.The food is top-notch. "The ration of food here is determined by attitude rather than strength of labor. After working in the fields for a few days, I am really happy to be able to come to this wilderness."Unfortunately, someone realized that he was a foreigner and was not suitable in this sensitive border area.Therefore, after only a short stay in this vibrant environment, he was sent back to Qinghe Farm in Beijing, together with several other overseas Chinese. In the late autumn of 1960, when winter was approaching, Bao was still working hard for food and clothing.Working hours are reduced to six hours a day.The situation is increasingly desperate as food supplies dwindle.Laogai farms began to mix pulp into their food. At first this did make the buns bigger and more satisfying, but soon the whole farm suffered from "probably the worst mass constipation in medical history, because the pulp powder sucked up the digestive tract." I had to use my fingers to pick out the sawdust-like clumps from the anus."Later, the farm tried to eat plankton in the swamp, which proved difficult for the human body to digest and absorb.Still, the guards prepared rice, meat and vegetables for the prisoners on New Year's Day. By 1961, Bao's political and ideological consciousness had reached a high level: he believed the guards' words, respected most of the guards, and believed that even if the government did not really care for them, at least within its means, it would do its best to keep them healthy in difficult times.During these semi-famine years, the guards dispelled the rumors circulating among the prisoners by showing them that they, like the prisoners, subsisted on sweet potato flour and corn stalks, by giving them a tour of the kitchen. "Chinese communists are often very fanatical, but they are very frank and upright." As a foreigner, Bao knew that he was the only prisoner who had the opportunity to leave China.Therefore, he tried not to violate the rules prohibiting the search for additional food.But he suffered from low blood pressure and suffered from many vitamin deficiencies.At this time, the people in the same room taught him to steal radishes, or reprocess the old vegetable leaves discarded by others, so as to supplement vitamins.One of his roommates gave him some cornmeal, which reeked strongly of ammonia, which he had stolen from horse manure. In May 1961, Bao suffered from dysentery and anemia, was dying and was admitted to the hospital.His companions often bring him some special food (all stolen).When he recovered and returned to labor, the companions told Chi: "Bao, you are the only one who is different, and you will step through this gate one day. Only foreigners can do this, not us. You are the only one who can tell the outside world about this situation." In the summer, they went back to work in the rice fields and caught frogs. "We skin the frogs on the spot and eat them raw. First from the mouth, then the head and the spine." One cold night, Bao did not go to the public toilet 200 meters away to urinate, but urinated against the corner of the wall. "I was kicked hard on the ass before I was done. Looking back, it was the guard. 'Don't you know the hygiene rules?' he asked. The guard was right, but he kicked the ass of a veteran of theory .'I admit that I was wrong, but I remember that government employees are not allowed to beat prisoners. I think it is not allowed to abuse prisoners.'' The guard admitted his mistake and said that he would criticize himself in the next study meeting.The guard then took the bag back to the cell and asked him to write a check.Bao said frankly that he pissed on the wall to "ignore the teachings of the government, resist reform, and secretly vent his dissatisfaction with the government. This is like smashing the face of the government when people are not paying attention. Therefore, I can only ask the government to punish me severely. .” As a result, he was not punished. By 1963, Bao's political activism had earned him his election as chamber chief. "With the enthusiasm of a really reformed person, I try to find ways to serve the government and help my partners and friends." In the summer, he walked barefoot to save the government's leather shoes.But he finally confessed that he had a bad idea: if the Chinese consul asked for access to the Chinese in Indian prison camps (as China was doing at the time), the French consul should also have access to Bao in China.He knew it was wrong to think this way, but he still thought so.He wrote: "If I hide this idea from the government, then I would be dishonest." Some other foreigners and Chinese who have lived abroad have not been transformed as profoundly as Bao.He documents the personal tragedies of many of his fellow inmates, whose overseas backgrounds have made them suffer repeatedly. In general, it is impossible for Chinese intellectuals to completely abandon their individualism. "Like the Soviet Union, China's ideology is very contemptuous and distrustful of intellectuals, because they tend to form unpleasant ideas of themselves." This article reviews "Mao's Prisoner: A Survivor's Report on the New Ken and Joe Hogan, 1973), in the New York Review of Books, November 1, 1973, entitled "China's Prisons."