Chapter 26 22. Growing up in the "Cultural Revolution"

The book "Son of Revolution" is actually divided into three parts: the first part describes the personal experience of "I" growing up in the "Cultural Revolution"; the second part tells an exciting love story with a happy ending; the third part is A poignant analysis of how, over and over again, the Chinese struggle to part with the past.All three parts are worth reading. When Liang Heng was born in 1954, the Chinese Communist Party had successfully unified China, curbed inflation, and begun Soviet-style industrialization and reorganization of farmers.The original private land was merged into a large area of ​​high-efficiency farmland, which was used by the production team in the village.In order to transform the land and the people, the Communist Party invented a mass movement, mobilizing 600 million Chinese people to fight floods and droughts, and to oppose landlords, capitalism, imperialism, and all evil old forces that might hinder China's progress.These mass movements can be described as fruitful.In Korea, China's entry into the war forced an American truce.The joint efforts of Mao and his colleagues changed the world situation.

Liang Heng first learned to speak father, mother, grandma and Chairman Mao. At the age of 3, he was sent to a nasty daycare.Once, he climbed out of the kindergarten bed and ran home to find his grandma.As a result, he was punished because he was not "Chairman Mao's good boy".His father was a reporter for Changsha (Hunan Daily) and his mother was a staff member of the Public Security Bureau. Both were devout activists and dreamed of “one day being considered pure and loyal enough by the Communist Party to admit them into the Party.” But they have been It didn't work out. During the "Double Hundred" campaign, the party encouraged his mother to express critical opinions.She finally complied with a mild criticism to her boss.But when the anti-rightist movement suddenly started in 1957, the Public Security Bureau where she worked had to find out a certain number of rightists.As a result, she was labeled as a rightist, criticized, silenced, convicted, fired from public office, suspended from salary, and then sent to the countryside for labor reform. "There was no court of appeal at that time, so my honest and honest mother went to the countryside to become a farmer."

This horrific incident plunged Liang Heng into an ideological political struggle, and he was oppressed and treated unfairly.His parents got married through a friend's introduction, and they both devoted themselves to the revolution and rarely spent time together. "Father believes in the party with all his heart, and believes that the party will never make mistakes." In order to prevent his children from being stigmatized as a rightist, he berated his wife and divorced her.Liang's mother felt extremely ashamed, and her brother dissented, and was branded a rightist as a result.Liang Heng hated his mother because she ruined their family.In elementary school, he was also harassed and ostracized.

Liang's growth was divided into three stages: Red Guard, Farmer, and Factory Worker. In 1966, when he was 12, Chairman Mao launched the "Cultural Revolution".In July of the same year, Mao traveled the Yangtze River; in August, he wrote the big-character poster "Bombarding the Headquarters".Liang Heng participated in the campaign to criticize the teacher.But later, because his father had a brother in Taiwan, he was also labeled as a rightist and criticized.A working group asked Liang Heng to reprimand his father; his father persuaded him to do the same.During the criticism meeting, these "villains" were all brought out for public display and beaten severely.These acts of terror against palace officials and intellectuals were carried out in an atmosphere of great enthusiasm, ecstasy of moral victory and worship of Mao.Xiaoliang Heng put on the Red Guard armband and marched 240 miles with his comrades to Jinggangshan, where Mao started his rebellion in 1928.These young people who went on the Long March in groups fanatically dedicated themselves to the great revolutionary cause.Despite being exhausted by severe diarrhea, they braved the rain and snow to climb to the summit of Jinggang Mountain.Thousands of people flocked to this holy place, but had to be evacuated to avoid their deaths.As soon as Liang and his partners evacuated in military trucks, many of those who remained on the mountain died of meningitis.

From 1966 to 1967, Liang Heng went to Beijing and Guangzhou.Together with tens of thousands of young people, he traveled by train to various parts of the motherland for free.In Beijing, he, a 13-year-old Red Guard, was responsible for guarding the famous pianist Liu Shikun.The pianist, who had won a prize in Moscow, was so outrageous that he was to be criticized. "I feel very proud... I stood with my hands on my hips, watching him strictly... Liu Shikun raised his head..., I immediately shouted: 'Don't move!' He returned to his original position. "After a while, he licked his lips and said softly: 'Please give me some water, I'm thirsty.'

"I was at a loss. A revolutionist is not supposed to give water to the enemy, but just a few yards away there is a jug with water in it. What if someone finds out? . . . I hastily poured I drank a glass of water.... While he was drinking, I said sharply to him: 'Don't tell anyone about this, or I won't give you anything next time'." On May 1, 1967, Liang Heng and his friends went to the Summer Palace together, but Chairman Mao had already left. "Only those who were lucky enough to be close to Chairman Mao and shake hands with Chairman Mao stayed there... These people who were shaken by Chairman Mao became the excitement of the people at that time. Everyone stretched out their arms and flocked to them, hoping Chairman Mao's sacred touch can be transferred to myself...I hope to shake hands with those who have shaken hands with our great savior...In the end, some people's hands are no longer the hands that Chairman Mao shook hands, but in turn. The lower transfer has reached 100 times in one grip."

In Changsha, factions of the Red Guards began fighting with weapons in mid-1967, leading to street civil wars.Because they didn't know how to use these weapons, and even killed the fellow faction, in September of the same year, Chairman Mao had to use the army to stop the faction and confiscated the guns of the Red Guards.By the beginning of 1968, Liang Heng's two sisters had signed up to go to the countryside to help farmers.At the same time, his father was sent to the barracks to attend a military-controlled Mao Zedong Thought study class.Liang was only 14 at the time, but had to live on his own on a small portion of his father's salary.He formed gangs with other boys.They learn to fight, drink, steal, and hang out with hooligans to scrape by.Liang also learned not to take a stand on ideological issues.Now, he also knows how to live independently and take care of himself.

When he was 15 years old in 1969, his father was rehabilitated and "liberated" and went to the countryside to become a farmer.The father and son gave up their urban hukou, and after a two-day trip, they came to a production team in a remote village.Liang learned to farm there.The poverty of the country appalled him.He settled down in a farmer's family named Guo. The farmer's couple only had a pair of good trousers, whoever wore them on the street; "Every time before Lao Guo sent pigs to the market for sale, he would let the pigs fill up and dive, and then plug the pig's anus with a cloth to avoid losing precious weight." In this backward village, "less than 1/2 3 out of 10 people have been to the county seat (4 miles away)."

In the end, because Liang was a child of a cadre, he went to middle school, and he had graduated from elementary school for three years.Due to his father's status, his food ration was higher than others, but he was still the son of a rightist, so he was monitored and harassed by students who were farmers.They have no textbooks and not much to learn.Together with other children, he went to the field to steal sweet potatoes at night, and then lay in the mud to eat raw sweet potatoes.Nevertheless, he found many books in the school storeroom.That way, he could steal them back and read them.On one occasion, he was severely interrogated concerning a friend of his in Beijing.He later found out that his friend was a member of the "May 16th" extreme left organization.By this time he had despaired of the capriciousness of the revolution.He thought of committing suicide because he failed to pass the high school entrance examination.But his father couldn't take care of himself in life, so Liang Heng took care of him in the village until his father was approved to return to the city in early 1971.After my father returned to the city, he was busy all day drafting speeches for government officials.

In this way, Liang had the opportunity to go to high school at the age of 17.His height (5'11") made him a star on the basketball team, and a year later, captain of the team.He woke up at 4 a.m. to exercise, ate a lot, and grew to 6ft 1in.He was later sent to a sports training school, and in the autumn of 1972 he participated in a basketball game at the Provincial Games.A coach drafted him for a factory basketball team, but he was disqualified for not being a worker.Liang's father opposed his son's entry into the factory at first, thinking that Liang should go to college.But he finally agreed with Liang Heng to become a worker, because being a worker seemed to be the only way to make a fortune at the time.In this way, Liang Heng became a worker in an oil shale factory and participated in basketball games all over Hunan Province.Later, someone recommended him to be a professional athlete, but he failed the political test because he had an uncle in Taiwan and his parents were both rightists.

He found that the workers in the factory were not working, and the daily time was wasted by meetings and political studies.Due to the lack of raw materials, the production of the factory was repeatedly delayed.Liang Heng is determined to implement a secret study plan.At this time his 49-year-old father suffered a stroke and had to retire.By the time Chairman Mao passed away in 1976, Liang Heng had been a farmer for two years and a worker for four years.He gave gifts to everyone who should be unblocked, and was recommended by the factory to go to college. In 1977, China resumed the university humanities examination. Liang Heng prepared for two months and successfully passed the examination (he was the only one in his factory who passed the examination). He entered Hunan Normal University for four years and became a teacher after graduation.This happened in February 1978 when he was 23 years old.When he was accepted, he got into a car for the first time.He's been through everything his generation could have gone through, except he's never been in the military.Although the family members were scattered, he kept in touch with them.The two older sisters got married in the countryside.Despite the lack of family life, he survived without being adopted by the Communist Party.He only knows how to work hard and give gifts to his boss so that he can get through the back door.He never talked about his thoughts to others, but he still kept his image as an intellectual. The most attractive part of the book "Sons of Revolution" is the description of the love story.This part begins by describing the joys and sorrows between Liang Heng and the young girls.One of the girls was from Guangzhou, and he had been corresponding with her and had even visited her in Guangzhou.But her father guessed that Liang Heng was from a rightist family, and warned him not to associate with his daughter any more. The girl was intimidated.Another girl Liang met on the train.Liang felt sympathy for the girl's internal problems; so he made another trip to Guangzhou, posing as a high-ranking cadre to intimidate the girl's stepfather's son, who forced the girl to go to the countryside to jump in the queue instead of his brother.Finally, on the train to Shanghai, he met a female conductor.The female conductor was trying to help another wronged woman.Liang Heng admired this kind of chivalrous person, and soon had sex with this girl.This girl is no less than 15 years old, and she is the daughter of the former director of the Hunan Provincial Public Security Bureau.When the girl brought Liang Heng to her luxurious and beautiful home and introduced him to her family, her father was extremely enthusiastic.But later, the father severely reprimanded his daughter for wanting to marry a man of lower family status than her.He then beat his daughter violently and tried his best to prevent the marriage.The love between them died like this. Hunan Teachers College also occasionally hosts dances, but some wonder whether it is politically appropriate to do so.The boys are each other's dance partners, because it's safer.Suddenly, in the spring of 1979, "I heard that the American teachers in the foreign language department were going to perform a dance... It was the first time in my life that I saw a foreigner with a high nose and big eyes... She looked so relaxed and skilled in dancing, as The dancing postures of Chinese women are very different, because the latter always stretch their bodies tightly... It is really a feast for the eyes to watch this free and easy Western dance!" In the autumn of the same year, he wrote an English thesis, which was It is suggested that he go to this American teacher to help revise. "I asked my best friend to go to her house with me, and he was surprised when he heard that, because if we go to a foreigner, people will have all kinds of suspicions, but I told him that if he doesn't go, then I will go alone. After hearing this, he insisted on going with me, saying it was for my own good. If I was questioned later, he could prove my innocence.” Together they went to the home of the American teacher.The teacher lent him some books and agreed to discuss literature with him later when he had time.Later, when he visited her alone, he found that she could talk a lot about literature, education, aesthetics, and other issues. "I was amazed that a woman of only 25 could be so knowledgeable...I was impressed that she never inquired about my political background...Our friendship grew every day...I began to understand that she Also extremely lonely. Although the teachers and students at the school were very enthusiastic about her,...no one dared to really make friends with her...I instinctively felt that if I could make her understand me, I could win her. So, I I told her all the details of my past without reservation. She was very moved when she heard it, and spent night after night writing down everything I said... I felt that her affection for me was getting deeper and deeper, He has more and more respect for me. At the same time, my spiritual wounds are gradually healing." Born in New York in 1953, Judith Shapiro attended the Brierley School and graduated from Princeton University in 1975.She studied anthropology at Princeton, and also learned some Chinese, and then continued to study Chinese at the China Institute of Columbia University in New York. In 1977, she obtained a master's degree in comparative literature at the University of Illinois, and then went to China for the first time. In 1979, after obtaining a master's degree in Asian studies at Berkeley, she came to Changsha to teach.After studying Chinese for eight years, she is excited about the opportunity to get in touch with China and learn about the Chinese revolution.After her first long conversation with Liang Heng, she told Liang that she learned more about China overnight from him than she had learned in six months in China before.They soon felt that the two hit it off very well. Fearing that others would find out, they asked the person in charge of the college to get married.Although intermarriage between Chinese and foreigners was not prohibited at the time, the academy authorities advised them not to do so.They solemnly said to Liang Heng: "You must remember that you are Chinese." Hastened to meet his mother and father with Judith, lest the college authorities mobilize his parents against the marriage.The college authorities have been procrastinating on this matter. The dean's attitude is: students are not allowed to get married. If Liang Heng wants to get married, he must drop out of school. In the end, Judith made a request to marry Liang directly to China's top leader, Deng Xiaoping of the Communist Party Central Committee in Beijing. “It seemed inconceivable then – and even now –. But Deng, China’s most powerful leader, read the appeal written by Judith. An official later whispered to me that Deng kept frowning as he read the appeal , and said, 'Of course they should get married', and then wrote the instructions on it." This bold move finally made them get their wish.Finally, they returned to New York.Liang Heng is now studying for a Ph.D. at Columbia University, and Judith Shapiro works as an interpreter in the State Department, accompanying delegations visiting China or visiting the United States from China. The key to the success of "Sons of Revolution" is that it describes Liang Heng's experience, but was written by Judith Shapiro.Liang Heng is only providing information, and the words and sentences in the book are all Judith's.Writing a book like this required a close and long-term collaboration between the two parties, even more so than it would have required them to have a child together.We should congratulate the happy couple.It is undoubtedly a two-step process to translate the vastly different Chinese or Japanese into English. First, you must fully grasp the true meaning of the original text, but "translating" it requires recreating it in English.Take "Sons of the Revolution" as an example, all the notes and memoirs are in Chinese, and all the plots and conversations in the book have to be written or translated in English by the two authors.Both were loyal to the cause of the Chinese people, but also deeply aware of the fallibility of Chinese leaders and the many unpleasant realities facing the People's Republic. Readers will draw their own conclusions from this realistic first-person book.I myself am far from China and not a farmer.So I'm surprised that the Chinese have consistently maintained their role in society.A stated goal of the Maoist revolution was to break the special status of intellectuals, who had been created and selected through official examinations by successive dynasties.In the past, learning was a tool of power, the key to indoctrination and orthodoxy.However, intellectuals were brutally persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, which shows that Mao despised them and dismissed them as "parasites".Even if these viewpoints were true in the past, they are now completely outdated.The real danger Mao faced was the unscrupulous dictatorship of the officials and the new bureaucrats in the Communist Party and the authoritarian ideology they displayed and instilled in others. Sons of Revolution observes the unity of intellectuals and peasants from below, which shows us what Mao was against.Both peasants and intellectuals were Mao's political followers.Both peasants and intellectuals lacked their own code of conduct, which was the ideological basis for their disagreement with the authorities.Liang Heng's father had broad interests in literature and "was an accomplished poet, amateur composer and conductor".But loyalty to the Communist Party bound his mind.The more he struggled, the less he wanted to make his own independent judgment on things.His intellectual background was combined with complete passivity in politics. When activists criticized his wife unreasonably, instead of condemning these activists and protecting his wife, he criticized her instead and finally had a relationship with her. Divorced, help seal abuse.He is happy to do to others and to himself what the Party demands of him.He tirelessly carried out self-criticism and self-thought transformation in order to reinvent himself and equip himself with proletarian ideology.However, when he was finally sent to the rural production team, he found that he was still an intellectual and a teacher; farmers were still farmers, and they were always ready to accept his teachings.He blew his whistle at dawn and called the peasants together to study Mao's quotations.He became a local cadre who conveyed the instructions of the higher-level party organization. His loyalty to the party began to wane only in 1969.At that time, the party fanatics in the city were determined to "cut the tail of capitalism" in the countryside, and demanded that individual farmers stop raising pigs, chickens, and ducks, so as not to retain the evil capitalist tendencies in the countryside.For Liang's production team, this meant losing income from side jobs and leading to malnutrition and even starvation.A bold farmer told a cadre from outside that his ducks were bred for Chairman Mao and that he was going to send them to Beijing, "Anyone who dares to kill my ducks is against Chairman Mao!"The cadre left in embarrassment, but Liang's father still did his duty and persuaded the farmer to kill all the ducklings.For the first time in his life, he wasn't really defending party policy; his loyalty to the party was drained. Liang's father, who seemed to embody the problems facing China, tried to maintain his intellectual identity and obedience to authority.As for any code of conduct contrary to the orders of the party, he did not even think about it.However, the state power in the village was only superficial in the past, not conspicuous at all.And now, state power through the party has even affected the ducks of farmers.How can the power of the state be limited to protect these ducks?There was only one public message that Liang and Shapiro wanted to convey, and it was a softly worded message: As Liang Heng prepared to leave China to study abroad, he realized: "How much I love my country and people, . . . After the catastrophe, my generation has learned a very important truth: blind obedience is dangerous." This review is of "Sons of Revolution" co-authored by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro (New York, Knopper Press, 1983), published in the "New York Review of Books" on May 12, 1983, entitled "Blind Obedience" .