Feeling nostalgic about the Cultural Revolution
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| Red
Guards demonstrate support for the Cultural Revolution |
The
Thoughts of Chairman Mao Zedong |
Forty years ago, Mao Zedong called on Chinese students to carry out a massive Communist clean-up operation. Known as the Cultural Revolution, the upheaval was ultimately to last some ten years, only really ending with the death of Chairman Mao. During that time, millions of Chinese were branded enemies of the state, maltreated, abused or killed. Families were torn or fell apart and items of historical and cultural importance were destroyed. Despite all this, there's now a growing group of people in China who look back nostalgically to this disastrous period in the country's recent history.
An on-the-spot report from China:
Visitors to the Hongse Jindian restaurant are met by waitresses in army gear who call out the contents of the menu in shrill voices. One can enjoy a fish-dish served up in a large pot which feeds eight people, and provides a chance to 'taste' the atmosphere of the communal kitchens. Or there's marinated pork, prepared 'a la Mao Zedong'. And while you're enjoying a meal you can listen to revolutionary songs and imagine you're back in the days of the Cultural Revolution.
The Red Guard
Professor Min was 14 years old when the Cultural Revolution began. He grew up on the campus of Beijing's Beide University where his father lectured in mathematics. As from 16 May 1966, this was the epicentre of Mao's whirlwind of political change. As a result of periods of major famine brought on by Mao's unsuccessful economic policies, the Chairman of the Communist Party had become the target of criticism and he launched a counterattack by deploying enthusiastic young students - who became known as the Red Guard - against the leadership of the party and intellectuals. The young Professor Min was to become one of them.
This campaign to ' cleanse the party' officially targeted the ' Black Five' - major landowners, rich farmers, counter-revolutionaries, criminals and intellectuals. Professor Min explains:
"Those being punished were forced to kneel on the ground and wear a white pointed hat. Some were severely beaten, others had parts of their heads shaven by the Red Guard."
Colourful images of scenes like the one he describes are now selling like hot cakes, as are reprints of old propaganda posters from the period and portraits of Chairman Mao. And the largest market for these products isn't among foreign tourists but Chinese collectors. These, according to Professor Min, are exactly the same type of people as those who come to eat at the Hongs Jindian restaurant:
"People are trying to recapture their youth - their idealism especially. They lost that during the Cultural Revolution, and they've never been able to replace it with new beliefs or new ideals."
Slogans
The Red Guard soon became more and more difficult to control, and eventually Mao arranged for factory workers to go the universities. Qi Chun lan, now retired, was one of them:
"Just imagine, we had to help students at the university study the teachings of Chairman Mao."
At the time, Ms Qi was employed at a factory which produced pipes and weapons components, but production came to a total halt in the summer of 1966. She explains what happened:
"We were still paid, but we didn't do any work. Instead, we came together to study the works of Chairman Mao. On the streets, we shouted slogans like 'be loyal to Chairman Mao' or 'Show you love for the party, the leader, Socialism and the people.' Before you could do something simple like get on a bus, you had to look for a relevant quote in Mao's Red Book. Even small children had copies."
Ms Qi was part of a propaganda song and dance group, set up to promote the thoughts of Chairman Mao's. But she got involved primarily because she liked to dance. In fact, she wasn't keen at all on the Red Guards:
"The factory was split in two. My girlfriends and I kept ourselves away from politics as much as possible. We just used to hang around a bit, playing cards, chatting, singing revolutionary songs." Then she laughs, "We even knitted jumpers and did our washing at the factory."
Nostalgia
Despite having been able to dance (and knit), Ms Qi mainly remembers the Cultural Revolutions as a black and fearful period, and comments, "I'm particularly happy that it's been over for 30 years now." Professor Min, however, feels a certain nostalgia for what he regards as the simply life that existed then. By the time he was 16, or thereabouts, Mao sent the students off to the countryside to learn from the peasants. Professor Min found himself with the task of hauling sandbags around, and he smiles as he recalls how strong he was then:
"I've benefited from that throughout the rest of my life. I could cope with any difficulty after that."
By Karen Meirik 28-07-2006
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