{"id":7442,"date":"2016-08-15T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=7442"},"modified":"2016-08-15T08:04:35","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T12:04:35","slug":"tienchi-martin-liao-using-the-red-guards-language-to-commemorate-the-cultural-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/tienchi-martin-liao-using-the-red-guards-language-to-commemorate-the-cultural-revolution","title":{"rendered":"Tienchi Martin-Liao: Using the Red Guard\u2019s Language to Commemorate the Cultural Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Red_Guards\"

Three young Chinese Red Guards from the Cultural Revolution. Image via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

The rhetoric of the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution in China mirrors the Red Guard\u2019s language of 1966.<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

May 16, 1966 marked the start of the Cultural Revolution in China.<\/span><\/a> The Politburo of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party<\/span><\/a> disseminated the so-called \u201cMay 16th Notification,\u201d<\/span><\/a> a document which illustrated the power struggle within the Party. Mao Zedong<\/span><\/a> gained ascendancy and he used the opportunity to condemn his opponents and purge the \u201chidden bourgeoisie and revisionists\u201d<\/span><\/a> in the political, social, and cultural spheres. This originally ill-intended, later mutated mass movement has thrown China back to the Stone Age in civilization, pushed the economy to the edge of bankruptcy, crashed all the country\u2019s traditional ethics and values, and destroyed the old architect and cultural relics.<\/span><\/a> The rebellious Red Guards<\/span><\/a> and their big-character posters with fanatic slogans became laughing stocks within the international community.<\/p>\n

At the 6th Plenum of the 11th Central Committee on June 27, 1981<\/span><\/a>, \u201cthe Resolution about Several Historical Issues since the Founding of Our State\u201d was passed and the Cultural Revolution was officially negatively defined. Ye Jianying<\/span><\/a>, the Marshal and chairman of People\u2019s Congress, said during a Central Committee conference on December 13, 1978<\/span><\/a> that there were 20 million people killed and 100 million persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. If we exclude the remote rural population, this means nearly every family in the municipal area was affected. In fact, there is no Mainland-Chinese individual who I know who does not have several family members who were victims of the movement. Even though half a century has passed, somehow this issue is still taboo. One can criticize the \u201cchaotic ten years\u201d<\/span><\/a> to a certain extent, but criticizing the founding father of the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, would be considered a risk to his life.<\/p>\n

For the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, we observe the \u201ccollective muting\u201d of China\u2019s media. Most of the print media has no space for this historical date. One exception is an article by Shan Renping<\/span><\/a> at the official Global Times<\/em> with the title, \u201cCultural Revolution has been totally rejected.\u201d Renping argues that the Cultural Revolution was negative. He claims that the \u201cclass struggle\u201d has ceased and that people have bid farewell to the idea of Cultural Revolution; it could not repeat in China again<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another exception was an article published by People\u2019s Daily,<\/em> which asked people to \u201ckeep the historical lesson in mind and march further.\u201d<\/span><\/a> In this article, there is less reflection to the bloody and catastrophic upheaval but more encouragement to follow the beloved leader Xi Jinping<\/span><\/a> and the Party to revive the great Chinese folk in realizing their dreams.<\/p>\n

Both articles were published online at midnight on May 16, 2016. They did not aim to warn the public of the tragic happenings in the past; they were not shining pearls in darkness. The authors\u2019 real intentions are not to come to terms with the past, to investigate the deep socioeconomic and political background of the movement, to expose the painful process of that turbulent decade, or to describe the fatal experience of the common people: the collapse of the economy and the capsizing of the whole educational system. What these two authors from the state-run media want is to play the trombone for Xi Jinping\u2019s government \u2013 to ask citizens<\/span><\/a> to become obedient subjects and to show loyalty to the leader and Party. \u201cIt is necessary that the Party, the country and all nationalities are combined as a rope, work together to eliminate all interference. Concentrate and work hard, to put our things run, to achieve our stated goal. Our thoughts and action should be united under the arrangement of the CCP Central, united under the spirit of Secretary General Xi Jinping\u2019s important speech. Stick with the Party\u2019s theoretical innovations to arm the Party and educating the people, guiding practice, have confidence to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, have confidence to the theory and system.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not only a stereotype of flattery toward the Party mouthpiece \u2013 it smells very much like the language and spirit of the Red Guards in the Cultural Revolution. The CCP<\/span><\/a> has never apologized publicly to the committed crime; rather, many victims\u2019 family members received a letter, which announced the falsely persecuted person. If dead, the family would receive a small amount of compensation and if alive, he could return to his former job. My friend, Ms. Wang Rongfen<\/span><\/a>, spent 11 years in prison because when she was a fourth year student at Beijing Foreign Language Institute, she wrote a letter to Chairman Mao on September 24, 1966 with these words<\/span><\/a>: \u201cWhere is it that you are leading China? The Cultural Revolution is not a mass movement, it is one person using a gun to move the masses.\u201d Wang survived and was released from prison after Mao\u2019s death; she received 400 RMB<\/span><\/a> for the 11 years of torture and imprisonment.<\/p>\n

According to the official language the CCP is \u201cglorious, great, correct,\u201d<\/span><\/a> so it could never make mistakes. It\u2019s only \u201ca handful of plotters\u201d who dragged the Party into dirt, therefore there is no need to apologize. Consequently with millions of deaths and persecutions across the whole country, there are only victims and no perpetrators. In contemporary Chinese culture, confession, conscience, and a self-critical spirit are rare. Under the rule of violence, denunciation, egoism, and a culture of lies, people lost their feelings for honesty, dignity, respect, and leniency. Deng Xiaoping<\/span><\/a>, a Chinese reformer, said, \u201cLook forward,\u201d<\/span><\/a> to the Chinese people. This means forget all the bad memories and move further to a prosperous society. People replace that word \u201cforward\u201d with \u201cmoney,\u201d since both words have the same pronunciation in Chinese.<\/span><\/a> Today, China is a country with money, but without justice. It shines, but without dignity.<\/p>\n

On the eve of June 4, 2016, the 27th anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square<\/span><\/a>, Bao Tong<\/span><\/a>, the political secretary of the former Prime Minister, Zhao Ziyang<\/span><\/a>, was informed by the police that he should make himself ready for the trip, similar to many other \u201csensitive persons.\u201d Each year around this date, the police will take him out of town for vacation, either in a tourist resort or he will be sent back to his hometown in Zhejiang province. \u201cClear up the capital city\u201d is the police\u2019s unofficial motto. Bao is used to it, along with many others, like Hu Jia<\/span><\/a>, the human rights advocate, and Zhang Xianling<\/span><\/a>, one of the \u201cTiananmen mothers.\u201d This year the authorities are especially nervous because the anniversaries of the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square are closely connected. Outside of China, in places such as Hong Kong, Europe, and North America, Chinese citizens are commemorating these two anniversaries in the hearts of many people inside China, remembering the dead and questioning the origin of the evil and crime that has never ceased. Someday there will be open ceremonies in China\u2014this thought encourages citizens and tortures the perpetrator.<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.sampsoniaway.org\/fearless-ink\/2016\/06\/17\/using-the-red-guards-language-to-commemorate-the-cultural-revolution\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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