Day: September 26, 2023

Dear readers, Just as I have feared, our country has not modernized enough to fight off the invading Japanese, and our Chaing Kai Shek is more concerned with fighting the communists than dealing with the Japanese, embarrassing China once again. It seems our greatest hope to stand up against foreign invaders comes from the communist safe haven of Yan’an, where Mao Zedong and the communist party are preaching the way to defeat the enemy isn’t with firepower alone but with total reform. 

It is easy to see why people from all over the country are coming to Yan’an. It seems to be the center of a feeling of nationalism. Many are looking for a better life, and Mao sees the peasants and farmers as essential to the Chinese reform and fighting off the Japanese. Mao is urging intellectuals and artists to “Become one with the masses,”  and is educating these intellectuals by having them live, work, and fight with the uneducated peasants. This level of cooperation between classes and the people of China would have never happened in the old government. 

  In a Yan’an Newspaper Mao tells intellectuals of his own time since school and how he learned for himself during the revolution and the long march that clothing is clothing and that just because it is from a soldier doesn’t make it dirty and that the peasants and soldiers aren’t dirty, and that manual labor is not something to be ashamed of.

 Even more, peasants are fleeing from the Japanese as they pillage, kill, and rape their way through China in an attempt to root out communists, and Yan’an is a safe haven for all walks of life. 

This resonated with the peasants and soldiers from Chaing Kai-Shek’s army who have been mistreated. There are stories told by the ex-nationalist soldiers about starving conditions and five or six men being tied together to discourage escape. All of these men were drafted into the Nationalist army in order to fight for the homeland and fend off the Japanese. However, the soldiers who ran away from the Nationalist Army talk of having no food to eat and no clothing to fight in because of corruption and were very shocked to see the state of Mao’s Red Army. 

Unlike Chaing Kai-Shek’s army, Mao disciplined his army and ordered them not to steal or loot from the poor peasants, which boosted his support from the people.  In Yan’an, Mao had trained his army to do three things, all of which furthered the army’s popular support one was to struggle to death against the enemy, Two was to arm the masses, and three was to raise money to support the struggle. In creating these rules and enforcing discipline, the people saw Mao’s army move further and further away from the armies of the warlords, Chaing Kai Shek or the Japanese. Seeing the Army as a protector of the people that would defend China’s proletariat and peasant population saw many migrate to Yan’an to join the Red Army in the hope of helping reform the country.

My dearest readers,

Is the grass really greener on the other side? Although this cliche can sometimes be true, in the case of mass migration to Yenan it certainly is false. Located in northern central China, Yenan, has become a hotbed for migration from all areas of the country including people from a diverse array of backgrounds. Although the rave and cry that Yenan is a mere utopia, findings show that on the ground realities overshadow any surrounding hype, that label this city, a mere utopia.

1. On paper vs. reality. On paper, yes it is true that Yenan sounds terrific. The endpoint from the Long March, as we know, the Communist’s retreat from Nationalist forces. Mao, and others called Yenan to be the birthplace of equality, and fostering of revolutionary ideas. Instead, I suggest those be skeptical of dreaming up Yenan to be a magical haven. In my interview with Ting Ling, a migrant to Yenan, she spoke on this very issue, saying: “The male leaders should talk less of meaningless theories and talk more of actual problems. Theory and practice should not be separated.”
2.  No room for critique. Essentially, women’s problems there were solved on paper, but the execution of the theories penned on paper, left significant room for problems to develop, with unfortunately no room allowed to criticize. For Ling’s verbalized criticism, she was relieved of her political duties. Ts’ai Ch’ang, a women on the committee of the Women’s Department, who was responsible for punishing her, said that her views were: “outdated, harmful to unity, and unnecessary in Yenan since full equality had already been established.” In fact this was not an isolated occurrence, and spreads beyond Ling’s story. Li Chien-Chen suddenly lost her position as director of the Women’s Department after being a strong advocate for educating people against women’s oppression.
3. Your needs will not be prioritized. Tsai Chang, wrote: “Our current slogans for work in the women’s movement are no longer freedom of marriage and equality between men and women, but rather save the children and establish a abundant and flourishing family.” In my interview with writer Kay Ann Johnson, she says: “The narrow Party policy during the Anti-Japanese War showed little concern to directly tackle women’s rights issues.” The communists were more concerned with the threat of Japan’s invasion, and also staying clear and defeating the Nationalist KMT party. Further, Kay explains that: “To justify this policy and defend its narrow focus against its feminist critics, the directive developed the notion that it was not only necessary to the war…but the only way to further women’s own liberation.” Essentially if we put all our energy towards the war effort, and we are successful in that in itself  it will pave the way for women’s freedoms. The Communists knew that Yenan was far from a utopia land that fostered equality, but rather a place where theory is placed with greater emphasis than in practice; and the culture reflected the idea that your problems are not OUR problems. – By: No Pah King.