Blog 3 Land Wars

Dear readers. It has been a while since my last report. In just a few short years, the group I reported on in Yan’an under the leadership of Mao Zedong has come to power in China. The country has finally rid itself of the Japanese infestation and forced the corruption of the Nationalists to flee to Taiwan—an excellent Victory for China.

I spent most of the past few years at Yan’an or hopping around to settlements close to it, but now that the war is over and it is much safer to travel, I have decided to go home to see my sister and family in Shaanxi Providence. But I did not go straight there; I went to Beijing first to stop by my old college, hoping to see how other intellectuals were adjusting to Mao’s ideas. When I was there, I met some of my old friends who were accumulating “revolutionary practice” by heading to Shaanxi as part of a work team to enact the next step in Mao’s revolution, “Land Reform.”

I traveled to Shaanxi with the work teams, watching as the group got smaller and smaller. The work teams seemed to drop party members off at every single village along the way, no matter how small or poor the village was. If this trend is true for the rest of the country, then Mao is mobilizing party members on a scale never seen before. By the time we got to Shaanxi, I had made friends with most of the work team members. Most were college graduates or journalists like myself; all mobilized after the May Fourth Directive. Once arrived, we went our separate ways. The work teams went to gather information from individual peasants, and I went to my father’s shop.

I have not been home since I went to college years ago. So much has happened since I left. To put it all into perspective, when I left, Confucianism was the dominating school of thought, and that prevented my father from being looked on favorably because he was a merchant. Yet now he is doing well for himself, selling all the necessities people need without swindling them like some of the other shops do. My grandfather passed away while I was gone, but other than that, my family has survived the war and political revolution primarily unscathed. 

Later on that week, we were all gathered in the center of the village by the work teams for a Struggle Session. Xié’è bi, the most powerful landlord in our village, was brought to the center stage, and the atmosphere was tense. Even before the war with Japan, he had been taking advantage of the poorer peasants; some had even died directly due to his greed. But he was untouchable because he held the livelihood of so many in his hands. But seeing him on stage with the Work Team in control, he looked like a regular old man. One of the peasants with whom the work teams had spent much time spoke up first. The woman told a story of how Xié’è bi took advantage of her and promised to absolve her husband of his financial debts but never did, which led to her daughter being sold off. After this tale, the atmosphere was sad and angry. You could feel the emotion building, but imagine my shock when a Work Team member whacked Xié’è bi over the head with a stick and asked, “Who next?” One by one, the peasants whipped into a frenzy came forth to share their experiences and blows rained down upon Xié’è bi until he was beaten within an inch of his life. 

After everyone shared their grievances, the leader of the Work Team, a journalist, came forward and, to his credit, explained. Land reform didn’t make intellectuals feel like they were being talked down to, but it was simple enough for peasants to understand as well. After a few more days, everything was settled, and land deeds were handed out as well as the goods that Xié’è bi owned, and these were called struggle fruit. 

It was nice to see some of the people I have known since I was born to receive justice and land; however, I am unsure how this will quickly pull them out of poverty, but maybe Mao will have another plan. I was shocked by the initiation of violence by the Work Teams. I am probably more pro-violence than most, but I believe the country has seen enough violence after fighting three consecutive wars and is still fighting the Americans in Korea. The work teams say revolution requires violence. I just hope this does not become a trend and that my family won’t one day be the target of their greed. 

Ai Weiwei