Author: Ryan Cowles (Ming Ching)

Dear Tongzhimen,

It is now past my time and I am saddened to say that my time as a journalist is coming to a close and it is time for the younger generations to take over. In my old age, I’ve lived through many campaigns promoting Mao into Chinese society. China is in a completely different position today than it was during my childhood because of the work of Mao and the Communist Party. My last duty as a reporter is to bring to you the information of how the latest campaign, the Cultural Revolution, has affected China. Comrade Liang Heng has been kind enough to give me an advanced copy of his memoir. This manuscript gives a closer look into how his family was affected throughout the Mao years and serves as a general example of typical experience. 

The Cultural Revolution aimed to reduce the gap between life in the countryside and in urban areas as well as creating revolutionary successors from the urban youth. However, it was ambiguous whether the goal of this Cultural Revolution was achieved. There are a few points to keep in mind from Liang Hengs experience to completely understand the process of the Cultural Revolution. A situation that he faced was getting accused of being a May Sixteenth conspirator. To preface, the school had stopped classes for a special announcement about this counterrevolutionary movement. The school even put lock boxes around so that students could report people who they thought were conspirators. Liang Heng was reported as a counterrevolutionary and so they locked him in a room until he would confess. This lasted for days as he would be hit and discriminated against by the whole school for his ‘bad thought.’ The following quote is what Liangs’ thoughts were after he was told that he had one more time to confess before he would be sent to jail; “I realized that I could die. I could unscrew that lightbulb and put my hand there where the current flowed and I would be dead. I should never again be tormented by memories of Mother’s humiliated and accepting face as Father cursed her for betraying the Party’s faith in her.” (Liang, 206)  The thing that hurt him the most was that even his friends betrayed him because of the way the society thought about the Cultural Revolution. This situation created a distant relationship between people who were once close together. 

Liang had already lost his sisters to the countryside and both of his parents due to the political tension. The party terminated the family structure and the old Chinese traditions were slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. The family and individual was virtually broken down completely and people turned to work as their identity. With this being said, it brought young workers together but in other circumstances it forced out the older population. Liang Hengs father was an example of this as he says “if I can’t work, I’m a useless man.” (Liang, 229) His father, who was rejected by the party earlier in his life, was forced to live in his past as he saw that he couldn’t make any contributions. As a result of his sickness, he had to retire from his work and the party forced him to move into a tiny room distant from the revolution. He would have to live the rest of his life full of emptiness and could not contribute to the revolution even though he wanted to.

The Cultural Revolution could be embodied in two slogans that Liang had stated in his memoir.  “The Farther from Home, the Nearer to Chairman Mao” and “The Poor and Lower-Middle Peasants Are Closer Relatives than Mother and Father” (Liang, 146). The mobilization of the educated urban people to the countryside was a huge part in contributing to the revolution as well as picking out the ‘counterrevolutionary’ ideas that people were demonstrating in everyday life. Pointing out other people’s mistakes was a big part in getting rid of the four olds and attempting to bring in the new traditions and culture to China.

Dear Comrades, 

 

In my old age, I have been able to reflect back on my life not only as a journalist, but as a part of Mao’s revolution. During this crucial time for the people of China, it is important to reflect not only on the parties ideologies but also one’s views on how the revolution has gone up to where we stand in society today. Through my various interviews and sources I’ve been able to gather through the years, I have been able to learn the ins and outs of the CCP and the effects it’s had on society. As a neutral journalist, I have reported on real events happening within the party from the cities, all the way to Yenan and other rural areas. I have gone out of my way to acquire information in any way possible, even joining a commune and carrying out labor to put myself in the shoes of the masses. Though I have seen and reported on some misfortunate events as a result of the party’s policies, I have taken a second look at my own thoughts and words. I am repentful to speak of the dark days of the party, as those days don’t truly define what Mao has implemented in our society. The leadership of Mao that allowed China to escape the traditional confucianism and into the revolution is a great feat that no one else could lead. Before this revolution took place, peasants lived frantically and miserably. Without the work of the CCP, these people would have no opportunities to break the cycle of struggle that their families faced generation after generation. Though we aren’t completely out of struggle “He who is not afraid of death by a thousand cuts dares to unhorse the emperor” (Mao 27) this struggle is necessary to build up our society into socialism and communism. 

As a good Chinese citizen, I keep my Little Red Book in my pocket at all times and refer to it multiple times a day. At the beginning of my career in journalism, I was naive to overlook the words and only take a glance at the words of Chairman Mao. Now, I look for the correlations between the words Mao and those policies he implemented into society. I believe Mao is genius for this because it states his true intentions of what he wants China to be and his clear cut goals should be ingrained in the people of China. Although no policy can be perfect and not everytime will everyone support the goals of the leader, Mao demonstrates his best effort to create an equal and prosperous country in the eyes of the peasants. When leading this party, Mao explained how sacrifice and struggle was necessary to grow. He also suggests that it is a good thing to have disagreements as “if there were no contradictions in the Party and no ideological struggles to resolve them, the Party’s life would come to an end” (Mao, 27). This means it is necessary to have violence going on within the country and though it may not seem ideal, it keeps the country striving to be better. The CCP has proven it can unite a variety of people under the same ideologies which is the most important feature in a society. I may have mixed up my words when speaking of these policies in my earlier journals, but because I believe in Mao’s plan and the CCP I will be able to mend my mistakes. 

Dear Comrades, 

 

It has been a few years since I last wrote an entry informing you on what is happening in the countryside of China. At this point, land reform has been well on the way but hasn’t been the most successful. Mao continues to try to build the country and make the peasants better off. However, his next major move of making “The Great Leap” isn’t going exactly as planned. It may even seem that the country is falling off the path they might have seemed to be on. The concept of the Chinese communes were failing in multiple ways from the top down. This was a direct consequence of the attempt of having immediate progress with the campaigns Mao implemented.

 

The increase in production and labor that Mao envisioned was not a balanced or a realistic feat that the Chinese peasants could handle (Peng, 438). The communes were failing as it resulted in divorcing the peasants from reality and the masses would lose its support for the party. This not only created starvation but divided the party and their families.The local cadres and leaders were also corrupt in this way as they would lie about the crop production because of the pressure to repay the debt which made the peasants lose even more trust about the party. Collectivations were expected to increase their production and by having unrealistic goals, the campaign would fail miserably. With Mao’s Anti-rightist campaign, it was a crime to speak out against the party or to seek the truth about how the country was doing (Xun 30). These leaders would keep their collectivization so closed off that the people of a community would believe that they were going through a poor harvesting season, instead of seeing that the whole country was in the same situation. The party leaders who were higher up even ignored protests when people did speak out about their situations which is a huge issue if there was any chance of change in the foreseeable future. Later in 1959, the Anti-hiding campaign was launched in the countryside to prevent the peasants from concealing grain amounts, concealing labor, and withholding labor (Xun 37). Not only did it encourage cadres to promote violence in the countryside, but it turned peasants against peasants which created even more of an issue.

 

Mao, with the help of Soviet Union funding, had attempted to turn the country into an industrialized nation. There was a focus on the production of steel and cultivating more cotton instead of crops to feed the nation. Mao would also implement new farming methods which called to plough deeper and to plant more seeds close to each other. People would turn to eating mud and tree bark as substitutes for food (Xun, 5). To meet the government procurement quotas, rice and grain were taken right from the Chinese peasants to repay the debt, which created even more starvation within the nation. In terms of steel production, peasants were forced to break down useful tools which would inevitably be useless to the Chinese (Sue, 48 mins). This was a result of not having Deaths rising  and women were not able to even give birth or breastfeed because of the malnourishment of their bodies. The poverty throughout the whole country was so bad that families began to sell their children to support themselves to get through the next week (Xun 9). Mao’s campaign to eliminate the four pests also backfired on him. He believed that by eliminating sparrows, rats, mosquitoes, and flies would allow the harvest to flourish. However, by creating a propaganda to eliminate the sparrows, the insects ran rampant and would destroy much of the crops. 

With all the negative aspects of the Great Leap, we can still believe in Mao to create a better life for the average Chinese citizen. Within all revolutions, there are shortcomings that can be addressed and learned from. I believe once the party finds a way to be transparent about the situation, it will regain the trust of the peasants and it can build a strong community. The muddled vision of strategic goals and concrete measures have affected which decision the party has made to attempt to make the country better. Instead of trying to make big changes immediately, it would be a better option to strive for gradual growth that would make a more impactful change for the future.

Dear readers,

We are in the midst of a changing country with a new government. However, there are still ongoing issues as we continue the revolution here in China. Over the past few years, land reform has been a major emphasis among the masses as Mao and the CPP have been working towards equality in all aspects. By using mass campaigns, it has made the issue spread into the country-side where poor peasants live. The government has made sure to resolve all kinds of issues using the Central Organization Department to develop mass organization. The government was organized in a way that people are able to contribute to the bigger scheme since these leaders not only pass down directions to the peasants, but they also report back up on how the campaigns are going. This kind of political equality for everyone in the country was attractive to most people in the country.

 

By making land reform a mass campaign, peasants came together to fight the inequality they were facing from ‘evil tyrant landlords.’ Using terms like this, as well as finding struggle stories among the peasants, led them to rally behind the struggle. Speaking bitterness created anger within the peasant community and was spread through meetings that these villages would have. These kinds of meetings would be meaningful in what kinds of campaigns the CPP would take action in since the revolution came from the masses and goes to the masses. The leadership role that Mao took was very important since his goal was to combine the general and particular issues that people talked about and would unite leadership within the masses. With the Marriage law and other laws making women equal to men, women started to have a bigger role in the revolution. They made significant impacts economically, politically, and socially which contributed to the revolution. However, this change in culture wasn’t embraced by everyone. Mother-in-laws and husbands began to worry about how much power they were given and that they didn’t have control over what they did. 

 

Something that did not go so well in this campaign was the amount of violence it created within the country. Villages had driven the landlords out of the area by extensively threatening, abusing and even killing them. Mao had wanted a fight against the landlord land, and not the landlords themselves. This movement also created some issues within the community in identifying who the rich peasants and the landlords were as many of them tried to come off as a poor peasant, making them unreliable. Even though my father was a good person with good intentions, this kind of revolt worried me. Coming from a wealthier background in the silk industry, my father was considered one of the enemies of struggle. However, he did give up his land and was also a community man, even promoting equality within his village. I feared that an extremist in the CPP would come to my fathers house and hurt him. As for my mother, she was against the revolution and what it stood for. She got sent to my father as she sent away her four daughters for marriage. Even though the party strived for an ‘abundant and flourishing family,’ it was going against the tradition that she was accustomed to. I believe that the violence will settle down and there will be more equality than there was ever before in China, but I do think the extremists will not change their way of thought. The campaign did in fact mobilize around the whole country so it’s not to say that it isn’t possible for everyone to be on the same page.

Dear readers,

I am proud to say that not only have I grown as a person since my last report, but Chinese people from around the country have begun to grow out of the traditional confucian lifestyle. With pressure increasing from not only the Japanese but the Chinese nationalist party, the Communist party has been gaining popularity for a few different reasons. It is the year 1943 and I have been called to Yenan where I am reporting live to see this movement with my own eyes. Many people ask, why Yenan? What is different about this part of the country? Why not a big city to spread ideologies more easily? It was less about the land they were on and more about the community that blossomed under the leadership of the masses. 

While reporting on this phenomenon, it is integral to look into the Long March. Mao and the red army set on this march to relocate the Communist party without a set destination. It was easy for people to join this movement because many of them did not see a future at their home. Both men and women had been struggling for the basic living necessities such as food and clothes. The movement had emphasized equality for men and women as both genders were encouraged to join the army to help in any way. Even the rich peasants had a reason to join the communist movement because of the way the Guomindang soldiers would treat the locals. It is said that the soldiers would have two guns, a rifle, and an opium pipe and they “tried to take everything they could from our local people.” The Long March wasn’t about the destination, it was about creating a mobile city where people would come together based on what they wanted the future of China to be like. After Mao and the Communist party gained followers on the March, Yenan happened to be the place they settled and turned into the Communist Party Headquarters.

The leaders of the movement, specifically Chairmen Mao, was the reason why it gained so much traction. Mao lived a simple and natural life as if he was a Chinese peasant. In this sense, it allowed for the majority of the population to relate to him. Many leaders during this time are demanding and are straightforward with their orders while Mao emphasized on moderate social reform. He did this by listening to the masses and taking a theory-practice-theory approach which allowed the people to really drive the revolution. This was appealing to people as it would lead to more organization and discipline within the party and its army.

Furthermore, I see even more organization and coming together based on the daily lifestyles here in Yenan. Instead of having a divide between intellectuals and peasants people have started to come together around a change in art and culture. Mao had led with slogans which was easy to rally behind and which everyone could understand. Thought and emotions would be shown in artwork that would really reflect how the party thinks on a day to day basis. This ‘popularization’ brought the party even closer together and the soldiers, peasants and women would all be able to relate to each other. Schools would even be formed such as the Anti-Japanese University and more people would be literate and create an even more powerful social reform. With the reform movement of 1942, leaders would be able to optimize their units and the Chinese citizens would work together for their goal of liberation from the traditional confucian society.

Dear readers,

Here in Shanghai, along with the rest of the country, people have began to realize how weak the society has become as other countries are gaining power and influence over the rest of the world. Though we are deeply emerged in our Chinese traditions, the country could improve through some sort of reform. Today, I am reporting on some of the significant reasons why the citizens of China believe that a revolution is needed to change the country for the better.

Over the past 20 years of my life, China has had a lost identity. Though groups of revolt had been forming, it wasn’t until the reform of 1911, where the ‘republic of china’ went against the Qing Dynasty to demand a change in society. These people stood against the Qing Dynasty to stand up to social injustice. There was a range of people who supported these views such as women and peasants. The Confucian views that the Qing dynasty reigned under supported the norms that had been practiced in China for many years. The family structured had long remained unchanged with the patriarchal system where it supported the elders in the family and really restricted the roles of women in family.

With the capitalism growing in China, the leaders were more worried about the higher classes who were supporting their economic system. This left out the peasant class who was supporting China’s growth through agricultural production and other basic needs. Most of the wage-laborers were working all day for a wage that wouldn’t cover their families basic needs as they were eating more than they made financially! The peasant class was sick of the way that the landlords and bosses treated them since the gap of living standards between them was so large. However, these peasants and workers didn’t really have a way to organize themselves to fight against the wealthier population so they continued to struggle without much change for generations. There had to be a way for the workers and peasants to have an alliance to fight against the inequality and capitalism they were presented with.

The societal norms had been another factor that was presenting China with some issues. People began to realize they were in unhappy marriages and had even ended up killing themselves over their arranged marriages. Women, even though they were still unequal to men, started being sent to cities from the country side to work in textiles and other professions. This extended liberation was a step for them as they were in a sense gaining more freedom but were still under control by the patriarchal system. The May 4th Movement had initiated this way of thinking but it wasn’t leaning to restore the confucian ways or to restore it in terms of women rights.

The people who had the least amount of power had no say in which the country was run and their struggles led them to search for a more equal society. The main goal of some of these people was to spread the notion of moralizing the holders of authority. People were unhappy with many of the ways China was run but the question remains: is a revolution necessary and how will these people be able to carry out necessary change in society?

 

 

Greetings, my name is Ming Ching and I am just a boy born in Huzhou, located in the Zhejiang Province during the year of 1912. I am just starting my first year of college Shanghai which is halfway across the country and I have been inspired to report on the livelihood of the big city. Coming from the country moving to the East Coast, I could see the merchants were of great wealth. My Grandparents had been wealthy merchants in the silk industry in Shanghai, and had sent my father out to Huzhou to control the production of silk in a factory. My mother rarely leaves the house unless its for a dinner party with my father as we also host dinner parties once a month. Even though my parents had 4 children, I am the only one left in the house since my older sisters got sent away to get married. All of them have moved into wealthy families in Shanghai so I never get to see them since they are busy tending to the needs of her husband and his parents. However, I did have a good relationship with my sister who was only 2 years older than me. I didn’t really get to form a relationship with my older sisters who were 6 and 7 years older than me as they got sent off when they were just 14 years old.

Coming from the background that I did, I was in a great position to set my life up for success following in the family business. The Taiping rebellion was a very influential part of my families history and it is part of the reason why my father moved to Huzhou. My father had needed a son to preserve his family name so even though he treated my sisters fairly, he was more concerned about my well being. He sent me to the best school in the area where I was a good student, but not quite the top of the class. The first few years of my school I had learned to love reading and writing. Though I lived a nice life in a village, I always wanted to travel to the big cities and report on the life there. I aspire to interview and report on citizens of different lifestyles, from business owners to factory workers. With my families history I feel as though I will be able to get an inside look at how wealthy people think and work to create the most wealth as possible as well as getting the perspective of the poor workers within the city.