Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

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CONSTRUCTING HISTORY who might have a lot to say about the Cultural Revolution. 10 These include Sun Jian (once a vice-premier), Sun Yuguo (once Deputy Commander of the Shenyang Military Region), Guo Fenglian (a female leader from Dazhai, a commune village that was promoted as a model by Mao), Zhuang Zedong (three times consecutively World Table Tennis Champion and once head of China’s Ministry of Sports), Wu Guixian (a female textile worker promoted to the vice-premiership), Lü Yulan a female peasant who was once Party Secretary of Henan province), Wei Fengying (a female worker promoted to be a member of CCP Central Committee), Xing Yanzi (a female educated youth who was once Party Secretary of Tianjin), Li Suwen (a saleswoman promoted to be the Deputy Chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC)), Gu Atao (a peasant woman promoted to be a member of CCP Central Committee), Zhang Tiesheng (an educated youth promoted to be a member of the Standing Committee of the NPC), Mao Diqiu (a peasant in Chairman Mao’s home town promoted to be a member of the Standing Committee of the NPC), Wang Xiuzhen (a female textile worker promoted to be Party Secretary of Shanghai), Chen Ada (a worker and once a member of the Standing Committee of the NPC), Yu Huiyong (a musical teacher who was Minister of Culture before his arrest), Hao Liang (Peking opera actor who was Vice-Minister of Culture), Liu Qingtang (a ballet dancer promoted be a Vice-Minister of Culture), Tong Xiangling (Peking opera actor and a deputy to the NPC), Li Qinglin (a school teacher who in 1972 wrote to Mao complaining about his son’s difficulties as a result of Shangshan xiaxiang and subsequently became a member of the Standing Committee of the NPC). 11 It is worth pointing out that the people mentioned above were mostly promoted to top positions during the Cultural Revolution from very low social status and many of them were women. This is a clear indication of the Cultural Revolution’s radical affirmative policy of promoting women’s status and of an attempt to break down the established CCP bureaucratic hierarchy. These people were swept out of the CCP officialdom as soon as Deng Xiaoping and his followers came back to power and have been silenced since. Recently, there has been some relaxation of control, and memoirs of such personalities appeared in Hong Kong as in the case of Chen Boda (Chen Xiaonong 2006) and Nie Yuanzi (2005b). All the same, the trace of strong censorship or self-censorship is obvious in these accounts. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth In any case there is no reason to believe that all those who are allowed to talk are telling us ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’, even if they actually want to. Yu Erxin (2006b) provides a good [ 53 ]
THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST example to illustrate the point. In the memoirs General Mo Wenhua wrote in 1961, he stated that Deng Xiaoping, then Political Commissar of the Seventh Army, left the army in the middle of a fierce battle and went to Shanghai via Vietnam, ostensibly to report the situation to the CCP leadership. Soon after the publication of his memoirs Mo was dismissed from his army post, for no apparent reason. Then in August 1966, when Deng was stripped of his official positions because he was accused of being the number two capitalist roader, Mo was informed that the 1961 disciplinary action against him had been wrong. In his revised memoirs, which appeared in the 1990s, however, Mo says nothing of his assertion that Deng ran away in the middle of a battle. And he blames Lin Biao for his own dismissal in 1961. Another example of how the Chinese authorities work to make sure publications follow what is allowed officially is the inclusion or exclusion in selected volumes of important CCP leaders’ speeches. During the 1980s, speeches of Liu Shaoqi were collected into volumes for publication. 12 None of Liu’s speeches made between June 1958 and the summer of 1960, a gap of two years, were included in this official publication compiled by the CCP Central Office of Documentary Research (Lao Tian 2006b). The reason why those speeches are not collected seems to be that some of Liu’s speeches during this period were clearly advocating reckless policies and practices of the Great Leap Forward. The post-Mao official line is that the Great Leap Forward famine was all Mao’s fault. Some common themes on Mao and the Cultural Revolution Most writers of these memoirs, autobiographies and biographies in Chinese assume or argue that the Cultural Revolution was a ten-year disaster and that China’s economy was on the brink of collapse by 1976. On the other hand, few writers writing within China openly denounce Mao completely. Mao was blamed for being the initiator of the Cultural Revolution, but many accusations were made against ‘the evil people’, such as the Gang of Four, Lin Biao and Kang Sheng, who had usurped power and abused their positions to persecute the loyal, upright, honest and intelligent people. Most of these writers in China do not dwell on the subject of Mao’s intention to launch the Cultural Revolution. Among those who do, few are inclined to argue that Mao was ideologically motivated, even though the ideological interpretation was officially presented by the CCP 1981 Resolution. 13 Mao the person and absence of ideas These writers tend to accept that Mao was a supreme military strategist, a brilliant peasant leader, an unbeatable politician, the only person [ 54 ]
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’S PAST
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First published 2008 by Pluto Press
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Contents Acknowledgements xi Introd
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CONTENTS History as doctored by the
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Acknowledgements This book has been
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Page 51 and 52: literally means ‘beautiful countr
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Page 57 and 58: THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST It i
Page 59 and 60: THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST anti
Page 61 and 62: 3 Constructing history: memoirs, au
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Page 65: Lin Biao. Recently, however, Liu Yu
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Page 79 and 80: Whether it’s the news that Mao ne
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Page 89 and 90: Red Army let go by Chiang THE BATTL
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Page 95 and 96: such a scale take place simply as a
Page 97 and 98: the Great Leap hype. By doing this
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Page 107 and 108: clergy, bourgeoisie, peasants, arti
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Page 113 and 114: struggle that ultimately aimed at f
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Chin
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Cultural Revolution radicals in Bei
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Biao
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Mao
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST did
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST outp
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Zhis
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Medi
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Ma Y
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST incl
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Grea
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST up w
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST was
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST In o
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST pers
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the broad masses of people. The pro
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Beij
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was in a chaotic situation (hunluan
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Debates on comparisons Ever since t
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through him. It turned out that wha
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ibed by the American aviation indus
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST trie
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content of newspaper reports of tha
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prejudices against women. One accus
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an essay in English in praise of th
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would also argue that the increase
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST clim
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST •
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economically or both)? Obviously th
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Brutal taxes and levies The Ding st
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central government was to collect v
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST taki
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destruction of the collective syste
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five days was legal and people toil
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST tage
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST In t
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST on e
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST sign
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST priv
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST exte
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST the
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Social stratification THE BATTLE FO
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virtually impossible. Indeed, some
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Seei
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST that
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST unde
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST The
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documentation it was his decision t
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The fact that rural Chinese did not
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Notes Chapter 1 This chapter is an
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST 5. L
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Faxian (2006), appear occasionally
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST (whi
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST 6. T
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Chun
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Jian
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Ma Y
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST suzh
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST yi k
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Bibliography Ai Ming (2007), ‘Shi
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST the
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST save
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Chin
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Deng
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Feng
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST faes
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Tony
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Kahn
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST -- (
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Li Z
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST reco
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Mill
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Ping
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Schm
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Spen
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST are
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Cult
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST mile
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Yang
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST lunt
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THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST Zhen
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Index agriculture, 14, 19, 24, 36,
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Halliday, Jon, 2, 4, 10, 11, 65-73,
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Vietnam War, 40, 145 Wang Dongxing,
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Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

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