(The great proletarian)

Life of Li©

By Jalen Menser

Introduction

When world war II drew to a close the civil war which had started before the war resumed. Eventually the Communists managed to defeat the Nationalists and take

control of the nation. Their leader Mao would begin the great leap forward, a disastrous attempt to modernize the nation. Little do the people of China know the true challenge is

about to begin. Li a young boy from humble beginnings on a farm in shunyi who has been presented the opportunity for a better life, is about to find himself caught in the

middle of one of the most infamous periods in Chinese history .

Letter from Father

HelloLi

I am sorry to say I will not be able to make it back in time for the New Years this year. I have been asked to help build a road from Beijing to Shanghai and we are behind schedule. I heard you applied to Beijing No. 1 high school, I wish you the best of luck getting in.

Today I came face to face with one of the evil capitalists. They said he had been smuggling food to Taiwan, so he had been sent to help build the road through the mountains (an especially dangerous task). Which reminds me, I figure if your going to school I might as well tell you about how we came to become the China you know and love. You see after the second world war the darned nationalists had taken power and they were lead by Chiang Kai-sheck. The communists helped liberate us and made us communist.

Mao then lead us on the great leap forward to help industrialize us. That is why I have been sent to help build roads. The great leap has ended now but rumors say Mao is going to launch a revolution against the party!奏偷 （ No translation)November 29th 1966

The Flag of the traitors, Rightists are sometimes forced to wear one.

July 31st 1966Today is the day my life changes for the better, today is a great day. I have been accepted into Beijing No. 1 high school! I

finally will be able to better provide for my family.

Times where hard when I was little, we didn't’t have much to eat, no one did, but my parents managed to find time to teach me how to read a write when they weren’t in the fields. When I got older they took me

with them to help in the fields, this was when things were the hardest, I was about nine but age didn’t matter everyone had to

pitch in to provide enough food. And I almost forgot the best part of going to Beijing, Mao! I will get to be closer to our glorious leader and maybe I will even

get to work for him in our great communist government! I guess I’m also kind of sad to

be leaving behind my family but I know I will be able to better help them, myself,

and Mao in Beijing.

One of the posters promoting the great leap forward

January 1st 1967I don’t believe I just don’t believe it, how did we let the monster in

the “gang of four” come to power? Thank goodness Mao put them in their place. All over the

country people have taken to the streets and are taking down the corrupt capitalists who had

managed to slip into power in the past couple of years. I was with

my class on a field trip to Tiananmen when he gave one of his speeches. It was amazing, the

people the atmosphere, the accent. All of it was beautiful. I

have recently reconsidered leaving my high school to join the

Red Guards I had thus far decided against it but now after

seeing Mao himself I am less sure. Afterwards I bought myself a copy

of “Quotations from Chairman Mao” and I have set about to memorize the whole thing.

Banners from the Tiananmen rally

January 1st 1967 (part II)

Many of the local officials have been thrown out as well. I was at one of the

denouncing ceremonies, It was rather frightening with all the yelling and screaming, I don’t think I would

like to go to another one but it is reassuring to know justice is being

brought to the bourgeois party members who have abused their power and attempted to return

capitalism to china. Mao has also turned his attention to the old

culture which stands as a testament to the oppression

and tyranny of the imperialist days. I am Glad I did not so foolishly join the

corrupt party government as I mentioned in my earlier entries as I

now understand the depth of the Counter-Revolutionaries control.

Although it also makes me wonder if I could have been slightly indoctrinated by one of my teachers to support the

Party.

Top: Our glorious leader Mao, still going strong despite his age.Bottom: A denouncing ceremony, I’m in the middle of the crowd

December 2nd 1967I have become a red guard, not that I had much choice in that decision. After

our school got sacked there was no reason to remain. But I guess I’m

getting ahead of myself lets me start at where it began.

Well I guess it had been happening all over, the teachers were being

discovered as rightists and had to be done away with, I just didn’t expect it to

happen to my school. Of course I supported the overthrow of these

teachers since Mao had come up with it but, afterwards there is nothing left at the school to learn about or learn with. The books are damaged or destroyed and the teachers sent away. The red

Guards are nice but I would have preferred to have continued my

education so I could get a better job.

As a Red Guard many things are different. The only book is the red

book, the only word is that of Mao, and the only thought is that of Mao.

Top: Our Daily recitationsBottom: Marching in a parade

(December 2nd continued)

I believe Mao is great but I do not believe he is to be worshipped as a

god. Either way I am safer in the Red Guards, and after being witness to the

beating of my teachers I will do whatever it takes to avoid this.

I suppose one of the advantages to being a Red Guard is I get a better look at China. I realize the legends of life I

the country side are just that, legends. I assume things are better than in the Imperial Days but I cannot Imagine

they where that much worse. I suppose this is the fault of all the party

members who have been purged but the true test will be if in the coming

years whether things become better or worse as Mao leads us forward.

One of the Rallies at Tiananmen

July 27 1968 Gunfire, I awoke to gunfire. Not that it was the first time but this time it was different, this time it wasn’t the sound of some poor person who was found as a rightist, or the

noise of a rival Gang of Guards shooting at the alley cats, no It was the sound of a well organized group of men mowing down some school boys with guns. As I soon found out it was the government, who had been sent to

bring peace to the streets by doing away with us. Within an hour it was over. As I crawled out of our Makeshift barracks I was quickly

seized by some soldiers and dragged away. But I suppose I am getting ahead of Myself, I had been sent down to Guilin with some of my fellow Red Guards in order to bring the revolution there. We began by first sacking

the schools and denouncing the teachers (I still find these ceremonies unpleasant). Then for a little while we contented ourselves by dealing with the “rightists” who had been “caught” by their neighbors. It was brutal

business and I doubt any of the people were actually rightists but in the name of Mao we beat them to pulp anyway. I personally tried to avoid partaking in these ceremonies but

many of the

Our Gang of guards persecuting members of a “rightist Red Guard gang.”

(July 27 1968 continued)

More barbaric guards had no problem beating up some poor man who had

forgotten his Red Book. That’s when we found the Kerosene. It probably had been hidden in the warehouse back in the Civil War but that didn’t make it burn any less. We took the stuff out to some of the old

temples and followed the way of Mao and set fire to them. That old wood burns slowly

at first but once it really catches fire nothing could stop it and in the end we had

accidentally burned down some of the neighboring houses. Then finally some idiot got it into his head that we must prove our worth to Mao by defeating the other groups of Red Guards for not being revolutionary enough. I think that’s why Mao decided let

the military intervene. The street fights were pointless bloody and caused lots of

collateral damage. I don’t think Mao needed to arrest us though. Well I guess

that doesn’t change the fact I’m sitting in a cell right now. Hopefully I will get set free, I

mean its not like I did anything wrong, I was against all of this from the start. But its not like I’m going to say any of that to the guards because then I would have been

counter revolutionary. I am running out of Charcoal to write with so It may be a while

before my next entry

Burning Buddha's, from one of the local temples. I’m in to the left in the third row.

September 10th 1979What have we done? When did the madness

begin? Was this revolution folly from the start? And Mao, Mao, MAO! we hailed him

as a god and yet he was the one who started this all. We did all of this for Mao. We burnt the temples for him, we beat the teachers,

and even fought one another to win his favor, and what did we get in return? Banished to the god damned countryside! Oh that was

wonderful just wonderful, as If any of us new how to farm. Sure as a child I had farmed but that was a long time ago and that was before

I got branded in the hands for bing part of one of the revolutionary gangs. Well at least Mao is dead. I know I should be mourning but I’m not and I don’t think I will be for a

while because I had a chance at a better life, I had a chance at being happy, at having a good job, and maybe even a happy family

but Mao took all of that away with his damned cultural revolution. I was at school, I was happy, Intellectual was a compliment,

but now! NOW IT’S A CURSE! Since I went to high school I was banished to the villages for

a second time even though I had never gotten to leave in the first place. I remember

mentioning before that life in the villages wasn’t like what the newspapers described

them, as

Above: Communist propaganda, as if we actually had tractors for all, what lies, all lies.

(September 10th 1979 continued)

But that doesn’t eve begin to describe it, after the great leap forward

destroyed all of the Iron and Steel in China things hadn’t progressed.

People where still using backwards technology and backwards methods.

Now that Mao’s dead the former members of the government who were actually fixing things can come back

and help us get out of this societal rut. Mao was once a great man who

wanted what was best for China but as time progressed he digressed, he new how to start a revolution but not how

to run a nation. Now that Mao is out of power his reputation has quickly

declined, although he is still hailed as the father of China there is now an

astrix saying he was also the death of old China. Times have changed in many ways and yet so much has

stayed the same, its almost like no time has passed since I first was back

in the fields and yet deep inside I know everything has changed.

The village where I was sent to be forgotten.

Epilogue

After the death of Mao China spent many years attempting to undo his final actions. The Anti intellectual purges caused an educational crisis

that resulted in cultural stagnation, and little to no innovation, the effects of which are still felt today. The attempted destruction of all traditional

culture still impedes the reconciliation of old and new China. The legacy of Mao is still a highly controversial issue which has never full been

resolved. The anti capitalist sentiments remain only in ideals and have all but faded from actions. Most of the top party members who survived

regained their former positions however those who were lower within the party were not returned and the people who wrongly suffered for being

“rightists” were never compensated.

Selected Bibliography (fascinating)

-Brooman, Josh. Longman 20th Century History Series: China since 1900. 15th. London: Longman Group, 2003.

-Coutsoukis, Photius. “China History.” China 2001. 16 Mar 2008 http://workmall.com/wfb2001/china/china_history_index.html

-”Ignoring The Past.” The Economist 20 May 2006: 29-30

- Kong, David ChiShing, and Keit Kin Fun Leung. 20th Century World History. Hong Kong: Macmillion New Asia, 2004.

- Clark, Paul (2008). The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

- Fong Tak-ho. (2006, May 19). "Cultural Revolution? What Revolution?" Asia Times Online. Asia Times Online (Holdings). Retrieved at <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HE19Ad01.html> on June 15, 2011.- Gao, Mobo (2008). The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-2780-8. Retrieved at <http://www.strongwindpress.com/pdfs/EBook/The_Battle_for_Chinas_Past.pdf> on September 2, 2012

- Spence, Jonathan D. (1999). The Search for Modern China, New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

More “Fun” Bibliography

-Poster titled "Proletarian revolutionary rebels unite” "Cultural Revolution." Cultural Revolution. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013. http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/graph/9wenge.htm

-Image of Taiwan Flag: "Taiwan Flag." Taiwan Flag. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013 http://www.only-flags.com/taiwan-flag-p-132.html?cPath=25_176http://www.only-flags.com/taiwan-flag-p-132.html?cPath=25_176

-Image of cultural revolution Denouncing ceremony "Wuhan-Mao's Cultural Revolution." Wuhan-Mao's Cultural Revolution. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013.http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~theed/Cold_War/d_Brezhnev_Era/c_1968/ff_Wuhan.html

-Great leap forward: "Great Leap Forward." China Geography Study Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2013. http://chinageoquiz.blogspot.com/p/geography-study-guide.html

-All other sources previously cited

All factual information and similarities to real people was fully intentional and planned.Copyright © 2013 May 14th

All right reservedPublished May 15th 2013 on jalenm.blogs.isb.bj.edu.cn by JalenAny reprinting of this without the authors consent is fine as long as the author is properly credited, otherwise you may be punished under the full force of the law for copyright infringement.