Hu Jie's film Though I am Gone is the best cinematic
documentation to date of the murder of Bian Zhongyun
at the Girls Middle School Attached to Beijing Normal
University on August 5, 1966. Bian was the first teacher
murdered during the infamous Red August beginning
of the Cultural Revolution in China.
One of those from whom Hu Jie got evidence was another
teacher at the school, Lin Mang. In the film Lin states that
the Red Guards beat Bian Zhongyun in a toilet room. He
described one of the perpetrators as a tall, thin girl. Lin
also stated in the film that Red Guards forced him to carry
Bian's body after her murder.
Based upon subsequent additional credible evidence
received, the tall, thin girl who Lin saw beating Bian was
Liu Tingting, daughter of Liu Shaoqi, the president of
China.
Based upon other credible evidence received, we have
been informed of two separate incidents involving Song
Binbin. Both occurred in the summer of 1966.
In the first, Lin Mang was snatched up by the Red Guards
for interrogation. The person who sent for Lin was Song
Binbin. During the first interrogation a male student
was present with Song. As Song did the interrogation
and pressed Lin to confess to accusations she made
against him dating to the pre-1949 period, the male
student punched Lin so hard in the chest that Lin was
knocked to the ground.
On the second occasion Lin and fellow teacher Zhu Xuexi
were brought in for an evening interrogation by Red
Guards and leader Song Binbin. Lin and Zhu were
forced to kneel on the interrogation room floor. Female
Red Guards then beat Lin and Zhu with bronze-buckled
leather belts. In her role as Red Guard leader Song did
none of the beating herself but oversaw with a facial
expression described as "like the dark sky before a storm,
full of hatred, no smile, very awe-inspiring, and angry."
In Though I am Gone Lin relates that after this second
beating he decided--as so many others did--to commit
suicide. Hooking himself up to electrical devices in his
apartment he threw the switch to electrocute himself.
The electrical system short-circuited and he survived
and had a change of heart and decided to live on. This
is Public Occurrences.
*Song Binbin was sent a copy of this post and offered an interview to respond to this and other posts on Publocc.
Email Benjamin Harris, J.D. Publocc@gmail.com
(First published here on December 22, 2007)
