China's Great Wall of Silence: Photographs of Song Yaowu

Song Yaowu was one of the leaders of the Red Guards at the Girls Middle School in the summer of 1966. When Mao Zedong ordered the withdrawal of the government work groups that had been sent to the schools to manage the developing chaos Song became the de facto head of the school. On August 5, 1966 the assistant principal, Bian Zhongyun, was murdered. Song and others made the official notification to the Beijing governmental authorities. She also co-signed an account of Bian's death which was given to Bian's widower, Wang Jinyao.

Thirteen days after Bian's murder, on August 18, Song was given the honor of fastening the Red Guard's armband onto Mao Zedong (immediately below). This event symbolized Mao's approval of the violence committed by the Red Guards earlier in the summer and of the much greater violence to follow. The Cultural Revolution did not end until Mao's death in 1976. An estimated 3,000,000 people were killed.

In the countryside during the "Great Linkup" after the violence of the summer of 1966.

Song the student at her work bench.

When Song emigrated from she left her past and her infamous name behind. She changed her name to "Yan Song" and got her PhD. Here, at M.I.T. with her mentor, Fred Frey.

With diploma on graduation day at M.I.T.

According to Carma Hinton the first time Song was interviewed under the name Song Binbin was for Morning Sun. Hinton says it took her three years to convince her to be interviewed. But not shown. Here, back lit so as to hide her face.

A photograph of the commemorative booklet published in 2005 marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Girls Middle School. Song was named a "Distinguished Alumnus." On the page immediately opposite that depicting the photo of Song with Mao is a photograph (upper right) of Bian Zhongun. I was given a copy of the booklet when I visited the school in 2008 posing as a father of a prospective student.

Second from left in light violet checked sweater at

celebration of anniversary of Girls School. Third

right in blue striped sweater is Liu Jin, also a Red

Guard at the school. It was Liu who made the

announcement over the school loudspeaker the

next day, "Bian Zhongyun is dead. There's no

need to talk about it."