Below is from a book, "Donkey Baby: From Beijing to Berkeley and Beyond" (2008), by Sonia J. Song:
"On August 18... Mao received tens of thousands of Red Guards in Tiananmen Square...The head of the Red Guards in our school, Song Bin-bin, pinned a Red Guard armband on his sleeve...So Song Bin-Bin changed her name to Song Yao-Wu." (42)
"Since ours was a girls' school, the detention center at my school, in a corner house, detained female 'bad eggs.' A first cousin of mine was a Red Guard in my school. In the fashionable Red Guard outfit of faded army uniform, army cap, and a heavy buckled belt, she often boasted about how hard she had beaten a detainee. Horrible screams came out of that house day and night. Nobody dared to go near."
...
"One day when I did go [to school], I heard that our school principal, Bian, had been beaten to death the day before in the schoolyard. I sat in the classroom, listening as Song Yao-Wu's voice came through the loudspeaker. 'Counter-revolutionary revisionist capitalist-roader Bian Zhong-Yun died of a heart attack yesterday. We Red Guards had no responsibility for her death. Whoever dares to say things contrary to this fact, be aware of the consequences.' " (43)
This the first time that I have heard that Binbin made an announcement over the loudspeaker the next day.
This is important--new to me--information. First, it is another voice saying that Binbin changed her name, not that it was pinned on her by the newspapers or "rumors." Second, it is another voice that (1) Red Guards existed at the school on Aug. 5, something that Dr. Weili Ye denies, and (2) that Binbin was the "head" of the Red Guards. Finally, that statement of hers over the loudspeaker is a "guilty denial of guilt." (1) Innocent people don't threaten ("beware of the consequences"). Innocent people also don’t deny something they haven’t been accused of. If I walk into a police station this afternoon and say “Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I didn’t kill that person yesterday, you know the one on K Street who was stabbed fifteen times and had his head cut off”—if I did that, the desk officer would not thank me for my time and wish me a good day. He would call a homicide detective immediately, and I would be “interviewed” at length. It’s like Song Binbin’s volunteered statement on Morning Sun that she had not committed any rapes. Who accused her (or Song Wao-Yu) of rape? (2) Who else would be responsible for Bian's death besides the Red Guards, the CIA? Bian Zhongyun could not have been struggled without the knowledge and approval of the Red Guards, and of their "head," Song Binbin. And only Red Guards were allowed to struggle people.
photo: Song Binbin by Professor Xu Weixin.
