Tuesday, October 06, 2009

A Million Drops of Blood: "State Dongfeng Farm, film (2009) by Hu Jie, translation by Ye Weiyou. Part II





( II )

小标题:陰陽·群衆

Subtitle: Yin & Yang Masses---Living & Dead Masses

(Note: in Chinese philosophy, medicine, etc.

‘ yin’ and‘yang’ means the two opposing principles in nature, the

former feminine, negative and the nether world---death, while the latter

masculine, positive and the world---life)

(蒙自 集市)

( Mengzi Country Fair)

刘加强:从我记事的时候我特别怕晚上。因为一到晚上很多斗争场面就是打人。有的是被活活打死,一斗一打,那就惨叫嘛。那时我很小刚刚记事。

晚上很恐怖。

Liu Jiaqiang: I have feared evening since memory, for the scene of

struggle was always beating people. Some were beaten to death. With

each denouncing and beating at the meeting, there was pitiful screaming,

terrible evenings.

(东风农场街景)

(The scene of a street in Dongfeng Farm)

解传宝:就是1959年,我们徘徊在饥饿状态之中。白天我和李源德尽心尽力打砖。就是在12月中旬晚上的一天,凌晨两点到三点阶段,我肚子太饿了,因为那饭经常不够吃。肚子太饿了把我俄醒了,我就起来小便。我就到了厕所,在撒着尿时,忽然看到一个人的影子。 你是解传宝吗?他(李源德)说:走,晒场就在我们旁边,他说:弄几个花生吃吃。我说:不行,旁边有人守着。 他说:不怕,我都弄了一回来了。

Xie Chuanbao: In the famine of 1959 we went hungry. During the day Li

Yuande and I tried our best to make bricks. In the mid of Dec., at about 2

or 3 a.m. I woke up from great hunger caused by too often little meal.

While making urine after getting up I caught sight of a person’s shadow.

“Are you Xie Chuanbao?” Li Yuande asked. “Let’s go for a few peanuts

since the drying site is just nearby.” I said “No, someone is guarding.” He

said: “ Do not fear, I have already been there and got some.”



当时周围是漆黑一团,只是那个晒场上灯光照着有点亮,中间的花生,就像山头似的花生拿油布盖着。我们两就一前一后就去了晒场,我们在那运作的时候,他们早就看在心里面了。 他就(喊):是谁?我就不敢说,我就吓得气都不敢出了。我就跑起来,他们就打枪,朝天打,打了一枪,就吓住我了,我怕他朝我干。就给他们抓住了。李源德也抓住了,两个人双双拴在那个木柱上。

It was then very dark around with just a bit light on the drying site. The hill-top-like peanuts in the center of the site were covered with tarpaulin. We two walked toward there one ahead one behind in their notice. “Who?” one man shouted. Holding breath with fear, I started to run. Their shoot to the sky frightened me and we were caught and tied to a post of wood.

第二天,这个民兵就把我跟李源德交给管花生晒场的这个组。8点半正式开批斗会,负责这个组的叫王朝兴。大家就坐在各自的床上。我们俩人依然是用两根绳子拴在那个木柱上。王朝兴就说:你们这个集团,你们的头目是谁?你们集团的成员有谁,这个总会想到出来。我说:我们没有这回事,我们仅仅是想要抓几个吃吃。然后他就来个:给我吊起来。就来了两个监督生产人员,七整八整整成两股(绳),就吊在大梁上。吊的高高的,那个绳子就转了嘛。呜流呜流地转,转的时候我就看到李源德,他们还在绑,绑不上去。原因是李源德的块头太大了,60多公斤的体重。

The next day the militia who caught us trusted Li and I to the group that were in charge of drying peanuts. Criticism and denouncement meeting began at 8:30. The man in charge of that group was named Wang Zhaoxing. Everyone was sitting on one’s own bed. We two were still tied to the post. Wang said: “ Your gang, who is the head and who are in your gang? You should at least remember. I said there was no such a thing, we just wanted to eat a few peanuts. Wang ordered: “Hang them!” At this, two production supervisors came up. After a bit try, they made a rope of two strands and hung it high onto the roof beam. The rope began to revolve and I was able to see Li Yuande whom they were still trying to hang on the rope. But Li was too big to be hung up, over 60 kilograms.

(解弹琴)说:再来一遍。 (16/7, Thur.)

他们拿大棒棒,拿扁担,所谓的棒棒打是锄头把,是晒场上的棍棒叉叉杆杆早晨八点半打到十二钟左右,到了他们要吃饭的时候,就把饭打来,我们俩个人的饭是有瓦窑组送来,他们带信叫他们送来。把我们的饭,两盘饭摆在他们那个空床上,就说你们再不交代,连饭都不给你们吃。果不其然,我们说不出来,就不给我们吃。一直吊着,他们在那里吃饭。

(Xie playing an instrument) : Let’s have it again.

They beat us from 8:30 till around 12 noon with a big bar (how handle), shoulder pole, shafts and forks on the drying site. At the time for lunch, they got the meal here and ours were sent by the bricklaying group, two plates of food were placing on their empty bed. They said “no confess, no meal” True, since we had nothing to confess, we remained hung there hungry while they were eating.

解传宝:在没晕之前,还听到那个王朝兴说:死顽固还不交待,给我狠狠地打,就那些话。大家咬牙切齿打。那些人张牙舞爪,相当厉害的。那些下手不轻啦,下手非常重。我们这号人都是二十多岁。还有,打到下午三点来钟左右,来了一个作业区主任,他来了,扛了把锄头,走李源德那道门那里,先通过李源德,后来又来到我面前,来到以后,我鼻子拉撒的样子,根本眼泪呀,鼻子呀,口水呀,什么都是不像个人呀。漓漓啦啦像这样,来了以后我就说,张书记,他是作业区书记,我知道呢。原来是省昆明下去的下放干部。

Xie Chuanbao: Before falling faint I heard Wang Chaoxing words: “ Beat

them relentlessly since they are so stubborn.” Everyone around gnashed

their teeth, making threatening gestures, very fierce. We were in our

twenties so they beat us with force. When they beat us till about 3 p.m.,

with a hoe on his shoulder, the director and Party secretary Zhang of

production field walked in through the door where Li Deyuan was hung.

Passing Li, he approached me when I did not look like a man with tears,

nasal mucus, saliva.

我就说:张书记,唉呀,我错啦,弄这个花生吃,没有吃到,他们就说我把他们的花生搞了多少袋,要叫我交待集团,到底领头是谁?我说我们根本没接触到这个问题,我们只是想抓几个花生吃。我陈述了一下,断断续续的陈述。他抬头看看,看了一阵,扛了锄头依然走掉了,他不说一句话。当然当中只有一个人没有动手,其他的都是张牙舞爪,二十多号人,人人都动手,他一个人没动手,就是姚孔亮,就是开远养鸡场的姚孔亮。这个人没有动手,他睡在床上,拿个草帽遮住自己的眼睛。
I said: “Oh, Secretary Zhang, I was wrong to think of a few peanuts though I did not get to eat. But they said that I had got several bags of peanuts and ordered me to confess our so-called gang, who is the chief. I said there is no such a thing and we only wanted to get a few peanuts to eat. I explained intermittently. Looking up with raised head for a while, without any words he left with the hoe on his shoulder. Only one among the people in the room did not raised his hand and that man was Yao Kongliang of Kaiyuan Chicken Farm, the rest over twenty all did. Yao was sleeping on bed with a straw hat covering his eyes. (17/7, Fr.)

一直到打得我们休克过去,把两个都打死掉,李源德先用一辆小板车拉了去埋了。小吊井离我们批斗的那个地方相当远,要过很多路, 很多坑坑洼洼的路。

二次来拉我的时候,有人发现我手还在那里动了一下,动了一下,卫生所离

出人命这个地方只是不超过二三百步。到第二天早上,医疗室的医生来给我包扎

他一边整的过程一边说:你跟李源都死掉啦,你瞳孔散掉啦,但是我抱着试试态

度,打一针强心针下去,你那瞳孔就有点收缩,打了第二针强心针呢,瞳孔就收

回来了,再给你打第三针呢,眼睛会眨,正常啦 。如果先拉了我去埋藏掉,我

就埋掉了。李源德也许在那里等待就会活过来,情况都会发生变化的。

The beating lasted till we lost consciousness, for us both to die. Li Yuande

was first carried to bury in a flatbed (tricycle) The burial place

Xiaodiaojing (small hoist well) was quite far from where we were

criticized and denounced, many bumpy trails. When they later to carry

me, someone found my hand moved a little bit, the clinic was merely two

or three steps away. The next morning a doctor from there came to dress

my wounds. In the operation, he said: “ both you and Li Yuande died,

your pupil already spread apart. With a hope to try, I gave you a cardiac

stimulant and your pupil got a bit contracted. After the second shock,

your pupil got normal and the third shock made your eyes wink, you were

saved.” If I had been first carried for burial, I would have been buried.

Probably Li Yuande may have survived if he had been left waiting there,

things always change.

问:他们把人打死,上面有没有追究他们责任呢?

Question: Did the above investigate and affix the responsibility for their killing people?

解传宝:没有!

Xie Chuanbao: No.

赵汉科:要我跪,我就不跪啊!我说我吃了花生米我跪,我没有吃我就不跪。上来几个人就按着我跪。
Zhao Hanke: I was told to kneel, but I refused saying that I would kneel if

I had eaten the peanuts, but since I did not eat, I would not kneel. At this a

few people came up to push me down.

解传宝:晒场旁边那些电线杆经常捆,这个又是偷花生吃啦,那个又是不服从改造啦,就是像这样层出不穷。
Xie Chuanbao: Those wire poles by the peanuts-drying place were often

used to bind people, this guy stole peanuts, that guy disobeyed reform,

such things emerged in an endless stream.

赵汉科:他拎起那个板凳一板凳就砸过来,刚巧砸到我这里,当时我就感到我这个胃像多少个针一样戳着,那个疼劲,汗都一颗颗的下来。

Zhao Hanke: He lifted a stool and threw it at me, happened to have

pounded me here. Immediately I felt so many needles poking my

stomach, so painful that sweat poured down one drop after another.

问: 李源德的家人有没有来找他?

Question: Did Li Yuande’s family come to look for him?

解传宝:去啦,他的妹子去啦,来找她的哥哥,带着一个老人,老人就是他的爸爸。

Xie Chuanbao: Yes, his younger sister came with an old man, his father.

胡同增:那你是一个监督劳动人员的话,那绝对没有当医生的资格,不要说当医生,当兽医都不行。

Hu Tongzeng: As a production supervisor, you were not at all qualified

for a doctor, even for a veterinarian.

解传宝:带着去吗,找到马定贵,就是党委书记,问我的哥哥到哪儿去啦?马定贵就说:我们没有这个人,没有这个人,没有这个人,没有这个人,就像这样不了了之。
Xie Chuanbao: When finding Ma Dinggui, secretary of the Party

committee, Li Yuande’s sister asked about her brother. But Ma said: “We

have no such a person, no!” Thus, it ended up with nothing definite.

胡同增:可是当时,整个农场没有一个高级的医生,只有几个少数的中专毕业生或者部队的卫生员,他们支撑着那么多人的医务工作。

Hu Tongzeng: But at that time in the whole farm, there was no qualified

doctor, only a few graduated from technical secondary school or health

workers from the army, in charge of medical work for so many people.

赵汉科:那个疼得脸都变啦,就在地上打滚,就把我送到医务室了。

Zhao Hanke: My face changed shape because of the pain, I tossed on the

Ground and was taken to the clinic. (18/7, Sat.)

胡同增:到后来也碰到一个机会,抢救了一个扁桃腺三级肥大窒息的小孩子,实在不行临时把我喊了去,在一把刀子几把钳子,蹲在床头给孩子作了气管切开救了命,经过这个,他们虽然还不能让我当医生,但就用了变通的办法,我的名字还是在蔬菜队上种菜,

Hu Tongzeng: Later I got a chance to save a kid who was suffocated by

The 3rd degree hypertrophy tonsil. I was sent for at the last minute when

they failed to do anything. With a knife and a few pincers, crouching
at the bedside, I had tracheotomy for the kid and saved his life. Afterwards, yet unable to let me be a doctor, they made an appropriate adaptation in the light of specific conditions---my name was still on the vegetable team.

赵汉科:他那个板凳砸过来,把那个胃的内壁震破了,那瘀血就在胃里面。那就是胡医生抢救的。

Zhao Hanke: The stool’s pounding vibrated the inside of my stomach, broken with extravasated blood. It was Dr.Hu who rescued me.

胡同增:说冒着一定的风险这是事实。因为他们是在明目张胆地欺压剥削我们,但在看病上,一个医生只能用你的技术、不能把你的情绪用在这方面,这是违反医师的伦理的。

(胡医生---上海震旦医学院毕业)

Hu Tongzeng: It was the fact that I took some risk treating patients for they flagrantly rode roughshod over and exploited us. But in practicing medicine, a doctor should only use your profession and not put your mood in it which is against a doctor’s moral principles.

( Dr.Hu graduated from Shanghai Zendan College of Medicine )

赵汉科:失血太多需要打血浆,那个是要经过党委书记批准的。这胡医生就是:我不管,我是医生,我不管他是什么,要救他,我就要用血浆。

Zhao Hanke: Too much loss of blood plasma transfusion is necessary, which was then approval from the Party committee was needed. But Dr. Hu did not care, thinking whatever he was, to save him, he would by all means use blood plasma.

胡同增:有的时候呛的太厉害,我是几出几进医务室。
Hu Tongzeng: Sometimes the quarrel was so serious that I was several

times driven out of the clinic and then allowed in again.

赵汉科:血浆是哪些人才能用,那个时候,给个阶级敌人用那还行啊?!

Zhao hanke: What kind of people were permitted to use blood plasma?

How could it be used to a class enemy?!

胡同增:下去劳动!我说:好。我就下去劳动。

Hu Tongzeng: “Go down to do labor!” I said : “ OK, I will.”

小标题 大躍進·頌歌

Subtitle Great Leap Forward & Ode

吴德本:大跃进的那几年。

Wu Deben: The years of the Great Leap Forward.

王家有:一千人办个食堂,做饭的人就20多个。
Wang Jiayou: A dining hall was run for a thousand people with only
twenty cooks.

刘加强:吃花生壳,吃玉米棒。

Liu Jiaqiang: peanut shell and corncob was the food. (19/7, Sun.)

王家有:把玉米骨头冲细了,筛子筛了,拿来拌成面给大家吃。
Wang Jiayou: corncob made thin and sifted was mixed and stirred as flour

for us to eat

李泽衡:1958年我们还没饿肚子,但农民58年已经饿肚子了。

Li Zeheng: In 1958 we did not yet go hungry but peasants already did.

王家有:在社会上流行的说法:男饿三日女饿七日,女人比男人多耐得住饥饿。
Wang Jiayou: A saying is that men can bear hunger for three days while

women seven. So female are stronger in enduring hunger.

李泽衡:我们护秋的时候,我们看到一个农民撇了一个苞谷,那就开枪,一枪就把人家打死了,我们亲眼看到的,打死就打死。

Li Zeheng: While defending autumn harvest we saw with our own eyes that a peasant broke off a corn and got shot afterwards. Death was death, it was alright then.

王家有:从弥勒县城走普龙村回来,就发现死三个人。
Wang Jiayou: Walking from Mile county to Pulong village, we found

three bodies.

李泽衡:也知道是饿死的,知道是饿死,但你不能说,你看又饿死人了,要是你说了这句话,那不要升级了吧。

Li Zeheng: Knowing the death was from hunger, we dared not say:

“Look, someone else died from huger.” If you should have said so, your

problems would be upgraded.

王家有:走着倒下去就死了,就是饿死的。这个就叫饿死了,倒下去气都没得,就是饿死的。
Wang Jiayou: Dying in walking without any breath was nothing but death
from hunger.

问:这个地方气候这么好,为什么当时这么穷呢?

Question: The climate there (Yunnan, southwest of China) is so good, but why was it so poor then?

王家有:啊呀,连我也说不上,粮食是年年都丰产嘛。
Wang Jiayou: My goodness, I do not know either, high yield every year!

胡同增:就是那一年,上面下了个命令, 把所有旱地的庄稼都铲掉种红薯。

Hu Tongzeng: It was in that year there came an order from the above that

all the crops in the dry land would be uprooted for sweet potatoes.

张路:因为红薯可以大量地产,一亩地可以产几千斤,苞谷才产几百斤。

Zhang Lu: Just because sweet potatoes are highly productive with several

thousand jin per mu (one jin is 500 grams, one mu is 1/15 hectare) while

it is only several hundred jin per mu for corn.

孙梓川:苞谷已经产红缨帽子了,他叫砍掉。
Sun Zichuan: Red tassels were already seen but he ordered to cut off.

张 路:就派我们去拔,拔苞谷。

Zhang Lu: we were sent to pull out, pull out corn.

王家有:余粮你必须卖多少,不卖不行。他咋个咋个地宣传,国家如何如何。你必须卖,一卖嘛,口粮就提走了,一卖就饿了。
Wang Jiayou: There was a quota for us to sell the surplus grain which was

an order we had to obey. The countless publicity said how the state

needed it, and so on and so forth. With that sale, our grain ration was

taken and we had to go hungry.

赵汉科:你不能说真话,你要说真话,1957年的教训摆在那。
Zhao Hanke: We could not tell the truth, once you dared, the lesson in

1957 was there for us to draw.

王家有:不那样弄,你就要挨批评,阶级不好还挨斗。

Wang Jiayou: If we told truth, we would get criticism and struggle.

赵汉科:那时一种风啊,他还说,你反党反社会主义没反够啊。
Zhao Hanke: It was a tendency. He would say: “ Isn’t it enough for you to
fight against the Party and socialism?!”

胡同增:我们看见了,彩印的宣传种红薯的宣传画。
Hu Tongzeng: We saw the colored picture posters of growing sweet

potatoes.

赵汉科:还有宣传画呢,作饼干、还做蛋糕。

Zhao Hanke: And there were picture posters of biscuits and cakes made

from sweet potatoes.

胡同增:叫红薯一身都是宝。

Hu Tongzeng: It was said that sweet potatoes are full of treasures.

(歌):毛主席走遍祖国大地,锦绣河山更加壮丽,任凭征途风云变幻,鲜红的太阳永放光辉。毛主席带领我们奋勇前进,高举起马列主义伟大红旗……..

(song) Chairman traveled all over the country, our land of charm and

beauty is even more majestic. Whatever a changeable situation, the bright

red sun always gives out radiance. Chairman Mao leads us to forge ahead

courageously, hold high the great banner of Marxism and Leninism…..

(彭德怀 1959年庐山会议)

( Peng Dehuai, the Congress at Lushan in 1959 ) (Lushan: Mountain Lu in Jiangxi province, southwest of China)

解传宝:零! 60年2月份,当时的组长是韩健平,他领导我们砖瓦小组的工作。有一天,我们大家把饭吃掉了,都不见杨绍康回来。到了天黑了他才回来。回来后他气息奄奄,他骨瘦嶙峋。

Xie Chuanbao: Nought! In Feb. 1960, Han Jianping was the group leader,

in charge of our brick and clay group. One day after supper we did not

see Yang Shaokang back. Only till the dark did he return at his last gasp,

skin and bones.

王元庆:我在里面得干瘦病, 水中病,来来返返就是多少次,不但不同情,还说我故意装死耍赖。
Wang Yuanqing: I many times fell ill skinny, a kind of water sickness. They not only showed no sympathy, but also said that I pretended to die and acted shamelessly.

解传宝:韩健平就说:你的任务完成没有, 他说:韩组长我确实干不了了,我实在这个身体胜任不了了,我没完成。

韩健平说:你完不成任务给我站着。然后,你们来两个把他捆起来。

Xie Chuanbao: The group leader Han Jianping said: “Did you accomplish your task?” He said: “No, I did not, group leader Han, I am really too weak to do it.” Han Jianping said: “ Stand there since you failed, and then, two of you come to have him bound.”

解传宝:他把他捆起来了,那个吊人还不像吊我一样粗暴。是温文尔雅地吊,轻轻吊,慢慢升上去。

Xie Chuanbao: He tied him up, that man was less brutal than the one who tied me, but tied him gently, going up bit by bit.

解传宝:吊上去了以后,他就把头低下来,他说:我对不起了,我实在肚子饿了,我干不动了,我确实完不成任务了,韩组长我向你承认错误了。但韩健平一直不出声不出气。

Xie Chuanbao: When bound up, he lowered his head saying: “ Sorry, I am really hungry and unable to do the job, indeed I can hardly accomplish the task. Leader Han I recognize my mistake to you. But Han said nothing, making no sound. ( 20/7, Mon.)

吴德本:1960年到1961年,我这个浮肿病已经是到了三期了,医生说:你恐怕要成问题了。

Wu Deben: From 1960—1961 was sick with the third stage of dropsy,

and the doctors said that it was serious.

解传宝:尽管扬绍康气息奄奄,表示着要求但没有用, 就这样一直吊,他来了以后就吊了一晚上,不管大家睡觉,到天黑都睡觉了,依然吊在那里。
Xie Chuanbao: Though at his last gasp and appealing, Yang Shaokang
remained lifted up there with a rope for a whole night regardless of everyone’s sleep. His entreaty was useless.

王家有:人得浮肿病的那个村子,要在百分之三十左右。

Wang Jiayou: In the village of dropsy, about 30% people had the illness.

刘家强:肿的不行,一个医院都满啦。
Liu Jiaqiang: So severe, that a hospital was filled with dropsy patients.

胡同增:不准你说这是营养不良性浮肿,只能说浮肿病。

Hu Tongzeng: We were not allowed to say that the sickness was the result

of malnutrition, just to say it was dropsy.

王家有:也没有什么医疗技术,一整就死了。

Wang Jiayou: No medical skill, patients often died after treatment.

胡同增:实际上这就是外行有词。浮肿是一种症状,它不是个病。

Hu Tongzeng: In fact it was the laymen’s sophistry. Dropsy is just a

symptom, not illness.

解传宝:第二天我们带着疑问,吃饭的时候,我就问董克让:那个

绍康呢?(董克让说)他送到昆明去疗养了,说是送到昆明疗养去了。

Xie Chuanbao: At a meal the next day, with suspicion we asked Dong

Kerang about Yang Shaokang. Dong said that he was sent to Kunming

(capital of Yunnan) for recuperation.

吴德本:我这个浮肿病,后来我自己思想上很愉快,我死了也就算了。

Wu Deben: Later I got relaxed about my dropsy---it would be ok to die.

胡同增:几乎天天死人。

Hu Tongzeng: There was death almost everyday.

张路:我以为我是离不开农场了,活不出农场啦。

Zhang Lu: I thought I was unable to leave the farm alive.

胡同增:那时候浮肿病不仅仅在农场,在四周围的寨子里边那就铺开了。

Hu Tongzeng: Dropsy then was not just in the farm, nearly everywhere in the stockade villages.

冯永琪:她叫陈少春是个女同志,她养猪,因为她的身体很瘦小,别人就说:你养猪的时候你可以偷吃猪食嘛。你怎么也饿成这样子了。
Feng Yongqi: She is called Chen Shaochun, raising pigs. Seeing her so

thin, some people said: “How come, you are hungry to such a state?! You

could steal pig’s food since you raise them.”

李泽衡:蛆,厕所里面的蛆,也有人捞出来吃嘛。

Li Zeheng: Some people even took out maggot from toilet for food.

冯永琪:她一边吃一边哭,作为南风合唱团的指挥,当时在云南地下学生运动非常活跃的时候,她是非常活跃的一名女将。指挥大家大合唱很有水平,怎么我在这没有吃的,我要偷猪食吃啊。

Feng Yongqi: She (Chen Shaochun) was crying while eating. As conductor of Nanfeng Chorus she was very active in the students’ underground movement and quite competent in conducting. She thought how she had come to eat pigs’ food to satisfy hunger ?!

胡同增:于是就派我和另外一个护士管浮肿病房。
Hu Tongzeng: Thus a nurse and I were appointed to manage the ward for

dropsy patients.

王元庆:他是天主教徒、是上海震旦(毕业)的,对我们这些人,他冒风险救助人救助了不少。
Wang Qingyuan: He was a Catholic, graduated from Shanghai Zendan

Medical College. At his own risk he rescued many people.

胡同增:我们俩个人管了300多病人,

Hu Tongzeng: We two were in charge of more than 300 patients.

王元庆:我这条命是他就救出来的

Wang Yuanqing: My life was saved by him.

赵汉科:这个李宏头一天,我们一个班的。睡在床上起不来了。(他说)班长我看了病一定好好干。

Zhao Hanke: Li Hong and I were in one class. On the first day, lying in

bed, he was unable to get up, saying: “ Monitor, I will work hard after

seeing a doctor.”

胡同增:有一个姓江的老头也病了,但不太重。他作为清洁工天天去埋死人。
Hu Tongzeng: An old man named Jiang also fell ill, but not serious. As a

cleaner, he had to bury the dead everyday.

赵汉科:抬出来后,人轻的,我们就已经是体重够轻的了,他一床毯子,我们就拿手拎着四个角走,就是一副骨头架子。
Zhao Hanke: When carried out, the body was very light, though we were
already quite light. In a blanket, he was just a skeleton. We walked
carrying the four corners of the blanket.

王元庆:我在医院住着,亲手就埋过三个人。

Wang Qingyuan: Living in hospital, I myself buried three bodies.

胡同增:这个老头子就拉个小推车,摆一把锄头,就推到算农场的公墓吧,叫小吊井。一片荒山坡,就到那去埋。老头子没有劳动力,所以他那个坑根本也挖不深。浅浅地挖了,能把土盖上去就算了,结果晚上狼就来了。

过了几天你从那经过时,这所谓的坟都被狼扒了,那个人骨头东一个

西一个,特别是那骷髅头,骷髅头没有多少肉,那狼都根本不吃。

Hu Tongzeng: The old man pulled a wheelbarrow with a hoe in it to the kind of cemetery of the farm, named Xiaodiaojing, a tract of waste mountain side for burial. With little labor force, the pitches he dup up were quite shallow, just deep enough to put some dirt on the bodies. Wolves came at night and a few days later the so-called graves were pushed aside with human bones here and there, especially the death’s heads were so lack of flesh that wolves did not bother to touch.

解传宝:到了一个月右左。我到小吊井去产草皮烧火的,我就发现杨绍康之位。有一个小牌牌东倒西歪地在那个土堆旁边。只见一 个大腿棒骨,骨头大个大个的在周围,已经肉都没有了。

Xie Chuanbao: In about a month I went there to shovel shod for fuel and found Yang Shaokang’s bier there. A small tablet was by the mound askew. Only a thigh bone was seen with some other unknown big bones around, no flesh.

司机:下面这个地方就叫小吊井。

Driver: The place down is named Xiaodiaojing.

赵汉科:埋了,过了大概有个七八天,他的家属来了,他爱人,带了两个小孩。我们队长在队部门前坐着,他的爱人领着两个小孩在给他讲什么。队长(喊):赵汉科你过来,我就过去了。我说:干啥?他拎了一个烂板板,啪!往我身上一摔:他说 你给他写!我莫名其妙,我说:写什么?写:右派分子李宏之墓。
Zhao Hanke: Buried, in about seven or eight days his family came, his

wife with two small kids. Our team leader was sitting in front of the team

office and the wife with two kids was talking something to him. The team

leader shouted: “ Come over, Zhao Hanke!” I went up asking for what.

Carrying a rotten board, “pa”, he threw it at me with the words: “Write

for him. Puzzled, I asked “write what?” “Write: rightist Li Hong’s grave.”

司机: 这个地方我很少来了。就把车停在这。这个地方,这一片就叫小吊井。

Driver: Seldom did I come here. Let me park the vehicle here. This tract

of place is called Xiaodiaojing.

解传宝:我心里头感觉“咯噔”一下。哦,杨绍康怪不得是到这来疗养呢。到土堆里疗养呢。
Xie Chuanbao: I felt a pang. Oh, no wonder Yang Shaokang got here for

recuperation, recuperating in the mound!

司机:这面就是埋人的地方,很多坏分子死了就埋在那。找不到的话,最多就是

小土坡。

Driver: This side was the burial, many bad elements were buried here after death. If unable to find, go the mound, at most.

解传宝:两个老人已经老了,就是靠我们来供给他们的生活给点钱。62年浮肿,饿死的,生生地饿死的,肿的就像我偷花生吃,把腿打的走都走不动。妈妈还活过来了,爸爸死掉了,爸爸是劳动人民。1962年大饥荒还没过去呢。

Xie Chuanbao: In advanced age, the two old men were relying on us to give them a bit money for living. They caught dropsy in 1962 and died totally of hunger. They were as swollen as I was when stealing peanuts. Beaten on the legs, they could not walk. The mother survived but the father died. The father was a laboring man. The great famine was not passed in 1962.

李泽衡:(原右派 华侨)我当时还是借机会想跑的,我利用接受我父亲的财产,那我要去了就不回来了。这不是我不爱国,是因为在那里受苦太沉重了。

Li Zeheng (former rightist, an overseas Chinese) I wished to escape of

any opportunities, taking advantage of accepting my father’s property. If I

had gone, I would not have returned. It was not that I did not love my

country, but that I suffered too much there. (21/7, Tue.)

小标题 配偶·符號
Subtitle Spouse---Mark

结婚证 毛主席语录:千万不要忘记阶级斗争

Marriage Certificate Quotation of Chairman Mao’s Works: “Never forget about the class struggle.”

李泽衡:大多数人已经改造若干年了,摘帽子的人也有没摘帽子的人也有。但是要找老婆那是困难的很。

Li Zeheng: Most of the people were already remolded for some years with labels removed or not, but it was rather hard to find a wife.

解传宝:我已经心灰意冷了对这个问题,我是抱着孤寂一生了。但是我这个老岳父比较好,他说:我看重你这个人,你是本本分分的,不管他们说你是反革命、你是什么右派,这些东西我不清楚,但是我看中了你这个人。我的老岳父是当地明以则(村)的老农,是贫下中农。当时他50来岁。我已经35岁了。就是1967年接近新年前,她答应了,67年在大红坡队,通过吴应和队长的同意。我们写了申请,双方面写了申请,他们明以则队也表示同意,然后我们就把申请汇同起来,我们就拿到场部,征得场部保卫科的同意,同意结婚了,我们才敢取结婚证。
Xie Chuanbao: Already downhearted to that problem, I got ready to

remain single all my life. But my father-in-law was quite good, he said:

“ I regard as important you person, you are honest. Whatever they say:

you are counter-revolutionary, you are rightist…I do not quite know such

things, but I do set story by your quality.” My aged father-in-law is an old

peasant in the local Minyize village, a lower-middle peasant. He was in

his 50’s then while I was 35. It was close to the new year of 1967, she

agreed. In Dahongpo production team, with the approval of the team

leader Wu Yinghe, we both wrote application for marriage, and the whole

team agreed. We handed our application to the security section. With their

final approval, we dared get the marriage certificate.

解传宝:我们是67年结婚,到70年我们才生老大,隔了一年又生老二,又隔了两年又生老三。
Xie Chuanbao: We got married in 1967 but had the first child in

1970, in every other year we had the second and the third children.

问: 这就是去加拿大的大女儿吧,(音乐)

Question: This is the older daughter who is in Canada? (music)

解传宝:就是这个,对,隔了两年又生老四。老四现在32岁。
Xie Chuanbao: Yes, it is. In another two years we had the fourth who is
now 32 years old.

孙梓川:你看,这个是中国人民志愿军,这是1952年我入朝的照片。这是我当时当志愿军的时候。(中国人民志愿军胸牌)

Sun Zichuan: Look, this is a Chinese People’s Volunteer solder, it is a picture taken in 1952 when I entered North Korea.( a badge of a C.P.V solder)

解传宝:我们这一号人就挂着牌牌,那个牌牌就像这么大,就像解放军的胸章。是由自己做,就是反映你是什么人,把它写在上面。我当时是右派,我就写右派在这里。其他是坏分子就写坏分子,就像这样。

Xie Chuanbao: People like us wore a plate, as big as Liberation Army’s

chest badge, made by ourselves, indicating what we were with

words on it. As a rightist then, I wrote “rightist” on it. A bad element

should give that name on the plate, just like this.

孙梓川:这是华北解放纪念章,华北的,这是最早的一个了。这个是淮海战役纪念章,这个是渡江纪念章,因为天不亮,是黑的。这个是中南战役纪念章,这个是西南进军纪念章,这个是抗美援朝胜利纪念章。这个是抗美援朝第三年慰问团赠送,这个是比较特殊,这个是在淮海战役胜利纪念章,是我一个战友在临终之前,拿给我,他说作个纪念给你,他在淮海战役中牺牲掉了。所以我就特别爱护它。
Sun Zichuan: This is a souvenir badge of Huabei Area, the earliest one.
And this is the souvenir badge of Huaihai Battle, while that is the badge
of crossing the Yangzi River, it is black for it was dark. This is South
China souvenir badge and that is the one marching into Southwest of
China. This is the souvenir badge of the victory in the War to Resist the
U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, presented by the group sent to convey

greetings and appreciation in the 3rd year of the war, a more special. This is the souvenir badge of the victory in Huaihai Battle, trusted by a comrade-in-arms before his death. He said it was for memory, so I have taken great care of the badge.

汪作民:1962年过去就“四清”。1963、1964、1965、1966到文化大革命了。

(唱) 敬爱的毛主席,我们心中的红太阳,

Wang Zuomin: After 1962, the movement of Siqing (four clean-ups)

came. With the years of 1963,64,65 passing, the Cultural Revolution in

1966 arrived.(singing: Beloved Chairman, the red sun in our heart…)

(Note: four clean-ups was the socialist education movement, a nationwide

movement to clean things up in the fields of politics, economy,

organization and ideology, 1963—1966)

(解说)毛泽东同志是当代最伟大的马克思列宁主义者,毛泽东同志

天才的创造性的全面的,继承捍卫和发展了马克思主义。

(explanation) Comrade Mao Zedong is the greatest Marxist, he’s

comprehensively carried on, defended and developed Marxism with

genius and creation.

汪作民: 文革开始以后,按照当时的规定,地富反坏右是不能参加文革运动的。

Wang Zuomin: At the beginning of the C.R., according to the then

stipulation, landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad

elements and rightists were not permitted to take part in the movement of

Cultural Revolution.

解传宝:管得非常严那个时候,我们严到什么程度呢?到了任何地方就要三人同行。
Xie Chuanbao: In the period of strict discipline, how strict? Wherever we
went, we had to go in three.

汪作民:农场在管理方面也提出一些要求,提出五个字:服、学、拥、监、新。

服,就是划成右派要口服心服。学,就是马列主义毛泽东思想。拥,拥护共产党拥护毛主席。监,就是互相监督。新,就是重新改造。
Wang Zuomin: The farm gave some requirements in its management with

five words: ‘convince’, ‘study’, ‘support’, ‘supervision’ and ‘new’ The

1st was to be sincerely convinced of getting the label of rightist; the 2nd

was to study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought; the 3rd was to

support C.P. and Chairman Mao; the 4th was to do mutual supervision; the

5th was to transform one’s world outlook.

孙梓川:有一天我莫名其妙地就把我拉去要我交代。交代什么我也不知道
Sun Zichuan: One day I was inexplicably got to confess something that I
had totally no idea.

解传宝:过去说:三人行必有我师,那个时候三人行互相监督。

Xie Chuanbao: It said in the past that walking with two people you would certainly find a teacher for you. But in that period it was: walking with two people you must supervise one another.

孙梓川:他们就动手打我,打我我也不敢还手,叫我跪下,我就跪着,后来还叫我交代,可我没有什么好交代的,我也没有犯什么错误。

Sun Zichuan: They hit me free and I dared not fight back. I had to kneel

when told. And they made me confess the crime I never committed.

解传宝:你哪个说上一句什么话,只要三人为证,听着就会给领导反映。
Xie chuanbao: Whoever said anything that three people could prove,
they would report to the leaders.

孙梓川:后来他们把我吊在门上头,脚下坠了个大土基。坠着。
Sun Zichuan: Later they hanged me up to the door with a big pack of dirt

so as to let me suspended.

解传宝:他说了什么反动的话,有什么抵触情绪,对监督改造不满。
Xie Chuanbao: What reactionary words he said, what resentment he had

and what dissatisfaction he had to transform under surveillance.

孙梓川:最后呢,交代什么我也不知道,他们也不知道让我交代什么,就这样不了了之。

Sun Zichuan: In the end, I knew nothing to confess and they themselves did not know either what I should confess, thus, it ended up with nothing definite.

汪作民:文化大革命不但革我们的命, 他们农场干部互相之间也革命了, 他们出现两派了,场部的干部你斗我我斗你,那个大字报铺天盖地。
Wang Zuomin: The C.R. not only revolutionized us but also made the

cadres in the farm revolutionize each other---they separated into two

factions fighting one another, big-character posters being all over the

place.

刘加强:当时一下子来了,说我父亲是特务。

Liu Jiaqiang: Suddenly they said that my father was a spy.

钟履鸿:我们属于当官的,批过来,斗过去。游街,带高帽子。
Zhong Luhong: We were sort of officials with being criticized this way
or that way---paraded through the streets with a high hat.

刘加强:所以我就不跟父亲讲话,家都不回。

Liu Jiaqiang: So I did not talk to my father and even did not go home.

1:00

One o’clock

问: 为什么要整你呢?
Question: For what did they take you as the target of criticism and attack?

钟履鸿:走资本主义道路的当权派。

Zhong Luhong: I was accused of a person in power taking capitalist road.

问: 你走资本主义道路了吗?
Question: Did you take capitalist road?

钟履鸿:哪个知道资本主义道路怎么走?
Zhong Luhong: Who should have known how to take the capitalist road?

汪作民:人家开会你干什么呢?还得喊你干活,汪作民你出工拿着这个,等于多了个负担。扛个锄头还提个这个东西。当时要写,凡是反动的东西,你不打他就不倒,每天换,这牌子是原始的。
Wang Zuomin: What were we doing while others were having a

meeting? We were made to do the labor. “Wang Zuomin, you must take

this (plate) which was actually a burden---carrying a hoe, I had to take

that thing. It was required to write: “All the reactionary things must be

attacked, otherwise they will never be overthrown.” (Mao’s words) The

plate we had to carry were changed everyday.

赵汉科:我不行就抓阶级斗争。生产干好了是阶级斗争抓的好,生产干坏了是阶级敌人破坏。
Zhao Hanke: Being incapable in leading production, I had to take the
charge of grassing class struggle. When production was good, it was
owed to an effective grasp of class struggle; when production got poor, it
was considered that the class enemy’s sabotage.

Friday, October 02, 2009


"Sensationally rebuffed..."
"astonishing rebuff..."

Those are the terms Reuters, the most staid of the news reporting organizations, used to describe the effect on President Obama after Chicago's first round elimination to host the 2016 Olympic games.

Dramatically--and inexplicably--the president flew to Denmark to lobby the International Olympic Committee in person, becoming the first American president to do so. Here's hoping, and betting, he's the last, for as Reuters also accurately reported the president thereby put his international "personal and political prestige" on the line. And lost whatever he had put.

Forty years ago President Richard Nixon, a college football fan, personally weighed in on a controversy involving the number one team in the land. Nixon said it was Texas, and thereby earned himself the temporary enmity of the entire state of Pennsylvania and the eternal enmity of Joe Paterno, the coach of the "other" undefeated team that year, Penn State. It was an unnecessary blunder. And from a president capable of so much greater blunders.

At least Nixon kept his sports blundering at home.

The world is a challenging enough place for an American president, with abundant enough opportunities for sensational, astonishing rebuffs to put presidential prestige in service to sports.

This is Public Occurrences.


A Million Drops of Blood: The Personal Story of Wang Yi.


I hated the China I grew up in, but I am not sure I like it better now.

My parents passed away during the Cultural Revolution. My father was a business man in Shanghai making silk. During the1950s, the communists took over his factories and merged them together with other companies and it became one of Shanghai's national manufacturing companies and is still located on the Wangpo River. I am afraid the communists have now privatized it like many other industries and it is, most probably, in the hands of the communist officials.

Late one night in March 1976 when the Red Guards came to my parents' house to arrest me, I happened to be on the balcony, seeing them knocking the door. I escaped by the way of the neighbor's balcony which was connected to mine. Without thinking, I ran away from Shanghai by train to Hangzhou, where I had a good friend. When I got there, I realized I shouldn't go to my friend's place because it was very possible I might get him in trouble by providing the Red Guards with an excuse to snowball the fabricated case. I spent the night at the railroad station -- not daring to go to hotels in fear of causing suspicion. I wandered around the city for a whole day and decided to go back to Shanghai.

Back in Shanghai I couldn't go to my parents' or any of my sisters' houses because they searched their houses, too. I spent the second night in the street in Shanghai, seeing all kinds of homeless, persecuted people huddling in street corners.

The third day I went to one of my high school classmates. He tried to hide me in the house, but when his parents knew the real reason of my visit, they were scared. I told him I'd rather leave. He was very nice and took me to his good friend who lived by himself and asked him the favor of letting me stay temporarily. He agreed. They asked me what I was going to do with myself. I told them I didn't want to be caught or tortured by the Red Guards and I asked them to buy a train ticket for me to Qingtao, a beautiful coastal resort city in Shangtong Province.

It was risky for me to go to the ticket office to do it by myself. They knew I didn't have any connections in that city and asked why Qingtao. I gave them a bitter smile and they realized I planned to die there. My friend pretended to purchase the ticket for me but instead went to bring my sisters to me. Both my sisters cried when they saw me and said "You can't just go to die." I said I'd rather go to jail than fall into the hands of Red Guards. They said there was nowhere I could go. "Why don't you just turned yourself in to the police station telling them you have made some bad political jokes?" Eventually I agreed to go to the police station. By them I hadn't had sleep for three nights. The next morning I was told that I would be switched back to the Red Guards of my college.Then my Ordeal began.

Thursday, October 01, 2009


Sixty years ago today Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People's Republic of China from atop a gate at the entrance to the Forbidden City.

Thirty million Chinese were to die in Mao's crackpot Great Leap Forward from 1958-61.

Three million were to die during his Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of 1966-76.

And the most continuously great of the world's civilizations was to continue to degrade the best in the human soul rather than enhance it.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: The Anthropology of the Cultural Revolution, Liu Shaoqi.


Liu Shaoqi, President of the
People's Republic of China, 1959-1968.


With wife Wang Guangmei as young
revolutionaries.

As Mao's hand-picked successor above, and below.


1959. "Liu Shaoqi saves the peasants."* Visiting
his home province to see for himself the starvation
caused by Mao's Great Leap Forward, the worst
man-made calamity in human history. Thirty
million died. Liu stood up to Mao, the G.L.F. was
halted, and Mao stepped down from day-to-day
rule, ceding authority to Liu who became President.
Mao's hatred of Liu began then. The Cultural
Revolution was Mao's revenge and Liu Shaoqi it's
main target.

1960.

The handsome president, his wife
and a daughter.

Above, the state visit to Indonesia that was to be
the beginning of the end for Liu and Wang. Below,
Wang struggled at Tsinghua University. The string
of ping-pong balls are a mock pearl necklace to
criticize the fashionable form-fitting dress she
wore in Jakarta. Wang would spend twelve
years in prison.




Liu, surrounded by rabid Red Guards waving
Little Red Books outside his residence in Zhongnanhai.
Moments later he was knocked to the ground.

1969. The official death photograph. Liu was
imprisoned, tortured, and denied medication
and treatment. His family was not notified of
his death for three years.

1980. Posthumous rehabilitation and a state funeral.


Widow Wang Guangmei formally receiving
Liu Shaoqi's ashbox.

"It was glorious to beat
people to death at that
time. So I exaggerated
and said that I had
beaten three people
to death."**

-Liu Tingting, one of
Liu Shaoqi's daughters,
to a classmate in 1967 on
rumors that she had killed
people in "Red August."
Pictured above in Morning
Sun.

Now as Liu Ting, the beautiful successful capitalist
with an apartment on Park Avenue in New York City.


The woman in the fashionable scarf second from
right is identified as Liu Ting in the caption to
this photograph as it appears on the internet.
I am not sure however. The woman is a daughter
of Liu Shaoqi but it may not be Ting. At far left
is Wang Guangmei, Liu Shaoqi's wife. To her left
is former P.R.C. president Jiang Zemin. The
occasion was the fiftieth anniversary celebration
of the founding of the People's Republic.


*Jasper Becker, Hungry Ghosts.

** Liu Tingting also attended the Girls Middle School Attached to Beijing Normal University where Bian Zhongyun was the assistant principal. She was only fourteen years old at the time and was one of those who struck Teacher Bian. She was only recognized because of her famous father and did not play a significant role in the beating of Bian. See posts here August 5, 2007, January 6, 2008.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: Photographs of Song Binbin.

A 1984 family photograph. Song Binbin at left in back row in gray sweatshirt. She was now living in the United States. She looks softer and more human here.


Below,Song Renqiong with Deng Xiaoping, who
rehabilitated him.

Song Renqiong in the photo displayed
at his memorial service.



Monday, September 28, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: Song Renqiong

Former president Jiang Zemin.

President Hu Jintao.

Friday night Carmen and I were laying in bed. She was doing something sensible, reading a book; I was searching Google and Baidu for images and articles on Song Binbin. I saw the thumbnail of the man being struggled that was posted in the previous article. I couldn't make the man's face out very well in the thumbnail but the whole image had a different look to it so I clicked on it and was taken to the tianya.cn webpage. As I scrolled down and saw the the photographs I nudged Carmen. "Look at what they did," turning my laptop toward her. The captions were in Chinese but I recognized the photographs from the "Four Olds" campaign to destroy "old" customs, habits, culture and thinking. Photo after photo showed Red Guards destroying ancient shrines, pulling down statues of Buddha, smashing the archways of old Beijing, burning books, carrying old furniture out of looted residences.

Half-way down the page the theme changed to the struggle sessions and I saw the photograph of the man that I had clicked on.

"Look at this man's face," I said to Carmen.

"Hmm," as I took in the anguish. "That's one of the most powerful pictures of the struggle sessions I've seen."

I continued to look closely at the face.

"I think that's Song Binbin's father," I said to Carmen when I realized.

"No," she said, not knowing but disbelieving that he had been struggled.

"I think it is. I remember the pictures of him at his funeral."

I got out of bed and took the laptop into the kitchen. I highlighted the caption and copied and pasted it on Google-translate: "Song Ronqiong."

One cannot have a heart and be unaffected by that photograph of General Song. I felt bad, guilty-bad, the first time I've felt anything like that when thinking of Song Binbin. Her dad was struggled, and she was the worldwide face of the Red Guards who had humiliated and abused him. I also felt stupid (a more familiar feeling) because I had not known before that he had been struggled. The whole thing put a more human face on that worldwide face of the Red Guards, and made me question my efforts to hold her accountable.

Song Binbin does not photograph well. Even her schoolgirl picture reinforced what I thought I knew about her. Maybe I have just become too prejudiced from years of seeing only one thing, thinking only one thing about her, but to me, that schoolgirl picture looks like a mugshot. That face is the face of amorality. I don't see anything behind those black eyes, no soul, no goodness. I can see clearly in that photograph of the pig-tailed schoolgirl the monstrous Red Guard she was to become.

The photographs of Song Binbin taken at her father's funeral were first published in an English-language publication in Public Occurrences. I still feel disgust looking at her in those photos. She stands too erect in the photograph with Jiang Zemin. It's the haughty posture of the elite. Her sister leans forward slightly, her hand on her mother's wheelchair. She looks like she hurts. Binbin stands erect with her hands folded in front of her. If she and the military guard changed clothes I'm not sure I could tell which one had just lost a father. Neither do I see much more feeling in Binbin's face than in the face of that military statue. Binbin's sister though wears weariness on her face.

In the photo with Hu Jintao, Binbin bends slightly forward as Hu warmly grasps her mother's hand with both of his. He embraces her hands. There is a look of real sympathy in his face.

But look at Binbin's face. She's looking at Hu, she seems to be saying something to him, but she looks stern or offended, like she's a school teacher scolding a schoolboy. I don't see the hurt of a father's death there. Another sister looks down at the floor, sorrowfully contemplative. In Binbin I see the pride in a family so important that the President and former President of the nation come to pay their respects.

But now I imagine Song Binbin's immense pain. That could produce her absurd denial of everything, the absurd denial that Carma Hinton allowed the world to see in Morning Sun. It caused outrage in China and in the diaspora. I read recently that Song is deeply concerned to shield her family from more embarrassment caused by her past. But then she does things like putting together the most elaborate presentation package of any of the women name "Distinguished Alumna" at the Girls Middle School for its anniversary celebration. And proudly including the picture of her pinning Mao.

Maybe she just has a tin ear for public relations. Or maybe she's just the arrogant, soulless person that I always imagined her to be. But that photograph of her father made me wonder for the first time which it is.
...

Wait, wait, wait. No, now that I've had a day to think about it, my sympathy above is misplaced. I'm blaming it on too little sleep. That woman hid her face and told the world in Morning Sun that she had "just happened" to be on the rostrum with Mao on August 18, and that she was pushed forward by friends too skittish to offer Mao a Red Guard armband themselves. And that "Song Yaowu" was an invention of the press. Okay, okay. LOOK. I was a little tired when I wrote the above, OKAY. I wasn't thinking right. It won't happen again.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: The Anthropology of the Cultural Revolution.

General Song Renqiong struggled by Red Guards in 1967.


His daughter, Song Binbin, pinning a Red Guard armband onto Mao Zedong in 1966.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: The Anthropology of the Cultural Revolution.

The man being struggled in the cover photo was a general, below in uniform.

To Mao's immediate left inside the Great Hall of the People in 1963.

In the first phase of the Cultural Revolution only students from reliable "red families" such as Song Binbin could become Red Guards and only Red Guards could do violence. The Red Guards targets were others--students, workers, and adults--from "black families," who were, or whose families were thought to be, petty capitalists, members of the bourgeoisie, or of less faithful political loyalty.

In the second phase the thinking changed. The true followers of Mao Zedong were those from peasant and worker families. Their targets became the elites and those from the elite red families who had been the original Red Guards. Thus, even an army general like this man could, in the space of a few years go from being photographed with Mao to being photographed as the object of a struggle session.

Friday, September 25, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: The Anthropology of the Cultural Revolution.

The "cover" photograph above is taken from http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/free/1/1640751.shtml which has a superb collection on the destruction and violence of the Cultural Revolution. This man's face shows the terror and bewilderment that characterized the period.

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

Above a photo, new to me, of Song Binbin at the Girls Middle School Attached to Beijing Normal University.

Song, in glasses over Mao's left shoulder. The man to Mao's left is Defense Minister Lin Biao. I had not seen this photo previously.

In China or U.S.?


In U.S.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: The Pain of the Cultural Revolution.

In response to my follow-up email asking if I could speak to him on the phone about his experience:

Hi, Ben:
For around 40 years since our persecution during the cutural revolution, my wife and I have never talked for once about our experiences then. It is too traumatic to stir up the memories. She prefers forgetting about it and doesn't want to do anything, which I understand. Therefore, she doesn't know about what I did with [a civil rights organization], [an American politician], and now you. If you give me your phone number, maybe I can call you late at night in my bedroom. That means after 11:30 PM if you don't mind.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

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."

Monday, September 21, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence

I received the following email today. It is edited to protect the author's identity.

There are thousands and thousands of former Red Guards living in America today. They have gotten educated here, raised families here, grown wealthy here. And left their pasts behind here. They have never been held accountable, and there are those, like Carma Hinton* and Weili Ye** who shield them.

Some of the people hurt by the violence forty years ago in China live in America too, alongside those who committed violence, and their long ago pain is revisited upon them.

*March 19, 2007, August 5, 2007.

**March 14, 2007.

Dear Mr. Ben Harris:



I am a faculty member of [deleted]. I appreciate very much your work of chasing the criminals of China's Cultural Revolution.

I was a college student [deleted] when the Cultural Revolution began. It was a havoc. I witnessed red guards beating and torturing innocent people, especially professors. Unfortunately, many of the torturers and killers got away with their crimes. In 1967...[I was] beaten and tortured.

One of my friends [deleted] was put in solitary confinement and under the so-called" investigation." Later, he escaped from the confinement and committed suicide by[deleted].

The person who should be responsible for his death is [deleted, for now]. He was and is a communist and the chieftain of a red guards group called [deleted]. When the Cultural Revolution was over, I tried to hold him accountable [deleted]. Unfortunately, nothing happened to [deleted]. Based on what I heard, [deleted] had someone up there to protect him. It is said his [relative] was [a high Chinese government official].


Since then [the alleged perpetrator] came to this country and Europe pretty often. He recently retired [deleted]. He has his family here in this country.

About three years ago, I was upset with the situation and considered it was unfair to those who were tortured and died because of him. I wrote [letters]. Nothing happened as could be expected.

I wrote to [an American politician] suggesting that US Immigration and Naturalization Service should stop those criminals of Cultural Revolution from coming to this country like the Nazi criminals. The [American politician] didn't respond except adding my name to his list for his propaganda.

Now it seems the big wigs at DC are only interested in doing business with China now. For that reason, I especially appreciate people like you for what you are doing.



Thank you.

[deleted]

Politics & Justice in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office


Nice Laddie.




























Scott Peterson, murdered wife, dumped body in ocean.

When Rundle reached into the store of legal knowledge she had acquired from People magazine and outted with "Steve Pederson" to demonstrate the mental agility she possessed that enabled her to take a short-cut to a precise understanding of the case, Jose Arrojo, who was sitting to my right, said "Scott Peterson" in a whisper that Rundle couldn't here and that was not directed at me. I quickly glanced at his face to seek meaning. His eyes were wide, his lips barely moved and his cheeks were reddening, prefatory to a full blush and he repeated several more times in the same whisper "Scott Peterson," similar to the tone in which Marlon Brando repeated "The horror. The horror" in Apocalypse Now.

I didn't say anything. After the meeting Arrojo and I walked back to the second floor together and in the hallway I said without looking at him, "Steve Pederson." He didn't reply. He looked straight ahead and kept walking.

I was unfair.

I was wrong.

And I apologize.

To Abraham Laeser, who is smarter than anyone else and who will tell you he is, Molotov home-boy, Molotov. You are a truth-teller.

To Rundle's fiance, formerly known as The First Laddie. From now on, you're Mr. Something.

-David Ranck

Politics & Justice in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office

Steve Pederson, Athletic Director, University of Pittsburgh.


We all have hearts, therefore we all feel ourselves the hurt that Rundle felt in so much greater degree at these insults. Our hearts do not produce only positive feelings like empathy. When we care, the more hurtful we can be. We can feel the exasperation that Laeser and The First Laddie felt, although nothing excuses the public nature of their humiliation of Rundle.

We all have brains which create reason which is indespensable to responsibility which is needed to doing our life's work well. When we don't do our work well because we are irresponsible, others--our bosses, our colleagues, our loved ones--will get exasperated. We know that because we can reason with our brains. And that is what is so inexcusable about Rundle.

She knows (brain+reason=awareness) that:

1. She shouldn't have a "knowledge gap."
2. She should have known that Howard Marbury was one of her chiefs of County Court and not a cop.
3. & etc.

She knows these things. And so it is another part of her character that she willfully chooses not to know. She could educate herself on the law. Instead she takes the lazy way out of relying on her "experts."

She would have known who the hell Howard Marbury was if she had cared. I-f s-h-e h-a-d
c-a-r-e-d. She doesn't.

She doesn't care enough to learn as part of, like, her job who her assistant chief of county court is. She doesn't even care enough about the job that she really holds, that of politician, to avoid the embarrassment of a Detective Marbury Incident. How hard would that have been? So you don't care enough naturally to know who your assistant chief is. Fine. Politicians, that is politicians who use their reasoning power to do their jobs responsibly, study people's names--often with their photographs--precisely to avoid making a fool of themselves, no matter how indifferent they may be to the real work they're supposed to be doing.

No, no, no, Rundle does not get a pass on her actions which result in her humiliation. She has humiliated herself.

The setting:

Rundle's office, two years ago. Jose Arrojo and I are briefing the chief law enforcement officer of Miami-Dade County on a sensitive, high-publicity murder investigation: A man murdered his wife and dumped her body in the ocean. Arrojo and I take turns telling her the facts, one of us speaking, the other adding.

Suddenly, there is a light.

Through those eyes made rheumy by alcohol, from that brain that stubbornly persists in sending calls to action to those vocal chords, suddenly there is a look of knowing in that unknowing face, a self-satisfied half smile confirms it, and she says,

"Ahh, I get it, it's like the Steve Pederson case."

-David Ranck

Saturday, September 19, 2009

China's Great Wall of Silence: The Anthropology of the Cultural Revolution.


Struggle session; "jetplaning."

Bian Zhongyun was the respected assistant principal at the most prestigious girls middle school in Beijing. Among its pupils were the daughters of President Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.

Bian was a wife, mother of four, a good communist, and was well-liked by her students.

Teacher Bian was beaten and tortured for several hours on August 5, 1966 before she collapsed and died. Her tormentors were her female students. Dozens more of Bian's students witnessed her passion and did nothing.

Bian knew that she was going to be murdered at the school by her girls that day, yet she willingly went to work. She had been "struggled" in June of 1966, and again on August 4. That night she washed herself so that her corpse would be clean. When she left her flat the morning of August 5 she and her husband, Wang Jinyao, shook hands in farewell. Wang watched as she walked to the school, turning back only when Bian disappeared around a corner.

The "Beijing, November 2008" articles here examined the individual behavior of the above actors--Bian herself, her husband, the perpetrators, and the student onlookers--in the peculiar context of Beijing that summer.

The present series will focus on just one aspect of that context but consider it in a broader swath of Chinese history and culture.

Bian Zhongyun had been beaten on two occasions prior to August 5, as mentioned above. However Chinese use the word "struggled" instead of beaten and "struggle sessions" were ubiquitous during the Cultural Revolution.

The struggle sessions followed a pattern, it may be no exaggeration to think of them as ritualized. They were public occurrences where the victim was abused before an audience. Struggle sessions were sometimes held in stadia with tens of thousands of onlookers--doing nothing to help, certainly--hurling invective and missiles if anything. The victim often had ink splashed on his or her face, the hair was often cut, signs were hung around the neck. The head was always forced up so that the face was visible. The victim was held by the leaders of the struggle session in a specific manner. The arms were drawn behind the back and painfully upward. A new term, "jetplaning" was created for this action.

One man's struggle session was set for a specific day and time. The man walked up to the entrance to the arena. The audience was already inside. Hot-blooded guards demanded to know what he wanted. The man asked if a struggle session was not about to occur. The guards barked affirmation. And isn't so-and-so being struggled today? YES, what of it? Well, I am Mr. so-and-so, you can't have the struggle session without me, can you?

The man had casually walked to the place of his beating to receive his beating. Bian knowingly walked to her death. Liu Shaoqi walked out of his quarters in Zhongnanhai and into a mob of Red Guards who pelted him to the ground with their Little Red Books. It is not to minimize the suffering of those struggled to, in these circumstances, consider objectively whether the word "victim" is an appropriate term here.

Signs around the neck, heads shorn, ink splashed on faces, jetplaning, mass audiences--no, no, no, there is something more going on here than individual violence and individual culpability.

The Cultural Revolution has been written about from the political perspective, from the historical perspective, the legal, the philosophical, and from the perspective of the arts; it has been written about in first-person memoirs, and in the case-study method, but it is still very early in Cultural Revolution scholarship. I suggest considering the behavior of Chinese during the Cultural Revolution from a consciously anthropological perspective.