Cultural Revolution Special
Hurrah! Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution. "Well, who cares?" I hear you ask. No-one, it seems.
The BBC does, a little, and there's a short series on the anniversary. One of the articles looks at the view of the Cultural Revolution today, and unsurprisingly it's met mostly with indifference, especially by the young. Strange how so many are so keen to laud the '5,000 years of history' yet care so little about the last 50.
Kids these days don't care about Mao, communism or even China. They don't care about all the horror and the pain and sacrifice that has panned out since 1949, though they are quick to condemn Japanese actions from a decade earlier than this.
Some care about only three things: me, me and me:
There is a whole generation here in China who were born after the Cultural Revolution.
Beijing University was a hotbed of activity during the early days of the Cultural Revolution but now students like Vivian and Shirley have other things on their minds.
"Today people aren't very interested in politics" Vivian told me. "They are thinking about other things like their futures and travelling overseas."
Even more ironic when you consider that one of the triggers of the Cultural Revolution was Mao's call to the youth of China to overthrow the Party leadership, saying that it had been infiltrated by bourgeois elements. Much as it is today. Yet in 1989, when the students really did rise up to put the people back into 'The People's Republic', they were mown down with machine guns.
History rewritten as usual. It's one of those contradictions that never fails to baffle me.
Cultural revolution memories fade - also reprinted below.
Cultural Revolution memories fade
By Dan Griffiths
BBC News, Beijing
Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of the start of China's Cultural Revolution.
It began as an attempt by Chairman Mao to tighten his grip on power, but it soon turned to chaos.
Students and workers formed squads of radical Red Guards and went on the rampage. Many died in the ensuing violence and China was left in a state of anarchy for a decade.
So what do people in China think of the Cultural Revolution today?
Every year millions of tourists visit Beijing's Tiananmen Square. They come to look at the swooping golden roofs and red walls of the Forbidden City and to see Chairman Mao's mausoleum.
Watching them at play, it is hard to believe that on the same spot 40 years ago thousands of teenagers stood waving their little red books and swearing undying loyalty to Chairman Mao.
But many here in China live with the memory of those chaotic years every day of their lives.
Just a short walk from Tiananmen Square is Jingshan park. It used to be the emperor's private garden but now it is where some of the city's retired go to sing the old revolutionary songs and do their morning exercises.
There I met writer Dai Qing. During the Cultural Revolution one of her relatives was buried alive by Mao's Red Guards.
"I can never forget what happened then," she said. "No-one can ever forget".
She wants China's ruling Communist Party to have a public inquiry. "Only when we can tell all the stories of that time, without censorship, only then will we know what happened and why it happened," she said.
But she will have to wait a long time. The Cultural Revolution was a disaster for the authorities - a time when they lost control of Chinese society. They have banned any public debate on the era.
And not everyone who lived through the Cultural Revolution wants to re-examine the past.
Take the case of Hao Jiangtian. He is one of the New York Metropolitan Opera's superstars. But he grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution when classical music was considered capitalist and decadent.
His piano teacher was thrown into prison. His musician parents destroyed all their classical records to avoid the same fate, and many of their colleagues committed suicide.
But now it is not the past he wants to talk about but the future. He says that since the Cultural Revolution, millions have started to study music in China and he is playing a key role in helping them develop their talents.
And it is not just Hao Jiangtian who is looking forward.
There is a whole generation here in China who were born after the Cultural Revolution.
Beijing University was a hotbed of activity during the early days of the Cultural Revolution but now students like Vivian and Shirley have other things on their minds.
"Today people aren't very interested in politics" Vivian told me. "They are thinking about other things like their futures and travelling overseas."
Shirley said there could never be another Cultural Revolution now.
"China has opened up to the world and now we are part of the world economy, we don't want collectivism any more, we want individualism."
Vivian and Shirley are part of the new generation in China who want good jobs and a comfortable lifestyle. For them the Cultural Revolution now means very little.
And perhaps that is just what the Communist Party wants. But for Dai Qing and millions of Chinese like her, it is a time they will never forget.
Comments
This reminds me that I'm so used to get bored with my parents "dwelling on" the past. The history requires me to be more patient, isn't it?
Posted by: Alvin | May 17, 2006 10:01 AM
As Bill Clinton said through James Carville, 'It's the economy stupid.'
As long as China grows and the east coast's standard of living increases no one will care about the sins of the past.
But it is important to remember that the Cultural Revolution was brought about by the same government but with different faces.
It can happen again and perhaps might.
Any signficant event in China could trigger a return to the 'old ways.' A New Cultural Revolution is not outside the bounds of thinkable thought.
In today's Chinese Universities students complain about learning too much about the West and not enough about China. 'Why is English so important?' they ask. 'Why don't Americans learn Chinese?'
The CCP has demonstrated time and time again its ability to manipulate popular sentiment on the Japan issue. Is it too hard to believe they could do the same with 'The West?'
If the banking industry fails and China sinks into a deep depression I predict the CCP will call for a return to the ways of the old.
Posted by: dave | May 19, 2006 3:34 PM
It sounds like we were both trying to deal with the same conundrums at the same time in China!
Posted by: rwillmsen | May 25, 2006 9:37 PM