Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader (42 page)

Read Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader Online

Authors: Geremie Barme

Tags: #History, #Asia, #China, #Literary Criticism, #Asian, #Chinese, #Political Science, #Political Ideologies, #Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism, #World, #General, #test

BOOK: Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader
5.84Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

 

Page 127
Ah China! My beloved China!
You need fresh blood, air,
Wind, rain, sun;
You need to change your putrid soil!
Ah China! do not fear
   jeans, long hair,
   Taiwanese love-songs
   Indian love ballads;
Fear the specter from within the ancient fortress,
Prowling our land.
Notes
1. These words were placed by William Shirer at the beginning of his classic study of Nazism,
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,
the translation of which has been very popular with Chinese readers. They also stand at the entrance to the Dachau concentration camp museum.
2. These gods of War, Pity and Longevity are Guan Gong, Guanyin and Laoshouxing, traditionally worshipped throughout China. During the original Mao Cult, Mao as martial figure, as the leader who served the people and as the symbol of Chinese strength and continuity, subsumed or was subsumed by all three gods.
3. Lei Feng, the Party's model martyr, spoke of wanting to be but a screw in the machinery of the revolution. He was extolled for what was called his "screw spirit" (
luosiding jingshen
).
4. The
sanzuo dashan
of feudalism, imperialism and bureaucrat-capitalism.

 

Page 128
Documenting the Demise:
Central Department of Propaganda
Mao Zedong's official fall from grace was a gradual process that unfolded during secretive consultations, Politburo meetings and Party plenums. Its progress was marked, among other things, by the issuing of documents by Party Central and its Department of Propaganda. The Department, with branches at provincial and municipal level throughout the nation, was in charge of the implementation of Party rulings on Mao.
These communicationsdroning documents that reveal the gimlet eye to detail beloved by all bureaucratswere issued secretly (or "internally"). However, in terms of their practical impactthe removal of slogans, books, statues, and so onthey limned the public face of de-Maoification.
The following Department of Propaganda documents are taken from a four-volume restricted-circulation selection of materials published by the CPC Central Party School in 1994.
Central Department of Propaganda Circular on not using Bold Type to Print Quotations from Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Chairman Mao in Newspapers, Periodicals, Books, and Documents in the Future (23 March 1978)
Bold type had been employed for quotations from Mao and the Marxist classics during the Cultural Revolution. Deployed very much in the way some po-mo academics use quotes from French philosophers and theoreticians, bold quotes from the works of leaders deified in the Party pantheon prefaced books, magazines, and were scattered throughout news stories, articles and reports, thereby adding validity and authority to the texts they decorated. The elimination of bold-font quotes was a major break with CultRev-style propaganda.
In accordance with a directive from Party Central, bold type is no longer

 

Page 129
to be used when citing quotations from Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Chairman Mao in newspapers, periodicals, books and documents.
Central Department of Propaganda Request for Instructions Concerning the Disposal of Extant Objects Related to "Loyalty" (28 July 1978)
(This document has been approved by the Centre)
"Loyalty"
(zhong)
is a code word for all matters related to the personality cult of Mao Zedong that thrived during the early years of the Cultural Revolution.
According to a report received from the General Political Department [of the People's Liberation Army] dated 19 July, during the course of clearing out its warehouses the Army has come across large stocks of objects related to "loyalty." These include [Mao] statues made of aluminum, plaster of paris, porcelain and other materials, as well as badges. According to incomplete statistics from five departments in the Kunming Military Region alone, they have in excess of 2,300 kilograms of Chairman Mao badges, ten metal moulds [for the production of "loyalty" products], 720 plastic statues [of the Chairman], 100 plaster and porcelain statues, 250 portraits on tinplate, 550 on plywood, as well as 6,000 quotation badges made from perspex. Some of these are of inferior quality and the images thereon substandard, others have warped or are soiled, some are half made, and a considerable number of them feature inscriptions by Lin Biao. This is not merely an Army matter, it is a problem that exists throughout the society at large.
In order to dispose appropriately of statues and badges that detract from the glorious image of Our Great Leader and Teacher Chairman Mao, we suggest the following:
1. Units and organizations that have large stores of badges, statues, embroidered images, paintings and quotation badges similar to those described in the above, regardless of whether they are fully- or only partially-complete, should hand them over to their political departments for disposal. All objects that are: i. crudely made and substandard; ii. are warped or damaged; or, iii. marked with inscriptions by Lin Biao, are to be destroyed. The metal, paper and chemical materials remaining should be recycled by local factories. In the case of porcelain and plaster works these should be broken up and buried in suitable locations.
2. The disposal of these statuettes and badges is an extremely serious business. The relevant Party committees involved should strengthen ideo-

 

Page 130
logical and political work during the disposal process and be sure to explain to the workers involved in carrying out this task its objectives and frame of reference so as to avoid any misunderstandings.
If these suggestions are found practicable, we propose to send notification to the Propaganda Department of the General Political Department, as well as to the Departments of Propaganda of all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions for reference and action.
Central Department of Propaganda Circular Concerning the Withdrawal from Circulation of
Quotations from Chairman Mao
(12 February 1979)
A request has recently been received from the State Publishing Bureau inquiring how best to dispose of the huge number of
Quotations from Chairman Mao,
single-sheet quotations of Chairman Mao and portraits of the Chairman with the legends "Long live Chairman Mao" and "Eternal life to Chairman Mao" that exist. It is the Department's considered opinion that:
1.
Quotations from Chairman Mao
was produced by Lin Biao in an attempt to amass political capital. In it Mao Zedong Thought is taken out of context and distorted. Since its publication this book has had a widespread and pernicious influence. To eliminate the impact of Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" the Xinhua and Guoji [International] Bookstores will halt all sales of
Quotations
in Chinese, minority and foreign languages forthwith. All remaining copies, apart from a small number to be kept by provincial Xinhua Bookstores for future use by the relevant organizations, are to be pulped.
Single-sheet quotations from Chairman Mao are to be dealt with in a similar manner and pulped.
2. Our embassies overseas and diplomatic staff, delegations visiting foreign countries and units working with foreigners are no longer to provide copies of
Quotations
in any language. If foreigners request this book they should be provided with
Selected Works of Mao Zedong
or single volumes of Chairman Mao's writings.
As for bookstores run by foreign friends that still have stocks of
Quotations
it is advisable to let them dispose of that stock. We will no longer replenish supplies.
3. Portraits of Chairman Mao which carry outdated legends like "Long live Chairman Mao" and "Eternal life to Chairman Mao," or which are yellowed and damaged, are to be withdrawn from sale and pulped.

Other books

The Marriage Certificate by Stephen Molyneux
The Never War by D.J. MacHale
Cowboy Come Home by Christenberry, Judy
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
Body in the Transept by Jeanne M. Dams
Unacceptable Risk by David Dun
The 6'1" Grinch by Tiffany White
Killerfind by Hopkins, Sharon Woods