Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader (48 page)

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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
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Page 153
nomenon or we look at it in an attempt to understand and explain it, we are all faced with the fact that it has been continually developing and evolving.
We must realize that the younger generation lacks personal experience of Comrade Mao Zedong and his revolutionary achievements. This is not just because, unlike people of my generation, they were not able to engage in revolutionary struggle with Chairman Mao themselves. Nor is it simply because for some time now we have neglected adequate and effective ideological education. More importantly, it is because the miasma of Bourgeois Liberalization, in particular this desire to negate, undermine, and vilify Comrade Mao, has polluted many young minds, infecting them with mistaken ideas, corrupting the facts and leading them to erroneous conclusions. The effects of this have been deleterious in the extreme. Their age and limited experience have made it impossible for younger people to resist this canker. It is only natural, therefore, that for them it is necessary to go through a period of "searching" and "discovery" before they can find the true mien of the Chairman, come to a realization of his historical position and influence, understand his theories, thought, and practice while also appreciating the evaluation of him that is to be found in [the Party Central document] "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China."
6
The number of articles and books written on such subjects in recent years is proof of this search.
The political turbulence of 1989 was followed almost immediately by the setbacks suffered by some socialist nations in Eastern Europe. This was a massive blow that has led to the low tide of the international communist movement. Many people, particularly young people, were deeply shocked and unsettled by these developments. Numbers of our young people found themselves in a state of ideological dysfunction, confusion, and frustration. What is fascinating about this is that these extraordinary events and cruel realities have given them an overwhelming desire to reconsider and explain to themselves what has happened. This historical opportunity has led to the present MaoCraze.
Q: It is quite true to say that faced with the recent complex and unsettling developments both in China and overseas, many young people are questioning everything. There are those who, having found themselves at the crossroads, have undertaken this present journey of discovery.
A: As I have previously said, the majority of young people who have undertaken this journey of discovery have avoided simplistic value judgments and ready-made conclusions. Although our Party produced its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party" way back in 1981,

 

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in which it formulated a correct evaluation of Comrade Mao, it was an evaluation that for quite a period was ignored and even negated by people in their political practice. For the young, who do not have a mature historical perspective, this presented a number of practical problems. This present journey of discovery had its origins in the publication of the memoirs of the Older Revolutionaries as well as booklets based on the recollections of Mao Zedong's staff. The publication of a mass of material like
Mao Zedong's Guard Remembers
and
Mao Zedong Quits the Altar
elicited an enthusiastic response from younger readers and they became best-sellers. This was the first phase of the present MaoCraze.
Quan Yanchi produced a number of books based on interviews with the Chairman's staff which, despite certain deficiencies and controversial points, have served a positive historical function.
7
These firsthand materials contradicted those who were plotting to denigrate the Chairman. He certainly was not a god, but nor was he a heartless "devil." Rather Mao Zedong was a living, breathing man, an all too human man who also happened to be very personable. These books also reveal him to be a man of extraordinary character and intelligence, a revolutionary who selflessly devoted his whole life to the enterprise of the People's Revolution. For example, in the early 1960s, during the years that natural disasters coupled with human error produced a period of hunger among the broad masses,
8
Comrade Mao and his whole family shared the sufferings of the people by refusing to eat meat. Their diet was so bad that they developed dropsy. Such facts have deeply moved millions of readers. For the majority of Chinese this was a real "discovery." Such facts have confounded the efforts of all those people who have tried to depict Comrade Mao as a heartless "emperor."
Q: These works, as well as the films, teleseries, and plays based on them have repeatedly achieved mass popularity and have elicited an unprecedented response from the younger generation. Such films as "The Majestic Kunlun Mountains," "The Founding of the People's Republic," "Mao Zedong and His Sons," "Mao Zedong and the People of His Hometown,'' "A New Beginning" (as well as fictional works like "A Red Ribbon Around the Earth") have presented audiences with a multifaceted and realistic image of Comrade Mao. All of this has certainly had a cumulative effect on the MaoCraze. . . .
Over recent years China has seen many crazes come and go. These include the Freud Craze, the Sartre Craze, and the Modernism Craze. Will the MaoCraze go the same way and simply peter out?
A: There is simply no comparison. Those other theories were the product

 

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of particular phases in the development of capitalist society in the West. They lack a solid basis in Chinese reality. For all the efforts made by some to disseminate these ideas as part of a new fashion, they have failed to take root since they provide no solution to China's historical predicament. The MaoCraze is quite different. Mao Zedong Thought is the product of Chinese social and historical reality. Mao Zedong both lived Chinese history and changed it, and he will continue to influence it. For this reason, the MaoCraze will not disappear with the passing of time or lose its historical power or significance. The study of Comrade Mao Zedong, his age, and his thought is now an eternal element of Chinese history.
Notes
1. For Deng's earlier comments on the Cult, see Deng Liqun, "Zhengque renshi shehuizhuyide maodun, zhangwo chuli maodunde zhudongquan"; and
Deng, "Guanyu Wuchanjieji gemingjia fengfan congshu
bianzhuan gongzuode jidian yijian."
2. The "three belief crisis" (
sanxin weiji
) dating from the early 1980s was: a crisis of belief (
xinren
) in the leadership of the Communist Party; a crisis of belief (
xinxin
) in the socialist system; and a crisis of belief (
xinyang
) in the Communist ideal.
3. See Xin Ming, "Faxian Mao Zedong," pp. 18-21. This article is typical of the exhibitionist fawning of a young apparatchik on the make. Xin Ming's glib use of a few lines of Mao's poetry to formulate a response to major international events is also representative of the hack literati tradition on the Mainland. See also Xin Ming's comments on how the MaoCraze did not constitute a rejection of Reform but rather could help the Party "perfect" its new policies in "Guanyu `Mao Zedongre' de sikao yu tantaoBeijing daxue bufen shisheng zuotanhui fayan,'' pp. 19-35, at p. 27.
4. Mao Zedong, "He Guo Moruo tongzhi,"
Mao zhuxi shici,
p. 173. For this English translation, see "Reply to Comrade Kuo Mo-joa
lü shih,"
17 November 1961, Mao Tsetung,
Poems,
p. 41.
5. Mao Zedong, "Dong yun,"
Mao zhuxi shici,
p. 185; this English translation is taken from Mao Tsetung,
Poems,
p. 45.
6. For some relevant passages from this document, see "The Party on Mao" in this volume.
7. Quan Yanchi (b. 1945), a PLA writer and author of numerous reportage (
jishi wenxue
) studies of Mao's life. For details, see "Mao: the Body Corporate"; and Tian Hao, "Ta shenwenle `lingxiure'."
8. This so-called "period of difficulty" or
kunnan shiqi,
as the Chinese euphemism puts it, was a result of the economic disaster created by Mao's utopian policies in the Great Leap Forward. The "period of hunger" Deng Liqun speaks of left millions dead.

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