The Great Cultural Revolution
In May of 1966, “The Great Cultural Revolution” started. At the outset, the spearhead was directed at me and “the four kinds of elements,” which included landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries and “bad elements,” plus rightist for a total of five. It was actually “five kinds of elements.”
To begin with, we were put under public surveillance and little movement was allowed. Afterwards, from a high level of the Communist Party an instruction was given. This time it was to uncover persons in authority who it was said, “took the capitalist road.” So, we dead pigs temporarily averted a catastrophe.
Soon afterwards at my place of work many persons in authority were “uncovered.” Many were section chiefs and work directors who had somehow angered the workers beneath them, some wrongly and some rightly. They were all locked in a cowshed. The Secretary of Capital Construction Section named Guo controlled them all and actually worked together with the “five kinds of elements” to uncover other “guilty” people.
Guo was most cruel to feeble men. He always put politics in motion and used the despicable act of drawing in one faction of workers to report and rat-out another. He always framed a case against another. He depended on people turning in and punishing others in order to secure a promotion or to make some money. ?(How he will be more red even more purple, afterwards,)?
He went from being a section secretary to become the director of the political department of our company. With the deepening of the “Great Cultural Revolution”, groups of rebels were often divided in two. Both ends were played against the middle. They ferreted out leaders who the other party wanted to save, guard and protect, leaders who the other party was to ferret.
After time the tension was so great that people had to resort to violence. They held lances made of steel tubes to capture a part of the workshops and living quarters. It was most frightening to see the animal-like glare in their eyes, so much like a tiger eyeing its prey. At this time it constantly happened that people would snatch weapons from troops on duty in various parts of our society. After all even the soldiers must open and close their eyes.
The biggest violence in Xian occurred on the crossroads right near our company. At night on September 1, 1968, two groups of city workers held a decisive battle. They used both firearms and lances. In the early morning of September 2nd, corpses were found everywhere. Ten people had been killed, eight of whom belonged to our company.
As to the whole nation even more had to say, Jiangqing (Mao’s wife) Wang Hong Wen, Zhang Chu Qiao and Yao Wen Yuan (four people’s faction, rode roughshod whom they want to criticize and denounce, want to kill, might kill even if had of state Lu Shao Qi could not make his escape from them .
After this rebel group the spearhead was directed at the “black nine kinds of elements.” So now the persecuted groups increased to nine kinds, including bourgeois elements, etc. This was aimed even more directly at punishing me.
First I was accused of compelling my close friend to become a bad element. Bricklayers struggled against time every night until midnight. They forced him to tell of my words and deeds. One night it was 1 o’clock when he finally reached our living quarters. Suddenly I heard him say in the next room—“Long live Chairman Mao.” I ran out of my room to his room. I got there in time to see my friend, this bricklayer, jumping out of the third floor window. He did not die but was maimed (his back was broken). Fortunately, he was sent to a home in Shanghai to recuperate. The Shanghai neighborhood committee at once kept watch on him and did not ask why. In that time we often were ferreted out by other shops, which were criticizing and denouncing us. At times they would use a brass instrument and put a high cap (dunce cap) to parade us through the streets to expose us before the enemy—the public. Because I have a strong character I always readily confessed my offenses to them so I had to endure untold suffering in that time of numerous parades and humiliation.
Before 1969 at my work unit, three persons had been punished to death. Two of them were an old married couple who were hung by their necks. The third was a graduate from the University at Wuxi in the class of 1952. He had gone to Anshan Iron and Steel Company with us. He had become a close friend of mine. He was beaten to death, but they told lies about how he died. They said that he died from jumping from a fire escape staircase outside of the shop.
Around 2 AM, two people were on duty at the metal processing shop and they heard many footsteps outside. They saw several people drag a man and throw him under the fire escape staircase to make it look like he had jumped to his death. In the morning they told his wife to come to claim his body. After his wife saw his body, she left without saying a word and showed no tears. She was afraid that if she had wept it might seem that she could not bear to part from him and she too might have “an accident.”