Chinese Cultural Revolution - Brandon Tran

My topic for this assignment was the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I interviewed Mei Chan, Yu Chan, and Quan Tran. They were all in China during the Cultural Revolution, and experienced it first hand. I mainly focused on getting them to tell their stories, which gave me a variety of interviews.

This is an interview with Mei Chan, a friend of my parents, who lived in China during the Cultural Revolution.
Q: When and where were you born?
Mei: I was born in China in 1940.
Q: Were you in China when Mao and the Communists took over?
Mei: Yes.
Q: Did you trust Mao and the new Communist Party?
Mei: No, I was very worried at the time. There were rumors that the Communists shared property as well as wives. I thought that the Communist Party spoke on behalf of working class people, but I didn't know how well people like us would be treated. So, after the Liberation, I went to take part in a public meeting presided by the household committee. I wanted to know how well the Party would treat us. After the residents' meeting we had a better understanding about Party policies. The party policy regarding national financiers and businessmen was through peaceful reform and redemption (buy-out). Afterwards, our worries gradually disappeared. Later, I began to work for the household committee and came to recognize its importance.
Q: Did you think about leaving China after they announced the Cultural Revolution?
Mei: We didn't think of leaving China before the arrival of the Communists as we didn't have any overseas relations. We also had five children, and it would be difficult to live overseas without any family relations there. We also thought that if other people could survive, we could too. It would have been difficult to sneak all of us out of China past the Red Guard everywhere. Life without any family to support us was an impossible thought for us back then.
Q: How were you affected by the Cultural Revolution and the Red Guards?
Mei: During the Cultural Revolution, my family wasn't what a rich family, or one that was involved with a lot of politics. But the people who came to search our house didn't believe our claim. They said, "Your family lives in such a good house, and has a highly-placed job. How could you not have money?" They searched our house for ten days. The "task team" just refused to leave the house, and carried on with their searching. They also searched our relatives' houses. But they didn't find any money.
Although our family had many kids, in general, our standard of living was better than that of the working class people. But we never squandered money. Because we had many children, we had to plan everything to keep our life going. Whatever political campaigns came, I always comforted my husband. I thought that I should always safeguard my husband. Without him, I would lose my financial means. So I would always comfort him, telling him not to worry about anything. I told him, now even a street vendor selling spring onions and ginger can make a profit... I told him that if these ginger vendors could earn a living and support a family, our situation was still better off than theirs. I would always advise my husband not to worry. I told him I would sort out anything that should happen. It solved his worries.
Q: Were any of your children part of the Red Guard?
Mei: Yes, my oldest son that was in college joined the Red Guard. I was extremely saddened that one of my children would join them, and be a part of the group that goes around tearing cities apart, condemning elders, and tearing up houses to search for any sign of anti-Communism. However, while I am sad that he joined them, I can understand why he did so. The Communists were very rough, and I probably would have joined the Red Guard too, if it meant that I wouldn't be persecuted as anti-communist.
Q: Did you find life difficult at this time?
Mei: There was a difficult period at the time. The company didn't even have money to pay the staff salaries. So, the management on the private side had to secure loans to pay salaries. The situation gradually improved.
Q: What other effects did the Cultural Revolution have on your husband?
Mei: At the time, they wanted to denounce my husband as an anti-revolutionary. I told him not to listen to the rumors. We had even sent our children to be educated by the Party so why should people think we were against the party? I had faith that we had done nothing wrong. We didn't understand what was going on during the campaign. In the beginning, the party treated us relatively well. It wasn't until later that we began to realize why things had changed. Eventually, they forcefully took my husband to jail for being an anti-revolutionary. I didn't understand why they would do this even when he wasn't one.
Q: Were you afraid your husband would be harmed?
Mei: I told them to look after my husband, and not to let him commit suicide. In the past, during the "anti four olds" campaign, he once thought about committing suicide. After his release, my husband told me that there were two big holes on his door. One hole was for food; the other was for surveillance to prevent him from committing suicide.
Q: What was your husband's prison experience like?
Mei: I asked the person in charge of my husband's case if could I visit him. He said that I could go. I almost couldn't recognize my husband. He was locked up in a small room, about the size of two single beds. A straw mat was laid on the floor. He looked very pale from the lack of exposure to sun. He was confined to the room... The rebel member told me that my husband had serious problems to confess, and he would be subjected to an isolated investigation. They also asked me for my opinion. I said that I had nothing particular to say, and it would be a good thing if the problem regarding my husband could be cleared up.
Q: What was it like when your husband was released?
Mei: I was surprised when I saw him. I told him that the rebels had tried very hard to help him. Now, more than half a year had passed and he still hadn't confessed his problems. He answered that he had no problems, so he didn't know what to say. My husband was released after a year, but the case was still unsettled.
Rebels asked me to pick him up... then they asked my husband to continue his soul-searching when he went back home. The rebels asked me to pick him up when he was released because they feared he would commit suicide.
My husband said to me after his release, "Having read Chairman Mao's writings, I always find that they are not in accordance with the actual situation. Why?" My husband couldn't figure out... I asked him whether he thought about committing suicide during the imprisonment, as he did during the time of the "four clear-up" campaign. But he said he didn't want to die. He said that he thought the Communists were different. Otherwise, the Communists would be no different from the Nationalists... He studied Mao's works. He wanted to see how China would change under Communism. So, he didn't want to die.
Q: Do you think you were treated as scapegoats?
Mei: ....I asked myself if I had done anything wrong or shameful to the Party or the people, and the answer was no. At that time, at the beginning of whatever political campaign occurred, they usually targeted financial or business communities or capitalists... We always became the targets because we were at the bottom of the political society. We were the living targets. Every campaign would eventually target us. Why? It was mainly because of Mao's "whatever" theory: political reform should be handed down from one generation to other. During the Cultural Revolution, while many landlords or rich peasants were already dead, their sons and daughters, regardless of their good working records, were summoned back to villages for receiving denunciation on behalf of their ancestors. They had a bad family background. We were only in our 40s, but even people in their 70s and 80s . . .
Q: Was your house searched during the Cultural Revolution?
Mei: When the Cultural Revolution started, I thought that this time we wouldn't be affected because I thought my husband was cleared in the "removal of the four olds" campaign. At the beginning... the rebels came to my house to have a look. They said to me, "Life is not easy for you. You have already sent two children away to Xingjiang. . ." They said that they came here for the "anti-four old" campaign. . . At the time, I was also on the household committee. I saw things found in some households, such as hand guns or pictures of Chiang Kai-shek (member of the Kuomintang). I thought there was something wrong with these families. Why on earth would they want to hide those things? Our family was also searched. . . Later, I realized that families like mine were at the bottom of society, and were targets of the class struggle. Whenever political campaigns came, they would always land above our heads.
Q: How did they inspect the houses?
Mei: When the task team suspected something was hidden inside the ceiling, they simply opened the ceiling; when they suspected something was hidden in the walls, they broke into the wall. All the trees and plants in my garden were uprooted. But they found nothing, and they finally withdrew from my house after a week or two.
While the search team remained in our house, I was confined to one room, and my husband was confined in another room. They didn't allow us to have any contact. The search team bombarded us with questions everyday, and then carried on with their searching.

This was an interview with a friend of my family, Yu Chan.
When were you born?
I was born in 1942, and I was the first child of my family.

How was life like during the Persecution of Intellectuals, the Four Olds, and Enemies of Mao?
At the time, my father was being incarcerated for mass criticisms of Mao. He stayed in a room by himself for six days of the week, but he got to come out every Sunday because the guards had that day off. The criticism sessions were originally held once every three days. But because they were too monotonous and repetitious, they were eventually held only once a week. Despite all of that, the most horrible thing that happened to us, was that my father's work pay was suspended. When that happened, the work unit only gave the family 26 yuan for 'living expenses.' At the time, all targeted individuals were given the same 26 yuan standard 'living expenses' all around the country. I have no idea which department in Beijing made up this figure. I have gone through all sorts of documents from the Cultural Revolution era and I cannot locate this source. This is a bitter number for me, because I keep thinking about it over and over. What sort of person took the thirty days of a month, subtracted the four Sundays and then gave one yuan per day?

Of course, they had figured that it was a single person. But did they not know that many targeted individuals have families with many members? And that the targeted individuals may be the sole wage earner in the family? Moreover, did they not know that people have to eat on Sundays as well? I hated that they gave us so little money, that even one person would have barely been able to survive on that.

For my family, the 26 yuan per month was needed to sustain the following people:

My 45 year old father, because they did not provide free meals, my grandmother, who was 75 years old, my mother, who was 44 years old, me, when I was 21, my female cousin, who was 19, my oldest brother, who was 15, my second brother, who was 10, and my youngest brother, who was 7.

There were eight of us and we had no other source of income... We all had to live off of 26 yuan for a month. We obviously had no savings -- nobody did at the time. On the average, we got ten cents per person per day. After subtracting the rent, water and electricity, we got seven cents per person per day. This was not extra spending money -- this was our entire daily personal budget. All of our money was spent on food, and even then, that wasn't enough for us.

Relatives who live in extreme hunger should not be together. Looking at the little food on the table, we would always offer it to the others. My mother would say that she ate already. My grandmother would say that her stomach did not feel good. Those were all lies. Even my eight-year-old little brother could see through them and he put down his chopsticks too. We were all frustrated with our situation, but there was nothing we could do about it.

How was your father while he was incarcerated?
I went with my cousin and my younger brother to visit my father. He looked tired. He stared at us for a while. He called out our names. It frightened me to hear him say next, "I am okay. The uncle in Anhui province will help with the family affairs. You must obey your grandmother and your mother." Then he smiled again and he instructed us, "Please bring the khaki uniform with the paint stains on the shoulder the next time. I would like to wear it."

I didn't want to accept it, but it was shouting right out at us. It was clear to us that my father intended to commit suicide.

Why did your father want to commit suicide?
My father had seen that the longer the criticism sessions go, the more problems will emerge. The only way to shorten the duration was to commit suicide. After a suicide, there is usually a mass session held in front of the body but that is liable to pass by quickly as attention goes towards new targets. He was hoping that his children would get by while the world forgets about him.

My father had figured that he was already forty-five years and he has lived long enough already. None of his eight siblings had lived past 30 years old. His little brother in Anhui was a lot younger than him. He was only waiting for news from this brother, whom we had not heard from for more than two months. He didn't want to kill himself without making sure there would be someone to watch over us.

He did not dare to write his brother about how bad things were here in Shanghai. If things were going well in Anhui, then such a letter would spoil things; if things were not going well in Anhui, then a letter would only make it worse. He hoped that things were well over there. If there was someone to look after the family, he can leave quickly so that people can forget about him. So when my mother went to see him again several days later, he asked for that khaki uniform again. He had intended to leave the world wearing it.

While my father waited for news from my uncle, my grandmother and mother waited at home. They did not know if they should write my uncle. Finally, one day, my grandmother said, "We are going to all starve to death if we don't write." So I ended up writing the letter to my uncle and I mailed it out to Anhui about our situation.

What happened after you sent the letter?
After about a week, I went home. When I entered, I sensed that something was terribly wrong. My grandmother and my mother both rushed over to meet me. Everything that happened to me that day still remains in my head as if it happened yesterday.

My mother blurted out the first words: "Your uncle has passed away."

"What!?" I was stunned. My mind had went blank over the sudden news.

"It was a stomach problem." My grandmother's voice came from far, far away.

I woke up suddenly and I turned to look at my grandmother. This was the face of a mother of ten children who had just lost her youngest son! I was at a loss for words.

My grandmother added: "Your mother and I went to Bangbo (Anhui) to retrieve his ashes." I thought that she might cry, but she did not.

She was too distant, I could tell that there was something else wrong. My grandmother and my mother were both really bad at lying. I got my grandmother to sit down and I said to my mother, "Tell me!"

Briefly, my mother told me that my uncle had committed suicide. I was shocked to hear that even my uncle was affected by the actions of Mao. My grandmother realized that suicide was a crime in those days, and did not want to tell us. My uncle was just an ordinary technician. He was hardly an authority figure. Why did they pick on him?

My mother told me that when the Cultural Revolution began, they were looking for the "forces of evil" and the "reactionary academic authorities." But Bangbu was just a tiny place and there were certainly no academic authorities there, so they picked on my uncle. He had said that he liked the novel <> and he was therefore poisoning the people.

<>? I could not believe that it was over this book. My uncle did not let me read that book, because he insisted that it was too "pessimistic." Why would they attack my uncle all because of a book that he read?

My mother told me that they hauled him onto the garbage truck and paraded him around the city. When they got back, he continued to argue with the rebels that <> was an excellent classic. For this, they said that he had a bad attitude and they paraded him around the city again. In the end, he slit his wrists with a razor blade.

For the Yu family, this was an earth-shattering event.

My father immediately realized that he no longer had the right to commit suicide. Without our uncle, he could let our family go without any support. He could not let our grandmother lose her youngest son first and then her only remaining son now.

What happened after that traumatic event?
My cousin and I applied to every school in order to go to the countryside so that we can live on our own. My oldest brother was 18 years old already; he would join a fishing fleet and help out the family. My mother would take care of the two young boys. Later on, I found out that she went to perform manual labor at a small factory. My grandmother would stare at the sky everyday and say her Buddhist prayers.

This is an interview with Quan Tran, my father.

When were you born?

I was born in 1949.

So you were around 17 when Mao started the Cultural Revolution?

Yes.

What was your life like in the time leading up to the Cultural Revolution?

Our family lived in Guangzhou during the Communist rule over China. I had a sister 2 years younger than me, a brother 5 years younger than me, and another sister 6 years younger than me. My dad worked at a steel factory, and my mom worked as a tailor, producing clothes for the people of China. Apparently, it was incredible that my mom was given the chance to start working, as before I was born, women weren't given many rights at all. In fact, because of Mao, she received new rights such as the ability to work and many other rights that men had but she didn't. We were a happy family, and I loved every part of it. My oldest sister, my brother, and I all went to school so that we could make a good life. Times were good back then, but it didn't last that long until the Cultural Revolution started.

Were you a part of the Red Guards?

Yes, but it wasn't of my own free will. The other students at my school in Guangzhou basically forced me to become a part of the Red Guards. To them, it was either join the Red Guards and go against my own parents, or to be punished by all of the Red Guards for being anti-Communist. Now, there were a lot of Red Guards from around our area, and I was honestly scared of what they could have done to me, but the thought of having to go against my parents sounded like such a horrible idea to me. It was an extremely hard choice, but I caved and joined up with the Red Guards.

At first, we had officials from the Communist Party of China watching over to make sure that our movements were kept under control. Some groups of Red Guards in my home town went rebel, swayed by the officials, and attacked members of the Red Guard that were from a family that had an ancestry of supporting Communism or that used to be a land owner. I considered myself extremely lucky for not being attacked by these rebel groups of Red Guard. My biggest fear at that time was to be attacked by one of these Red Guard groups. However, my fears were resolved temporarily around a month later when Mao ordered the removal of the Communist officials from our towns, and the removal of rebel Red Guards groups.

Did any of your other siblings join the Red Guard as well?

I wouldn't know, as I have not seen or heard of them ever since I joined the Red Guard, and they were in a different school at the time. However, I have a feeling that they did join the Red Guards, as even though I don't know what happened to them, I have a feeling that they are alive somewhere out there.

What were you forced to do as a Red Guard?

As a Red Guard, we were forced to do many things for the glory of Mao. The first thing that he made us do was to go to Tienanmen Square, and listen to his speech about what he intended for us to do. We all had to take the railroads over to Beijing, but all the trips were paid for by Mao. By the time that all of the Red Guards met up at Tienanmen Square to see Mao, there were probably millions of Red Guards there. I still remember all of the sights and sounds there. Mao and Lin Biao would often appear to talk to all of us, and whenever they went up to speak, every one of us would cheer at them. They would take their turns to speak to us about how we were doing a good job at spreading socialist ideas and democracy. Mao even put on a red arm band, the sign of the Red Guards, to show that he supported us.

What else did Mao and Lin Biao talk about at Tienanmen Square?

After praising us for our effort, they told us all that we had a job to do for communism and China. Mao told us that we were to destroy the “Four Olds” of China, so that he could start anew with his ideas. At the time, many of us were all basically brainwashed by his words, so we all immediately went to work to destroy the “Four Olds.” Mao explained to us, that they were Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas. Additionally, we were to persecute any intellectuals, as they were said to have represented the Four Olds, and were the people that would try to bring them back. Mao didn't really explain in detail what “old” was to him, so many of us simply decided to eliminate everything that wasn't Communist.

Did you go through with this act?

I did help destroy the Four Olds, but I did not in any way want to do such an act. I was deeply interested in the history of China, and I didn't want to destroy any of the things that they told us to destroy, such as architecture, literature, paintings, antiques, and information about family lines. However, if I didn't commit such acts, I would have been prosecuted as being capitalist or anti-Communist, and punished just as any other people were at the time. I believe that our group of Red Guards destroyed hundreds or possibly thousands of artifacts in Guangzhou, and were forced to punish any people that were found to be in possession of any of the Four Olds. We also looked for any scholars or teachers, and used them as examples of what would happen to the Four Olds. We harassed, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed some of these intellectuals endlessly to show to the people that Mao wasn't playing around, and that the Red Guards weren't either. However, I was disgusted that we were forced to do such things to people. Additionally, I was thankful that I did not have to see my parents during our actions, and see their suffering to see their son be part of the Red Guards.

What else were you forced to do?

Although we weren't really “forced” to do so, many Red Guards groups started to attack people that we believed had bourgeois elements instead of settling peacefully. We attacked any people we believed to be against Mao or Communism physically and mentally. Some of them would be sent off to work in demeaning tasks such as cleaning toilets or they would just be imprisoned until they fixed their ways. For some groups of bourgeois that we captured, we brought in firing squads to randomly shoot people, while others were left alive. Seeing their faces full of fear will stay forever on my mind, and I can't get it out. However, I honestly doubted that some of these people were really bourgeois, but I couldn't really object to the other members of my group or face severe punishment. Eventually, Mao gave us a job to look for capitalist members that had a position of power, even up to the highest rankings of the Communist Party. We attacked many top party officials for their right wing views, and it was scary to think that in our nation that day, anybody could have been attacked for being capitalist.

Did your group of Red Guards ever face any opposition to your actions?

Yes, eventually, in some of the buildings that we visited, we face opposition form the workers and peasants there. We would get into many fights with those workers and peasants to get entrance into the buildings so that we could fulfill the will of Mao. Additionally, some Red Guards became extreme radicals, and found our actions to not be the correct way of doing things or our backgrounds weren't good enough to be part of the Red Guard. These groups attacked us, and I believe that other groups did the same, so there was some inner conflicts in the Red Guard groups.

What happened after that?
Well, I got tired of seeing all the chaos, killings, and fighting, so I decided to run away to a different place. During the night, when the other Red Guards were sleeping, I decided to run away from them, Mao, and China. I remembered that the closest place was probably going to be Vietnam, so I made my way from Guangzhou all the way to Vietnam. It was an extremely long journey, and I felt like giving up on my journey a couple of times, but I eventually found my way to Vietnam after what seemed like an eternity of walking, hiding from Red Guard, and looking for food. I also found out that some of my family members also lived in Vietnam, and eventually made my way over to their house, to find my uncle and aunt. Because I was now in Vietnam, I was forced to change my last name to Tran, and after a few years in Vietnam, our family eventually moved over to America.

Looking back on it, why do you think that so many people joined the Red Guards?

Hmm... I think that many of them joined because of all the ideas that Mao had pouring into our heads. He was seen as our great leader, and was very charismatic. Growing up, we were basically taught to follow the red flag of Communism. We were taught that whenever Mao told us to do something, we should do that. He heavily advertized being a Red Guard all over China, and after some students joined up with the Red Guard, I guess that the others were persuaded to follow them.