In this entry, a school teacher talks about the massive upset of the destruction of China's culture. Mao Zedong had joined a massive number of college students to rebel against the government under the rule of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi, pushing them out of office and regaining power of China. Along the way, China's culture was taken down because of fear of Westernization.History was ruined as we knew it. I am not quite sure why such artifacts and the deaths of innocent people had to take place, but in Mao Zedong’s eyes, it needed to be done. Mao had just completely ruined China’s economic standing with the Great Leap Forward in 1958. This had taken place after the Sino-Soviet Conflict, the U.S.S.R. pulling away from being a helpful contributor to the industry, setting my country into an economic slump. Mao planned for the Great Leap Forward to benefit the economy, but this unfortunately only led to a famine in the country. His efforts killed thousands of people, leading to his decrease in power. Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping replaced Mao’s command and began to repair the economy from the failure it had just been. However, this infuriated Mao, seeing the two new leaders using parts of democracy to regain a destroyed economy instead of just communism.
With the help of his wife, Jiang Qing, he was able to negotiate with Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen, all communist leaders, and made an alliance against the new leaders of China. I remember hearing of the Gang of Four, which they were known as. Something told me no good would come from all of this conspiracy.
Together the Gang of Four aligned students looking to rebel on practically everything going on in the more harsh times of China. They called themselves the Red Guard. They worshiped Mao’s every move, wrote down his sayings which they practically made their bible. To this day, I truly believe they had not realized what brainwashing Mao was doing to them. Mao wanted change to China, requesting that all artifacts were to be destroyed. These artifacts shaped the foundation of China, and all it took was a bunch of college kids to destroy them. Parts of our culture were lost, items that could be considered to be treasures. Any western culture was banned from all of China, something I myself had taken a liking to. The sweet sound of Beethoven’s classics used to fill my ears and I would rejoice. Now I have to listen to the boisterous noise of the accordion.
Today, as I was walking through the streets of Shenghai, I heard a beautiful sound, something that seemed so familiar, yet so long forgotten. I looked up to the window of a apartment building to find a man playing a classical style violin. I paused a moment to take in this beautiful music. All I could think about, though, was how this man could be playing in public. Surely the radicals would find him playing. That's when the soldiers came marching down the street, yelling words too horrible to repeat. As the soldiers broke down the door, I saw a sheer look of terror cross the man's face. The soldiers thrust the man against the window and grabbed his violin. They carried him to the street where I saw them force the man to crush his own violin. The man, bruised and bashed in the face, reluctantly threw the violin to the ground after one last look at the beautiful creation. I felt as broken as the violin that had been smashed on the pavement, pieces strewn in all directions. As I walked away from that horrific sight, I couldn't believe what our country had amounted to.
The Gang of Four wanted no part of the capitalistic society that can be found in America as part of our home. People were killed or imprisoned for just liking America’s culture. What wrong comes from all of this? Teachers, such as myself, were sent to encampments to be reeducated on the new society Mao wanted. I see nothing wrong with what I taught before. Giving up my culture was one of the hardest things I have had to ever do. Education, in parts of it, includes the learning of culture and other cultures, so by Mao taking this away, he was also taking away our education. I find much wrong in this.
To this day I still am not allowed to play the classics of Beethoven. Although I am not a musician myself, I believe it is important to be exposed to the sounds of some of the greatest artists. It’s how we learn and become better. Mao limits our abilities, however. I just wish that one day we will be free to do as we please. Learn what we want to learn and be able to speak our minds. But for now, we must wait.
Deng Ai Ke
School Teacher
鄧艾課
學校教師
