China can't let go of Chairman Mao

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As the ruling Chinese Communist Party marks its 90th birthday, Peter Foster reports from the megacity of Chongqing. n&$/Q$d&  
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It might seem odd that a man responsible for the starvation of more than 30 million people could be chosen to promote a restaurant, but there is no mistaking the avuncular features of Mao Zedong staring from the portrait above the entrance to the "Red Leader" Hot Pot eatery. k=`$6(>Fz  
"Comrades! Welcome Comrades!" breezes a pretty hostess dressed up as one of Chairman Mao's Red Guards, complete with armband and Mao lapel badge. wqP2Gw7jh6  
She is, of course, far too young to remember the Cultural Revolution, the Mao-inspired political civil war of 1966-1976 that tore her parents' generation apart. Back then "comrade" was the standard form of address; today it is only used by young Chinese as slang for "gay". _B3zRO  
Welcome, then, to China 2011: a country of such abiding contradictions that the ruling Communist Party's darkest moment can be the subject of a vapid theme-restaurant, even as a battle rages between conservatives and reformers over the country's political direction. #BsW  
Today the party that Mao brought to power will mark its 90th birthday, celebrating its founding by a small group of revolutionaries in Shanghai in 1921 with an outpouring of "Red" propaganda. Groups of party faithful will gather to sing "Red" songs; cinemas will show the state's latest star-studded propaganda epic, The Founding of a Party, while newspapers and television stations will lionise the party's achievements. U9 bWU
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This revival of the cult of Mao finds its apogee in the steaming southern megacity of Chongqing, whose charismatic Communist Party leader, Bo Xilai, has mounted a campaign to paint the city "Red". Party cadres have gathered to sing rousing old party songs, citizens have been bombarded with millions of text messages carrying selected Mao bon mots, and the city's satellite television station broadcasts only improving red-themed programmes. Tpb"uBiXoo  
It is difficult to know how seriously to take China's red revival. Like the idea of a Cultural Revolution-themed restaurant – could the world imagine an Auschwitz Café? – to Western eyes the campaigns are almost beyond parody. It seems the young – when they are not waiting tables dressed as Red Guards – are either openly scornful or just plain uninterested. KU]ok '  
"Honestly, I don't like all that 'Red' stuff," says 18-year-old Han Yutong, who dreams of being a television anchorwoman. "I think it's just for show, just a propaganda exercise for the party." H'Nq#K  
"To be honest, Mao doesn't mean much to me," agrees a 26-year-old diner looking up at a life-sized portrait of the late Chairman. "You should ask our parents about him, they remember the Cultural Revolution. Mao's just a national leader. He's not good, not bad." a$}N
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"Was it really 30 million that died in the famine [of 1959-61]? I never heard about that," adds Luo Dong, a 19-year-old, looking vaguely troubled as he dunks another slice of beef into a pot of bubbling oil. "But then I did study sciences. I want to be an environmentalist." `Ug tvo  
To listen to their blasé responses, you could be forgiven for thinking that the resurgence of the red Left was a theatrical irrelevance put on by the state. But to others, the revival reflects an ideological battle behind the scenes among the political elite, pitting those – like Mr Bo – who want to see the Communist state forcefully reassert its grip on power, against more liberal, reforming forces. afx'  
Thoughts are turning to which direction the next generation of leaders, who assume power next year, will take China: will they turn to the Left, curtailing freedoms and stepping up party controls, or go Right, embracing a more liberal agenda that will build a more independent civil society, as a prelude to democracy many years hence? In recent months, in a portent that China might be "turning Left", there has been a marked tightening of security, with more than 100 activists arrested, including the artist Ai Weiwei, who was released on bail last week after 81 days in detention. o,1Dqg4P3  
Mr Bo, one of the few charismatic figures in politics, is unapologetic, claiming that his red song campaigns – and the Communist spirit they evoke – were the driving force behind China's great revival. "Not only have they [red songs] allowed an impoverished, weak, quasi-colonised and semi-closed China to establish itself among the great peoples of the world," he says. "It has also enabled us to become the world's second largest economy." ->h5T%sn  
However, for many Chinese, who have embraced the fruits of capitalism in recent decades, attempts by the party to take the ideological credit for China's transformation ring hollow. The party, for all its professions to clean up its act, is mired in constant corruption scandals – a leaked report from the central bank estimates corrupt officials stole £6 billion in the decade from the late 1990s – and there is a widespread belief that it has become a decadent, self-enriching elite. uaaf 9SL?  
Another of Mr Bo's more high-profile attempts to "reconnect" the party and proletariat demonstrates the depths of the party's trust problem. This year, in a deliberate echo of Mao's re-education campaigns, Mr Bo ordered 10,000 officials "back to the countryside" to deepen their understanding of the problems of the rural poor. \%TyrY+`K  
Officials were ordered to spend their weekends farming and Chongqing's TV station duly showed them tilling the land, and planting peach trees as a gift to the agricultural poor, each hung with a crimson, peach-shaped tag bearing the name of the official that had planted it. However, when The Daily Telegraph visited Guangfu, the poor farmers made no secret that the scheme was a sham, explaining that local officials had paid five villagers 800 yuan (£75) each a month to do the work. ;g+]klR!  
"The leaders just used the tools in front of the TV cameras for a few minutes. When the cameras were switched off, they all left," said 58-year-old Chen Kerong, one of those paid to do the work. "They only posed like farmers for the TV show. We weren't even invited to watch." ya.n'X14  
Such stories go to the heart of the cynicism that many feel towards the party, with some activists openly deriding the red schemes of Mr Bo – who chose to educate his son, Bo Guagua, at Harrow, Oxford and Harvard – as hypocritical nonsense. W&YU^&`Yr  
"This is an absurd era: they encourage you to sing the revolutionary songs, but do not encourage you to make revolution," a Chongqing-based activist, He Bing, wrote in a pithy microblog post. "They encourage you to watch the glory of the founding of the party, but do not encourage you to found a party." J'e]x[Y  
Such talk can prove dangerous, as Fang Hong, a retired forestry worker discovered in April, when he was sentenced to a year of "re-education through labour" for posting a rude joke about Mr Bo (his name puns loosely in Chinese with the word for "erection") on his microblog. FIS "Z(  
Not everyone derides Mr Bo. Supporters say that aside from his clunky socialist propaganda – which is proclaimed from hoardings along Chongqing's highways – he has done much that is good, building low-cost housing, cleaning up corruption and boosting benefits for the poor. ALXTR%f  
Support is also guaranteed from party cadres gathered in the main square outside City Hall, where a party branch of a pharmaceutical company was on an outing, posing for photographs while chanting slogans with clenched fist salutes. "We follow the Party leadership! We keep the Party secrets!" they cried. "We give our lives to the Party! Without the Party there is no China! The Party points China the right way!" _%B/!)v  
Such displays of devotion might seem anachronistic, even unnerving, to Western eyes but in a country where the party still holds the keys to advancement in many areas, the motivations are often more practical than ideological. "We sing because it makes us happy and is good for our health," says He Rongjun, 57, a laid-off textile worker (and not a party member) who was leading a group of mostly retired Chinese in a round of red songs in Shapingba Park. "We never sing songs from the Cultural Revolution, they raise too many painful memories. If we sing songs to the party, it is for the good things that the party has brought, the prosperity, which is what everyone cares about. WqE '(  
"It is impossible to go back [to the era of the Cultural Revolution]. People just aren't like that any more. They are not stupid, they cannot be told what to think and they won't just listen blindly to what the party says, not any more." pw\P<9e=  
And that simple truth, as Mr Bo's "Red" campaigns perhaps inadvertently show, may yet prove to be the Communist Party's biggest headache e\D|
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中共最近做这么多东西，我猜也不过是渴望它的人民尊重它而已吧。   当然，我不了解中共，这只是猜的。  我还猜测中共渴望说服不喜欢它的人喜欢它，虽然我个人认为手法很幼稚。  我可以替中共写一个广告，我敢赌，比它所有的政治宣传广告都能够打动中国人心。

现在的国民党还是当年的国民党么... uR:rO^  
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引用

引用第6楼username于07-02-2011 00:33发表的  : vy9dAl  
我个人很喜欢大江大海一九四九， 龙应台作为国民党败军的后代描写国民党失败的时候的语气真的很平淡。 没有愤怒，没有怨恨，没有亢奋，没有激情，只是尽量把小人物的故事，属于国民党败军的故事说出来而已。   我不觉得龙应台要批评共产党或者打倒共产党吧，我觉得她只想说一个故事而已，那个时代那些国民党小人物的故事。  命运给了你什么，你只能默默接受。 A gWPa.'3  
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如果是属于中国大陆文化大革命的故事吗，我没看到过像龙应台的这样书， 或许我书看的不够多吧。     我不认为中国当年所有发生的事情都属于毛泽东的功或错， 国家命运自己民族负责。  不过很可惜的是，我在中国大陆看到的是对文化大革命的集体失忆。  或许中国人觉得文革一点都不重要，不需要检讨，不需要去面对。   jn=:G+0  
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你可以为自己辩解，犹如大江大海一九四九里面，龙应台看国民党一定带有玫瑰色，她当然不公正，她当然偏袒国民党， 但是她很安静的说了一个属于国民党的故事。  我只想说，对一个党如果过于吹捧的话，未必能够说服观众。   'SV7$,mK@  

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集体失忆不会，可能二、三十年前写那个时期的东西太多了，好像那时的文学作品都是写那个时期的。不知道有没有历史类的书籍，也不知道现在的历史教科书有没有关于这一段历史的记载，还有就是怎样记载的。

我个人很喜欢大江大海一九四九， 龙应台作为国民党败军的后代描写国民党失败的时候的语气真的很平淡。 没有愤怒，没有怨恨，没有亢奋，没有激情，只是尽量把小人物的故事，属于国民党败军的故事说出来而已。   我不觉得龙应台要批评共产党或者打倒共产党吧，我觉得她只想说一个故事而已，那个时代那些国民党小人物的故事。  命运给了你什么，你只能默默接受。 H M:r0_  
Qihdn66  
如果是属于中国大陆文化大革命的故事吗，我没看到过像龙应台的这样书， 或许我书看的不够多吧。     我不认为中国当年所有发生的事情都属于毛泽东的功或错， 国家命运自己民族负责。  不过很可惜的是，我在中国大陆看到的是对文化大革命的集体失忆。  或许中国人觉得文革一点都不重要，不需要检讨，不需要去面对。    3+U]?7t  
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你可以为自己辩解，犹如大江大海一九四九里面，龙应台看国民党一定带有玫瑰色，她当然不公正，她当然偏袒国民党， 但是她很安静的说了一个属于国民党的故事。  我只想说，对一个党如果过于吹捧的话，未必能够说服观众。  

我热爱毛泽东，毛泽东是一个奇迹，尽管当时中国的毛的时代有很多缺陷和问题，但也有成就，这点不能否认。现在这个世界还会出现毛的现象吗？已经不可能了。 tj5giQ3DG)  
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数风流人物还看“毛泽东”。

有色和老八路都是马恩毛专家，我不懂也不是很有兴趣，但是我喜欢看你们的观点。转这篇文章只是比较喜欢这位常驻中国记者的报道，比较客观。

毛泽东的功绩相比于他晚年的所作所为还是远远超出的。他的最大功绩之一就是结束了中国的乱世，将中国从列强眼中的肥肉变成整日被宣扬中国威胁论的竞争对手。至于建国后的一些错误政策，是包括他在内的一些领导班子制定的。我甚至怀疑那都不是毛泽东的本意。因为毛泽东选集第一卷里明确提到要实行按劳取酬，即便是社会主义社会也应当如此。但大跃进时代的政策明显是把共产主义理想强加在一个由农民为主要组成成分的政府和国民头上，所犯的绝对平均主义错误是毛泽东多次在早年革命的工作报告和文章中批判的。当然人的思想是变化的，也许后来他改主意了也说不准。70年代以前毛为首的中共另一大无法估量的功绩就是将生产资料公有化。一个社会的经济包括了生产资料所有制，分配关系及个人所得，交换关系。中国最大的问题是制度相对于民智大大地超前。韩寒说当今中国最大的矛盾是官员越来越腐败和老百姓越来越聪明之间的矛盾。我不以为然，中国老百姓聪明么？过去没有，现在没有，将来也不好说。为了打江山，为了急速挽救濒临灭亡的中国，国民党也好共产党也好都等不及真正地提升民智的那一天了。共产党甚至采取了当时来看正确的做法就是发动和倚靠农民。但农民的革命性是很差的。几千年的传统是根深蒂固的，你让他们接受西方前卫的马列主义，可是他们最多理解为马拉火车。他们关心的是生产关系中的个人所得的那一环，这是核心问题。在新中国建立以前，他们被剥削地太厉害，于是他们对生产资料公有化是很关心的，因为没有这个也就没有他们的个人所得，他们必须出卖自己的劳动力挣扎在死亡线上。可是，新中国建立以后，生产资料公有化成为一个以国家控制的虚拟概念，对于他们而言，关注的重点又回到了个人所得。在这种情况下搞大锅饭和大跃进只能是太高估这帮农民了。关于文革，无论出发点是清洗私有化思想还是为了权利争夺，一个垂暮老人是无法完成的。最终只能是被权利争夺集团利用成为一场浩劫，以至于打越南时出现那么多的哑炮坏枪，还有步兵冲炮兵轰——轰的是自己的步兵——的闹剧。就好像有了个伟大的idea，开始具体设计实验取数据，由于一些基本的参数弄错，导致数据混乱，这时采取的应该是反省和修改参数直到idea最终work；失败的做法是因为人为的技术错误而否定idea本身，如此idea看起来便成为了大家的笑柄，然而idea又该嘲笑谁呢？在个人所得过度被关注的前提下，先富遂成为农民们的梦想，每个人都认为一旦生产资料公有制废除，自己就可以成为先富，但先富永远只是少部分人。在资本的原始积累完成后，大部分没有先富的农民们已经没有了回头的机会。 $NG++N  
]?K. S6  
刚出狱，又大放了把厥词。。。

不过话说回来，中国已经还算好了，曾经在BBC上面看过俄罗斯人游行时拿着史童鞋的照片游来游去。  当时看到暴寒，史达林都死了这么多年了，俄罗斯人还如此念念不忘。 DL8x":;  
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共产主义永垂不朽丫丫丫丫丫

我个人非常讨厌毛泽东，但是我认为中国还是有人爱护与尊重这位主席的，  不过这不是重点。  我不认为中国能够放开毛泽东，中国从来没有正面面对毛泽东的对与错， 如果一个国家不愿意真正面对自己的过往，我猜这个国家其实很难忘记它的过去的或者这个国家不能摆脱这个过去带给它的伤痕与快乐。 我想如果你想忘却一件往事，你首先应该去面对它吧。 ^jSsa  
7~UR!T9  
俄罗斯从来没有摆脱过史达林，我个人不认为中国能够摆脱毛泽东。