The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), founded in 1945, was composed mainly of industrial and commercial entrepreneurs in large and medium-sized cities and middle- and high-ranking members of the economic community, most of whom tended to support the CCP and work closely with it. Early members included Huang Yanpei, Zhang Naiqi, Hu Zhewen, Sun Qimeng and others.
Zhang Naiqi, the founder of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), was tortured
Zhang Naiqi, who was of the same clan as Zhang Bojun, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Democratic League, and Zhang Shizhao, a great intellectual, was an economist and one of the founders of the DAB, who had made a creditable contribution to the united war of the CCP. After the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhang first became an advisor to the People’s Bank of China and joined the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), where he continued to serve as a deputy chairman of the DAB Central Committee and later as minister of the Ministry of Food. He was also responsible for the creation of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce with Li Weihan and others, serving as a deputy chairman.
On June 8, 1957, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) published the “Instruction on Organizing Forces to Prepare for Counterattack against Rightists”, followed by an editorial in the People’s Daily entitled “Why? Why is this? On June 8, 1957, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) published an instruction on organizing forces to prepare for the attack of rightists, followed by an editorial in the People’s Daily, “Why is this?”, and an article in the News Daily, “About “Made of Special Materials” – Discussion with Mr. Zhang Naiqi”.
In 1962, Zhang Naiqi was expelled from the DAB for his petition to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference for vindication, which was considered an act of “reversal”. After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Naiqi was tortured and deprived of almost all his property. In his son, Zhang Lifan, a contemporary scholar, wrote “The Book of Long Nights and Lonely Lights”, which records his tragic ordeal.
In the book, it is written that after the Red Guards raided his home, Zhang Naiqi wrote and posted a “Letter of Appeal for Wrongdoing”, describing his patriotic history, explaining that being classified as a rightist in 1957 was an unjust case, and talking to the head of the Red Guards who came to “break the Four Olds” in an attempt to ease the situation. This worked for a while, and the chief withdrew his troops and instructed my father to remove the artifacts from the living room so that they would not be destroyed.
However, not long after, on August 24, 1966, the “revolutionary masses” from the State Council Administration of Institutional Affairs visited the house and began to raid it without further ado, and the Red Guards from several nearby high schools also gathered in the wind. They escorted Zhang Naiqi to the auspicious theater next to Dong’an Market to attend a “beating rally”. Those who were beaten were the “key targets” of the district, and once they entered this “ghost gate”, there was no return.
Under the belt whipping, blood and flesh flying, the surrounding sufferers all breathed their last. Only Zhang Naiqi, who was nearly 70 years old, relied on his years of qigong practice to hold on, but his life was in between breaths. At this time, a police officer came to the meeting and asked the Red Guards for someone, saying that if this person was killed, it would not be good to explain to the central government, and sent the injured father to the nearby Xiehe Hospital.
After being carried into the Xiehe Hospital, Zhang Naiqi was first denied medical treatment, and later received it, because Zhou Enlai ordered it after receiving a note written by Zhang Naiqi asking for help.
Zhang Naiqi’s suffering did not end after he was sent home from the hospital, having spent a total of eight days and nights in various kinds of torture and humiliation, during which he remained on hunger strike. The Red Guards also dragged Zhang’s fifth wife, Wang Shixiang, who was seriously ill, back home barefoot from her hospital bed and hinged her hair to be criticized together; and piled up his entire book collection in the courtyard, lit a roaring fire, held his body, and pushed and beat him under the scorching flames ……
In 1967, Zhang Naiqi wrote “Seventy Autobiographies”, describing these inhumane days: “This was the greatest calamity I had ever encountered in my life, and it was the most severe exercise and test for me”; “The seven days after August 25, there were always several groups of people coming to torture and abuse me every day. I was tortured and abused by several groups of people every day. The door was open and unattended, so the freedom of torture and abuse was ample. It is worth remembering that I was beaten with a wire-wrapped rubber whip, which caused swelling that did not fade easily. I was also burned with matches and shot in the head with a steam gun. In addition, such as pouring cold water on my head, such as filling my nose with a water bottle, such as forcing me to eat dirty food, etc., even if it is mild. The scary thing was that someone actually advocated pouring chili pepper into my nasal passages. Probably because I couldn’t find cayenne pepper in my house, it didn’t happen. But in the end, before we had to move out, someone actually poured ammonia into my nostrils after smearing my face with oil paint; I really don’t know how these bad people were educated.”
The above text is chilling.
In addition, as a collector, Zhang Naiqi naturally had a large collection. In addition to those taken away by the raid, the rest were loaded onto six large trucks and shipped away by Kang Sheng’s order. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Lifan received an incomplete list of cultural relics seized by powerful people, including Kang Sheng, Chen Bodha, Lin Biao, Cao Yi’ou, etc., especially Kang Sheng’s appetite is the largest. However, the list is not Zhang Naiqi important cultural relics, the whereabouts of many important collections are still unknown, and not included in the above list. According to the figures provided by the State Administration of Cultural Relics, the Zhang Naiqi relics surrendered by the Red Guards were 1464 pieces, while only 1134 pieces were returned by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics in 1980.
On May 13, 1977, Zhang Naiqi passed away in the basement of a Beijing hospital. His wife, Wang Shixiang, died during the beating by the Red Guards in 1966.
With such a tragic experience, what kind of inspiration did Zhang Naiqi bring to people? Does Zhang Naiqi regret that he listened to Zhou Enlai and the Chinese Communist Party?
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