This article was originally titled “Xu Jingxian is a good teacher”. The “Xu Jingxian” here is not a professor at a university in Hong Kong or on the mainland, but a “good student of Chairman Mao”, nicknamed “Xu Laosan”, who was known nationwide and obeyed in Shanghai during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Xu Laosan”, that is, second only to Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan in the Shanghai power system (both of whom spent most of their Time in Beijing working directly for Mao Zedong and Jiang Qing), and a member of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee. Xu is called a “good teacher” not on the basis of an election crowning him in the Chinese world of Education, but on the basis of a manuscript from the end of his Life, “Xu Jingxian’s Last Memories,” which has just been released by Hong Kong’s Starckle Publishing.
There was also a previous memoir released in Hong Kong, Ten Years a Dream (completed in 2000 and published in 2003), which was not badly received by the outside world. But at that time, Xu did not know how long God would allow him to stay on earth, so he did not dare to reveal many things, and he did not dare to say many things directly. The manuscript shortly before his death was very different, much more forthright and wise. This is a common feeling – the closer you get to the end of your life, the deeper your reflection becomes, and the less scrupulous you are about writing. Why do you have to stammer when you’ve already walked the road of your life to the end?
Xu was already a member of the leftist camp before the Cultural Revolution, and was the head Writer of the “Ding Xue Lei” writing team of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, which was feared by the cultural circles nationwide. It is a good thing that he was purged at the end of the Cultural Revolution and sentenced to 18 years in prison, otherwise we would not have had the chance to read his profound reflections. The misfortune of individuals is often the blessing of the public, otherwise, the truth about all previous Chinese high-level politics would probably never have come out. Have you seen the memoirs of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao? Of course not, but we can all read the memoirs of Zhang Guotao, Gong Peng, Chen Boda, Qiu Huizuo, Li Zuopeng, Zhao Ziyang and others. In the CCP’s political tradition of “greatness, glory and correctness,” only leaders who have fallen from power will sincerely reflect and publish memoirs that are close to the truth, while those on stage will only speak official words and lies.
There are several points in Xu’s “Last Memories” that deserve special attention. One is that he published for the first time a valuable piece of historical material on the Cultural Revolution – the “Chronology of the January Revolution in Shanghai” prepared by Xu’s organization in 1968, which provides a detailed examination and record of why Mao and his wife chose Shanghai as the base for launching the Cultural Revolution, how the base lived up to Mao’s expectations, and the major events that took place in Shanghai during the first two years of the most chaotic period of the Cultural Revolution. As soon as it was given to Zhang Chunqiao, it was sealed as a secret document, because it revealed a lot of inside information that the Cultural Revolution beneficiaries definitely did not want to see in the sunlight during that period of power struggle. This information is a fundamental basis for researchers today to understand and write about key aspects of the Cultural Revolution.
What attracted me to this book is Xu’s close observation and portrayal of several key figures of the Cultural Revolution. Xu was a literary youth in his early years, writing novels and screenplays, and he could read and write about people. His Zhang Chunqiao, with his deep darkness and calculations, his professionalism in harming and fixing people, and his ability to understand Mao Zedong’s intentions, is well written. His Yao Wenyuan’s “stick heart” (that is, consciously assume the Mao Zedong couple sweeping Chinese Culture “revolutionary criticism stick”, pointing to where to hit), treatment of self and friends are shabby withholding, the enemy and Family do not speak of warmth, also written with a sense of proportion. The article is well written.
However, from the perspective of political reflection, the character Xu wrote best was Wang Shaoyong. Wang, who is quite old, became the mayor of Qingdao after 1949, but was soon involved in the “Xiangming Anti-Party Group” case during the brutal intra-party struggle and was imprisoned for several years. Later, he was rescued by Ke Qingshi, a big star among the leftists (Mao Zedong respected him as “Ke Lao” and wanted to replace Zhou Enlai as Premier), and placed in charge of the industrial and transport system in the Shanghai Municipal Committee. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Wang was beaten down and was in a state of decadence. Xu was entrusted by the top to persuade Wang to be liberated into the new leadership team as soon as possible through deep introspection and vigorous exposure of others. Zhang Chunqiao then assigned Wang to be in charge of Shanghai’s political and legal affairs and special cases, a power within a power, and at one point had Wang preside over meetings of the leading members of the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee when Zhang himself was too busy to do so. Xu describes: “Wang smoked two packs of Chinese cigarettes a day and looked ashen. He liked to make sarcastic remarks, and when he talked about other people’s historical problems, he often puffed out his eyes and put his mouth down, picked up a pen and wrote the criticism on a written report with a clatter: ‘Isolation censorship'” (p. 165). One of them was the husband of one of Wang’s colleagues, Zhang Liugi, who was suspected of being involved in a conflict over Wang’s opinions, so Wang instructed his men to set up a special case to falsify evidence, torture Zhang Liugi, and force him to confess to knowing a Nationalist agent before liberation. Zhang Liugi was desperate and committed suicide.
Xu commented: “An old Communist like Wang Shaoyong, who joined the Party in the 1930s, has endured long struggles within the Party, has been victimized by his own people, and has been imprisoned for years for unjust cases. …… But once he regained power, he quickly resumed his old ways and used his power to engage in intra-party struggles, setting up special cases (against a large number of people) and imprisoning them for long periods of time, with vicious and severe hands.” The death penalty cases all over Shanghai were also approved by Wang, and “definitely killed some people by mistake. I have repeatedly thought about it and feel that this ‘Wang Shaoyong phenomenon’ is not individual, but a special phenomenon caused by the doctrine of class struggle ruling the Communist Party from the ideological point of view for a long time, brutal struggle, ruthless crackdown, week after week, cycle after cycle ……. Wang Shaoyong disappeared from this country (died of illness), but has the phenomenon of Wang Shaoyong and the legacy of the special case been extinct since then?” (pp. 179-180)
The victims in Chongqing and many other places in recent years have answered loudly: It has not disappeared! Of course not! Because we have Wang Shaoyong here, big and small! Isn’t Secretary Bo also a super Wang Shaoyong?
Secretary Bo, who is in Qincheng prison, replied loudly: Can you blame me for that? Am I not also now being dedicated to the case?
Gentlemen, the reason I call Xu Jingxian a “good teacher” is that his book contains many such example-based reflections, making his book “Last Memories” a lively textbook for contemporary Chinese politics classes.
Another highlight of Xu’s book (pp. 296-37) is the confirmation from multiple sources of the major events of Zhou’s criticism at the end of 1973, first revealed in detail in Gao Wenqian’s Zhou Enlai in Later Years. Combining the old and new details provided by Xu and Gao’s books, this political attack on Mao’s oldest colleague, launched before his death, is noteworthy for the following.
— On November 17, 1973, Mao decided to have Zhou Enlai himself chair a meeting of the Central Political Bureau to criticize Zhou. The theme was to criticize Zhou for being “seriously right-leaning and revisionist” in foreign affairs, for “ignoring the Central Committee and deceiving the President”, and for “surrendering on bended knees and humiliating the country”.
–Mao told Jiang Qing, Wang Hailong and Tang Wensheng that Zhou was terribly afraid of the Soviet Union, and that if the Soviet Union came in, Zhou would be the Soviet emperor’s son. Jiang was instructed to criticize Zhou as the head of the “eleventh line of struggle” (Liu Shaoqi was the ninth and Lin Biao the tenth) and the boss of the “ship of thieves”; Tang conveyed Mao’s criticism of Zhou for eight hours.
–During the ten days of criticism, the original minutes of the meeting were copied word for word in pencil late each night into large print (not submitted for printing in order to maintain secrecy) and sent to Mao, who had poor eyesight, to read, and Mao was firmly in control of the progress and details of the meeting.
— Mao paid particular attention to the newly reinstated Deng Xiaoping’s stance on criticizing Zhou, and appointed Deng, who was not yet a member of the Politburo, to attend the expanded Politburo meeting on criticizing Zhou. The seasoned Deng spoke to remind Zhou: “Your current position is only one step away from the chairman, others are predictable, but you are predictable, I hope you yourself can be very alert to this.” Mao was extremely happy, moved to find Deng for a long talk overnight. More than ten days later, Mao appointed Deng to the Politburo, as well as the Chief of General Staff.
–The first thing that happened was that Mao asked to meet with him. Jiang Qing did not allow others to write a review for Zhou, and reprimanded Zhou to his face: “You are a nagging person! You have to talk about the substantive issues!”
–Zhou had to criticize himself as hard as he could, and took the position that he would give someone else the power to preside over the daily work of the Politburo.
–Mao stopped here and said to Zhou when he met with foreign guests, “Premier, you’ve been fixed. I heard that they’ve made you happy, saying that you love to interrupt me, so you’re afraid to speak now, and you’ve turned me into a ‘one-liner. ‘” Mao also pointed to the presence of Wang Hairong, Tang Wensheng said, “They whole me, whole Premier, …… Premier poor ah, by these pussies whole so bitter.” These ladies later whined, “He (Mao) does the face, we do the ass.”
— In the early 1980s, the CPC Central Committee agreed to a request by Zhou’s widow Deng Yingchao to destroy the entire record of the above-mentioned Zhou criticism meeting in her presence. The two materials that Zhou was most worried about before his death were the “Wu Hao Qiao” (a forgery that said Zhou betrayed the revolution in his early years), which Mao Jiang had tried to use during the Cultural Revolution, and the minutes of that Zhou criticism meeting. Because in the Chinese Communist system, “betrayal” and “traitor” are lethal weapons to destroy a top leader completely. The destruction of Liu Shaoqi and Lin Biao by Mao Jiang is a close example.
After reading Xu Jingxian’s “Last Memories,” you can better understand why some people value Mao’s legacy so much – for those who struggle to survive and prosper in today’s and tomorrow’s Chinese political tide, what other art of war can teach you better than Mao’s strategy and tactics, which can teach you the best way to kill your opponents, the best way to your enemies and the best way to your comrades? Even better?
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