Tao Fang is a completely different person! When he was working with me, he always looked very confident, but now he has become like a bird of prey, disheveled and depressed, people have also lost a circle, compared with the past few months, seems to have aged several years. A few young people in the back, but snickering. When Tao Fang was brought to the stage, the people behind stood up to see, pushing down the bench. So, someone brought a chair to the front of the stage and made Tao Fang stand on it. Tao Fang climbed on the chair and put on the high hat, looking humble and panicked, but a few youths in the back row could not help but laugh indulgently.
At this time, someone from the back corner stood up, which is naturally organized in advance, they hold high in their hands Mao Zedong Red Book, that everyone must carry with them, the need for the pair, for when held high. He led the entire crowd chanting slogans.
“Down with Tao Fang!”
“Down with the imperialist lackey Tao Fang!”
“……!”
“…… bourgeoisie!”
“Long live the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution!”
“Long live the great leader Chairman Mao!”
All of a sudden, all the noise and laughter stopped, and everyone got up and shouted slogans, waving the quotation book in their hands. I didn’t bring my quotation book, I was afraid of being discovered, so I had to stall sardonically and slowly. I was deeply puzzled that Tao Fang also raised his hands and chanted slogans along with those who opposed him. At this point, I gathered up the fans, bags, water bottles, cups, etc. around me and put them on the bench, then stood up, when the others had stopped chanting slogans and sat down. So, I had to pick up those miscellaneous things again before I could sit down. One of the people sitting next to me looked uncomfortable and moved his body away from me a little, as if he was afraid that my bad behavior would defile him.
When the crowd began to angrily denounce and struggle against the criminal Tao Fang, he was grabbed off the chair, and as he lowered his head down, he inadvertently dropped the tall hat on the floor. The students again let out a roar of laughter. Tao Fang looked fearfully at the person presiding over the meeting, obviously afraid of being accused of doing it on purpose. He was relieved when another man picked up the hat and put it on the table.
The presenter of the meeting encouraged the other employees of the company, including the two who had come to my house in the morning, and some other junior employees who worked in the gold accounting section where Tao Fang worked, to come up and speak. They came up in turn to express their anger and hatred for Tao Fang, repeating some of the things that the presenter of the morning meeting had exposed about Tao Fang. I know that the scope and content of the criticism, prior to the leadership instructions, they just do not think about the above arrangements to say, such as speaking of different content, is not a deep criticism. The Chinese have learned a lesson that if they do not think, but only act according to the instructions of their superiors, then their superiors will trust them more and appreciate them. The old workers had been criticizing Tao Fang for a long time. All those who were allowed to speak were workers and low-level employees, while none of us, the senior employees, were qualified to participate; they just sat quietly with their heads down.
Finally, the moderator of the meeting spoke again. He told everyone that Tao Fang, after weeks of education and help from the movement’s activists, had finally admitted his mistakes and that he was a victim of capitalism and imperialism. With that he turned to Tao Fang and said to him in the tone of a rude teacher reprimanding a recalcitrant student: “Is this the truth? Is it true that the imperialists bought you as their slave with a high salary? You sold your own soul and did a lot of dirty work for them for the high salary and money they gave you, is that right?” The meeting room fell silent, waiting to hear Tao Fang’s answer. But he did not cry out in repentance, but just nodded his head in frustration.
I thought it was foolish for him to admit that he had “sold his soul for money,” which would have led to a more demanding revelation and ultimately made him unable to extricate himself. I think it would be better to explain to them realistically that the only reason Asean was able to continue to pay Shanghai workers the same salary as before after the Communists liberated China was because the government did not interfere with it at the time, and of course the company did not cut salaries for its workers. He could also say intelligently (so that the other side can hardly refute): serving foreign companies, also like other employees of state institutions and enterprises, does not affect the individual’s right to serve the people.
“Now, Tao Fang makes an inspection.” The man announced.
Tao Fang still looked dejected and uninspired, and without sweeping his eyes into the crowd, he took out some papers from his pocket and read the prepared examination in a low voice without expression. He humbly admitted all the crimes that the conference had uncovered against him, and that he was beaten down because he lacked socialist consciousness. He regretted having worked for foreign companies for thirty-five years and that they had ruined his life. He was ashamed of being hoodwinked by the propaganda of the imperialists and of being enslaved by the generous treatment of Asean. He pleaded for the forgiveness of the proletariat and gave him the opportunity to reform. He also mentioned that his son was a member of the Party and that the state had trained him for further studies abroad. The degradation of his own life was a sign of ingratitude to the government. He expressed to the congress his determination to recognize the conspiracy of foreign capitalists and imperialists against Communist China, and to endeavor to expose their despicable methods and to show by practical action his determination to change his ways. He said he was writing a detailed confession to account for the crimes he had committed in Asean.
He overemphasized the condemnation of his mistakes in his speech. His voice was trembling at times, and at times he opened his mouth but could not utter a word. When he turned over his speech, his hands were shaking at the soles. I believe his nervousness was not due to fear, because he knew in his own mind that he had not committed any crime, after all, Asean had established a presence in China, which was allowed and needed by the government. At the same time, I am also clear that our company is prudent and correct to follow the Chinese government’s decree. On this point, Tao Fang is also very clear understanding. I think his main problem is that he is so mentally and physically exhausted that he has completely succumbed. I am sure that this is due to the fact that those who “helped” him spent days and even weeks, day and night, interrogating him and putting pressure on him. As we all know, when a person is physically paralyzed and mentally broken, he or she will confess to anything. This kind of forced confession is called “fatigue bombing”.
From my personal point of view, all the performances at this meeting would have been irrelevant and irrelevant to me. But even so, I was outraged. The first thought that came to me from this “struggle conference” was that it was disgusting and shameful to treat a person in such a barbaric way in my beloved country with a 5,000-year cultural history. As a Chinese person, I feel degraded myself!
There were people continuing to chant slogans, but everyone was already flocking to the door.
The man who had just attempted to stop me from going home for lunch was waiting for me in the hallway again. He said to me, “Come here for a moment, there are some comrades who want to talk to you.” I followed them to a classroom where the desks and chairs were stacked in a corner, and the presiding officer and another person were sitting at the podium, with an empty chair over there, and they gestured for me to sit down.
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