Chapter 2: The Eve of the Great Storm
Since that criticism meeting, I have been summoned several times by those two men, and our conversation has been much the same as the last one. Once they asked me to give them all the names of the Americans and Europeans I knew and their occupations, and when, where, and under what circumstances I had met them. When I wrote it all down and handed it in, they only glanced at it out of the corner of their eyes. They did not ask about some specific practical matters of the company, but only inspired me to reveal the crimes of the original owner of Asia and myself. They did not ask anything else of me other than that.
I had a feeling at that time as if they were deliberately stalling for time in order to wait for instructions from above. Because at that time, within the Communist Party, there was a sharp struggle for power, and the focus of the struggle was the issue of the leadership of the Cultural Revolution.
It was revealed that at a meeting of the Central Committee members in early August, Mao Zedong wrote a large-character poster entitled “Cannonballing the Command”, focusing on exposing the existence of a bourgeois command within the People’s Government (i.e., the government body with Liu Shaoqi as the State President) and in the Party Central Secretariat (the Party Central Secretariat with Deng Xiaoping as the General Secretary). Because of their policies, they protected the bourgeoisie and served the interests of the bourgeoisie. This large-character poster caused a strong reaction in the whole Party and in the leading bodies of the government at all levels. In order to save his reputation in the situation, Liu Shaoqi made a formal review, such as the economic policy of allowing the peasants to keep their own land and setting up free markets in order to satisfy the urban food supply, which gave a hotbed for the restoration of capitalism in China and contributed to the regression of socialism. In fact, it was Liu Shaoqi’s economic policy that saved China’s economy from collapse after the failure of the Great Leap Forward in 1958-1960. However, Liu Shaoqi’s self-incrimination was a tactical mistake that put him in a very unfavorable predicament and thus allowed the radicals to find a breakthrough to attack him.
Mao’s victory in the Central Committee prompted the ultra-leftists to form the Central Cultural Revolution Group to replace the leading body of the Cultural Revolution. Gradually, under the siege of the Red Guards and the “revolutionary masses,” the Party and local institutions at all levels were completely paralyzed. The Central Cultural Revolution Group became the supreme ruling body. Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, was one of its members. They had absolute power, and all the members of the Cultural Revolution Group were elected to the Central Politburo. Throughout the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing, in her capacity as Mao’s wife, presented herself as Mao’s spokesperson and representative and carried out usurpation of political power in the name of conveying Mao’s supreme instructions in order to satisfy her own selfish desires. Such a brutal and ambitious woman, who had been out in the cold for decades in her political career, did not tolerate at all any dissenting opinions or concealed or imaginary power over her once she gained power. Thousands of party leaders, artists, writers, scientists and ordinary people were brutally persecuted because of her unwarranted suspicions. An unknown number of people died at the hands of her cronies, the so-called “proletarian revolutionaries”.
At the Central Committee meeting held in August, Lin Biao, the Minister of National Defense, was designated as Mao’s successor. His words of praise for Mao were included in the communiqué of the congress and published in the press. Lin Biao claimed that Mao was the greatest Marxist of our time, placing Mao’s name above Stalin, Lenin’s successor. This reference, during the decade-long Cultural Revolution, remained unchanged by those radicals even after Lin Biao was defeated.
One day, after the communiqué of the Central Committee was issued, Mr. Hu, a friend of my husband’s, came to see me at my house. In China, wives and their husbands’ friends don’t get along very well. So after my husband’s death, he didn’t come to my house much, except to pay his respects in the New Year, as is the Chinese custom, to ask about my daughter’s condition, and to sit for a while before leaving. He often talked about my husband, admired him as a person, and was very fond of the pure friendship between them. Usually, whenever he came to pay his respects, he always left a red envelope, a small account for the maid. This was an old custom that remained among a very small group of old-fashioned people after the Communist takeover of China. I welcomed his visit with open arms. I thought Mr. Hu was extremely sincere in his treatment of people, although his temper was a bit inscrutable.
When Lao Zhao told me he was visiting, I was surprised. I asked Lao Zhao to invite him into the parlor and prepare refreshments.
Mr. Hu was the owner of a paint factory, whose paints were famous throughout the country and exported to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. After the liberation of Shanghai, he still managed the factory under the leadership of the Communist Party. During the socialist transformation of private capitalist enterprises in 1956, his factory was taken over by the state, and the government offered the capitalist a fixed interest rate of seven percent per year on the estimated value of his assets for ten years. The capitalist had no other choice but to accept all these conditions. Since Mr. Hu was a technical person, the government asked him to stay in the factory as chief engineer and deputy director. In addition, the Communist Party sent another party secretary and factory manager to manage the factory. Mr. Hu was a highly educated Chinese, but had little contact with Western culture. He was a keen Chinese calligrapher, wrote well, and spoke in a gentle and subtle manner. He was not accused of pandering to foreigners, as his own personal taste, learning and nature were full of Chinese style. On the whole, he performed well in all the movements. Because Mr. Hu had no overseas connections, which set him apart from those other foreign students who returned from abroad, the leaders were not too suspicious of him. His attitude toward his loss of the factory and having to accept a lesser position always puzzled me. Once my husband had told me that many private parties found it difficult to get along with the people sent by the Communist Party to run the factory, but Mr. Hu was the only one who got along well with these Communist Party secretaries who replaced him in charge of the factory.
“I heard that you were also involved in this Cultural Revolution, I wonder how you are doing?” Mr. Hu explained his coming in this way.
“I think the situation is rather bad. The Shanghai office of Asean is being censored, and I have been summoned for questioning and asked to attend a struggle meeting to criticize the company’s former accounting director.” I told Mr. Hu, “Those who spoke to me seemed to reveal that our company was violating the law in our business, but they didn’t make it clear. I simply didn’t know what to do, and I had never been part of any political movement.”
Jo brought over a silver tray with my best china tea set, a plate full of English cupcakes and thinly sliced sandwiches. This had been the standard for my British and Australian friends at lunchtime tea, and Jo was treating Mr. Hu like a guest of honor. He placed the tray on the coffee table in front of the sofa. At that moment, the phone in the hallway rang, so he went to answer it. Then he came back immediately and told me, “It’s that group again. They want you to go immediately.”
“Tell them I’m busy and I’ll go tomorrow.” I said.
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