The breaking of the Four Olds was basically complete. The Red Guards began to take things away, and by the afternoon. Only eleven or twelve people were left. One of them, called me into the dining room.
The liaison officer sent from above and two teachers were sitting at the dining room table, which was piled with letters my grandfather had written to my father before the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. At that time, my father was studying at the Japanese Naval Officers’ School. After my widowed mother died in Nanjing in 1962, these letters were deposited at my home along with other documents. I never opened them because I was going to send them to my brother in Beijing. He is the eldest son, so he should inherit these things. The papers are yellowing now, but my grandfather’s handwriting is still clear and unfaded.
The liaison officer gestured for me to sit down in a chair on the side and began to ask me, “Have you ever read your grandfather’s letter to your father?”
“That was a long time ago, when I was only a teenager, and my father showed it to me.”
“Your grandfather was a landowner, but he was also a patriot. He sent his eldest son to Japan to study and to train him to be a naval officer. That was because he was inspired by China’s crushing defeat in the Sino-Japanese naval war at the time. He also participated in the Hundred Days Reform. After the defeat, he returned to his hometown to focus on academic research. Do you respect your grandfather?”
I thought it was brave of this contactor to call my grandfather, who was a big landowner, a patriot. Since all the big landowners were enemies of the state, and some of them were suppressed during the land reform in 1950, there was no need to bother proving which of them was a patriot. I remember that my father was glad that my uncle, who managed the family property, had died a few years before the liberation, so that my grandfather, who was already in his grave, would not have the shame of being an unworthy descendant.
Every Chinese person respects his or her ancestors, and although I never met my grandfather, I loved him very much. So I said to the liaison officer, “Of course I love him and respect him.”
“Then why do you serve a foreign company? You know that foreigners are not kind to us? They plunder and exploit us Chinese economically and educate us politically by slavery. Only those who are the dregs of society serve foreigners. You should know something about this. You were assigned to teach at a foreign language institute, but you preferred to work for Asean, why on earth?”
I cannot say that I made such a choice because I was afraid of getting involved in unnecessary political movements. In 1957, when I was faced with the question of whether to become a teacher at a foreign language institute or to accept an offer from Asia, the anti-rightist movement had already begun. This movement was basically aimed at intellectuals, especially those who had stayed abroad. Many of my friends and acquaintances suffered from this movement, and some of them were sent to re-education through labor, and some of them went to prison. All universities, colleges and research units, including foreign language institutes, are in a state of panic, so if I go back to teach in foreign language institutes under such circumstances, I will not be throwing myself into the net. Therefore, I do not regret my choice to work in Asia, although it is neither honorable nor status to serve foreign companies in Chinese society.
“You were moved by their high salary, weren’t you?” He asked. I immediately realized that I was approaching a danger point. Because of the influence of long-standing propaganda, Chinese people generally believe that bourgeois elements can do anything for money, do all kinds of bad things, even violate the criminal law or other kinds of crimes.
“No,” I said, “I was already rich. It’s just that Asean offers better benefits, such as short working hours, car transportation, etc. Maybe because I was too lazy.” I added a sentence as if I was making a self-censorship. Because another shortcoming of bourgeois elements is laziness.
He looked at his watch; “I have a few places to go around.” He said, “I think you’d better think about it, and turn your foothold to the people’s side. Our policy is not to eliminate the bourgeoisie itself. We want you to shed your bones. Do you want to become a member of the glorious proletariat? All you have to do is give up your excess property and change your way of life, and that’s it. The purpose of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is to create a classless society. Where every worker works for the common good and shares the fruits of his labor, and no one can be superior.”
The liaison officer walked away. When the Red Guards heard that there was no big car to carry away the cache of materials that day, they took my jewelry and other valuables and put them in Man Ping’s study with a seal on the door. They also instructed my maid to keep an eye on me for fear that I would “steal” my things back.
When the last Red Guard left the door, it was almost dusk. Old Zhao and the cook wanted to clean up the remains of the various glassware, porcelain and pieces of paper piled up in each room, but I stopped them, I didn’t want them to move or throw the debris, because if the Red Guards found something missing again, they would blame us. So, they only swept the debris from the room and gathered it in one corner. Leaving a passable “walkway” only.
I went upstairs to see what had been destroyed, but found Chen’s mother sitting in front of my dresser, staring at the mess around her. I asked her to help me sweep all the torn clothes into a corner so that we could still have a place to step in.
My bedspread was covered with the footprints of the Red Guards. When Chen’s mother and I lifted the bedspread, we found that the mattress had also been cut up. A painting hanging on the wall above the bed was painted with lipstick: “Down with the imperialist lackeys!” The Red Guards had dug a hole in the gold screen. The screen was also covered with various slogans: “Down with the bourgeoisie!” I folded up the screen with the slogans and leaned it in the aisle outside the door. Then I picked up the white satin lampshade from the floor, which had been crushed flat, and Chen’s mother swept away the broken lamp.
In the bathroom, there was a huge pile of soiled towels. The bathtub was filled with half a tub of dirty water, as the Red Guards had poured all kinds of medicine from the medicine cabinet. I rattled off the stopper and drained the water.
Suddenly the front door was ringing loudly again. Old Zhao rushed up and said loudly, “Another batch of Red Guards are here.”
I hurriedly wiped my hands dry, walked to the entrance of the building, and said to them, “Calm down, open the door.”
“The First Secretary has gone to deal with them.” Old Zhao said, panting.
I went downstairs, and eight peasants in rustic clothes and workers who looked like they were working in the open air were already standing in the porch. Although they were middle-aged, they wore Red Guard armbands. Their leader, holding a leather whip, faced me and said, “We are the Red Guards! We have come to take revolutionary action!”
Their bearded appearance and calling themselves Red Guards made me feel funny and ridiculous.
“Really? You are Red Guards? I thought you were their fathers.” I said, already down the last step of the stairs.
The whip “snapped” on my elbow, and the pain was so hot that I gritted my teeth and didn’t scream out. They seemed a little nervous and uncertain, and looked out the door.
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