I have heard my mother talk about my distant cousin Yan Tingyong several times. His nickname was “Renzi”, his first name was Yan Tingyong, he was an Ox, and he was the same age as the Republic. If he were alive, he would be exactly 60 years old this year. I am from Zouping County, Shandong Province, and Yan Tingyong is my second grandfather’s grandson. My grandfather had six brothers, and his second grandfather had two daughters, and Yan Tingyong was the oldest son of the second daughter, whose family was in the village of Hanfang in Chengguan. My second grandfather did not have a son, so my father passed him on as a son. Because of my relationship, the Yan family has more contact with my family.
In 1974, he came to help my parents build a house. My parents spoke highly of him, saying he was honest and capable. However, they did not expect that after only two years, this honest nephew would do something very unusual.
Before Yan Tingyong was born, our area had already started to “classify”, his family was classified as “rich peasants”, Yan Tingyong was born as a “rich peasant” son.
Nowadays, many older people have a deep memory of “composition”. At that time, composition determined the fate of Chinese people. People with bad composition were inferior in every way, and could not go to school, could not become soldiers, and could not be promoted to the army. People with bad composition were divided into four categories, commonly known as “four types of elements”, and “rich peasants” was one of them, together with criminal elements.
I heard my mother say that when the village ditches were dug, the roads were muddy when it rained, and the door of Yan’s house was often taken off by the brigade cadres and used as a mat for vehicles to pass. In winter, when the cold wind poured in, the family suffered a lot.
Because of the poor composition, Yan Tingyong’s marriage became a heartache for the whole family. At that time, he was already nearly 30 years old, in the rural areas long after the age of marriage, but there has been no matchmaker to the door. This was a common phenomenon at that time, once the “rich peasant” hat, in addition to the family can not be turned around for generations, relatives may also be affected. Therefore, no one was willing to marry a family of bad composition, and many of the sons of landlords and rich peasants had to play bachelor even if they had outstanding talent. Yan Tingyong was the eldest son, so he could not get a daughter-in-law, and his brothers did not get married.
When I was not yet born, my aunt sent word that she intended to give Yan Tingyong to my father and change his surname, thinking that this would free him from the drag of his composition and give him a daughter-in-law. But this idea was rejected by my mother on the grounds that she was only five years older than Yan Tingyong and was not suitable.
When my mother mentioned this to me, she said that she was mainly worried about getting into trouble with her composition.
I think that all the discrimination and bullying involving the composition must have caused great stimulation to Yan Tingyong. Otherwise, this peasant with only fourth grade education would not have had the courage to write a letter to the Party Central Committee, the subject of which was to reflect the injustice of the composition theory.
Such a move may not seem like a big deal now, as there is no law against it, but at the time, it was an uncompromising act of treason. Yan Tingyong wrote a total of three letters before and after, and I guess he probably knew the seriousness of the matter, so he did not sign his name. However, this did not prevent the government from solving this sensational counter-revolutionary case in time. It is said that the whole county took a census for this purpose, checking handwriting one by one, and finally targeted Yan Tingyong.
After Yan Tingyong’s arrest, the family didn’t seem too worried at first. My father once ran into my cousin and asked about my cousin, who said that “the state” was treating him well and reassured my father.
However, this was obviously wishful thinking on the part of the family, and after May Day 1977, the “current counterrevolutionary” Yan Tingyong was executed, which my cousin remembers as the 12th day of the 3rd lunar month that year. What I am wondering is why Yan Tingyong was not able to escape his fate even though the Cultural Revolution had ended that year.
Before his execution, Yan Tingyong was paraded around the county to show the public. My father saw him in my township with his head bowed and a “Counterrevolutionary in force” sign on his body. Surrounded by onlookers. It is said that when he arrived at his town, he raised his head and tried to look for his family among the crowd of onlookers, but in the end, he was disappointed that no one dared to see him at home.
After Yan Tingyong was shot, his family still did not dare to show the slightest bit of injustice about the legal execution of this “current counterrevolutionary”. They could only close the door and cry quietly at home, but they couldn’t cry out loud for fear of being accused of being unhappy with the Party and the government. My aunt fell ill and died of depression.
In 1979, after two years of execution, Yan Tingyong was “rehabilitated”. The reason for the “rehabilitation” was not clear to the family, just as it was not clear how he was convicted back then. A popular theory is that Yan Tianyong was a supporter of Deng Xiaoping, and after Deng Xiaoping came to power, his case was overturned.
My aunt’s family received 4,000 yuan in compensation, and another cousin of mine (Yan Tingyong’s brother) was given a job at the county’s Xinhua bookstore.
Yan Tingyong’s body was never found and was said to have been sent to our local medical school for teaching anatomy. I came from a biology background, and now I think that Yan Tingyong, who was 28 years old and strong, was indeed the best specimen for anatomy.
Southern Weekend 2009-02-18
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