Today, I saw two videos in my circle of friends. A group of primary and secondary school students, under the guidance of teachers dancing the word “loyalty”, behind them, there is a group of students standing neatly, singing songs in unison.
These two videos really made me jump.
In 2002, there was a restaurant to attract customers, arranged staff to dance the word “loyalty” performance, and was criticized and investigated by the business sector.
I really didn’t expect that this dance would appear again, and in a dignified manner in primary and secondary school campuses. I don’t know what the teachers who rehearse this dance have in mind.
The teachers in the video are very young. These teachers, when instructing their students in the “loyalty” dance, do they know if they have ever thought that in that particular era, there were two beautiful girls who, despite their personal safety, came forward and used their blood and lives to fight against the “loyalty” dance and the hanging of the “loyalty” plaque. They resisted with their blood and lives the “loyalty” movement of dancing “loyalty” and hanging “loyalty” plaques, as well as the extreme leftist fanaticism of personal worship. He gave his precious life for the sake of the country and the nation.
She sacrificed her young life because she opposed the “loyalty” movement of dancing and hanging “loyalty” plaques.
Her name was Ding Zuxiao, and in that particular era, she opposed the extreme leftist fanatical cult of individuality and the “loyalty” movement of dancing and hanging “loyalty” plaques, and was martyred as a result. Her life was forever fixed at the age of 24.
Ding Zuxiao (1946-1970), when Zheng Li, a former researcher of the Party History Research Office of Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province, first heard of Ding Zuxiao’s name and learned of her deeds more than 20 years ago, he was very shocked.
He never imagined that in the remote and isolated mountainous area of western Hunan, there was a woman who was as outstanding as Zhang Zhixin, a pioneer of ideological liberation!
After visiting many informants and reviewing a large number of archives and interrogation records, Zheng Li reported Ding Zuxiao’s information to the Party History Research Office of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee.
Later, in the second volume of the History of Hunan Province of the Communist Party of China, published in 2009 and written by the Party History Research Office of Hunan Provincial Committee, a section was devoted to Ding Zuxiao, Li Qishun and others under the title of “The Four Women Resisted the Cult of the Individual”.
In 1946, Ding Zuxiao was born in Xianghang Commune, Dayong County, Hunan Province (now Fengxianggang Street, Yongding District, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province).
In 1965, at the age of 19, Ding Zuxiao graduated from high school. She responded positively to the call to build a new socialist countryside and returned to her hometown to work as a farmer.
Ding Zuxiao’s hometown is the old revolutionary area where the “Dingjiasol Conference” was held, which was presided over by Ren Bishou and He Long in 1935 and criticized Xia Xi’s left-leaning mistake of purging and expansion. The meeting was a very significant one in the history of the Second Red Army Corps.
After returning to her hometown, Ding Zuxiao was active and motivated. She joined the Communist Youth League and was awarded as an “advanced member” and “five good” pacesetter. The masses praised her as “the standard bearer of intellectual youths returning to their hometown”.
In 1966, an unprecedented movement began. Ding Zuxiao was the leader of the propaganda team of the production brigade.
After witnessing some experts, celebrities and teachers being smeared as “stinky old men” and many old Red Army and cadres wearing “bandits”, “traitors”, “spies” and “go-getters”, Ding Zuoxiao became the leader of the production brigade. Many old Red Army soldiers and cadres were also criticized under the labels of “bandits”, “traitors”, “spies”, “capitalists” and “counter-revolutionary revisionists”, and Ding Zuxiao, who was a good thinker, was in deep confusion.
Back home, Ding Zuxiao would often talk with her sister Ding Zuxia about national issues. She worriedly said to her sister.
“Are all the loyal generals of our country going to be like the ancient Yue Fei, who succumbed to death in Feng Bo Ting one by one? ……”
Ding Zuxiao was puzzled by this campaign: Why were those highly respected people criticized? Why would two groups of people shouting the same slogan fight each other?
By the late 1960s, Ding Zuxiao felt very doubtful and painful when he saw that every family hung “loyalty” plaques, villages put up “loyalty” signs (walls), and everyone danced “loyalty” dances.
For the cadres and masses must do the “five firsts” (i.e., the five rituals of “ask for instructions in the morning and report in the evening”: stand at attention and salute, call “Longevity”, call “Health”, singing “Dongfang Hong”, read the quotation), later developed to the meal, the meal is served together on the table, after doing the “five firsts” and then eat. Ding Zuxiao thinks this formalism is unnecessary, and has affected the normal life of the masses, she felt funny and angry.
Especially when you see an honest, illiterate peasant because of a wrong word, shouting a wrong slogan, the slightest mistake will be criticized, and even go to jail for it, making everyone at risk. She sympathized with the suffering of these people who were being criticized and was deeply worried about the future of the country and the nation.
After a long period of reflection, Ding Zuxiao believed that the essence of this fierce campaign of “loyalty” was the “unprecedented cult of the individual in history” promoted by Lin Biao and others.
Ding Zuxiao decided to stand up and oppose the “loyalty” campaign. She wrote a letter to the Dayong County Revolutionary Committee, in which she said.
First of all, I would like to ask if these five firsts are what Chairman Mao wants to do. Or are they done by cadres at that level for the sake of flattery? I see no benefit to Chairman Mao, not only is it a waste of work, but it is really a useless, superfluous, and even harmful form.
For example, if one shouts 700 million or 1.4 billion times a day that Chairman Mao will live forever, Chairman Mao will not only not hear, but will not really live to 10,000 years. That stand in front of the statue to Chairman Mao oath, not necessarily from the heart loyal to Chairman Mao, inevitably there are many people inside the mouth is wrong, this is not my imagination, but is an objective fact.
I think this do five first, not only unhelpful form, and is harmful distortion. …… I think Chairman Mao his old man would not want such a personal worship.
The letter was sent out for more than a month and no reply was received. Ding Zuxiao decided to put her opposition to this “loyalty” campaign into a leaflet and distribute it so that more people would think about this issue.
When her sister Ding Zuxia learned of her sister’s bold idea, she became very worried and tried to dissuade her: “Writing leaflets is a way to kill your head.”
But at this time Ding Zuxiao could not care less about her personal safety, she was ready to sacrifice her life for righteousness. She said to her sister.
“The country and the nation have been made to look like this by these people, and everyone is slippery and does not speak straight, how can it be!”
“I have thought over and over again, as a revolutionary youth, I have made up my mind to face a miserable life, face the dripping blood, speak straightforwardly to warn the world, and not regret even if I kill my head.”
Her sister’s words moved Ding Zuxia very much and aroused her feelings of concern for the country and the people, so she took the initiative to help copy the leaflets.
On April 21, 1969, the two sisters wrote a number of leaflets and posted them overnight to the busy areas of the county.
The flyer reads.
From the perspective of the phenomenon, the word “loyalty” is an authentic and historically unprecedented cult of the individual. ……
All upright revolutionaries, clear your heads, don’t be deceived ……
Down with the cult of the individual! ……
As soon as these leaflets were sent out, they immediately spread throughout Dayong County and the whole of western Hunan.
Some people were surprised, some were angry, and some hailed. The Dayong County Revolutionary Committee regarded it as a major case, and after it was reported, it was qualified as the “Special No. 1 Case” in Dayong County.
In the late night of July 5, 1969, two sisters, Ding Zuxiao and Ding Zuxia, were arrested and imprisoned.
Soon after the arrest and imprisonment of the Ding sisters, Ding Zuxiao’s classmate, Li Qishun, a young intellectual from the countryside, and her sister, Li Qicai, came forward.
These two brave girls were determined to show solidarity with their own actions and demanded the acquittal of the two sisters Ding Zuxiao and Ding Zuxia.
Li Qishun (1947 – 1970)
The two sisters, Li Qishun and Li Qicai, publicly clapped for the Ding sisters’ leaflets. In a very difficult economic situation, the sisters used the ten-odd dollars they saved to buy steel plates, pens, wax paper and ink to engrave the “Letter to the People of the County”, attacking Lin Biao and others for the destruction of the normal life of the peasants through the “loyalty” campaign, cracking down on the persecution of veteran cadres and other perverse crimes, as well as showing solidarity with the Ding sisters and defending them. The sisters’ injustice was heard.
In the early morning of September 27, 1969, Li Qishun and Li Qicai sisters scattered 25 leaflets in the main streets of the county, and boldly sent them to the editorial office of the Red Flag magazine.
This event once again stirred the Dayong County.
Soon, the sisters Li Qishun and Li Qicai were arrested and imprisoned, and the case was merged with that of the Ding sisters and characterized as a “counter-revolutionary group headed by Ding Zuxiao and Li Qishun”.
In addition, six other young people were arrested one after another as they were implicated in this case.
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After Ding Zuxiao was arrested and imprisoned, she underwent more than 240 interrogations in more than 10 months, but she always insisted on her own views and refused to admit her guilt.
In one of the interrogations in the afternoon of July 13, 1969, there is a transcript of the following.
The question: “Ding Zuxiao, have you committed a crime?”
Ding Zuxiao replied, “I am not guilty!”
Another question: “Are you being detained for no reason?”
Ding Zuxiao replied, “Then I don’t know. You are a military control group, and I am a peasant, so you arrested me and I came to sit in the classroom!”
Then he asked, “You are the one who did the ‘Special No. 1 Case’!”
Ding Zuxiao smiled and replied, “I did it.”
Finally, he asked, “Do you have any worries?”
Ding Zuxiao replied, “I have no worries!”
Ding Zuxiao’s attitude surprised the case officer, as this rural girl, who had never seen the waves, was so strong-willed and had already put life and death at risk.
On May 3, 1970, during the interrogation, which was declared the “last one”, Ding Zuxiao still spoke with generosity.
I always believe that “loyalty” should be to the people, to the motherland, and to the truth, not to anyone. The word “loyalty” now advocated is a cult of the individual ……
On May 5, 1970, after the case officer read out the decision to impose the death penalty, he asked, “Ding Zuxiao, do you hear me clearly?”
She replied in a loud voice, “Heard it clearly.”
Ding Zuxiao refused to sign and fingerprint the sentencing transcript, turned around and entered her cell, then closed the door with a bang.
Three days later (May 8, 1970), on the beach at Heron Bay on the River in Dayong County, Ding Zuxiao was executed by firing squad at the age of 24.
On the same day, another equally brave and beautiful girl, Li Qishun, was executed in Jishou, western Hunan, at the age of 23.
Ding Zuxiao’s sister, Ding Zuxia, and Li Qishun’s sister, Li Qicai, were sentenced to 20 and 10 years of imprisonment, respectively, as accomplices. Li Qicai was only 17 years old at that time.
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In August 1980, the Dayong County Committee publicly rehabilitated Ding Zuxia and Li Qishun and held a ceremony for the burial of their ashes.
Ding Zuxia, Li Qicai and other people who were sentenced for being suspected of this case were all acquitted.
A new era slowly opened. At this time, 10 years had passed since the death of Ding Zuxia and Li Qishun.
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