Transcription
[Music] Be [Music] [Applause] There was a famous hair salon. It displayed photographs of all kinds of hair dutes.
When the cultural revolution came, they were seen as examples of B decadence. A group of Red Guards took over the place. We said to them, "When the revolution starts to dictate the style of people's hair, clothes, and shoes, isn't the revolution being trivialized?"
Temples and shrines were ransacked. Despite official designation as cultural Treasures, many irreplaceable objects were [Music] destroyed. We were told to assemble at the central Art Academy. Old sculptures from the Tong s and Ming dynasties were piled in a heap. Also, statues of David and the like kind used in drawing classes.
The rebels were full of themselves. They struck poses as they smashed everything. They lit the pile and made us stand around it. It was one of the hottest days of the summer. The flames rose 100 feet. They ordered us to get down on our knees. They sang and they kicked us, forcing us closer to the flames.
"What did it look like? Cannibals in a song and dance ritual about to cook their captives?"
Were there any rules for wiping out the Four Olds? No. The kids made them up, so a lot of things went wrong. I was against much of that, but there were also things that, though I think they're wrong now, appealed to me back then. I have to be honest. For example, Christianity. At the time, I thought what happened was great. Why? Because the imperialists had bullied in two ways. One was with guns, like in the Opium War. The other had to do with spiritual opium. The priests and nuns never did anything good. They were part and parcel of cultural imperialism.
The Red Guard searched the homes of officials of the pre-revolutionary government, former landlords who now lived in the city, former capitalists who had long since given up their assets. The local police asked the Minister of Public Public Security if the Red Guards should be stopped. "No," that would be unwise. "Give them the names of known reactionaries and keep out of their way."
Those rounded up were made to write self-denunciations. They wore names on their backs: "Capitalist," "Landlord," "Criminal," "Pervert." Many were driven out of Beijing in the name of purifying the Revolutionary [Music] Capital.
We knew our home would be a target sooner or later. We fit the category. My parents had both been capitalists. Finally, one day, the Red Guards came charging in and turned our house upside down. It was terrifying. They forced my parents to kneel and beat them. The search had uncovered all kinds of things: house and lands, gold and silver, and old official appointment certificates. They were even hidden in the walls.
There was a fellow who'd been a brigadier general in the Nationalist Army. They'd found his uniform and some weapons. I didn't take part in the beating, but I watched. I really wanted to beat him because I felt such hatred. The past was still too close. As the son of a martyr, I remember all too well how we suffered in prison. The Nationalists buried my father alive. Many of my friends also had painful memories of their family sufferings and persecution. And now we'd come across someone like this. So what if he was beaten up? At the time, we felt he deserved it. It was only just. It was impossible for us to calmly consider the legalities and his human rights. I believe that if such people got back into power, they'd chop off my head.
Those kids who were the most revolutionary chanted Mao's quotation: "A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another." So this great directive of Chairman Mao legitimized all those acts of brutality.
The quotation came from a 1927 report Mao prepared for the Communist Party about violent peasant uprisings in Hunan Province. It was contained in the Little Red Book. These methods weren't invented during the Cultural Revolution. We'd seen a lot of this in revolutionary films as we were growing [Music] [Applause] up.
Mao said in his Hunan report, "The peasants are angry. Put dunce caps on the landlords, drag them through the streets." Mao then went further, saying whether you think such brutality is good or bad is the test of a true [Music] revolutionary. Mao argued that the peasant violence was an inevitable response to landlord oppression. To redress past wrongs, it was necessary to go to extremes. "Even some of our revolutionary comrades say it's terrible," Mao declared, "but in fact, it's [Music] excellent."
The People's Daily used the expression "It's excellent" as the headline for an editorial praising the Red Guards. And everybody understood it as a reference to Mao's 1927 report. Even though the editorial neither mentioned the report nor praised violence, it was clear that the extreme actions of the Red Guards were not to be criticized.