| Blogs > swallowtsui > Hopping Swallow 鍋爐焰焰 |
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Our grandfathers died in that chaotic era Deaths caused by Cultural Revolution, Disapperance made by a mistaken era. I. A Farmer Grandpa's Death, but the Grandma Has Longevity Foreword: I never saw my grandpa, my mother's father. Only not long ago, I knew his death cause fm my grandma, his widow for nearly half century. It aches to have some family history revealed. This is one of them. I am selfish, for my good sake, better I was never told. Character: farmer grandpa, grandma; young uncle A&B; secondary school mother,aunts; grandpa's worker brother, his wife; other farmers Setting: 1960s one village leaning on a hill, w/ a fish pond in front, some sheeps ma'ering around N.B. There's literary trimming based on true storyline. ------------- Grandpa just comes out of a meeting, the village "production unit" chief echoing in his ear. "Masses, go home and think it well: Have you ever committed crime deviant to Chairman's guidelines in the past? Have you known of someone did? Have your thought ever go wrong? If whoever has had these but does not tell, truth will come out itself and nobody will escape the punishment. Who's against our revolutional course, who's our enemy! Turn him up!..." He walks home in heavy paces, mind twisting w/ the chief's provocative voice. The voice is so powerful and fearsome that he suddently remembers he was ordered to be a village officer during Nationalist (KMT) time. But only after one day he quitted it... "Papa, wooh, wooh." girl Mother cries, that time a w/ a Red brooch on the front shirt, "they, they, the boys all will go to take train to Beijing to worship Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square. But, but, they dont allow me to go....me, me, also a red guard...wooh, wooh" "Erh, girl, dont cry, I'll see. Ahh!" Grandpa sighs, patting the girl's head. "Why? why they dont let my girl go? She is a good student, a progressive one. Is it becoz of me?" Taking a cigarret, he keeps thinking. "They know my historical problem!?" ... To be cont. II. An Intelletual Granpa's Death, soon Followed by the Suffering Re-married Grandma To be cont. |
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5/12/2006 2:50 pm |
I look forward to what you will write about the Cultural Revolution. The effects of the Cultural Revolution directly or indirectly touched essentially all of China's populace. During the Cultural Revolution, much economic activity was halted, with "revolution" being the primary objective of many. Millions in China reportedly had their human rights annulled during the Cultural Revolution. Millions were forcibly displaced. During the Cultural Revolution, young people from the cities were forcibly moved to the countryside, where they were forced to abandon all forms of standard education for the propaganda teachings of the Chinese Communist Party. Crimes against the government were brutally and publicly punished. People were forced to walk through the streets naked, were flogged publicly, or forced, some report, to sit in the jetliner position for hours. Many deaths occurred in police custody, although they were often covered up as "suicides". Estimates of the death toll, civilians and Red Guards, from various Western and Eastern sources are about 500,000 in the true years of chaos of 1966‒1969. However, the true figure may never be known since many deaths went unreported or were actively covered up by the police or local authorities.
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Ric I didnt live through that time. It finished in 1976 when i was 3-y-o. But i had dim memory to several traits of that era, some remaining several years after 1976 - Big Basin Rice; Open Street Walk Sentence to a man wearing a white, tall paper hat; young red guards patrolling in night and reading Mao's Red Book loudly; the ppl's millitia training... In my little kid's eyes, in my place, I didn't see brutal things (though we all know that era was very brutal). I saw common ppl even more happy, healthy than today when they had less material things, less individual but more spiritual unity. But i know some fm my parents, grandparents and other older ppl around. It consists up my perception adding up to what books telling me. We wont want history to repeat. But in history Chinese rulers did again and again use very extreme measure to serve for their sovereinty. And Chinese is a submissive people driven by thearchy and authority.
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Say, My theme is wholesome? or salty that is harmful to wholesomeness?
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