The Cultural Revolution happened a long time ago, but the effects are still present.

This week the People’s Daily wrote an editorial which pronounced the Cultural Revolution as a grave error. It stated that “History has proven that the Cultural Revolution was a complete mistake, it is not and could never be a revolution or social progress in any sense.” “We won’t and will never allow a mistake like the ‘cultural revolution’ to happen again.”

Outside China the news was being spread relatively fast by western media. In China it seems to have caused less commotion. Not only has the Communist Party condemned the Cultural Revolution already decades ago, (although it must be said that its leaders were hesitant to openly spark controversy about it), the people have already said bye-bye to the Cultural Revolution a long time ago.

Which brings me to the Cultural Revolution and its effects on contemporary China. An official told me once that every Chinese citizen understand what events like the Cultural Revolution can do to China. There is indeed no bigger event in recent Chinese history which had a more profound effect on modern China than the Cultural Revolution. One cannot understand contemporary China without understanding the events which occurred from 1966 to 1976 where 36 million people were persecuted of whom 1.5 million died. It’s enough to look at the Chinese society anno 2016 to still see the effects. First of all there the visual effects. For a country which prides itself so much on its 5.000 year of history, there is are in comparison few cultural sites preserved. Yes, there are the traditional cultural cities such as Beijing, Xi’An, Luoyang, Suzhou, etc. but anyone who has traveled around the country cannot have failed to notice the scores and scores of new buildings and structures. City centers are all newly built during the last three decades, while the historical sites often have been completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The soul of a country swept away.

Then there are the less visible effects which are more difficult to spot. Economically the Cultural Revolution almost bankrupted the Chinese economy, already several wounded by the Great Leap Forward. It made the reforms of 1978 an absolute necessity. Politically the cult of Mao during that period produced a reaction in the post-Mao era: no more single leader but a ‘Collective Leadership’. To a certain extent Bo Xi Lai was probably a victim if that idea. It’s not sure what current President Xi Jinping is favoring, but although current economic volatile environment requires more stability and control, it is highly doubtful he will become as powerful as Mao Ze Dong.

But there is more. Foreigners sometimes complain about the lack of politeness and “civilized behavior” of some Chinese citizens (not queuing, talking loudly, etc). What’s more, most foreigners don’t seem to understand exactly why this is. They call it sometimes TIC (This Is China), which is one term that fits all. However it’s not difficult to comprehend why there is this kind of “uncivilized behavior”. Moreover the people themselves can’t even be blamed for it. Not only is there the massive population of 1.35 billion which creates a tremendous amount of pressure and competition for nearly everything and consequently often brings out the less polite side of people (which is also very much true for the foreigners living in China) . But more importantly there is also the fact that most schools were closed during the Cultural Revolution, which basically means that a whole generation of Chinese citizens grew up without any basic education in the widest sense of the word. Almost all professionals, including doctors, teachers, professors, scientists and technicians, religious leaders, virtually anyone with expertise or knowledge were denounced and prosecuted. No less than four million high school and college graduates and sixteen million students were sent to the farmland where they ended up working the farms. Those who were lucky enough to graduate in schools which remained open, they were sent to the countryside to re-educate the farmers. In fact a whole generation never learned anything during that period, except for the absolute basics. A generation of mindless, uneducated farmers was being created.

My in-laws, born in Shandong province, were teenagers when the Cultural Revolution disturbed their life. They told me that they did learn how to read and write in school. And that was basically it. Most of their time they were busy writing down critical notes about their teachers, something they were forced to do. Teachers only dared to teach the absolute minimum, afraid to be marked as contra-revolutionary. One of their teachers had to walk through the streets of the city, with a cow bell around his neck which he needed to ring every so many seconds while shouting he was a bad teacher. After that, they never saw him again. Just like so many others, my parents in law also were sent to the countryside to re-educate the farmers. When they took the train to their designated location, they train was packed with Red Guards. They showed me some pictures from that period, which depicts a life long gone, and in great contrast with their current lifestyle.

Because of the Cultural Revolution many student’s and scholar’s talents were nothing less than wasted. In 2004, just after I moved to China, I saw a elderly man on a vegetable market in Xi’An selling postcards. When he realized I was Belgian and spoke Dutch, he started to talk to me in absolutely fluent German. Given the fact that I during my journeys in remote provinces barely met people who could speak a few words of English, I asked him surprised where he learnt to speak German. He replied he used to be a professor at a university which closed its doors during the Cultural Revolution. In the eighties, after the ‘normalization’ he couldn’t find any job anymore where he could utilize his language skills. So he started to do all kinds of other work, including selling postcards.

Given all this, it’s almost a miracle that China has recovered so fast. From being a rural society with no substantial industrial production, China has become a manufacturing giant. 600 million people are lifted out of poverty because of its rapid economic development. It’s the biggest digital market place in the world and becomes an increasingly technological society ruled by WeChat. And what about my parents in law? They still go the countryside, but not anymore to educate the farmers. Their preferred destination is Moganshan, a beautiful mountainous resort only 2.5 hours from Shanghai where they can escape the hustle and the bustle of the city. Times certainly have changed.

Add comment