Remembering the Cultural Revolution

Frank Dikotter's (umlaut omitted) new book The Cultural Revolution: A People's History dropped a few months ago.  Usually the Chinese government considers the Cultural Revolution a taboo subject and glosses over it or omits it entirely from history.  This makes books like Dikotter's newest release all the more important, especially considering his place as one of the world's foremost sinologists.

Many of China's top party leaders faced persecution during the Cultural Revolution, including future paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and the father of the CPC's currently leader, Xi Jinping.  Despite this, China occasionally roles out the nostalgia for the period in the form of song and dance numbers during large public events.  I will admit, I often find this nostalgia for a period market by human suffering distasteful.

During the period between 1966 and Mao's death in 1976, Chinese citizens labeled class enemies faced persecution as the CPC attempted to erase the vestiges of China's past.  Priceless artifacts and buildings were destroyed as the communists attempted to eliminate anything relating to the country's past and "foreign influences" (except communism).  Douzheng (loosely translated as "struggle") between Maoist fervor and the "Four Olds" tore the country apart.

In China today, many claim there seems to exist a sort of collective amnesia about the Cultural Revolution.  I for one would classify it more as collective silence.  "Amnesia" implies that everyone has forgotten it.  Speaking with anyone who lived through those turbulent years will make it clear that no one has forgotten them.  People choose not to talk about the horrors and excesses of the period because the pain and suffering of the time remain a part of everyday life.  You still see its effects from the highest level of the government to the peeling paint from Maoist slogans fading on the sides of buildings.  

Though I haven't got a chance to read Dikotter's most recent work, I would definitely recommend his other books The Tragedy of Liberation and Mao's Great Famine.  Only by understanding the country's past, and examining how it is portrayed in the present, can foreigners ever hope to understand this complex country.