Hello,
I am an American citizen. I am writting to inform you a recent incident. The Chinese Communist Party
and its diplomatic and spy network are harassing New Tang Dynasty TV's Chinese New Year shows,
causing damage to Chinese cultural China's image. I hope you can report this incident to your leaders.
Since the Chinese New Year in 2004, the NTDTV has successfully hosted Global Chinese New Year
Gala at the beginning of each year. This program has demonstrated the real Chinese Culture to the
Western society, and it won high remarks from the audiences and main stream media. As Chinese, you
should feel proud of your culture.
This year's show has started from some cities in the U.S. and Canada. The touring performance will
travel to 28 cities in the world. The show will attract 100,000 live audiences. The program is
recognized as world class.
But Zeng Qinghong and some other Communist leaders are so jealous at the show that they started a
harassment campaign:
* They pressure the Korean government to cancel the performance in Seoul.
* They harass the VIP's, professors, government officials in many countries, demanding that they
don't watch the show or make good comments about it.
* They call all sponsors to recall their advertisement and support.
* In some cities, after the NTDTV Gala agenda was published, the CCP would organize their
own shows to cause trouble to NTDTV Gala.
All Chinese people and Americans who love the Chinese culture have the moral obligation to expose the
CCP's crime and stop it. Please tell your leaders, colleagues and family members about this.
Thanks.
Lisa Mileas
Epoch Times Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party – Part 6
The Chinese Communist Party Destroyed Traditional Culture
Foreword
Culture is the soul of a nation. It is as important a spiritual factor to
mankind as such physical factors as race and land.
The history of the civilization of a nation is defined by its cultural
developments. The complete destruction of traditional cultures will lead to the
end of a nation. No matter how glorious its civilization is, even if its race
survives, a nation will vanish when its culture disappears. For example, people
will not equate today’s aborigines living in Latin America with the ancient
Mayan race. Destruction of traditional cultures is an unforgivable crime; the
destruction of China’s 5000-year-old ancient civilization is even more so.
The traditional culture of China started with such legends as Pangu’s creation
of heaven and the earth [1], Nuwa’s making of humans [2], Shengnong’s
identification of hundreds of medicinal herbs [3], and Cangjie’s invention of
Chinese characters [4]. The Taoist wisdom of the universe and Confucian moral
beliefs course through the veins of Chinese culture. Lao Zi’s idea of the unity
of heaven and humans has been expressed clearly in Tao-te Ching [5], “Man
follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao
follows what is natural.” The Confucian classic, The Great Learning, opened this
way: “Great learning promotes the cultivation of virtue.” This was the very idea
Confucius advocated in his teachings, imparting to society five cardinal virtues
of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness. In the first
century, Sakyamuni’s Buddhism traveled east to China, and with its promise of
compassion and salvation for all beings, it greatly enriched Chinese culture.
Thereafter, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism became complementary beliefs in
Chinese society, bringing the Tang Dynasty to the peak of its glory and
prosperity, as is known to all under heaven.
Although the Chinese nation has repeatedly experienced attacks and undergone
destruction, the Chinese culture has shown great endurance and stamina, and its
essence has been continuously passed down. The unity of heaven and humanity
represents our ancestors’ cosmology. It is commonly accepted that kindness will
be rewarded and evil will be punished. It is a rudimentary principle not to pass
on to others what one does not want done to oneself; loyalty, filial piety,
prudence, and justice have set the social standards, and Confucius’ five
cardinal virtues have laid the foundation for social and personal morality. With
these values, the Chinese culture embodied honesty, kindness, harmony, and
tolerance. Ordinary Chinese people have venerated heaven, earth, noblemen,
relatives, and teachers. This was reflected in the deep-rooted Chinese
traditions that worship God, promote loyalty to the country, uphold values of
family and friends, and honor their teachers and elders. The traditional Chinese
culture sought harmony between humans and the universe, and emphasized an
individual’s ethics and morality. It was based on the faiths of Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism, and provided the Chinese people with tolerance, social
progress, human morality and righteous belief.
Unlike law, which prescribes hard and fast rules, culture works as a soft
constraint. The law enforces punishment after a crime has been committed, while
culture, by nurturing morality, prevents crimes from happening in the first
place. A society’s moral values are often embodied in its culture.
In Chinese history, traditional culture reached its peak during the prosperous
Tang Dynasty, coinciding with the height of the Chinese nation’s power. Science
also advanced in unique ways and enjoyed a reputation among all nations.
Scholars from Europe, the Middle East, and Japan came to study in Chang’an, the
capital of the Tang Dynasty. Countries bordering China took China as their
suzerain state. Many countries came to pay tribute to China and were treated
with generosity in return.
After the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), China was often occupied by minority
groups. This happened predominantly during the Sui (581-618AD), Tang
(618-907AD), Yuan (1271-1361AD) and Qing (1644-1911AD) dynasties and
occasionally in some other times. Nevertheless, these ethnic groups were almost
assimilated to the Chinese ways as a whole. This shows the integrative power of
traditional Chinese culture. As Confucius said, “(Thus) if the people from afar
are not compliant, bring them around by cultivating (our) culture and virtue.”
[6]
Since attaining power in 1949, the CCP has devoted the nation’s resources to
destroying China’s rich traditional culture. This ill intention did not come
from the CCP’s zealotry for industrialization, nor from simple foolishness in
worshipping western civilization. Rather, it came from the CCP’s inherent
ideological opposition to traditional Chinese culture. The CCP’s destruction of
Chinese culture has been planned, well organized, and systematic, made possible
by the state’s use of violence. Since its establishment, the CCP has never
stopped “revolutionizing” Chinese culture in the attempt to completely destroy
its spirit.
What’s even more despicable is the CCP’s intentional misuse and underhanded
modification of traditional culture during its reign. The CCP has advanced the
vile rather than the virtuous, while promoting power struggles, conspiracy, and
dictatorship—all of which existed in Chinese history whenever people diverged
from traditional values. The CCP created its own set of moral standards, way of
thinking, and system of discourses, and gave the false impression that this
“Party culture” is actually a continuation of traditional Chinese culture. The
CCP has even taken advantage of the aversion some people have for the “Party
culture” to incite public sentiment against traditional culture, thus further
abandoning authentic Chinese tradition.
The CCP’s destruction of traditional culture has brought disastrous consequences
to China. Not only have people lost their moral bearings; they have also been
further indoctrinated with the CCP’s evil theories.
******************
I. Why Did the CCP Want to Sabotage Chinese Culture?
The Long Tradition of Chinese Culture Based on Faith and Virtue
The authentic culture of the Chinese nation started about 5000 years ago with
the legendary Emperor Huang, who is deemed to be the earliest ancestor of the
Chinese people. In fact, Emperor Huang was also credited with founding
Taoism—which was also called the Huang-Lao (Lao Zi) school of thought. The
profound influence of Taoism on Confucianism can be seen in Confucian sayings,
“Aspire to the Tao, align with virtue, abide by benevolence, and immerse
yourself in the arts;” “If one hears the Tao in the morning, one can die without
regret in the evening.” [6] One of the most important Chinese classics, the Book
of Changes (I Ching), is a record of heaven and earth, yin and yang, cosmic
changes, social rise and decline, and the laws of human life. The prophetic
power of the book has far surpassed what modern science can conceive. In
addition to Taoism and Confucianism, Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, has had
a subtle yet profound influence on Chinese intellectuals.
Confucianism expounded on “the society” part of traditional Chinese culture. It
emphasized family-based ethics, in which filial piety played an extremely
important role. The Chinese people believe that all kindness starts with filial
piety. Confucius advocated, “benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and
truthfulness,” but also said, “Are filial piety and brotherly love not the roots
of benevolence?”
Family-based ethics can be naturally extended to guide social morality. Filial
piety can be extended to loyalty to the sage king. “It is seldom that a person
with filial piety and brotherly love will be inclined to offend those above.”[6]
Brotherly love can be further extended to loyalty to friends. Confucians believe
that in a family, a father should be kind, a son filial, an older brother
friendly, and a younger brother respectful. Here, fatherly kindness can be
further extended to benevolence of the emperor toward his subordinates.
According to The Great Learning, as long as the traditions of a family can be
maintained, social morality can naturally be sustained, and thus, the
cultivation of the self can lead to prosperity of the family and the nation, and
finally peace for all under heaven.
Buddhism and Taoism, in contrast, offer the “out of the society” part of Chinese
culture, guiding people in their spiritual improvement. The influence of
Buddhism and Taoism can be found to penetrate all aspects of ordinary people’s
lives. Practices that are deeply rooted in Taoism include Chinese medicine,
qigong, geomancy (Feng Shui), and divination. These practices, as well as the
Buddhist conceptions of heavenly kingdom and hell, the karmic reward of good and
the retribution of evil, have, together with Confucian ethics, formed the core
of traditional Chinese culture.
The beliefs of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism offered the Chinese people a
stable moral system, unchangeable “so long as heaven remains.” [7] This ethical
system offered the basis for sustainability, peace, and harmony in society.
Morality belongs to the spiritual realm; thus, it is often conceptual. An
important role of culture is to express such an abstract moral system in
language that can be commonly understood.
Take the four great novels in the Chinese culture for example. Journey to the
West itself is a mythical tale. Dream of the Red Mansion starts with a dialog
between a spirited rock and the Taoist Reverend Void at the Baseless Cliff of
the Great Waste Mountain in the land of the spirit—this dialog provides the
clues for the human drama that unfolds in the novel. Heroes of Water Margins
opens with a tale of Hong Taiwei, who mistakenly traveled to the land of evil, a
legend that explains the origin of the 108 heroes. The Three Kingdoms begins
with a heavenly warning of a disaster, foreshadowing the inescapable conclusion
of God’s will: “The world’s affairs rush on like an endless stream; a
heaven-told fate, infinite in reach, dooms all.” Other well-known stories, such
as The Romance of the Eastern Zhou and The Complete Story of Yue Fei, all
started with similar legendary tales.
These novelists’ use of myths was not a coincidence, but a reflection of a basic
philosophy of Chinese intellectuals toward nature and humans—a contemplation of
the divine origin of human life.
These novels have had such a profound influence on the Chinese mind that the
characters in them have been used to typify certain moral values. When speaking
of “righteousness” as a concept, for example, people think of Guan Yu (160-219
AD) of the Three Kingdoms—how his sense of honesty transcended the clouds and
reached heaven; how his unmovable loyalty to his superior Liu Bei gained him
respect even from his enemies; how his bravery in battle prevailed in the most
dire situations, even his final defeat in a battle near the Town of Mai; and,
especially, his conference as a deity with his son. When speaking of “loyalty,”
people naturally think of Yue Fei (1103-1141 AD), a Song Dynasty military
commander who willingly placed the country’s integrity above his own life. Zhuge
Liang (181-234 AD), an official of the Shu State during the Three Kingdoms
period, embodied complete devotion to one’s country.
The Chinese traditional culture’s eulogy of loyalty and justice has been fully
elaborated in these striking stories from writers’ pens. The abstract moral
values have become concretized and embodied in cultural expressions.
Taoism emphasizes truthfulness, Buddhism emphasizes compassion, and Confucianism
values benevolence and justice. “While their forms differ, their purposes are
the same… they all inspire people to return to kindness.” [8]
The Chinese traditional culture has taught people important concepts and
principles, such as heaven, the Tao, God, Buddha, fate, predestination,
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, faithfulness, frugality, a sense
of shame, loyalty, filial piety, prudence, and so on. Many Chinese may be
illiterate but they are familiar with traditional plays and operas, through
which they learn about traditional morals. These cultural forms have been
extremely important in transmitting Chinese tradition.
Therefore, the CCP’s destruction of traditional Chinese culture is a direct
attack against Chinese morality and undermines the basis for peace and harmony
in society.
The Evil Communist Theory Opposes Traditional Culture
The “philosophy” of the Communist Party is the opposite of authentic Chinese
traditional culture. Traditional culture respects the mandate of heaven, as
Confucius once said, “Life and death are predestined, and wealth and position
are determined by heaven.” [6] Both Buddhism and Taoism believe in the divine,
the reincarnation cycle of life and death, and the karmic causality of good and
evil. The Communist Party, on the contrary, does not simply believe in atheism.
Instead, it also runs wild in defying the Tao and assaulting heavenly
principles. Confucianism values family, but the Communist Manifesto clearly
promulgates abolition of the family. Traditional culture differentiates the
Chinese from the foreign, but the Communist Manifesto advocates the end of
nationality. Confucian culture promotes kindness to others, but the Communist
Party encourages class struggle. Confucians encourage loyalty to the noblemen
and love for the nation, however, the Communist Manifesto promotes the
elimination of nations.
To gain and maintain power in China, the Communist Party first had to plant its
immoral thoughts on Chinese soil. Mao Zedong claimed, “If we want to overthrow
an authority, we must first make propaganda, and do work in the area of
ideology.”[9] The CCP realized that the violent Communist theory, which is
sustained with arms, is Western ideological garbage that cannot stand up to
China’s profound 5000-year cultural history. The CCP must, then, completely
destroy traditional culture, so that Marxism and Leninism can take China’s
political stage.
Traditional Culture Is an Obstacle to the CCP’s Dictatorship
Mao Zedong once said, fittingly, that he follows neither the Tao nor heaven.
[10] Traditional Chinese culture undoubtedly served as a huge obstacle for the
CCP’s defying the Tao and contending with heaven.
Loyalty in traditional Chinese culture does not mean blind devotion. In the eyes
of the people, the emperor is a “son of heaven”—with heaven above him. The
emperor cannot be correct at all times. Therefore there was a need for
remonstrators to point out the emperor’s mistakes all the time. The Chinese
chronicle system also had historians record all the words and deeds of the
emperor. Scholastic officials may become teachers for their sage kings, and the
behavior of the emperor was judged by the Confucian classics. If the emperor is
immoral—unenlightened to the Tao, people may rise up to overthrow him, such as
in the Chengtang’s attack of Jie, or King Wu’s removal of Zhou. [11] These
uprisings, judged from traditional culture, were not considered violations of
loyalty or the Tao; instead, they were seen as enforcing the Tao on behalf of
heaven. Take the well-known military commander Wen Tianxiang (1236-1283AD) for
example. Fighting to protect the integrity of the Southern Song Dynasty against
the Mongolian troops, Wen never wavered even when the former Song Emperor
attempted to persuade him to surrender after he was taken prisoner. Confucians
believe, as Mencius said, that “The people are of supreme importance; the nation
comes next; last comes the ruler.” [12]
The CCP could by no means accept these traditional beliefs. The CCP wanted to
canonize its own leaders and promote personal worship, and so would not allow
such long-held concepts such as heaven, Tao, and God to govern from above. The
CCP was fully aware that what it did was a crime against heaven and the Tao if
measured by the standards of traditional culture. As long as traditional culture
existed, people would not praise the CCP as “great, glorious, and correct;”
scholars would continue the tradition of risking their lives to uphold justice,
criticize the regime’s wrongdoings, and place the people above the rulers. Thus,
the people would not become the CCP’s puppets, and the CCP could not unify the
thoughts of the masses.
The traditional culture’s respect for heaven, the earth, and nature became
obstacles for the CCP’s “battle with nature” in an effort to “alter heaven and
the earth.” Traditional culture treasures human lives, which are regarded as a
serious matter in connection with heaven. Such a perception became a hindrance
to the CCP’s mass genocide and rule by terror. The traditional culture’s
ultimate moral standard of the “heavenly Tao” would interfere with the CCP’s
manipulation of moral principles. For these reasons, the CCP made traditional
culture an enemy to its own control.
Traditional Culture Challenges the Legitimacy of the CCP’s Rule
Traditional Chinese culture believes in God and the heavenly mandate. Accepting
the mandate of heaven means that rulers have to be wise, follow the Tao and be
attuned to destiny. Accepting belief in God means accepting that the source of
human authority rests in heaven.
The CCP’s ruling principle dismisses God and vests authority entirely in humans:
“Never more tradition's chains shall bind us, arise ye toilers no more in
thrall. The earth shall rise on new foundations; we are but naught; we shall be
all.” [13]
The CCP promotes historical materialism, claiming that Communism is an earthly
paradise, the path to which is led by the pioneer proletarians, or the Communist
Party members. The belief in God, thus, directly challenged the legitimacy of
the CCP’s rule.
******************
II. How the Communist Party Sabotages Traditional Culture
Everything the CCP does serves a political purpose. In order to seize, maintain
and consolidate its tyranny, the CCP needs to replace human nature with its evil
Party nature, and the Chinese traditional culture with its Party culture of
"deceit, wickedness, and struggle." This destruction and substitution include
cultural relics, historical sites and ancient books, which are tangible, and
people’s traditional outlook on morality, life and the world. All aspects of
people’s lives are involved, including actions, thoughts and life styles. At the
same time, the CCP regards the insignificant and superficial cultural
manifestations as the “essence”, retains them, and then puts this “essence” up
as a façade. The Party keeps the semblance of traditions while replacing their
meaning. It then deceives the people and international society under the façade
of “carrying on and developing” Chinese traditional culture.
Simultaneously Extinguishing the Three Religions
Owing to the fact that the traditional culture is rooted in Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism, the first step for the CCP to destroy traditional culture
is to extinguish the manifestation of these divine principles in the human
world, that is, eradicating the three religions corresponding to them.
All three major religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, encountered
destruction in different historical time periods. Take Buddhism for example, it
has suffered four major tribulations in history, which are historically known as
the San Wu Yi Zong (persecution of Buddhist devotees by four Chinese emperors).
The Emperor Taiwu [14] of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534AD) and the Emperor
Wuzong [15] of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) both tried to extinguish Buddhism in
order to have Taoism prevail; the Emperor Wu [16] of the Northern Zhou Dynasty
(557-581AD) tried to extinguish Buddhism and Taoism together, but venerated
Confucianism; the Emperor Shizong [17] of the Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960AD)
tried to extinguish Buddhism merely to use the Buddha statues to mint coins, and
did not touch Taoism or Confucianism.
The CCP is the only regime in history to extinguish the three religions
altogether.
Soon after the CCP established a government, it began to destroy temples and
burn scriptures and forced the Buddhist monks and nuns to return to secular
life. Neither was it any softer in destroying other religious places. By the
1960s, there were hardly any religious places left in China. The Great Cultural
Revolution brought even greater religious and cultural catastrophe in the
campaign of “Casting Away the Four Olds” [18]—i.e., old ideas, old culture, old
customs and old habits.
For example, the first Buddhist temple in China was the White Horse Temple (Bai
Ma Temple) [19] built in the early Eastern Han Dynasty outside the city of
Luoyang. It is honored as “the Cradle of Buddhism in China” and “the Founder’s
Home.” During “Casting Away the Four Olds,” the White Horse Temple, of course,
could not escape looting.
“There was a White Horse Temple production brigade near the temple. The Party
branch secretary led peasants to pillage the temple under the name of
‘revolution.’ The over 1000-year-old clay statues of the Eighteen Arhats that
were built in the Liao Dynasty were destroyed; the Beiye scripture [20] that an
eminent Indian monk brought to China 2000 years ago was burned. The rare
treasure, the Jade Horse, was smashed to pieces. Several years later, the
Cambodian King in Exile Norodom Sihanouk made a special request to do homage at
the White Horse Temple. Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time, hurriedly
ordered the transport to Luoyang of the Beiye scripture stored in the Imperial
Palace in Beijing and the statues of the Eighteen Arhats built in the Qing
Dynasty from the Temple of Azure Clouds (Biyun Temple) located at the Xiangshan
Park [21] in Beijing. With this bogus replacement, a diplomatic difficulty was
‘solved’.” [22]
The Cultural Revolution began in May of 1966. This revolution was in reality
“revolutionarizing” Chinese culture in a destructive way. Starting in August of
1966, the raging fire of the “Casting Away the Four Olds” burned the entire land
of China. Regarded as objects of “feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism,” the
Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, Buddha statues, historical sites, calligraphy,
paintings, and antiques became the main targets for destruction by the Red
Guards. [23] Take the Buddha statues for example; there are 1000 colored glazed
Buddha statues in relief on the top of Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace [24]
in Beijing. After the “Casting Away the Four Olds,” they were all damaged. None
of them has a complete set of the five sensory organs any more.
The capital of the country was like this, and so was the rest of the country.
Even the remote county seats did not escape.
“There is a Tiantai Temple in Dai county in Shanxi Province. It was built during
the Taiyan time period of the Northern Wei Dynasty 1600 years ago and had
precious statues and frescos. Although it was situated on a hillside quite a
distance away from the county seat, the people who participated in the ‘Casting
Away the Four Olds’ ignored the difficulties and made a clean sweep of the
statues and frescos there. The Louguan Temple, [25] where Lao Zi gave his
lecture and left his famous Tao-te Ching [5] 2500 years ago, is situated in the
Zhouzhi county of Shaanxi Province. Centered around the Preaching Platform where
Lao Zi lectured, within a radius of 10 li [26], there are over 50 historical
sites, including the Temple Venerating the Sage (Zongsheng Gong) that the Tang
Gaozu Li Yuan [27] built to show respect for Lao Zi over 1,300 years ago. The
Louguan Temple and the other historical sites have been destroyed, and all
Taoist priests have been forced to leave. According to the Taoist canon, once
one becomes a Taoist priest, one can never shave one’s beard or have one’s hair
cut. The Taoist priests were forced to have their hair cut, take off the Taoist
robe, and become a member of the People’s communes. [28] Some of them married
daughters of the local peasants and became their sons-in-law. At the sacred
Taoist places in Laoshan Mountain in Shandong Province, the Temple of Supreme
Peace, the Temple of the Highest Clarity, the Supreme Clarity Temple, the Doumu
Temple, the Huayan Nunnery, the Ningzhen Temple, the Temple of Guan Yu, ‘the
statues of the divine, sacrificial vessels, scrolls of Buddhist sutras, cultural
relics, and temple tablets were all smashed and burned down. The Temple of
Literature in Jilin Province is one of the four famous Temples of Confucius in
China. During the ‘Casting Away the Four Olds,’ it was severely damaged.” [22]
A Special Way to Destroy Religion
Lenin once said, “The easiest way to take a fortress is from within.” As a group
of grandchildren of Marxism-Leninism, the CCP naturally and tacitly understands
this.
In the “Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra” [29], Buddha Sakyamuni predicted that
after his nirvana, demons would be reincarnated as monks, nuns, and male and
female lay Buddhists to subvert the Dharma. Of course, we cannot verify what
Buddha Sakyamuni was referring to exactly; however, the CCP indeed started to
destroy Buddhism by forming a “united front” with some Buddhists. They even sent
some underground communist party members to infiltrate the religion directly and
subvert it from within. In a criticism meeting during the Cultural Revolution,
someone questioned Zhao Puchu, the vice president of the Chinese Buddhists
Association at the time, “You are a Communist Party member, why do you believe
in Buddhism?”
Buddha Sakyamuni attained righteous enlightenment through “precept,
concentration, wisdom.” So before his nirvana, he taught his disciples to
“Uphold and observe the Precepts. Do not let them down or violate them.” He also
warned, “People who violate the Precepts are abominated by heaven, dragon, ghost
and the divine. Their evil reputation spreads far and wide. … When their lives
end, they will suffer in hell for their karma, and meet their inexorable doom.
Then they will come out; they will continue to suffer by bearing the body of
hungry ghosts and animals. They will suffer in a circle like this endlessly with
no relief.” [30]
The political Buddhist monks turned deaf ears to Buddha’s warnings. In 1952, the
CCP sent representatives to attend the inaugural meeting of the Chinese
Buddhists Association. At the meeting, many Buddhists in the association
proposed to abolish the Buddhist precepts. They claimed that these disciplines
had caused the death of many young men and women. Some people even advocated the
so-called “freedom of religion—the monks and nuns should marry, there should
also be freedom to drink and to eat meat, and nobody should interfere.” At that
time, Master Xuyun was at the meeting and saw that Buddhism was facing the
danger of extinction in China. He stepped forward opposing the proposals and
appealing for the preservation of the Buddhist precepts and dress. It is
precisely this Master Xuyun who was slandered as “counter-revolutionary,”
detained in the abbot’s room, and denied food and drink. He was not allowed out
of the room even to use the toilet. He was also ordered to hand over his gold,
silver and firearms. When Xuyun answered that he had none, he was beaten
severely. His skull was fractured and bleeding, and his ribs broken. At the
time, Xuyun was already 112 years old. The military police pushed him from the
cot to the ground. When they came back the next day, they saw that Xuyun had not
died, so they beat him hard again.
The Chinese Buddhists Association that was founded in 1952 and the Chinese
Taoist Association that was founded in 1957 both clearly declared in their
founding statements that they would be “under the leadership of the People’s
government.” In reality, they would be under the leadership of the atheistic
CCP. Both associations indicated that they would actively participate in
production and construction, and implement the governmental policies. They were
completely transformed into secular organizations. Yet those Buddhists and
Taoists who were devoted and abiding by the precepts were labeled as
counter-revolutionaries or members of superstitious sects and secret societies.
Under the revolutionary slogan of “purifying the Buddhists and Taoists,” they
were imprisoned, forced to reform through labor, or even executed. Even
religions spread from the West, such as Christianity and Catholicism, were not
spared. “Based on the statistics given in the book How the Chinese Communist
Party Persecutes the Christians that was published in 1958, just the documents
that have been made public revealed that among the clergymen who were charged as
‘land lord’ or ‘local bully,’ a staggering 8,840 were killed and 39,200 were
sent to labor camps; among the clergymen who were charged as
‘counter-revolutionary,’ 2,450 were killed, and 24,800 were sent to labor
camps.” [31]
Undoubtedly religions are a way for people to remove themselves from the secular
world and cultivate themselves. They emphasize “the other shore” (the shore of
perfect enlightenment) and “heaven.” Sakyamuni used to be an Indian prince. In
order to seek mukti [32], a state in which one can obtain peace of mind, higher
wisdom, full enlightenment, and Nirvana, [33] he gave up the throne and went to
a wooded mountain to cultivate diligently. Before Jesus became enlightened, the
devil brought him to the top of a mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and all their splendor. The devil said, “If you will bow down and worship
me, I will give you all these things.” Jesus was not enticed. Yet the political
monks and pastors who formed united fronts with the CCP made up a series of
deceits and lies such as “human world Buddhism,” “religion is the truth, and so
is socialism,” and “there is no contradiction between this shore and the other
shore.” They encourage Buddhists and Taoists to pursue happiness, glory,
splendor, wealth and rank in this life, and to change the religious doctrines
and their meaning.
Buddhism forbids killing. The CCP killed people like flies during the
“suppression of counterrevolutionaries.” [34] The political monks thereupon
cooked up the justification that “killing the counterrevolutionaries is an even
greater compassion.” During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea [35],
monks were sent directly to the front line to kill.
Take Christianity as another example. In 1950, Wu Yaozong formed a “Three-Self”
Church, which followed the principles of self-administration, self-support and
self-propagation. He claimed that they would break away from imperialism and
actively join the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. A good friend of
his was imprisoned for over 20 years for refusing to join the “Three-Self.” This
friend suffered all kinds of torture and humiliation. When he asked Wu Yaozong,
“How do you regard the miracles Jesus performed?” Wu answered, “I have discarded
all of them.”
Not acknowledging Jesus’ miracles equates to not acknowledging Jesus’ heaven.
How can one be counted as a Christian when one does not even recognize the
heaven Jesus ascended into? However, as the founder of the “Three-Self” Church,
Wu Yaozong became a member of the Political Consultative Conference standing
committee. When he stepped into the Great Hall of the People, he must have
completely forgotten Jesus’ words “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
greatest commandment.” (Matthew, 22:37-38) “Render therefore unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” (Matthew,
22:21)
The Chinese Communist Party “confiscated the temple property, forced monks and
nuns to study Marxism-Leninism in order to brainwash them, and even forced them
to do labor. For instance, there is a ‘Buddhism workshop’ in Ningbo City,
Zhejiang Province. Over 25,000 monks and nuns were once forced to work here.
What is more absurd is that the CCP encouraged monks and nuns to get married so
as to disintegrate Buddhism. Another example, just before the March 8th Women’s
Day in 1951, the Women’s Federation in Changsha City, Hunan Province ordered all
nuns in the province to decide to get married in a few days. In addition, young
and vigorous monks were forced to join the army and were sent to the battlefield
to serve as cannon fodder!” [31]
Various religious groups in China have disintegrated under the CCP’s brutal
suppression. The genuine elites of Buddhism and Taoism have been suppressed.
Among those remaining, many returned to secular life, and many others were
undisclosed Communist Party members who specialized in putting on the cassock,
Taoist robe or pastor’s long gown to distort the Buddhist Scriptures, the Taoist
Canon and the Holy Bible and to look for justification for the CCP’s movements
in these doctrines.
Destruction of Cultural Relics
The ruination of cultural relics is an important part of the CCP’s destruction
of traditional culture. In the “Casting Away of the Four Olds,” too many books,
calligraphies and paintings of which only one copy existed that had been
collected by intellectuals were committed to flames or shredded into paper pulp.
Zhang Bojun had a family collection of over 10,000 books. The Red Guard leaders
used them to make a fire to warm themselves. What was left was sent to paper
mills and shredded into paper pulp. “The calligraphy and painting mounting
specialist, Hong Qiusheng, is known as the ‘miracle doctor’ for ancient
calligraphy and paintings. He has mounted countless world-class masterpieces,
such as Song Emperor Huizong’s [36] painting of scenery, Su Dongpuo’s [37]
painting of bamboo, and Wen Zhengming [38] and Tang Bohu’s [39] paintings. Over
several decades, most of the hundreds of ancient calligraphy and paintings that
he had rescued were a first class national collection. The calligraphy and
paintings that he had spared no pains in collecting were labeled as ‘Four Olds’
and were committed to flames. Afterwards, Mr. Hong said in tears, ‘Over 100
catty (50 kilograms) of calligraphy and paintings; it took a long time to burn
them!’”[22]
“While worldly matters come and go,
Ancient, modern, to and fro,
Rivers and mountains are changeless in their glory
And still to be witnessed from this trail. …”
If today’s Chinese people were still to remember some of their history, they
would probably feel differently when they recite this poem of Meng Haoran’s.
[40] The famous mountain and river historical sites have been ruined and have
disappeared in the storm of the “Casting Away the Four Olds.” Not only was the
Orchid Pavilion, where Wang Xizhi [41] wrote the famous “Prologue to the
Collection of Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion,” [42] destroyed, Wang
Xizhi’s own grave was ruined as well. Wu Chen’en’s [43] former residence in
Jiangsu Province was demolished, Wu Jingzi’s [44] former residence in Anhui
Province was smashed, the stone tablet that had Su Dongpo’s handwritten article
“The Pavilion of the Drunken Old Man” was pushed over by the “young
revolutionists,” [45] and the characters on the stone tablet were scraped off.
The essence of Chinese culture has been inherited and accumulated over several
thousand years. Once it is destroyed, it cannot be restored. Yet the CCP has
truculently destroyed it in the name of “revolution.” When we sighed over the
Old Summer Palace, which is known as the “palace of palaces,” being burned down
by the allied forces of Great Britain and France, when we sighed over the
monumental work of the Yongle Encyclopedia [46] being destroyed by invader’s,
how could we have anticipated that the destruction caused by the CCP would be so
much more widespread, long lasting and thorough than that caused by any
invaders?
Destruction of Spiritual Beliefs
In addition to destroying the physical forms of religion and culture, the CCP
has also used its utmost capacity to destroy people’s spiritual identity formed
by faith and culture.
Take the CCP’s treatment of ethnic beliefs for example. The CCP considered the
traditions of the Hui Muslim group to be one of the “Four Olds”—old thought,
culture, tradition, habit; therefore it forced the Hui ethnic group to eat pork.
Muslim farmers and the mosques were required to raise pigs, and each household
had to furnish two pigs to the country every year. In an extremely cruel
incident, the Red Guards forced the second highest Tibetan living Buddha,
Panchen Lama, to eat human excrement, while three monks from the Buddhist temple
in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province were ordered to hold a poster board that said
“The hell with sutras—they are full of shit.”
In 1971, after an alleged failed coup to seize power from Mao, Lin Biao, the
Vice Chairman of the CCP’s central committee, escaped China but was killed when
his plane was said to have crashed in Undurkhan, Mongolia. Later, in Lin’s
Beijing residence at Maojiawan, some Confucian quotations were found. The CCP
then started a frantic movement of “Criticizing Lin Biao and Confucius.” A
writer pen-named Liang Xiao [47] published an article in The Red Flag, the CCP’s
banner magazine, entitled “Who is Confucius?” The article described Confucius as
a madman who wanted to turn history backward, and a deceptive and shrewd
demagogue. A series of cartoons and songs followed, demonizing Confucius.
In this way dignity and sacredness of religion and culture were annihilated.
Endless Destruction
In ancient China, the central government only extended its rule to the county
level, below which patriarchal clans maintained autonomous control. So in
Chinese history, the destruction, such as the burning of Confucian books by the
Emperor Qin Shi Huang [48] in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) and the four
campaigns to eliminate Buddhism between the fifth and tenth century, went in one
direction, i.e., from top to bottom, and did not completely eradicate Buddhism.
Confucian and Buddhist classics and ideas continued to survive in the vast
spaces of society.
In comparison, the CCP’s control of society has been far more complete. Incited
by the CCP, young students in their puberty destroyed the “Four Olds” in a
nationwide grass-root movement that was launched, “spontaneously and
enthusiastically.” The CCP’s extension to villages through village-level party
branches controlled society so tightly that the CCP’s movement to eradicate the
“Four Olds” affected every person on every inch of land.
While the emperors in Chinese history used violence on the people, the CCP has
gone much further by demonizing and repudiating what people consider to be the
most beautiful and the most sacred. The destruction of the spirit can often be
more damaging and its effect can last even longer than physical destruction
alone.
Reforming Intellectuals
The Chinese characters embody the essence of 5000 years of civilization. Their
forms, pronunciations, idioms and stories express profound cultural meanings.
The CCP has not only simplified the Chinese characters, but also tried to
replace them with Romanized pinyin, which would remove all cultural tradition
from the Chinese characters and language. But the replacement plan has failed
miserably, thus sparing further damage to the Chinese language. The Chinese
intellectuals who inherited the same traditional culture were not so fortunate
as to be spared destruction.
Prior to 1949, China had two million intellectuals. Although some had studied in
Western countries, they still inherited some Confucian ideas. The CCP never
relaxed its control of the intellectuals, because as members of the traditional
scholar class, their ways of thinking played important roles in shaping the
thoughts of ordinary people.
In September 1951, the CCP initiated a large-scale “thought reform movement”
starting in Peking University. The intellectuals were urged to confess their
historical “mistakes” so as to cleanse any counter-revolutionary elements.
Mao Zedong never liked intellectuals. He once said, “They (the intellectuals)
ought to be aware of the truth that actually many so-called intellectuals are,
relatively speaking, quite ignorant and the workers and farmers sometimes know
more than they do.” [49] “Compared with the workers and peasants, the unreformed
intellectuals were not clean, and in the last analysis, the workers and peasants
were the cleanest people, even though their hands were dirty and their feet
smeared with cow-dung…” [50]
The CCP’s persecution of intellectuals started with various forms of
accusations, ranging from the 1951 criticism of Wu Xun [51] for “running schools
by begging” to Mao Zedong’s personal attack, in 1955, on writer Hu Feng as a
counter-revolutionary. In the beginning, the intellectuals were not categorized
as a reactionary class, but in 1957, after several major religious groups had
surrendered through the “unified front” movement, the CCP could focus its energy
on the intellectuals. The “Anti-Rightist” movement was thus launched.
In February of 1957, claiming to “let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred
schools of thought contend,” the CCP called on intellectuals to voice their
suggestions and criticisms to the party, promising no retaliation. Those
intellectuals who were dissatisfied with the CCP because of its suppression and
cleansing of counter-revolutionaries [52] and its totalitarian manner of ruling,
which included implementing regulations in domains about which the CCP knew
little such as the sciences, philosophy, culture and the arts, thought the CCP
had suddenly become open and tolerant. They spoke their true feelings, and their
criticism grew more and more intense.
Years later, many people still believe that Mao Zedong only started to attack
the intellectuals after becoming impatient with their overly harsh criticisms.
The truth, however, turned out to be quite different.
On May 15, 1957, Mao Zedong wrote an article entitled “Situations are changing”
and circulated it among senior CCP officials. The article said, “Recently, the
rightists have been behaving fiercely. They want to stir up a category 7 typhoon
and attempt to eliminate the CCP.” After that, those officials who had been
indifferent to the “let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought
contend” campaign suddenly became active. Zhang Bojun, Vice President of the
Democratic League and head of the CCP’s Central Organization Department, soon
became one of the victims. Zhang’s daughter recounted, in her memoir The Past
Doesn't Disappear Like Smoke, how her father became the number one rightist. Li
Weihan, the head of the CCP’s United Front Department, called Zhang Bojun in
person to invite him to a meeting to discuss how to correct the CCP. Zhang was
seated on a front row sofa. Not knowing this to be a trap, Zhang articulated his
criticisms of the CCP. According to Zhang’s daughter, “Li Weihan appeared
relaxed. Zhang thought Li agreed with what he said. Nobody knew Li was pleased
to see his prey falling into the trap.” After the meeting, Zhang was classified
as the number one rightist in China.
We can cite a string of dates in 1957 that marked proposals or speeches
delivered by intellectuals offering criticisms and suggestions: Zhang Bojun’s
“Political Design Institute” on May 21, Long Yun’s “Absurd Anti-Soviet Views” on
May 22, Luo Longji’s “Correction Committee” on May 22, Lin Xiling’s speech at
Peking University on “Criticizing the CCP’s Feudalistic Socialism” on May 30, Wu
Zuguang’s “The party Should Stop Leading the Arts” on May 31, and Chu Anping’s
“The Party Dominates the World” on June 1. All these proposals and speeches had
been invited, and were offered after Mao Zedong had already sharpened his
butcher’s knife.
All of these intellectuals, predictably, were later labeled rightists. In China,
more than 550,000 intellectuals were labeled and persecuted as rightists.
Chinese tradition has it that “scholars can be killed but cannot be humiliated.”
The CCP was capable of inflicting the utmost humiliation on intellectuals by
denying their right to survive unless they accepted humiliation. Even their
families were affected. Many intellectuals surrendered and some of them told on
others to save themselves. Those who did not submit to humiliation were
eradicated—serving as examples to terrorize other intellectuals.
The traditional “scholarly class,” exemplars of social morality, was thus
obliterated.
Mao Zedong said proudly of his achievements, “What can Emperor Qin Shihuang brag
about? He only killed 460 Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000
intellectuals. In our suppression of counter-revolutionaries, didn’t we kill
some counter-revolutionary intellectuals as well? I argued with the
pro-democratic people who accused us of acting like Emperor Qin Shihuang. I said
they were wrong. We surpassed him by a hundred times”.
Indeed, Mao did more than kill the intellectuals. He destroyed their minds and
hearts.
Creating the Appearance of Culture by Keeping the Semblance of Tradition but
Replacing the Contents
After the CCP adopted economic reform and an open-door policy, they renovated
many churches as well as many Buddhist and Taoist temples. They also organized
many temple fairs in China as well as cultural fairs outside of China. This was
the latest effort of the CCP to utilize and destroy the remaining traditional
culture. On the one hand, the Party did this to appease the essential human
kindness that still exists in people. This kindness clashes with and will
eventually aid in the destruction of the “Party culture.” On the other hand, the
CCP intended to use traditional culture to apply cosmetics to their [true] face
in order to cover up their evil nature of deception, wickedness, and violence.
The essence of culture is its inner moral meaning, while the superficial forms
have only entertainment value. The CCP restored the superficial elements of
culture, which entertain, to cover up its purpose of destroying morality. No
matter how many art and calligraphy exhibits the CCP has organized, how many
culture festivals with dragon and lion dances it has staged, how many food
festivals it has hosted, or how much classical architecture it has built, the
Party is simply restoring the superficial appearance, but not the essence, of
the culture. In the meantime, the CCP promoted its cultural showpieces both
inside and outside of China basically for the sole purpose of maintaining
political power.
Once again, temples are an example. Temples are meant to be places for people to
cultivate. Inside a temple people can hear bells in the morning and drums at
sunset, see burning oil lamps and show respect to Buddha. People in ordinary
human society can also confess and worship there. A pure heart that pursues
nothing is particularly emphasized in cultivation. A serious and solemn
environment is required for confession and worshipping. However, those places
have been turned into famous tourist sites for the sake of economic gain. Among
the people actually visiting temples, how many of them have come right after
taking a bath and changing their clothes to cleanse themselves? How many really
have come with a sincere and respectful heart towards Buddha looking to
contemplate their mistakes?
Restoring the semblance but destroying the inner meaning of traditional culture
is the tactic that the CCP has taken to confuse people. Be it Buddhism, other
religions, or cultural forms derived from them, the CCP must degrade them to
such an extent for the sake of its own goals.
******************
III. The Party Culture
While the CCP was destroying the traditional semi-divine culture, it quietly
established its own culture through continuous political movements. The Party
culture has transformed the older generation, poisoned the younger generation
and also had an impact on children. Its influence has been deep and broad. Even
when many people tried to expose the evilness of the CCP, they couldn’t help but
adopt the ways of judging good and bad, the ways of analyzing, and the
vocabulary developed by the CCP, which inevitably carry the imprint of the Party
culture.
The Party culture not only inherited and deepened the wickedness of the
foreign-born Marxist-Leninist culture, but also skillfully combined all the
negative elements from thousands of years of Chinese culture with the violent
revolution and philosophy of struggle from the party’s propaganda. Those
negative components include internal strife, forming cliques to pursue selfish
interests, employing political trickery to torture people mentally, and
appropriating the semblance of culture while replacing the contents. During the
CCP’s struggle for survival in the past decades, its characteristic of “deceit,
wickedness and violence” has been enriched, nurtured, and carried forward.
Despotism and dictatorship are the true natures of the Party culture. Its
purpose is to serve its own ends in political and class struggles. The following
four aspects constitute the environment of the people’s culture under the
dictatorship dominates with terror.
The Aspect of Domination and Control
A. The Culture of Isolation
The culture of communism is an isolated monopoly with no freedom of thought,
speech, association, or belief. The mechanism of the CCP’s domination is very
similar to a hydraulic system, relying on high pressure and isolation to
maintain its state of control. Even one tiny leak could cause the system to
collapse. For example, the Party refused talks with the students during the June
4th incident [53], fearing that if this leak spouted, the workers, peasants,
intellectuals and the military would also request dialogue. Consequently, China
would have eventually moved towards democracy and the one-party dictatorship
would have been challenged. Therefore, they chose to commit murder rather than
grant the students’ request. The current Internet blockade is the same tactic
employed by the CCP to prevent people from accessing information prohibited
under its rule.
B. The Culture of Terror
For the past 55 years, the CCP has been using terror to suppress the minds of
its people. They have wielded their whips and butcher’s knives – people never
know when unforeseen disasters will befall them—to standardize the behavior of
the people. The people, living in fear, became obedient. Advocates of democracy,
independent thinkers, skeptics in society and members of various spiritual
groups have become targets for killing to warn the public. The party needs to
nip any opposition in the bud.
C. The Culture of Network Control
There are governmental organizations and administration systems for household
registration, neighborhood residents' committees, and various levels of party
committees. Here are some examples from Party slogans. “Party branches are
established at the level of the company.” “Each and every single village has its
own branch,” while Party and Communist Youth League members have regular
activities. “Guard your own door and watch your own people.” “Stop your people
from appealing.” “It is essential for the system to impose and guarantee the
fulfillment of responsibilities and duties and ascertain where the
responsibility lies. Guard and control strictly. Be serious about discipline and
regulations and guarantee 24-hour preventive and maintenance control measures.”
“The 610 Office [54] will form a surveillance committee to inspect and monitor
activities in each region and work unit at irregular intervals.” There is also
the Family Planning Committee to enforce birth control.
D. The Culture of Implication
For relatives of those who were labeled “landlords,” “rich,” “reactionaries,”
“bad elements,” and “rightists,” and for those of their children whom the
government considered amenable to being educated and transformed, the Party
required “placing righteousness above family loyalty.” A system for personal and
organizational archives was established to monitor and record each person’s
political activities throughout life. There is also a relocation system to
temporarily transfer cadres elsewhere. The people are encouraged to expose
others, and those who achieve the goals of the Party are rewarded.
To curb the public appeals of Falun Gong practitioners, the Party states that it
will “investigate and affix the responsibility of the primary leaders who have
failed in their leadership roles, who haven’t taken adequate measures, and who
have caused Falun Gong practitioners to go to Beijing and stir up trouble. A
public reprimand will be held. If the situation is serious, disciplinary action
will be taken.”
Aspects of Propaganda
A. The Culture of One Hall, One Voice
During the Cultural Revolution, China was filled with slogans such as “Supreme
instructions,” “One sentence (of Mao) carries the weight of ten thousand
sentences, each one is the truth.” All media were roused to sing the praises and
collectively speak in support of the Party. When needed, leaders from every
level of the party, government, military, workers, youth league and women’s
organizations would be brought out to express their support. Everyone had to go
through the ordeal.
B. Promoting the Culture of Violence
Promoting violence is another characteristic of the Party culture. Mao Zedong
once said, “With 800 million people, how can it work without struggle?” In the
persecution of Falun Gong, Jiang Zemin encouraged the police by saying that
“There will be no punishment for beating Falun Gong practitioners to death.” The
CCP vowed “to fight beyond the limits,” “the atomic bomb is simply a tiger on
paper… even if half of the population died, the remaining half would still
reconstruct our homeland from the ruins.”
C. Inciting the Culture of Hatred
The CCP asked that people “do not forget the suffering of the poor classes, and
firmly remember the enmity in tears of blood.” Cruelty towards class enemies was
praised by the CCP as a virtue. Such hatred was vividly shown in a popular
modern opera, “Biting into your hatred, chew it and swallow it down. The hatred
that enters your heart will sprout.” [55]
D. The Culture of Deception and Lies
From the announcement that “the yield per mu [56] is over ten thousand jin [57]”
during the Great Leap Forward (1958), “No one was killed on Tiananmen Square”
during the June 4th massacre in 1989, and “We have controlled the SARS virus” in
2003, all the way to the current claims that “It is currently the best time for
human rights in China,” and “the three represents”—every one of the claims has
been a lie.
E. The Culture of Brainwashing
The CCP made up many slogans to brainwash the people: “There would be no new
China without the Communist Party;” “The force at the core leading our cause
forward is the Chinese Communist Party and the theoretical basis guiding our
thinking is Marxism-Leninism;” [58] “Maintain high consistency with the Central
Committee of the Party;” and “Carry out the party’s command if you understand
it. Even if you do not understand, carry it out anyway and your understanding
should deepen while carrying out the orders.”
F. The Culture of Adulation and Sweet Talk
The CCP encourages expressions that put itself on the highest pedestal: “Heaven
and the earth are great but greater still is the kindness of the Party;” “We owe
all our achievements to the Party;” “I take the Party as my mother;” “I use my
own life to safeguard the Central Committee of the Party.” The CCP claims to
have proven itself to be “a great, glorious and correct party,” “the
undefeatable party,” and so on.
G. The Culture of Pretentiousness
Establishing models and setting up examples one after another, the Party
launched the “socialist ideological and spiritual construction” and “ideological
education” campaigns. In the end, people continued to do what they did before
each campaign. All of the conferences, study sessions, and experience sharing
meetings have become an “earnest showcase,” and society’s moral standard has
continued to take great leaps backward.
The Aspect of Interpersonal Relations
A. The Culture of Jealousy
The party promoted “absolute equalitarianism” so that “anyone who stands out
will be the target of attack.” People have easily become jealous of those who
have greater ability and those who are wealthier—the so-called “red-eye
syndrome.” [59]
B. The Culture of People Stepping Over Each Other
The CCP has conducted “face-to-face fight and back-to-back report” sessions,
asking people to struggle against others and report on them behind their backs.
Squealing on one’s associates, creating written materials to frame them,
fabricating facts and exaggerating their mistakes—these devious behaviors have
been used to measure closeness to the party and the desire to advance. .
Subtle Influences on People’s Psyche and Behavior
A. The Culture That Transforms Human Beings into Machines
The Party wants the people to be the “never rusting bolts on the revolution
machine,” to be the “tamed tool for the Party,” or to “march in whatever
directions the Party directs us.” “Chairman Mao’s soldiers listen to the Party
the most; they go wherever they are needed and settle down wherever there are
hardships.”
B. The Culture That Confounds Good and Bad
During the Cultural Revolution, the CCP would "rather have the socialist weeds
but not the capitalist crops;" two decades later, the order to the army to shoot
and kill is “in exchange for 20 years of stability.” "Do unto others what one
does not want to be done unto oneself" — this characterizes the CCP’s moral
stance.
C. The Culture of Self-Imposed Brainwashing and Unconditional Obedience
“Lower ranks obey the orders of the higher ranks and the whole party obeys the
Party Central Committee.” “Fight ruthlessly to eradicate any selfish thoughts
that flash through your mind.” “Erupt a revolution in the depths of your soul.”
“Align maximally with the Party Central Committee.” “China would be in chaos
without the Communist Party.” “Unify the minds, the footsteps, the orders, and
the commands.”
D. The Culture of Turning People into Willing Slaves
“China would be in chaos without the Communist Party;” “China is so vast. Who
else can lead it but the CCP?” “If China collapses, it will be a worldwide
disaster, so we should help the CCP sustain its leadership.” Out of fear and
self-protection, the groups constantly suppressed by the CCP oftentimes appear
even more lefty and radical than the CCP.
These are some of the slogans the CCP has used. There are many more. People who
experienced the Cultural Revolution might still remember vividly the Modern
Operas, the Songs with Mao’s words as lyrics, and the Loyalty Dance. Many still
recall the words from the dialogues in “The White Haired Girl,” “Tunnel Warfare”
[60], and “War of Mines” [61]. Through these literary works, the CCP has
brainwashed people, filling their minds with messages such as “how brilliant and
great the Party is,” how “arduously” the party has struggled against the enemy,
what “utter devotion” the soldiers of the Party have that they are willing to
sacrifice themselves for the Party, and how stupid and vicious the enemies are.
Day after day, the CCP’s propaganda machine forcibly injects into every
individual the beliefs needed by the Communist Party. Today, if one went back to
watch the musical dance “The Epic Poem – The East is Red,” one would realize
that the entire theme and style of the show is about “killing, killing, and more
killing.”
At the same time, the CCP has created its own system of speech and discourse,
such as the abusive language in mass criticisms, the flattering words to sing
the praises of the Party, and the banal official formalities similar to the
“eight-part essay” [62]. People are made to speak unconsciously with the
thinking patterns that promote the concept of “class struggle” and to “extol the
Party.” Calm and rational reasoning was replaced with a hegemonic language. The
CCP also abuses the religious vocabulary and distorts the content of those
terms.
One step too far from the truth is fallacy. The CCP party culture also abuses
traditional morality. For instance, traditional culture values “faith,” so does
the Communist Party in its promotion of “faithfulness and honesty to the Party.”
The traditional culture emphasizes “filial piety.” The CCP may put people in
jail if they do not provide for their parents, but the real reason is that these
parents would otherwise become a “burden” to the government. When it fits the
Party’s needs, the CCP asks children to draw clear boundaries from their
parents. The traditional culture also stresses “loyalty” and that the people are
of supreme importance compared to the ruler and the state. The “loyalty”
preferred by the CCP, however, is “blind devotion”—so completely blind that
people are required to believe in the CCP unconditionally and obey it
unquestioningly.
The words commonly used by the CCP are very misleading. For example, it called
the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists the “Liberation War,” as
if the people were being “liberated” from oppression. The CCP called the
post-1949 period “after the founding of the nation,” when, in reality, China
existed long before that and the CCP simply established a new political regime.
The three-year Great Famine [63] was called “three years of natural disaster,”
when, in fact, it was not at all a natural disaster but, rather, a complete
man-made calamity. Upon hearing these words used in everyday life, however,
people unconsciously accept them and the ideologies carried in them, just as the
CCP intends.
In traditional culture, music is taken as a way to constrain human desires. In
Volume 24 of the Records of the Historian (Shi Ji) [64], in discussing the Book
of Songs (Yue Shu), Sima Qian (145-85 BC) said that the nature of man is
peaceful, and that one’s emotions are affected by external influences. If the
sentiments of hate and love are stirred up but not constrained, one will be
seduced by endless external temptations and commit many bad deeds. Thus, said
Sima Qian, the emperors of the past used rituals and music to constrain people.
The songs should be “cheerful but not obscene, sad but not overly distressing.”
They should express feelings and desires, yet have control over these
sentiments. Confucius said in Analects, “The three hundred verses of The Odes
(one of the six classics compiled and edited by Confucius) may be summed up in a
single sentence, ‘Think no evil.’”
Such a beautiful thing as music, however, was used by the CCP as a method to
brainwash the people. Songs like “Socialism is Great,” “There would be no new
China without the Communist Party,” and many others, have been sung from
kindergarten to the university. In singing these songs, people have gradually
accepted the meanings of the lyrics. Further, the CCP stole the tunes of the
most popular folk songs and replaced them with lyrics that praise the Party.
This has served both to destroy the traditional culture and to promote the
Party.
As one of the CCP’s classic documents, Mao’s “Speech at the Yan'an Forum on
Literature and Arts” [65] placed cultural endeavors and the military as “the two
battle fronts.” It stated that it was not enough to have just the armed
military; an “army of literary arts” was also needed. It stipulated that “the
literary arts should serve politics” and “the literary arts of the proletariat
class… are the ‘gears and screws’ of the revolution machine.” From this system
of thinking came “atheism” and “class struggle” as the core of “the Party
culture.” This goes completely against traditional culture.
The “Party culture” has indeed rendered distinguished service in helping the CCP
win power and control over society. Like its army, prisons, and police force,
the Party culture belongs to the same brutal political machine, even though it
provides a different kind of brutality—“cultural brutality.” This cultural
brutality, by destroying 5000 years of traditional culture, is sapping the
morale of society, diminishing the will of the people, and undermining the
cohesiveness of the Chinese nationality.
Today, many Chinese have very little knowledge of traditional culture. Some even
equate the 50 years of “Party culture” to the 5000 years of Chinese traditional
culture. This is indeed a sorrowful thing for the Chinese people. Many do not
realize that when they oppose the so-called traditional culture they are in fact
against the “Party culture” of the CCP and not the real traditional culture of
China.
Many people hope to replace the current Chinese system with the Western
democratic system. In reality, Western democracy has also been established on a
cultural basis, notably that of Christianity, which holds that “everyone is
equal in the eyes of God” and thus respects human nature and human choices. How
could the despotic, inhuman CCP’s “Party culture” of the CCP be used as the
foundation for a western-style democratic system?
******************
Conclusion
The traditional culture has experienced attacks since the Song Dynasty and
started then to deviate from tradition. After the May 4th Movement of 1919,
eager intellectuals were quick to turn against traditional culture. They were
trying to find a path for China by turning away from the traditional culture
toward Western civilization. Still, conflicts and changes in the cultural domain
remained a focus of academic contention without the involvement of state forces.
When the CCP came into existence, however, it elevated cultural conflicts to a
matter of life-and-death struggle for the Party. So the CCP began to exercise a
direct assault on traditional culture, using destructive means as well as
indirect abuse in the form of “adopting the dross and rejecting the essence.”
The destruction of the national culture was also the process of establishing
“the Party culture.” The CCP subverted human conscience and moral judgment, thus
driving people to turn their backs on traditional culture. If the national
culture is completely destroyed, the essence of the nation will disappear with
it, leaving only an empty name for the nation. This is not an exaggerated
warning.
At the same time, the destruction of the traditional culture has brought
unthinkable physical damage to society.
Traditional culture values the unity of heaven and humans and harmonious
co-existence between humans and nature. The CCP has declared endless joy from
“fighting with heaven and earth.” This culture of the CCP has led directly to
the serious degradation of the natural environment that plagues China to today.
Take water resources for example. The Chinese people, having abandoned the
traditional value that “Noblemen love fortune but take it with restraint,” have
robbed the environment and ravaged the river system. Currently, 75 percent of
the 50,000 kilometers of China’s rivers are unsuitable for fish habitat; 33
percent of groundwater has been polluted compared with even ten years ago, and
the situation continues to worsen. A “spectacle” of a strange kind occurred at
the Huaihe River: A little child playing in the oil-filled river created a spark
that, upon striking the surface of the river, lit a flame five meters high. As
the fire surged into the air, more than ten willow trees in the vicinity were
burnt to a crisp. One can easily see that it is impossible for those who drink
the water not to develop cancer or other diseases. Other environmental problems,
such as desertification and salinization in Northwest China and industrial
pollution in developed regions, all are related to the society’s loss of respect
for nature.
Traditional culture respects life. The CCP proclaims that “revolt is
justifiable,” and “struggling against human beings is full of joy.” In the name
of revolution, the Party could murder and starve to death tens of millions of
people. This has led people to devalue life, which then encourages the
proliferation of fake and poisonous products in the market. In Fuyang city of
Anhui Province, for example, many healthy babies developed short limbs, weak
bodies, and enlarged heads. Eight babies died because of this strange disease.
After investigation, it was discovered that the disease was caused by poisonous
milk powder made by a black-hearted and greedy manufacturer. Some people feed
crabs, snakes and turtles with hormones and antibiotics, mix industrial alcohol
with drinking wine, process rice using industrial oils, and whiten bread with
industrial brightening agents. For eight years, a manufacturer in Henan Province
used recycled oil, oils from crude oil as well as other carcinogens to produce
thousands of tons of poisonous “cooking oil” every month. Producing poisonous
foods is not a local or limited phenomenon, but is common all over China. The
destruction of the culture and moral decay has contributed to this single-minded
pursuit of material gain.
Unlike the absolute monopoly and exclusiveness of the Party culture, the
traditional culture has a tremendous integrative capacity. During the prosperous
Tang Dynasty, Buddhist teachings, Christianity, and other Western religions
co-existed harmoniously with Taoist and Confucian thought. Chinese traditional
culture would have kept an open attitude toward modern Western civilization and
cultures. The four "tigers" of Asia (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong
Kong) have created a “New Confucian” cultural identity, integrating Confucian
morality with modern economic rationality. Their progress has proved that
traditional culture is not a hindrance to science and development.
At the same time, authentic traditional culture measures the quality of human
life on the basis of happiness from within rather than material comfort from
without. Tao Yuanming (365-427 AD) [66] lived in poverty, but he kept a joyful
spirit and enjoyed a pastime “picking asters beneath the eastern fence, gazing
upon the Southern Mountain in the distance.”
Culture offers no answers for questions such as how to expand industrial
production or what social systems to adopt. Rather, it plays an important role
in providing moral guidance and restraint. The restoration of traditional
culture is the recovery of humility toward heaven, the earth, and nature,
respect for life, and fear of God. It will allow humanity to live harmoniously
with heaven and earth and to enjoy a heaven-given old age.
Notes:
[1] Shennong (literally, "The Heavenly Farmer”) is a legendary emperor and
cultural hero from Chinese mythology who is believed to have lived some 5,000
years ago and who taught the ancient peoples the practices of agriculture. He is
also credited with effortlessly identifying hundreds of medicinal (and
poisonous) herbs and various plants of that nature, which were crucial to the
development of traditional Chinese medicine.
[2] In Chinese mythology, Pangu was the first living being and the creator of
all.
[3] In Chinese mythology, Nüwa is the mother goddess who created humankind,
although other traditions would attribute this feat to Pangu. She and her
husband Fu Xi are the first of the Three Sovereigns and are often called the
"parents of humankind," since in one myth they were said to be the ancestors of
humankind. With Fu Xi she is often depicted with the upper body of a woman and
the lower body of a snake or dragon, since it was in the form of dragons that
she and her husband carved out the rivers of the world and drained the floods.
She is charged with the upkeep and maintenance of the Wall of Heaven, whose
collapse would obliterate everything.
[4] Cangjie or Cang Jie is a fabled and legendary figure from ancient China,
claimed to be the Yellow Emperor's official historian, and the inventor of the
Chinese characters. The Cangjie method of Chinese character computer input is
named after him.
[5] Tao-te Ching or Dao De Jing: One of the most important Taoist texts, written
by Lao Zi or Lao Tze. Lao Zi lived during the 6th century B.C. in the state of
Chu during the Zhou Dynasty. It is believed that Lao Zi's original name was Li
Er or Lao Tan. He was a keeper of the archives in the Zhou court and was
consulted once by Confucius on matters of ceremonies and rites. The legend says
that, in old age, Lao Zi was leaving the state of Chu heading west. The guardian
at China's westernmost outpost stopped him, asking him to write down his wisdom.
At this point Lao Tze wrote the essay of about 5,000 characters known as the Dao
De Jing. Upon finishing his essay, Lao Tze continued westward and was never
heard from again.
[6] From Confucius’ Analects.
[7] Dong Zhongshu (ca. 179-104 B.C.), a Confucian thinker during the Han
Dynasty, said in a treatise Three Ways to Harmonize Humans with Heaven (Tian Ren
San Ce), “if heaven remains, the Tao does not change.”
[8] This quote comes from The Abstract of Collected Taoist Scriptures (Dao Cang
Ji Yao) compiled in the Qing Dynasty.
[9] From Mao’s speech at the Eighth Session of the Tenth CCP Plenary Meeting.
[10] Mao's original words in Chinese used a pun: I am like a monk holding an
umbrella—no Tao (or Fa, pun for "hair") nor heaven (pun for "sky").
[11] Jie is the name of the last ruler of the Xia Dynasty (c. 21-16 B.C.), and
Zhou is the name of the last ruler of the Shang Dynasty (c. 16 -11 B.C.). Both
are known as tyrants.
[12] From Mencius.
[13] From the Communist Internationale anthem. The Chinese translation literally
means: “There has never been a savior, and we do not rely on God either; to
create human happiness, we rely entirely on ourselves.”
[14] Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei, alias Tuo Tao (r. 424-452 AD)
[15] Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, alias Li Yan, (r. 840-846 AD)
[16] Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, alias Yu Yong, (r. 561-579 AD)
[17] Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, alias Chairong, (r. 954-959 AD)
[18] A slogan used in the mid 1960’s during the Cultural Revolution in China.
[19] The White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist monastery in China, was built in
A.D. 68, the eleventh year of Yong Ping in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
[20] In the Dai language, the Beiye Scripture is pronounced Tanlan. Beiye is a
subtropical plant belonging to the palm family. It is a tall kind of tree with
thick leaves, which are mothproof and very slow to dry out. In ancient times
when paper was not yet invented, the Dai’s ancestors imprinted letters or
articles on the leaf. The letters carved on the leaf are called the Beiye
correspondence, and the scripture on it, Tanlan (Beiye scripture).
[21] Xiangshan Park, also called Fragrant Hills Park, is located 28 kilometers
(17 miles) northwest of downtown Beijing. Initially built in 1186 in the Jin
Dynasty, it became a summer resort for imperial families during the Yuan, Ming
and Qing Dynasties.
[22] How Many Cultural Relics Were Committed To Flames by Ding Shu.
[23] Red Guards refers to civilians who were the frontline implementers of the
Great Cultural Revolution. Most were youngsters in their mid-teens.
[24] Located 15 kilometers from Beijing, the Summer Palace is the largest and
best-preserved royal garden in China. The Summer Palace has a history of over
800 years.
[25] Louguan Temple is a famous Taoist shrine in China, and it is revered as
“the first land of the blessed under heaven.” The temple is situated on the
hillside north of the Zhongnan Mountains, 15 kilometers southeast of Zhouzhi
country and 70 kilometers from Xi’an City.
[26] Li is a Chinese unit of length (1 li = 1/2 kilometer or 0.3 miles).
[27] Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, alias Li Yuan, (r. 618-626 AD).
[28] People's communes (Renmin Gongshe), in the People's Republic of China, were
formerly the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas in the period
from 1958 to around 1982, when they were replaced by townships. Communes, the
largest collective units, were divided in turn into production brigades and
production teams. The communes had governmental, political, and economic
functions.
[29] The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra purports to be the Buddha's final
Mahayana sutra, delivered on the last day of his earthly life. It claims to
constitute the quintessence of all Mahayana sutras.
[30] Not an official translation. Most likely from Taisho Tripitaka Vol. T01,
No. 7, Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra
[31] “The Theory and Practice of the Chinese Communist Party’s Suppression of
Religions” by Bai Zhi. Chinese text:
http://www.dajiyuan.com/gb/3/4/15/n300731.htm.
[32] Mukti means Fist Dharma or Law teaching or transmission. Mukti can also be
translated as “loosing, release, deliverance, liberation, setting free, ...
emancipation; escape from bonds and the obtaining of freedom, freedom from
transmigration, from karma, from illusion, from suffering; it denotes Nirvāna
and also the freedom obtained in Dhyāna (meditation). It is to escape from
Samsara (reincarnation).
[33] Nirvana, in Buddhism or Hinduism, is a state of blissful peace and harmony
beyond the sufferings and passions of individual existence; a state of oneness
with the eternal spirit.
[34] A Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries campaign dealt violently with many
former leaders of secret societies, religious associations, and the Kuomintang
(KMT) in early 1951.
[35] The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, as the CCP calls it, broke
out in 1950. It was the first war the CCP fought immediately following the
founding of the People’s Republic of China.
[36] Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, alias Zhao Ji (r. 1100-1126 AD).
[37] Su Dongpo, (1036-1101) famous Chinese poet of the Song Dynasty.
[38] Wen Zhengming, (1470-1559) Chinese painter.
[39] Tang Bohu, (1470-1523) Chinese scholar, painter, and poet of the Ming
Dynasty.
[40] Meng Haoran, (689 - 740) poet of the Tang Dynasty.
[41] Wang Xi Zhi (321-379), the most famous calligrapher in history, from the
Tang Dynasty.
[42] The original Lan Ting Prologue, allegedly written by Wang Xi Zhi at the
prime of his calligraphy career (51 years old, 353 AD), is universally
recognized as the most important piece in the history of Chinese calligraphy.
[43] Wu Chen’en (1506?-1582), Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty
[44] Wu Jingzi (1698-1779), an elegant writer of the Qing Dynasty.
[45] Alternative name for the Red Guards.
[46] The Yongle Encyclopedia or Yongle Dadian was commissioned by the Chinese
Ming Dynasty Emperor Yongle in 1403. It’s the world’s earliest and greatest
encyclopedia.
[47] “Liang Xiao” represents a group of assigned writers, among whom Zhou
Yiliang, whose involvement in the writing group earned him an anonymous letter
from an old friend that referred to “the extreme of shamelessness.”
[48] Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), alias Ying Zheng, fascinates people
when they talk about the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses - his
two greatest achievements to China. As the first emperor of China, he indeed has
had a profound influence on Chinese history and culture.
[49] From Mao’s “Rectify the party’s style of work” (1942).
[50] From Mao’s “Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” (1942).
[51] Wu Xun (1838 - 1896), originally Wu Qi, was born in Shandong’s Tangyi.
Having lost his father at an early age, his family was impoverished. He had to
beg for food to feed his mother and became known as the filial piety beggar.
After his mother passed away, begging became his only means of making a living.
He ran free schools with the money he had accrued from begging.
[52] This refers to the movement to suppress counter-revolutionaries during
1950-1952 and the further cleansing of counter-revolutionaries during 1955-1957.
[53] The June 4th incident resulted from a set of national protests in China,
which occurred between April 15, 1989, and June 4, 1989, centered on Tiananmen
Square in Beijing. The focus of the protests was the occupation of the Square by
college and university students advocating democratic reforms. The People's
Liberation Army intervened to clear the Square of demonstrators during the night
on June 4 and many protesters were killed or injured by automatic weapons fire.
Estimates of civilian deaths vary between 400-800 (New York Times & Hammond
sources) and 2600 (Chinese Red Cross). Injuries are generally held to have
numbered from 7,000 to 10,000.
[54] An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power
over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and
judiciary systems.
[55] From the song of the Modern Peking opera "Legend of the Red Lantern," one
of the famous Eight Big Model Plays which were officially developed and reached
a golden age during the "Great Cultural Revolution" (1966-76).
[56] Mu is a unit of area used in China. One mu is 0.165 acres.
[57] Jin is a unit of weight used in China. One jin weighs about 1.1 lb.
[58] Opening address at the First Session of the First National People’s
Congress of the People’s Republic of China (September 15, 1954).
[59] “Red-eye syndrome”, equivalent to "green-eyed" in the Western expression,
is used here to describe a person, who, when seeing other people doing better
than he is, feels unequal and uncomfortable, and thinks that he should be the
one who is doing better.
[60] Tunnel Warfare (Didao Zhan, B&W, 1965), set in the anti-Japanese war, this
film portrays the brave struggle of Chinese people in Central China who fought
Japanese soldiers through various underground tunnels.
[61] War of Mines (Dilei Zhan, B&W, 1962), set in 1940s, the film demonstrates
how the guerrillas in Hebei Province fought against the Japanese invasion troops
with homemade mines.
[62] A literary composition prescribed for the imperial civil service
examinations, known for its rigidity of form and poverty of ideas.
[63] The Great Famine of 1959-1961 in China is the largest famine in human
history. Estimated numbers of "abnormal deaths" in the famine range from 18 to
43 million.
[64] Sima Qian (145-85 BC) was the first major Chinese historian. His Shiji, or
Records of the Historian, documents the history of China and its neighboring
countries from the ancient past to his own time.
[65] By Mao Zedong.
[66] Tao Yuanming (365-427 AD), also known as Tao Qian, is one of the greatest
poets in Chinese literature.
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