Thursday, December 8, 2011

Deja Hu

In a news story published November 22, 2011, by Xinhua, China’s state-owned news service (or, for those who prefer their labels in English, the New China News Agency), China’s President, Hu Jintao called on China’s writers and artists to redouble their efforts to produce great works. Nothing wrong with that; great art and great literature are both to be welcomed. As Xinhua wrote:

“Great times call for great writers and artists, and the people expect great literary and artistic works, President Hu Jintao said Tuesday while speaking to an audience of 3,300 who represent the country’s literary and art circles.

Xinhua continued:

In his speech, the president called on Chinese writers and artists to persist in the principles of “Serve the People and Serve Socialism,” “Let All Flowers Bloom Together” and “Let Hundreds of Schools Contend.”

The thoughts and sentiments are certainly welcome but, as Shakespeare wrote so long ago, “To sleep, perchance to Dream; Ay, there's the rub . . .” The words themselves evoke another time in Chinese history and another outcome altogether. Here’s the story:

In late 1956, seven years after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, Mao Zedong began one of the more infamous of the many mass campaigns in modern Chinese history up to that point. In a very well-known speech titled, “On the Correct Handling of the Contradictions Among the Masses”, Mao said “our society cannot back down, it can only progress . . . criticism of the bureaucracy is pushing the government towards the better.” Although it would be followed by the Great Leap Forward and mass starvation (1958-61) and that, in turn, by the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the Hundred Flowers Campaign is still remembered by many. Even though it’s core period lasted only for approximately six weeks, it remains a source of controversy and disagreement. The operative slogan of the day was, “Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land.” There was a consequent outpouring of ideas and criticism about the operations of the new Chinese state. Then it came to crashing halt. Those most outspoken were sent off to labor camps or prison. Their response to Mao’s exhortations to be open and let the criticism flow, was turned on them in a sort of political jujitsu. Historians disagree about whether Mao planned the whole campaign in order to entice his critics to come into the open, thereby leaving them vulnerable, or whether he began with the best of intentions only to later fear the resulting waves of criticism. Either way, a current-day reference to letting many flowers bloom and hundreds of schools of thought contend is likely to prod many here to hide under their covers in an effort to avoid the intellectual spotlight.

One hopes that this is not what Hu Jintao intended.