The Man, the Myth, the Message – New Trends in Mao-Literature From China
Thomas Scharping
1994
The China Quarterly
Zusammenfassung: Dies ist die erweiterte Fassung eines früher publizierten englischen Aufsatzes. Er untersucht 43 Werke der neueren chinesischen Mao-Literatur aus den frühen 1990er Jahren, die in ihnen enthaltenen Aussagen zur Parteigeschichte und zum Selbstverständnis der heutigen Führung. Neben zahlreichen neuen Informationen über die chinesische Innen-und Außenpolitik, darunter besonders die Kampagnen der Mao-Zeit wie Großer Sprung und Kulturrevolution, vermitteln die Werke wichtige
more »
... in die politische Kultur Chinas. Trotz eindeutigen Versuchen zur Durchsetzung einer einheitlichen nationalen Identität und Geschichtsschreibung bezeugen sie auch die Existenz eines unabhängigen, kritischen Denkens in China. Abstract: This is the enlarged version of an English article published before. It analyzes 43 works of the new Chinese Mao literature from the early 1990s, their revelations of Party history and their clues for the self-image of the present leadership. Besides revealing a wealth of new information on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, in particular on the campaigns of the Mao era like the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution, the works convey important insights into China's political culture. In spite of the overt attempts at forging a unified national identity and historiography, they also document the existence of independent, critical thought in China. Biographies and memorial literature are in vogue in China. After more than three decades in which the anonymous driving forces of history, the arid analysis of class struggle and worn-out ideological clichés dominated the scene, the traditional Chinese penchant for the personalized version of history is celebrating a happy revival. The tendency to present the past as the product of the moral behavior of great men, firmly rooted in the political culture of the country, the gusty appetite of the public for a peep show into the private lives of leaders, and the commercial instinct of a multitude of publishing houses aiming at profitable sales, have all combined to create a veritable deluge of biographies on the Chinese book market. These include works on Richard Nixon and Margaret Thatcher, Napoleon and Hitler, the Rockefellers, Hughes and Vanderbilts, the Ten Wealthiest Hongkong Tycoons, the Ten Richest Japanese, and many others. Wealth and power are the catchwords, today just as one century before. And the craze has gone further. There are biographies of Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, many old guard revolutionaries and even relative newcomers to the Politburo such as Li Ruihuan, apparently signaling an end to the longheld taboo on publicizing private information on contemporary politicians. Another, on non-polemical biographies of Kuomintang leaders, also seems to have disappeared, with Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo enjoying a wide audience on the Chinese mainland, too. Mao and the biography craze The most rewarding subject of biographies and memorial literature, however, has been Mao Zedong. The nostalgia of people who are suffering from the relentless push of economic reforms and yearn for the good old days when everything was clean and simple has helped to bring about the new Mao fever -which is rocking not only Chinese book shops but also the music scene, the textile industry and the curio market. A deep generation gap is noticeable in this regard. While the majority of Chinese youth in present-day China seems to view Mao as a creature from outer space, the Chairman's figure continues to haunt the dreams of the older generation. Depending on individual inclinations and experiences in life, these can be either nightmares or wish dreams. Mao also remains a challenge for the Party. Its evaluation of the late Chairman testifies to official positions in regard to different phases of modern Chinese history. It also documents the self-image of the present leadership, its future role expectations and the degree of freedom it concedes for political debates. Vacillating between veneration and fear, co-option and rejection in its attitudes toward the Übervater, the Party has assigned no mean task to official
doi:10.1017/s0305741000034093
fatcat:wd5qioukpbgidd4rawmgs2jznu