Mikey B.'s Reviews > The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957

Page 41 my book Li Zhisui in 1949

“I was so proud of China, so full of hope, so happy that the exploitation and suffering, the aggression from foreigners would be gone forever. I had no doubt that Mao was the great leader of the revolution, the maker of a new Chinese history.”

Page 101 Robert Loh

“We began to know the fear of being isolated from our own group and of standing helplessly alone before the power of the State.”

This is a devastating history of China after the end of the civil war in 1949 between the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek, and the communists under Mao Zedong who were the winners in this long struggle over China.

The conflict and the persecutions for “class struggle” began immediately. This led to entire groups of people being ostracized, imprisoned, or executed because of what they possessed or what their neighbors said. Sometimes there were public executions. Often times quotas were made for the numbers to be executed. This quota setting clearly resembled the practices of Josef Stalin.

The rural country-side was re-structured to collectivization. The local communist cadres in charge knew little about farming. They were only interested in increasing output, with no thought being put to transportation or storage of the grain output. Much of it rotted, causing famine and starvation. Lack of food was a dominant feature in the new China.

Page 100 early 1950s

Several million people were sent to labour camps or subjected to surveillance by the local militia. Countless more became outcasts. As the politics of hatred tore apart the social fabric of community life, tens of millions of people were permanently branded as “landlords”, “rich farmers”, “counter-revolutionaries” and “criminals”.

During the Korean War indoctrination tactics increased. Hatred of the United States became the norm. Chinese troops were used as cannon fodder. “Voluntary donations” of all kinds were coerced – which led to more starvation.

There was also propagandistic mind-control – or right-thinking (very Orwellian). Long and wearying indoctrination sessions were publicly held in villages across China. Individuals were cross-examined for hours at a time to encourage “self-criticism”.

Page 182-183 Lin Xiaoyu, a young woman of the communist party.

“We all felt fear. We stopped speaking even to those with whom we were normally very close. You did not dare speak with others about what was on your mind, even with those close to you, because it was very likely that they would denounce you. Everybody was denouncing others and was denounced by others. Everybody was living in fear.”

Books were burned. Suicides rose for fear of being sent to fight in Korea, or for fear of being imprisoned in a far-flung gulag.

Page 185 Hu Shi

“But few persons realise that there is no freedom of silence, either. Residents in a communist state are required to make positive statements of belief and loyalty.”

There was an interesting period in the mid-1950s where Mao invited free expression – (page 283) “let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend”. This led to a surprising outpouring of vigorous criticisms of government, of collectivization, and of Mao and his cadres. The Chinese Communist Party was listening – and after a few months, half a million victims were rounded up.

The author outlines the brutal treatment of minorities and of religion. The persecution of the Uighur people is not something new. The Chinese Communist Party has always demanded full conformity.

Page 261

Most people depended on the state for their livelihood. And all had spent countless hours in study sessions since liberation, learning how to parrot the party line, provide the correct answers and create the illusions of consent. Ordinary people may not have been great heroes, but many were great actors.

The author also brings up rebellions against government rulings. Many realized that their lives were under attack. This led to violence, and the Chinese military was used to ruthlessly oppress any outbreaks.

Page 224 mid-1950s

There were close to 20 million rural migrants, often relegated to dirty, arduous and sometimes dangerous jobs on the margins of the urban landscape… they wanted to escape the famine of the rural countryside.

Many forms of freedom were suppressed. For example, the ability to move from one region to another. Many were destined to spend their lives where they were born. Thousands were arrested with no trial and sent to far-flung work camps. Private businesses came under government control.

Page 243

The lives of millions were swallowed up by a vast array of prison camps scattered across the length and breath of the country – reform through labour.

All foreigners, excepting those from the Soviet Union, were forced to leave. China grew increasingly insular.

The author, I felt, did not stress how corrupting and ineffectual was the regime of Chiang Kai-shek. There were many good reasons why the American President Harry Truman stopped supporting the Nationalist regime.

The author does mention that the communists did much to improve the transportation network within China through better roads and trains. I also believe they did much to advance the role and status of women in the new China. And they did throw out the long dominance of the foreign powers in China. The U.K. and the U.S. had been exploiting China for decades. The Chinese, for better or worse, became in charge of their own future.

I am anxious to go on to read the next two volumes in this series of the history of the Mao years in China.