Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader (19 page)

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Authors: Geremie Barme

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BOOK: Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader
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59. See Fang Lixiong et al.,
Zhongguoren zenmele?!,
pp. 128-31.
60. See Lü Peng and Yi Dan,
Zhongguo xiandai yishu shi,
pp. 166-68 and 295-98, respectively.
61. For details, see Barmé, "History for the Masses," pp. 267-69.
62. Such footage appears in most of the episodes of the series.
63. See Barmé and Linda Jaivin, eds.,
New Ghosts, Old Dreams,
pp. 160-61.
64. For a shorter verion of this
shunkouliu'r
see Elizabeth J. Perry, "Casting a Chinese `Democracy' Movement: The Roles of Students, Workers, and Entrepreneurs," in Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom and Elizabeth J. Perry, eds.,
Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China,
pp. 33-34, 80, and n. 28; and Joseph W. Esherick, "Xi'an Spring," in Jonathan Unger, ed.,
The Pro-Democracy Protests in China,
p. 79.
65. The 13 May declaration reads in part: "The nation is our nation, the people are our people, the government our government. If we do not cry out, who will? If we do not act, who will?" See Wu Mouren et al., eds.,
Bajiu Zhongguo minyun jishi,
p. 190;

 

Page 59
also Han Minzhu, ed.,
Cries for Democracy,
p. 200. In 1919 Mao had said in an essay published in issue 4 of
Xiangjiang pinglun
: "The world is our world, the nation is our nation, the society is our society. If we do not speak out, who will? If we do not act, who will?" See "Zhonghua minzhongde dalianhede xingshi" in Stuart R. Schram, ed.,
Mao's Road to Power,
for a translation of this article. This lines quoted above were also very popular with Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Mao discouraged their use because he claimed he could not recall having written them. See "1967 nian 2 yue 21 ri Zhang Chunqiao zai Shanghai qunzhong dahuishangde jianghua" in
Ziliao xuanbian,
a Red Guard publication without a date or place of publication.
66. See Dierdre L. Nickerson, "Ge Xiaoguang," p. 74; Deng Wei, "Letters: Mao Thought"; and "Tiananmenshangde Mao Zedong." Ge's painting and touching up of the Mao portrait features in the opening sequence of the eight-part documentary "Tiananmen," directed by Shi Jian and Chen Jue; see ''Modern Mao Artifacts and Multimedia Mao" below. For details on the fate of the perpetrators of this incident, see Asia Watch, ed.,
Detained in China and Tibet,
pp. 101-2. In response to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci's question about the Mao portrait on Tiananmen in August 1980, Deng had the following to say: "Mao Thought led the revolution to victory in the past. Both now and in the future it should be seen as a precious resource for both the Party and the Chinese nation. Therefore, Chairman Mao's portrait will hang forever on Tiananmen and act as the symbol of our country. We must honour Chairman Mao as the founder of our Party and our state. Furthermore, we must persevere with Mao Thought." See Deng Xiaoping, "Da Yidali jizhe Aolin'aina Falaqi wen, 1980 nian 8 yue,"
Deng Xiaoping wenxuan (1975-1982),
p. 303.
67. See, for example, Luo Fu, "Mao Zedong xianshengde gushi," pp. 18-19. From late 1995, it was widely believed in Beijing that Mao had "manifested his supernatural power" once more by killing Dr. Li Zhisui, who died suddenly in February 1995, in revenge for publishing his memoirs about the Chairman.
68. Chai's numerous recorded speeches in the Square are evidence of this, as is the chilling interview she gave to the American reporter Philip Cunningham on 28 May 1989. For highlights of this interview, see the documentary film "The Gate of Heavenly Peace." For evidence of Chai's Mao-like political style, see also
Huigu yu fansi,
230.
69. Victor Zaslavsky,
The Neo-Stalinist State,
p. 12.
70. Ibid., pp. 15-16.
71. See Alexander Zinoviev,
Stalin et Stalinisme.
Zinoviev's work is referred to in Simon Leys, "Is There Life After Mao?" in
The Burning Forest,
pp. 166-67.
72. See Edward Friedman, "Democracy and `Mao Fever,'" pp. 90-91.
73. Quoted in Jerome Ch'en, ed.,
Mao,
p. 131.
74. Ironically, one of the most evocative fictional depictions of Mao as mastermind can be found in the Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare's
The Concert: A Novel,
written in Albanian and translated from the French of Jusuf Vrioni by Barbara Bray, pp. 25-39, 79-90, 181, 311-12, 323.
75. Schram, "Party Leader or True Ruler?," p. 235 and n. 84.

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