The Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 was a devastating time for China and a painful stain on its rich, beautiful history. Millions of innocents suffered surveillance, interrogation, torture, and death for the sake of Chairman Mao Zedong’s lofty views for China’s future; by the time of his death, however, Mao had accomplished nothing but tearing his own nation apart. And, only upon Mao’s death did many survivors of the Cultural Revolution realize the futility of these years of suffering and the extent of the brainwashing they had endured. One common vein ran throughout the many pains China’s people suffered throughout this terrible time: shame. Here, we will explore the powerful role shame played in the Cultural Revolution through the stories of three survivors: a child, Jiang Ji-li; an expelled university student, Kang Zhengguo; and a professor, Dr. Ji Xianlin.

The nation was pressured into unquestioning obedience under the watchful eye of Mao Zedong.

Shame. Shame dictated every moment of the Cultural Revolution— and what a great many things there were to be ashamed of: coming from a family of undesirable class status, as Jiang Ji-li and Kang Zhengguo did; being an intellectual rather than a worker, as Kang Zhengguo and Dr. Ji Xianlin were; being opposed to the revolution in any way, as each of them were accused of during this terrifying time in their lives; and much, much more. But, as we will see, shame was far from all these survivors suffered; it was the fuel that fed their tormentors’ flaming hatred, the fickle yet all-powerful justification for years of torment to come. Jiang would suffer bullying, ostracization, and pressure to denounce her beloved family; both Kang and Ji would endure imprisonment under unspeakable living conditions for their purported crimes against China. All lived in fear of da-zi-bao, posters often used for public shame, and the dreaded “struggle session”, a spectacle of public torture and humiliation that crowds would flock to enjoy.

A da-zi-bao criticizing an individual who portrayed Mao Zedong with a scar in a drawing, accusing the artist of counterrevolutionary values.

Another da-zi-bao, also targeting an alleged counterrevolutionary. These posters could destroy one’s reputation, livelihood, and life.

Victims of “struggle sessions” were often forced to wear heavy boards detailing their purported crimes around their necks.

The ever-present threat and sadistic spectacle of public shame created the ideal conditions for dangerous rumors to flourish. At only twelve years old, Jiang Ji-li suffered under her classmates’ unfounded accusations of having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher, simply because she performed well in school. Because her grandfather had been a landlord, she and her family were also accused of being exploiters of the working class— despite the fact that her grandfather had been deceased for decades. For sending away for a Russian book during his time at university, Kang Zhengguo was falsely accused of colluding with foreign powers against China, and for opposing a popular figure in the Revolution, Nie Yuanzi, Dr. Ji Xianlin was wrongfully labeled a full-blown counterrevolutionary. The consequences of these falsehoods ranged from humiliation to life-shattering devastation: while Jiang was subjected to a da-zi-bao and bullied at school, Ji was imprisoned and tortured, and Kang was sentenced to three years in a nightmarish labor camp. Through their stories, we can begin to see how shame evolves from a method of controlling people to a method of harming them.

Propaganda advocated violence against anyone accused of opposing the Revolution.

Shame spread during the Cultural Revolution like a deadly disease. People rushed to sever their connections with those who were targeted, lest they be next in line. Childhood friends morphed into schoolyard bullies; frightened families abandoned aging parents and grandparents to the Red Guards’ scant mercy; radicalized students seized the chance to imprison and torture their once-respected professors. Those who remained loyal to their loved ones were punished for it; soon the disease of shame fell upon them, just as it had taken their friends and families. For collecting his salary and paying his party dues on his behalf during his imprisonment, Dr. Ji Xianlin’s elderly aunt suffered humiliation and insults every month; for refusing to denounce her parents and become an “educable child”, Jiang Ji-li endured pressure, interrogations, and public degradations, and for refusing to divorce her unjustly imprisoned husband, Jiang’s mother was forced to write essays criticizing her alleged failure to China. Despite the indignities these survivors suffered, they defied the cruel expectations set upon them to abandon those they loved, and their loyalty triumphed over shame and fear.

With frightening ease, public shame festered into degradation, and degradation into dehumanization; slowly but surely, years of this treatment carved away victims’ sense of self. Dr. Ji Xianlin describes the horrific conditions under which he and his fellow prisoners were kept: they were subjected to mental and physical torture; they were forced into backbreaking labor; they were instructed to keep their eyes on the ground at all times and were too miserable and frightened to speak to one another. The Red Guards labeled them “blackguards” and “cow-devils”. The inmates, Ji writes, were scarcely considered human, and began to view themselves accordingly. In another act of vicious dehumanization, during a portion of his own imprisonment, Kang Zhengguo was forbidden from using his own name— in addition, of course, to similarly abysmal living conditions. Assigned a number to represent his identity, he became known to his guards and cellmates only as “Number Two”. Such humiliations were difficult to recover from— Ji describes how, even after his release, he struggled to return to life as an ordinary person; he could not bring himself to meet his colleagues’ eyes or greet them in passing, as he felt such expressions of casual human companionship were not allowed to one who had fallen into cultural disgrace. The Cultural Revolution left scars that pained its victims for the rest of their lives.

The impact of these scars was nothing short of devastating. Depression was strikingly common among those targeted during the Cultural Revolution, and many beloved lives were lost to suicide. People from all walks of life— from the innocent child Jiang Ji-li to the world-wise professor Dr. Ji Xianlin— contemplated taking their own lives to escape the crushing shame and torment that permeated their every day. “But even now that my paltry successes have surrounded me with a cacophony of flattering voices, I sometimes think,” Ji writes, “I should have committed suicide. That I did not do so is a stain on my character; my very existence is cause for shame; I am living on borrowed time.” Shame— even in his elder years, when writing his memoir decades after the Cultural Revolution ended, he still found himself unable to escape that dreaded word. Tragically, Ji passed away eleven years after publishing his memoir; we can only hope that the last years of his life offered him some relief from the unjust shame that had been forced upon him so long ago, and that had followed him for so long since. As members of the human race, we each carry with us the remedies for shame— kindness, respect, understanding. Let us never forget to bestow these mercies upon ourselves and others. Let us never allow such a national tragedy to happen again.

Works Cited

Ho, Denise. “Exhibiting the Cultural Revolution, Part 1: Reading ‘Big-Character Posters.’” Medium, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, 21 Aug. 2020, medium.com/fairbank-center/exhibiting-the-cultural-revolution-part-1-reading-big-character-posters-d3edd7bb0104.

Jiang, Ji-li. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. Harper Collins, 2010.

Kang, Zhengguo. Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China. Translated by Susan Wilf, W.W. Norton, 2008.

Li, Jie. “Exhibiting the Cultural Revolution, Part 3: Dazibao Exhibitionism.” Medium, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, 21 Aug. 2020, medium.com/fairbank-center/exhibiting-the-cultural-revolution-part-3-dazibao-exhibitionism-3855a62a8bc6.

Robbins, Michael. “Chinese Cultural Revolution Recalled in Memoir ‘The Cowshed.’” Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2019, https://www.chicagotribune.com/2016/01/28/chinese-cultural-revolution-recalled-in-memoir-the-cowshed/.

Xianlin, Ji. The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Translated by Jiang Chenxin, New York Review Books, 2016.

Zha, Jianying. “China: Surviving the Camps.” The New York Review, 6 Jan. 2016, https://www.nybooks.com/online/2016/01/26/china-surviving-camps-cultural-revolution-memoir/.