1950s ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT ARCHIVE OF CHINESE DOCUMENTS DETAILING ONE TEACHER'S CONTRIBUTION TO CHINESE POLICY AND THEN HIS REQUIRED CONFESSION AND APOLOGY ALL HIGHLIGHTING THE SCHIZOPHRENIC NATURE OF MID 20TH CENTURY CHINESE POLICY AND POLITICS

Katz Fine Manuscripts Verified independent store

→

On offer is a significant, historical manuscript document archive of 120 pages handwritten by a Chinese teacher named Wang JiYao who was a teacher at the Food Oil factory, City of ZhangJiaKou, HeBei Province in the era of the anti-rights struggle of the 1950's. Historians and researchers and collectors of the era will note the schizophrenic nature of the times so clearly displayed by the totality of these papers. The man in this archive was a teacher born in early 1930s becoming a teacher in 1951. As the Chinese government launched a call for intellectuals to give advice and even criticize the leader of the government in early 1957 this teacher gave frank and reasonable advice and criticism of the government. Later that year, the situation reversed. He and thousands of other intellectuals in China who criticized their leaders and government were judged guilty of anti-socialist thought and right wing deviation. He was classified as a Rightist for what he said in his daily life. Some examples: "The brutality of the communist party is unsurpassed by the Qin Emperor"; "It should be fine to criticize Chairman Mao, because he is an educated man"; "If the leader refuses the criticism, then he should not be a leader". The writer was called to confess his so called crimes. The confession was written by Wang JiYao from 1951 to 1957, the material written before 1957 was related to his family, because he was born to a landowner's family, which was classified as the class enemy number one. Other reports were written by many coworkers to show Wang JiYao had the rightist ideas by revealing what he said in the past. No conviction material was attached. The 120 pages consist of more than 10 files, including: his registration forms in early 1950s; three impeachment or disclosure files [including testimony of co-workers; and five files of his confessions of guilt (70 pages!) in 1957. This archive is a particularly interesting encapsulation within one man's experience of a sadly all too typical occasion in mid 20th Century China. Overall G. HISTORICAL NOTES: One online source provides: The Anti-Rightist Movement of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged "rightists" within the Communist Party of China (CPC) and abroad. The definition of "rightists" was not always consistent, sometimes including critics to the left of the government, but officially referred to those intellectuals who appeared to favour capitalism and class divisions and against collectivization. The campaigns were instigated by Chairman Mao Zedong and saw the political persecution of an estimated 550,000. The Anti-Rightist Movement was a reaction against the Hundred Flowers Campaign, which had promoted pluralism of expression and criticism of the government. Going perhaps as far back as the Long March there had been resentment against "rightists" inside the CPC, for example Zhang Bojun. The first wave of attacks began immediately following the end of the Hundred Flowers movement in July 1957. By the end of the year, 300,000 people had been labeled as rightists, including the writer Ding Ling. Future premier Zhu Rongji, then working in the State Planning Commission, was purged in 1958. Most of the accused were intellectuals. The penalties included informal criticism, "re-education through labour" and in some cases death. One main target was the independent legal system. Legal professionals were transferred to other jobs; judicial power was exercised instead by political cadres and the police. Show more