18
18
i nto making an economic miracle grew faint from hunger as they sat in
school. They learned to catch cicadas on poles with glue-coated tips,
then forced themselves to swallow the still-squirming insects. They
scoured the hills for edible grass and weeds. Their mothers baked bread
with flour augmented by willow and poplar leaves. During three long
years of heroic "progress" millions died of starvation.
The 'Great Leap Forward' had crippled the economy, throttling the
production of even the simplest things. And the architect of the brave
blunder--old Mao himself--lost power.10 He retired into ideological
matters, leaving the day-to-day running of the state to a bureaucratic
nest of lesser officials. Those officials looked at a citizenry racked with
malnutrition and quickly changed gears. They abandoned theoretical
rigor and worked to boost production of the household necessities that
had all but disappeared. Highest on the priority list was raising food.
Lots of it. Doctrine took a back seat to the simple task of putting meals
on Chinese tables.
The further the new policy proceeded, the more the officials
responsible for implementing it felt that they were the real powers
controlling China. Their swelling pride told them that they were the
new bosses, the men who had taken over the helm of history. Mao was
a relic, an antique, a figurehead. When Mao tried to issue orders, his
underlings treated him politely but shrugged him off. The commands
of China's Great Leader went unheeded.
Mao Zedong did not enjoy being led to pasture. And he wasn't
the sort of man to take forced retirement lying down. So this demigod of
The Revolution contrived a plan to reassert authority, a plan that would
be even more devastating to China than the Great Leap Forward. His
scheme would not just starve people, it would torture them, beat them to
death, and force them into suicide. It was The Cultural Revolution.
Mao took advantage of a simple peculiarity of human nature: the
rebelliousness of adolescents. The defiant attitude of teenage punk
rockers and heavy metal headbangers may seem like a rage spawned by
the unique disorders of western culture. It is not. Adolescence awakens
<< < GO > >>
18
18
i nto making an economic miracle grew faint from hunger as they sat in
school. They learned to catch cicadas on poles with glue-coated tips,
then forced themselves to swallow the still-squirming insects. They
scoured the hills for edible grass and weeds. Their mothers baked bread
with flour augmented by willow and poplar leaves. During three long
years of heroic "progress" millions died of starvation.
The 'Great Leap Forward' had crippled the economy, throttling the
production of even the simplest things. And the architect of the brave
blunder--old Mao himself--lost power.10 He retired into ideological
matters, leaving the day-to-day running of the state to a bureaucratic
nest of lesser officials. Those officials looked at a citizenry racked with
malnutrition and quickly changed gears. They abandoned theoretical
rigor and worked to boost production of the household necessities that
had all but disappeared. Highest on the priority list was raising food.
Lots of it. Doctrine took a back seat to the simple task of putting meals
on Chinese tables.
The further the new policy proceeded, the more the officials
responsible for implementing it felt that they were the real powers
controlling China. Their swelling pride told them that they were the
new bosses, the men who had taken over the helm of history. Mao was
a relic, an antique, a figurehead. When Mao tried to issue orders, his
underlings treated him politely but shrugged him off. The commands
of China's Great Leader went unheeded.
Mao Zedong did not enjoy being led to pasture. And he wasn't
the sort of man to take forced retirement lying down. So this demigod of
The Revolution contrived a plan to reassert authority, a plan that would
be even more devastating to China than the Great Leap Forward. His
scheme would not just starve people, it would torture them, beat them to
death, and force them into suicide. It was The Cultural Revolution.
Mao took advantage of a simple peculiarity of human nature: the
rebelliousness of adolescents. The defiant attitude of teenage punk
rockers and heavy metal headbangers may seem like a rage spawned by
the unique disorders of western culture. It is not. Adolescence awakens
<< < GO > >>