Wen Yang: It seems that the word "Cultural Revolution" still cannot be mentioned

Wen Yang: It seems that the word "Cultural Revolution" still cannot be mentioned Premier Wen Jiabao unexpectedly mentioned the "Cultural Revolution" issue at the press conference...

Premier Wen Jiabao unexpectedly mentioned the "Cultural Revolution" issue at a press conference. Taking this as a turning point, the political turmoil caused by the "Bo Wang Incident" entered its second stage. It was like the siege troops had finally found a breakthrough. Behind the gate of Bo Xilai is the forbidden area of ​​the Cultural Revolution, and behind the forbidden area of ​​the Cultural Revolution is the forbidden city of the Chinese Communist Party's historical merits and demerits and the legitimacy of its governance. The blocked zone that China's intelligentsia has always wanted to enter but has never been able to enter has suddenly opened up. Moreover, it was not the breach that was forced by outsiders, but the people inside who pushed open the city gate themselves? BR> Bo Xilai’s outcome is no longer the most important, and almost no one cares about Wang Lijun’s decision. Although there has not yet been a swarm, the smart people have smelled the smell and heard the drums. It is possible to revisit the old place that they thought was hopeless in this life, but it is actually possible to realize their dreams! It has been forty-six years since the Cultural Revolution began, and thirty-six years since Mao Zedong’s death. What a life! I remember back then, everyone was in that arena, everyone was a gladiator, and everyone could only become a gladiator. The winner would show off his arrogance, while the loser would fall into the ditch. After ten years of tempering in life and death, thought remolding, and soul revolution, anyone who has tormented others or been tormented by others, who dares to say that there is no trace of the Cultural Revolution in his or her thoughts and souls? A whole decade. If the Cultural Revolution was a quagmire, then ten years would be enough time for everyone to be covered in mud inside and out; if the Cultural Revolution was a dye vat, then ten years would be enough time for no one to be left with any trace of purity. After all, it was an unprecedented social project launched by national leaders, closed the country and used the entire state machinery to forcefully carry out, including various violent means, targeting the entire people! In this sense, all people who experienced the Cultural Revolution, whether they were persecuted or persecuted at the time, and whether they criticize or support the Cultural Revolution today, can actually be called "Cultural Revolution people"! The Cultural Revolution, as a political movement, ended with the death of Mao Zedong. But in fact, this just means that the top commander is gone and the new leaders will no longer continue the movement. However, the Cultural Revolution Arena is still there, and hundreds of millions of "Cultural Revolutionaries" are still there. The Cultural Revolution's way of thinking, language, and behavior are all still prevalent in the world. How can a transformation project that can almost turn sheep into wolves for a full decade end just as soon as it is over? Even if the "alpha wolf" is gone, can the wolves automatically turn back into a flock of sheep? Regarding the situation after the Cultural Revolution, we can believe that Deng Xiaoping was the person who saw it most clearly. With his iron fist, he solved this dilemma through two measures. The first is to engage in a market economy, which is like a modern version of the "Exodus", taking hundreds of millions of Chinese people who know nothing but fighting against each other out of the arena and into the ocean of the market to save themselves, wash themselves out, and become self-sufficient; the second is to declare "no debate" in the political field, which is like a big lock sealing the door of the arena, and no one is allowed to go back. This is how the restricted area of ​​the Cultural Revolution was formed. However, since this was an almost coercive measure, although on the surface the Cultural Revolution arena was empty, a deep-rooted "Cultural Revolution complex" was deeply buried. People in the Cultural Revolution were people in the Cultural Revolution. Although they later went into business and no longer had the opportunity to talk about the Cultural Revolution, write about the Cultural Revolution, or engage in the Cultural Revolution, it does not mean that people are no longer Cultural Revolution people. After all, I lived and died in that arena for ten years. After all, most of the things in my mind and soul were formed there. It is the true spiritual home and cultural home. As long as politics and doctrine are mentioned, a whole set of Cultural Revolution discourse will be self-derived and automatically generated. Not to mention Chongqing’s “singing reds and cracking down on gangsters” was the Cultural Revolution. The critical discourse, ideological discourse, and simplistic, formulaic, and square-oriented discourse in the intellectual circles, which one is not the Cultural Revolution? In the past month, as if a practical test was intended, an unexpected reaction suddenly broke out in Chinese society, using Wen Jiabao's words about the Cultural Revolution as a stimulus. No matter which faction you belong to, the so-called left or the so-called right, the so-called center-left or the so-called center-right, just look at the most intense speeches and the most intense methods. Without exception, everyone is still a member of the Cultural Revolution! It is difficult to guess whether Wen Jiabao himself is fully aware of the implications of mentioning the Cultural Revolution again.

But in my opinion, anyone who expects today’s Chinese society to solve the Cultural Revolution issue, or even larger political reform and political line issues, through a political debate is likely to make a major error in judgment. Deng Xiaoping relied on his authority to establish the "no debate" rule. On the one hand, it certainly meant that he was committed to economic construction. On the other hand, it probably meant that in his eyes, the Chinese intelligentsia, which was under the influence of the Cultural Revolution and almost everyone was a member of the Cultural Revolution, was not only incapable of debating China's political issues clearly, but instead only became more noisy and chaotic, with no results. It seems that it is the same today. The Cultural Revolution is far from over, and the door to the arena can be reopened at any time. And it is almost certain that the first batch of people to rush back to the arena of the Cultural Revolution will not necessarily be the so-called leftists who miss the Cultural Revolution. Instead, they will be the so-called liberals who have been criticizing the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, and the Chinese government for many years. The reason is very simple. In fact, the Cultural Revolution was not primarily a matter of political stances and views, but more of a pathological way of thinking, language, and behavior in carrying out political activities. And these "Cultural Revolution diseases" are extremely intact in this camp and manifest themselves extremely prominently. Returning to the Cultural Revolution, one of China's greatest political dangers has loomed large this spring.