If you ever have to teach about the end of Maoism, Ai Qing‘s poem “On the Crest of a Wave” is a good thing to use. Ai was one of China’s best known modern poets, who was arrested and tortured by the GMD, (which is why he changed his surname from 蒋 to 艾) then wrote poetry in service of the war effort, then moved to Yan’an. He was purged in the 1957 Anti-Rightist Movement and spent the Cultural Revolution cleaning toilets. He was rehabilitated in 1979, and in 1985 French president François Mitterrand was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. Quite the career. He also had an interesting son, who’s work you can use later in the class.
This poem is good to use because it gives you the fervor of the CR, lots of campaign type language, the disgust with the results, and the continued loyalty to the party and the revolution. (Now with Zhou Enlai!). You would have to do a bit of background with them on the first Tiananmen Incident and the Fall of the Gang of Four, but the poem itself should not present huge problems.
On the Crest of a Wave
- Written for Han Zhixiong and young friends
of his generation
I. “I Am Only Han Zhixiong”
Let me introduce you to the others:
“This is a hero.”
You laugh and protest:
“No hero. I’m only Han Zhixiong.”1
A self-seeking hero might prove embarrassing,
The people paid you their most glorious compliment –
Still, you could, quite without embarrassment,
Consider yourself the hero of “The Tiananmen Incident”.
When the wolves bared their teeth, flashed their claws,
Right away, you dared to go up and pluck their whiskers,
You were brave in the fight,
Enough to bolster the pride of a generation!
And you were clear-headed,
Like an island steadfast against wind and wave,
Under the blue dome of the sky,
Silently watching ten thousand waves ….
2. What Kind of Fight Is This?
It’s almost no fight at all,
Yet everyone brandishes knives and guns,
Claiming they are “Probing to the Very Soul”,2
Inflicting deaths by the millions;
“Understand, and then execute;
You don’t understand; you must still execute.”
One hundred percent lies,
Out-and-out deceits;
The most ruthless oppressions,
The most outrageous monopolies;
More absurd than religion,
More treacherous than assassination;
Some say: “Attack with culture, defend with arms !”23
Some say: “Light the fires, burn down the wilderness !”34
One side yells : “Down with law and order!”
One side urges: “Attack! Plunder! Loot!”
They announce: “Limit the Rights of the Bourgeoisie!”
They confiscate property by “Ransacking People’s Homes”;
Behind the smokescreen of “Down with Restoration”
They carry out their deranged pi1laging.
Reason is strangled by instinct,
Presumptions hoodwink the people;
Cunning shows off by flexing its muscles,
Against uprightness, false witness is sworn;
Savage hearts puff up) in the dark of night,
Lusts of the flesh grow along with power,
Self-interest and conceit compete,
Conscience is put up for auction;
The bright become the cunning,
The honest turn into dullards;
Unchecked, rumor runs rampant,
While truth gets the third degree.
Is destruction the means
Or is destruction the end? –
As if someone were playing tricks,
Someone were putting on a carnival;
“Anti-Lin Biao, Anti-Confucius, Anti-Premier Zhou!”
“Down with Rightist-Deviationists Overturnrng of Correct Decisions!”
Whoever has authority must be toppled,
And contemptible clowns show supernatural powers;
Justice, trussed up, is put on public display,
Truth is exhibited, with blindfolds on,
Even the Commander-in-Chief is not spared trumped-up
charges,
And the Premier, already dead, is falsely accused.
From the age of ten to the age of twenty –
The ten years of the Cultural Revolution –
Han Zhixiong was swept up by great wind and wave
Into the year 1976.
3. A Day of Tragedy
Beloved Premier Zhou
You have bid your farewells –
But the enemies hadn’t expected
You would stir a grief so widespread.
The world has never seen one man
The recipient of so many poems;
There has never been a man in history
Who has received so many flower-wreaths!
A mountain of flowers, an ocean of flowers,
An ocean of poems, an ocean of tears,
A limitless, vast and awesome tide,
A tumultuous outpouring of the people’s grief …•
How many treacherous schemes,
How many rumors, how many slanders,
How many frame-ups, how many false witnesses?
None of them could soil his image;
He is an immense, massive mountain –
The enemies find him hard to overcome;
His loftiness brings out their lowliness;
His radiance pierces right through their hearts;
The enemies won’t let the people wear black veils,
The enemies forbid the people from sending wreaths,
The enemies crumple the lotus flowers,
The enemies trample down the noble orchids;
Still, the mountains far away,
The trees in front of the window,
The clear spring by the roadside,
All remind people of Premier Zhou;
Premier Zhou is like the air,
Like sunlight, like water,
It’s as if he were everywhere,
No one gets very far from him;
The Premier belongs to everyone,
The air belongs to everyone,
The sunlight belongs to everyone,
The earth belongs to everyone.
4. The Qingming Festival, 1976 5
There has never been a Qingming Festival
Like the Qingming Festival of 1976 , with so many tears,
When he was a alive, no one was more selfless,
The devotion of the people never more steadfast.
Han Zhixiong, in front of Tiananmen –
Listened to the poems being recited day after day
Felt a sorrow so deep tears never ceased to flow,
Felt a fury that scorched dry his tears;
A million verses,
A million torches,
One torch lighting up yet another torch,
Shining into the early spring night;
In order to protect the truth,
One must join the battle –
Where thoughts are banners,
And words are bullets;
The poems that Han Zhixiong wrote
Were pasted on the east face of the Heroes’ Monument
Like the flames of a torch, ‘
Like the shimmer of a swift sword;
“History has its memorial tablets,
History has its scaffold for villains,
History is a judge,
History takes the people’s loyal ministers
And pays its respects on a memorial plaque –
to remain forever in memory,
History takes the people’s evil ministers
And shoves them up the scaffold – and executes them
in wrath!
………………..
…………………
How does history tolerate these poisonous traitors?
The people pluck out the peacock feathers on these black
crows,
And tear off their outer vestments of Marxism and Leninism.
In front of the Heroes’ Monument,
In the midst of the people shouting,
The sentence on them was passed without pity –
On a handful, on the dregs of the Chinese people!
History’s Heroes’ Monument is bequeathed forever,
Reaching out to the heavens from this earth;
It blares out in brave, stentorian tones : ‘
‘If the devils spew forth noxious fumes,
Then the people will seize the wicked, and lay the
devils low.’
… . . .. ……
. . ……… .
On the tablet, the Premier shows his spirit,
Called forth numberless masses to expel the villains.”
Listen, Han Zhixiong’s poem,
Splits the heavens like the sound of thunder.
5. “I’d Rather Rot in Jail a Thousand Years!”
This young worker was arrested,
Rio-ht in front of the portrait of Lenin,
T;o days before the Qingming Festival –
At twelve, midnight.
He was shoved into prison
And immediately stripped naked of his clothes,
Repeatedly pummeled and kicked,
He was then whipped all about his face and chest!
Those who interrogated him, were they countrymen?
They bound him up in “Maximum Security” to make him
confess:
“Why was he mourning for Premier Zhou?
Why was he supporting Deng Xiaoping?”
There was in this another kind of “law”,
Revolution was turned into “Counter-revolution”,
Patriots were converted into “criminals”,
All to carry out the orders of the “Empress”;
Listen! What kind of language do they speak?
“This bureau is the guardian of law and order,
Where counter-revolutionaries are crushed,
How does one get out? Wishful thinking! Don’t talk
nonsense!”
Han Zhixiong responded, steadfast and firm:
“I’d rather rot in prison a thousand years!”
It was as if he had fallen into the Middle Ages,
And was awaiting trial by the Inquisition!
6. “The Tiananmen Incident”
The people’s Premier is dead,
Why aren’t they aIIowed to mourn him?
Why are the memorial poems ripped away?
Why are the flower wreaths aII removed?
Why are plainclothesmen sent out
To stir things up among the masses?
Who sent out lackeys to bark out anti-revolutionary slogans,
So that the anger of the masses could be diverted?
And who was it, cowering in some dark corner,
Spent their energies plotting “The Tiananmen Incident” –
Flogging a fourteen-year-old boy all the while,
Trying to force a confession of “arson” out of him?
And who decided to replay “The Reichstag Fire”6
In front of Tiananmen Square?
And who downgraded the revolution of the masses
As just another “Hungarian Incident”?
“The Tiananmen Incident”
Saw a conflict pitting brightness against darkness,
Democracy against autocracy,
Where bayonets were crossed between Revolution and
Counter-revolution;
“The Tiananmen Incident”
Was a bolt of lightning flashing in the darkest cloud,
Lighting up the true face of evil,
Outlining the figures of hatchetmen;
“The Tiananmen Incident”
Tolled the deathknell of the Gang of Four,
It hastened the downfall of the Gang of. Four –
It brightened the eyes of the people;
“The Tiananmen Incident”
Is the most brilliant sheaf of poems,
It’s the river-fork, where revolutionn and counter-revolution
divide; . . . .
It’s the turning point in Chinese history!
7· Revolutionary Fervor Burns Brighter
the More It’s Tempered
Having undergone eleven months in pitch darkness,
Han Zhixiong once again saw the sun.
Even if his body was riddled with injuries,
His revolutionary fervor burned the brighter.
Why oh great motherland,
After, the “Three Big Mountains”7 were destroyed,
Should the likes of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four appear?
Leaving wounds that are deep even now.
Where do these vipers come from?
What kind of soil nurtures these vermin.
For those who still survive today,
Is it enough to make them wonder?
The struggle is far from over,
Our eyes have to be burnished bright –
We must replace superstition with science,
And break out of our mental prisons!
We must never let ourselves be swindled again,
Never let ourselves be cheated again,
What we want must be the truth,
What we want must be the light of the sun!
We must not rely on the pity of the gods,
Nor wait upon the mercy of the heavens,
The people must protect their own rights,
For the people’s rights are the weapons of revolution.
All Government policies must be carried out to the letter,
All injustices must be redressed,
Even if they have lain dormant for so long,
Reputations besmirched must be restored!
8. Fly Bravely Over ….
Now, you young drivers,
Drive your bulldozers,
Get on with the job,
Dispose of all the garbage that has piled up –
Dispose of all the obstacles –
Of everything that is feudal or fascist,
Superstitious or corrupt,
And clear the ground for the Four Modernizations!
Han Zhixiong underwent trial by fire,
Tested by the worst kind of typhoon,
He was a youth of the era of Mao Zedong,
A sea swallow on the raging crest of a political wave!
“Struggle for the benefit of the people”
That was his magnificent oath –
Han Zhixiong soaring up there bravely,
Look, the Party is beckoning to you.
If someone were to ask:
“What, in the end, did the Cultural Revolution mean?”
The answer would be unmistakably clear:
China saw a new generation of youth emerge.
November 16, 1978
(Translated by Eugene Chen Eoyang)8
Chinese text (not corrected) I may end up doing a handout version with the two texts together, and if I do I will post it here.
在浪尖上
你在离里晴空下，
苹静地注脱着蔑顷波濡…．．．
391
在
浪
尖上
—给韓志雄和他同一代的宵年朋友
、遁是什磨戟争
一、＂是韓志雄”
我把你介祒给别人：
“道是一侗英雄。”
你却笑着否睬：
“不是英雄，是韓志雄。”
好像不是戳争，
却都勤用了刀植
脱的是“稠及震魂”,
却造成了千篱人的锡亡；
“理解的要埶行，
不理解的也要埶行。”
百分之百的虚侂，
撤顽撤尾的欺骗；
自封的“英雄“常然可耻，
人民给的稻虢最光荣一—
你可以常之熊愧的
是“天安阿事件”的英雄。
最残酷的迫害，
最大瞻的整断，
比宗教更荒唐，
比牒砓更除劂
豹狼张牙舞爪的晇候
居然敢上去拔毛，
你在阿争中的勇敢
可以引第一代人的骄傲！
一遏脱： “文攻武衔”,
一遏脱： “放火烧荒”,
一遏喊： “砸燭公桧法”,
一遏煽勤： “打砸拾“,
而你是清醒的
像大虽大浪中的一侗岛，
390
脸的是“限制资牵階砐法灌”·
侵吞的是“抄家物资＇＇，
在浪尖上邸3
392 在浪尖上
在“反俊问”的湮幕裹
正羲被梆着示栾，
迤行疯狂的掠弯；
慎理被蒙上眼睛，
遴元眒也被陷害，
理性被本能扼軗，
憩理也死而含冤。
用武断蛊惑人心；
奸昨的耀武拐威， 徙十散到二十跋，
忠試的受到胚陷， 文化大革命的十年，
韓志雄被大匪大浪，
野心在黑夜登酵， 送到了一九七六年。
悄慾随擢力增畏；
自私典狂妄赛跑， 三、悲哀的日子
良心走迤拍贾行；
敬爱的周憩理
聘明的燮狡猾， 和我们告别了－－
老寅的夔傻瓜， 敞人没有想到
摇言通行熊阻， 俞激起道嗟大的哀悼：
慎括倒要追查；
世界上没有一侗人
不知以破壤第手段， 得到遏道嗟多持篇；
遠是以破壤第目的—一膛史上没有一侗人
好像是在玩魔衔， 得到遏逜座多花圈！
好像是在演雒技，
花的山、花的海、
“批林批孔批周公”,
“反射右倾翻案諷”,
特的海、误的海、
誰有威信打倒誰，
熙遏浩森的大海
跳樑小酰颐眒通，
郗涌着人民的悲哀. . ….
394 在浪尖上在浪尖上395
多少的除牒跪叶， 太陨是大家的，
多少的造摇排膀， 土地是大家的。
多少的栽眽诬陷
都熙损於他的形像； 四、丙辰清明
他是一架大山一一·
徙来没有一侗清明笝，
敞人雉於途越的屏障；
像丙辰的消明笝流道座多的淉，
他的崇高颐出了敞人的卑鄙；
他的光芒剌痛了敞人的心朦；
活着的晇候越照私，
人民的银念也最永恒；
敞人不準人民戴黑秒，
敞人禁止人民送花圈， 韓志雄在天安阿前
敞人揉碎了黑蹄速， 一天一天的聘朗踊持篇一一一
敞人踩煨了君子刺， 悲痛止不住误水，
愤怒把捩水烧乾；
但是，遠虞的山，
窗前的愿千篱首持，
路逊的清泉， 千离侗火炬，
都使人想起周慾理； 火炬又贴燃火炬，
照撤了初春的夜晚，
周慾理像空氮，
像陨光，像水， 笢了雒揽真理，
好像很平凡， 必须投入戳阿一一
却誰也不能雒厮思想是旗辙，
晤言是子弹；
憩理是大家的，
空氯是大家的， 韓志雄窝的持
396
贴在纪念碑束面，
像燃烧的火炬，
像闵光的寅剌；
“膛史有纪念碑，
膛史有断妖台，
膛史是裁判具，
膛史将把人民的忠臣
在浪尖上
敬在纪念碑上—一永遠懊念！
胫史也将把人民的奸臣
押上斩妖台一—怒断！
膛史哪容道圉妖露横行。
人民将把道些扁鸦身上的
孔雀毛拔去，
撕阴思列外衣。
在纪念碑前，
在人民的怒吼中
燕愤地判决他们—一
一小撮民族的敢颊！
膛史永垂的纪念碑
在地球上向着太空
登出了雄肚邓厚的整昔：
｀尚若魔怪喷毒火，
自有擒妖打鬼人。＇
碑上憩理颐神震，
唤来熊数繇妖人。”
聘，韓志雄的持，
在浪尖上
像窖撤畏空的雷整……
五、“我颐坐牢一千年！”
道假宵年工人被捕了，
地黏是列苹像的下面，
晇间是清明笝前两天一
夜晚十二贴。
他被推迤了牢熙，
黑上被剥光了衣服，
接着拳打脚踢之俊，
是蒙颈盔滕的皮鞭！
窖问的不知是哪蔽人，
銡上“繁鍔“要他供昭：
“第什座悼念周慈理？
第什座擁蔑鄂小平？”
道克有另外的“法律”,
把革命的打成“反革命”,
397
398 在浪尖上在浪尖上399
把爱囡者常作“罪人”, 精心策割“天安阿事件” 一一
道克埶行的是“女皇”的命令； 拷打一侗十四俄的少年，
逼他供昭自己是“掀火犯”?
腮，他们脱的是什座晤言：
“道员是荨政横脖是誰想在天安阿前
颌墅反革命的地方， 把“囡曾俄火案”重演？
徙适克出去？别痴心妄想！” 是誰把莘架的革命行勤
污蔑笢“匈牙利事件”?
韓志雄同答得多唳坚硬：
“我颐坐牢一千年！” “天安阿事件”
他好像迤入中世纪， 是光明舆黑暗、
等待的是“宗教裁判“! 民主舆荨制、
革命舆反勤的白刃戙；
_
/\、 “天安凹事件” “天安阿事件”
像熙霎深虞的闪霞，
人民的慈理死了， 照出了鬼魅的原形，
笢什座不嚷悼念？ 蜜出了剒子手的嘴脸；
笢什座撕掉持文？
篇什哑撤走花圈？ “天安凹事件”
敲容了“四人枢”的丧筵，
笢什嗟放出便衣，
加速了“四人帮”的减亡一一
在辇栾中来同打膊？
把人民的眼睛擦亮；
誰指使走狗喊反勤口虢，
想把辇架的憤怒扭膊？
“天安阿事件”
是誰躲在除暗的角落是最拥煌的持篇；
400 在浪尖上
在拽尖上401
是革命輿反革命的分水横， 我侗要的是真理，
是中网照史的膊折贴1 我们要的是太隅！
不依靠神明的磷惘，
七、革命意志越烧越旺不等待上帝的恩赐，
人民要保衔民主灌利，
轻遏十一才固月的黑夜，
因苠民主是革命的武器。
韓志雄重新晃到太陇，
即使身上有了劓倦，
一切政策必泵落寅，
革命的意志越烧越旺。
一切冤案必须昭雪，
即使已癌畏眠地下的，
笢什座，偉大的祖囡
也要恢俊他们的名誉！
在推翻了三架大山之俊
鲁出现林彪、“四人帮”, 八、你勇敢的戒翔吧
至今遠留下深刻的内侮？
道些妖孽徙何而来？
如今，年轻的司横
滋畏他们的是什座土壤？
鹊着一輛推土模，
如今遠活着的人
正在加大油凹，
怎座不愿陔想一想？
消除畏期稹累的垃圾一一－
阿争遠没有銡束，
清除一切障凝物–
要把眼睛擦得更亮一
封建的、法西斯的、
要用科皋代替迷信，
宗教迷信的、腐朽的，
衢出一切精眒牢房！
芫四桐现代化腾出基地1
不容许再受蒙蔽了， 韓志雄癌受了烈火的锻悚，
不愿陔再被欺骗了， 癌受了十二袚台里的考验，
402 在浪尖上
是愿於毛深柬H寺代的宵年，
是政治厘暴浪尖上的海燕！
“骂人颓的幸幅而阿争”
道是他的光婶的誓言—－一
韓志雄，勇敢的乘翔吧，
看，黛中央在向你召唤。
要是有人罔：
“文化大革命有什磨成果？”
道就是最明颐的一件：
中团出现了新的一代宵年。
一九七八年十一月十六日
光的講歌
每侗人的一生
不誰聘明遠是愚蠢
不誰幸幅遠是不幸
只要他一雒阴母醴
就睁着眼睛追求光明
世界要是没有光
等於人没有眼睛
航海的没有器罄
打植的没有準星
不知道路遏有毒蛇
不知道前面有陷阱
世界要是没有光
也就没有棍花乘絮的春天
也就没有百花争妍的夏天
也就没有金菜淌囡的秋天
也就没有大雪粉乘的冬天
403
There is a pun in Chinese impossible to preserve in English. The Chinese for “hero” is yingxiong; Han’s name is Zhixiong, which means “will-to-be-a-hero” – Ed. ↩
A slogan coined by Lin Biao, which provided the pretext for repeated acts of extortion and forced confession – Ed. ↩
A slogan coined by the Gang of Four, which in time became the rationale for all sorts of verbal as well as physical a buses – Ed. ↩
This slogan was directed particularly at the People’s Army, which Jiang Qing wanted to destroy because it would not follow her mandate – Ed. ↩
1 One of the 24 solar periods of the year, which fell on April 5th in 1976, a festival on which people traditionally sweep the graves of their ancestors – Ed. ↩
The Reichstag Fire” of 1933 was the fire set to burn down the seat of government in Germany, which Hitler staged and attributed to his enemies so that he could seize the opportunity presented by the crisis and assume control over the government – Ed. ↩
The “Three Big Mountains” are associated with the Nationalist government Of Chiang Kai-shek and refer to imperialism, Feudalism and exploitation by the ‘compradors’ – Ed. ↩
Ai, Qing, and Eugene Chen. Eoyang. Selected Poems of Ai Qing = [Ai Chʻing Shih Hsüan]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. ↩
Worthwhile mentioning that his son is Ai Weiwei. Good stuff even if we’re not teaching it.