PureInsight | January 10, 2005
On How the Chinese Communist Party Destroyed Traditional Culture
Foreword
Culture is the soul of a nation. It is as important a spiritual factor to mankind as such physical factors as race and land.
The history of the civilization of a nation is defined by its cultural developments. The complete destruction of traditional cultures will lead to the end of a nation. No matter how glorious its civilization is, even if its race survives, a nation will vanish when its culture disappears. For example, people will not equate today's aborigines living in Latin America with the ancient Mayan race. Destruction of traditional cultures is an unforgivable crime; the destruction of China's 5000-year-old ancient civilization is even more so.
The traditional culture of China started with such legends as Pangu's creation of heaven and the earth [1], Nuwa's making of humans [2], Shengnong's identification of hundreds of medicinal herbs [3], and Cangjie's invention of Chinese characters [4]. The Taoist wisdom of the universe and Confucian moral beliefs course through the veins of Chinese culture. Lao Zi's idea of the unity of heaven and humans has been expressed clearly in Tao-te Ching [5], "Man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows what is natural." The Confucian classic, The Great Learning, opened this way: "Great learning promotes the cultivation of virtue." This was the very idea Confucius advocated in his teachings, imparting to society five cardinal virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness. In the first century, Sakyamuni's Buddhism traveled east to China, and with its promise of compassion and salvation for all beings, it greatly enriched Chinese culture. Thereafter, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism became complementary beliefs in Chinese society, bringing the Tang Dynasty to the peak of its glory and prosperity, as is known to all under heaven.
Although the Chinese nation has repeatedly experienced attacks and undergone destruction, the Chinese culture has shown great endurance and stamina, and its essence has been continuously passed down. The unity of heaven and humanity represents our ancestors' cosmology. It is commonly accepted that kindness will be rewarded and evil will be punished. It is a rudimentary principle not to pass on to others what one does not want done to oneself; loyalty, filial piety, prudence, and justice have set the social standards, and Confucius' five cardinal virtues have laid the foundation for social and personal morality. With these values, the Chinese culture embodied honesty, kindness, harmony, and tolerance. Ordinary Chinese people have venerated heaven, earth, noblemen, relatives, and teachers. This was reflected in the deep-rooted Chinese traditions that worship God, promote loyalty to the country, uphold values of family and friends, and honor their teachers and elders. The traditional Chinese culture sought harmony between humans and the universe, and emphasized an individual's ethics and morality. It was based on the faiths of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and provided the Chinese people with tolerance, social progress, human morality and righteous belief.
Unlike law, which prescribes hard and fast rules, culture works as a soft constraint. The law enforces punishment after a crime has been committed, while culture, by nurturing morality, prevents crimes from happening in the first place. A society's moral values are often embodied in its culture.
In Chinese history, traditional culture reached its peak during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, coinciding with the height of the Chinese nation's power. Science also advanced in unique ways and enjoyed a reputation among all nations. Scholars from Europe, the Middle East, and Japan came to study in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. Countries bordering China took China as their suzerain state. Many countries came to pay tribute to China and were treated with generosity in return.
After the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), China was often occupied by minority groups. This happened predominantly during the Sui (581-618AD), Tang (618-907AD), Yuan (1271-1361AD) and Qing (1644-1911AD) dynasties and occasionally in some other times. Nevertheless, these ethnic groups were almost assimilated to the Chinese ways as a whole. This shows the integrative power of traditional Chinese culture. As Confucius said, "(Thus) if the people from afar are not compliant, bring them around by cultivating (our) culture and virtue." [6]
Since attaining power in 1949, the CCP has devoted the nation's resources to destroying China's rich traditional culture. This ill intention did not come from the CCP's zealotry for industrialization, nor from simple foolishness in worshipping western civilization. Rather, it came from the CCP's inherent ideological opposition to traditional Chinese culture. The CCP's destruction of Chinese culture has been planned, well organized, and systematic, made possible by the state's use of violence. Since its establishment, the CCP has never stopped "revolutionizing" Chinese culture in the attempt to completely destroy its spirit.
What's even more despicable is the CCP's intentional misuse and underhanded modification of traditional culture during its reign. The CCP has advanced the vile rather than the virtuous, while promoting power struggles, conspiracy, and dictatorship—all of which existed in Chinese history whenever people diverged from traditional values. The CCP created its own set of moral standards, way of thinking, and system of discourses, and gave the false impression that this "Party culture" is actually a continuation of traditional Chinese culture. The CCP has even taken advantage of the aversion some people have for the "Party culture" to incite public sentiment against traditional culture, thus further abandoning authentic Chinese tradition.
The CCP's destruction of traditional culture has brought disastrous consequences to China. Not only have people lost their moral bearings; they have also been further indoctrinated with the CCP's evil theories.
I. Why Did the CCP Want to Sabotage Chinese Culture?
The Long Tradition of Chinese Culture Based on Faith and Virtue
The authentic culture of the Chinese nation started about 5000 years ago with the legendary Emperor Huang, who is deemed to be the earliest ancestor of the Chinese people. In fact, Emperor Huang was also credited with founding Taoism—which was also called the Huang-Lao (Lao Zi) school of thought. The profound influence of Taoism on Confucianism can be seen in Confucian sayings, "Aspire to the Tao, align with virtue, abide by benevolence, and immerse yourself in the arts;" "If one hears the Tao in the morning, one can die without regret in the evening." [6] One of the most important Chinese classics, the Book of Changes (I Ching) , is a record of heaven and earth, yin and yang, cosmic changes, social rise and decline, and the laws of human life. The prophetic power of the book has far surpassed what modern science can conceive. In addition to Taoism and Confucianism, Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, has had a subtle yet profound influence on Chinese intellectuals.
Confucianism expounded on "the society" part of traditional Chinese culture. It emphasized family-based ethics, in which filial piety played an extremely important role. The Chinese people believe that all kindness starts with filial piety. Confucius advocated, "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and truthfulness," but also said, "Are filial piety and brotherly love not the roots of benevolence?"
Family-based ethics can be naturally extended to guide social morality. Filial piety can be extended to loyalty to the sage king. "It is seldom that a person with filial piety and brotherly love will be inclined to offend those above."[6] Brotherly love can be further extended to loyalty to friends. Confucians believe that in a family, a father should be kind, a son filial, an older brother friendly, and a younger brother respectful. Here, fatherly kindness can be further extended to benevolence of the emperor toward his subordinates. According to The Great Learning, as long as the traditions of a family can be maintained, social morality can naturally be sustained, and thus, the cultivation of the self can lead to prosperity of the family and the nation, and finally peace for all under heaven.
Buddhism and Taoism, in contrast, offer the "out of the society" part of Chinese culture, guiding people in their spiritual improvement. The influence of Buddhism and Taoism can be found to penetrate all aspects of ordinary people's lives. Practices that are deeply rooted in Taoism include Chinese medicine, qigong, geomancy (Feng Shui), and divination. These practices, as well as the Buddhist conceptions of heavenly kingdom and hell, the karmic reward of good and the retribution of evil, have, together with Confucian ethics, formed the core of traditional Chinese culture.
The beliefs of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism offered the Chinese people a stable moral system, unchangeable "so long as heaven remains." [7] This ethical system offered the basis for sustainability, peace, and harmony in society.
Morality belongs to the spiritual realm; thus, it is often conceptual. An important role of culture is to express such an abstract moral system in language that can be commonly understood.
Take the four great novels in the Chinese culture for example. Journey to the West itself is a mythical tale. Dream of the Red Mansion starts with a dialog between a spirited rock and the Taoist Reverend Void at the Baseless Cliff of the Great Waste Mountain in the land of the spirit—this dialog provides the clues for the human drama that unfolds in the novel. Heroes of Water Margins opens with a tale of Hong Taiwei, who mistakenly traveled to the land of evil, a legend that explains the origin of the 108 heroes. The Three Kingdoms begins with a heavenly warning of a disaster, foreshadowing the inescapable conclusion of God's will: "The world's affairs rush on like an endless stream; a heaven-told fate, infinite in reach, dooms all." Other well-known stories, such as The Romance of the Eastern Zhou and The Complete Story of Yue Fei, all started with similar legendary tales.
These novelists' use of myths was not a coincidence, but a reflection of a basic philosophy of Chinese intellectuals toward nature and humans—a contemplation of the divine origin of human life.
These novels have had such a profound influence on the Chinese mind that the characters in them have been used to typify certain moral values. When speaking of "righteousness" as a concept, for example, people think of Guan Yu (160-219 AD) of the Three Kingdoms—how his sense of honesty transcended the clouds and reached heaven; how his unmovable loyalty to his superior Liu Bei gained him respect even from his enemies; how his bravery in battle prevailed in the most dire situations, even his final defeat in a battle near the Town of Mai; and, especially, his conference as a deity with his son. When speaking of "loyalty," people naturally think of Yue Fei (1103-1141 AD), a Song Dynasty military commander who willingly placed the country's integrity above his own life. Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD), an official of the Shu State during the Three Kingdoms period, embodied complete devotion to one's country.
The Chinese traditional culture's eulogy of loyalty and justice has been fully elaborated in these striking stories from writers' pens. The abstract moral values have become concretized and embodied in cultural expressions.
Taoism emphasizes truthfulness, Buddhism emphasizes compassion, and Confucianism values benevolence and justice. "While their forms differ, their purposes are the same… they all inspire people to return to kindness." [8]
The Chinese traditional culture has taught people important concepts and principles, such as heaven, the Tao, God, Buddha, fate, predestination, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, faithfulness, frugality, a sense of shame, loyalty, filial piety, prudence, and so on. Many Chinese may be illiterate but they are familiar with traditional plays and operas, through which they learn about traditional morals. These cultural forms have been extremely important in transmitting Chinese tradition.
Therefore, the CCP's destruction of traditional Chinese culture is a direct attack against Chinese morality and undermines the basis for peace and harmony in society.
The Evil Communist Theory Opposes Traditional Culture
The "philosophy" of the Communist Party is the opposite of authentic Chinese traditional culture. Traditional culture respects the mandate of heaven, as Confucius once said, "Life and death are predestined, and wealth and position are determined by heaven." [6] Both Buddhism and Taoism believe in the divine, the reincarnation cycle of life and death, and the karmic causality of good and evil. The Communist Party, on the contrary, does not simply believe in atheism. Instead, it also runs wild in defying the Tao and assaulting heavenly principles. Confucianism values family, but the Communist Manifesto clearly promulgates abolition of the family. Traditional culture differentiates the Chinese from the foreign, but the Communist Manifesto advocates the end of nationality. Confucian culture promotes kindness to others, but the Communist Party encourages class struggle. Confucians encourage loyalty to the noblemen and love for the nation, however, the Communist Manifesto promotes the elimination of nations.
To gain and maintain power in China, the Communist Party first had to plant its immoral thoughts on Chinese soil. Mao Zedong claimed, "If we want to overthrow an authority, we must first make propaganda, and do work in the area of ideology."[9] The CCP realized that the violent Communist theory, which is sustained with arms, is Western ideological garbage that cannot stand up to China's profound 5000-year cultural history. The CCP must, then, completely destroy traditional culture, so that Marxism and Leninism can take China's political stage.
Traditional Culture Is an Obstacle to the CCP's Dictatorship
Mao Zedong once said, fittingly, that he follows neither the Tao nor heaven. [10] Traditional Chinese culture undoubtedly served as a huge obstacle for the CCP's defying the Tao and contending with heaven.
Loyalty in traditional Chinese culture does not mean blind devotion. In the eyes of the people, the emperor is a "son of heaven"—with heaven above him. The emperor cannot be correct at all times. Therefore there was a need for remonstrators to point out the emperor's mistakes all the time. The Chinese chronicle system also had historians record all the words and deeds of the emperor. Scholastic officials may become teachers for their sage kings, and the behavior of the emperor was judged by the Confucian classics. If the emperor is immoral—unenlightened to the Tao, people may rise up to overthrow him, such as in the Chengtang's attack of Jie, or King Wu's removal of Zhou. [11] These uprisings, judged from traditional culture, were not considered violations of loyalty or the Tao; instead, they were seen as enforcing the Tao on behalf of heaven. Take the well-known military commander Wen Tianxiang (1236-1283AD) for example. Fighting to protect the integrity of the Southern Song Dynasty against the Mongolian troops, Wen never wavered even when the former Song Emperor attempted to persuade him to surrender after he was taken prisoner. Confucians believe, as Mencius said, that "The people are of supreme importance; the nation comes next; last comes the ruler." [12]
The CCP could by no means accept these traditional beliefs. The CCP wanted to canonize its own leaders and promote personal worship, and so would not allow such long-held concepts such as heaven, Tao, and God to govern from above. The CCP was fully aware that what it did was a crime against heaven and the Tao if measured by the standards of traditional culture. As long as traditional culture existed, people would not praise the CCP as "great, glorious, and correct;" scholars would continue the tradition of risking their lives to uphold justice, criticize the regime's wrongdoings, and place the people above the rulers. Thus, the people would not become the CCP's puppets, and the CCP could not unify the thoughts of the masses.
The traditional culture's respect for heaven, the earth, and nature became obstacles for the CCP's "battle with nature" in an effort to "alter heaven and the earth." Traditional culture treasures human lives, which are regarded as a serious matter in connection with heaven. Such a perception became a hindrance to the CCP's mass genocide and rule by terror. The traditional culture's ultimate moral standard of the "heavenly Tao" would interfere with the CCP's manipulation of moral principles. For these reasons, the CCP made traditional culture an enemy to its own control.
Traditional Culture Challenges the Legitimacy of the CCP's Rule
Traditional Chinese culture believes in God and the heavenly mandate. Accepting the mandate of heaven means that rulers have to be wise, follow the Tao and be attuned to destiny. Accepting belief in God means accepting that the source of human authority rests in heaven.
The CCP's ruling principle dismisses God and vests authority entirely in humans: "Never more tradition's chains shall bind us, arise ye toilers no more in thrall. The earth shall rise on new foundations; we are but naught; we shall be all." [13]
The CCP promotes historical materialism, claiming that Communism is an earthly paradise, the path to which is led by the pioneer proletarians, or the Communist Party members. The belief in God, thus, directly challenged the legitimacy of the CCP's
rule.
II. How the Communist Party Sabotages Traditional Culture
Everything the CCP does serves a political purpose. In order to seize, maintain and consolidate its tyranny, the CCP needs to replace human nature with its evil Party nature, and the Chinese traditional culture with its Party culture of "deceit, wickedness, and struggle." This destruction and substitution include cultural relics, historical sites and ancient books, which are tangible, and people's traditional outlook on morality, life and the world. All aspects of people's lives are involved, including actions, thoughts and life styles. At the same time, the CCP regards the insignificant and superficial cultural manifestations as the "essence", retains them, and then puts this "essence" up as a façade. The Party keeps the semblance of traditions while replacing their meaning. It then deceives the people and international society under the façade of "carrying on and developing" Chinese traditional culture.
Simultaneously Extinguishing the Three Religions
Owing to the fact that the traditional culture is rooted in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the first step for the CCP to destroy traditional culture is to extinguish the manifestation of these divine principles in the human world, that is, eradicating the three religions corresponding to them.
All three major religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, encountered destruction in different historical time periods. Take Buddhism for example, it has suffered four major tribulations in history, which are historically known as the San Wu Yi Zong (persecution of Buddhist devotees by four Chinese emperors). The Emperor Taiwu [14] of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534AD) and the Emperor Wuzong [15] of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) both tried to extinguish Buddhism in order to have Taoism prevail; the Emperor Wu [16] of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581AD) tried to extinguish Buddhism and Taoism together, but venerated Confucianism; the Emperor Shizong [17] of the Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960AD) tried to extinguish Buddhism merely to use the Buddha statues to mint coins, and did not touch Taoism or Confucianism.
The CCP is the only regime in history to extinguish the three religions altogether.
Soon after the CCP established a government, it began to destroy temples and burn scriptures and forced the Buddhist monks and nuns to return to secular life. Neither was it any softer in destroying other religious places. By the 1960s, there were hardly any religious places left in China. The Great Cultural Revolution brought even greater religious and cultural catastrophe in the campaign of "Casting Away the Four Olds" [18]—i.e., old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits.
For example, the first Buddhist temple in China was the White Horse Temple (Bai Ma Temple) [19] built in the early Eastern Han Dynasty outside the city of Luoyang. It is honored as "the Cradle of Buddhism in China" and "the Founder's Home." During "Casting Away the Four Olds," the White Horse Temple, of course, could not escape looting.
"There was a White Horse Temple production brigade near the temple. The Party branch secretary led peasants to pillage the temple under the name of 'revolution.' The over 1000-year-old clay statues of the Eighteen Arhats that were built in the Liao Dynasty were destroyed; the Beiye scripture [20] that an eminent Indian monk brought to China 2000 years ago was burned. The rare treasure, the Jade Horse, was smashed to pieces. Several years later, the Cambodian King in Exile Norodom Sihanouk made a special request to do homage at the White Horse Temple. Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time, hurriedly ordered the transport to Luoyang of the Beiye scripture stored in the Imperial Palace in Beijing and the statues of the Eighteen Arhats built in the Qing Dynasty from the Temple of Azure Clouds (Biyun Temple) located at the Xiangshan Park [21] in Beijing. With this bogus replacement, a diplomatic difficulty was 'solved'." [22]
The Cultural Revolution began in May of 1966. This revolution was in reality "revolutionarizing" Chinese culture in a destructive way. Starting in August of 1966, the raging fire of the "Casting Away the Four Olds" burned the entire land of China. Regarded as objects of "feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism," the Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, Buddha statues, historical sites, calligraphy, paintings, and antiques became the main targets for destruction by the Red Guards. [23] Take the Buddha statues for example; there are 1000 colored glazed Buddha statues in relief on the top of Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace [24] in Beijing. After the "Casting Away the Four Olds," they were all damaged. None of them has a complete set of the five sensory organs any more.
The capital of the country was like this, and so was the rest of the country. Even the remote county seats did not escape.
"There is a Tiantai Temple in Dai county in Shanxi Province. It was built during the Taiyan time period of the Northern Wei Dynasty 1600 years ago and had precious statues and frescos. Although it was situated on a hillside quite a distance away from the county seat, the people who participated in the 'Casting Away the Four Olds' ignored the difficulties and made a clean sweep of the statues and frescos there. The Louguan Temple, [25] where Lao Zi gave his lecture and left his famous Tao-te Ching [5] 2500 years ago, is situated in the Zhouzhi county of Shaanxi Province. Centered around the Preaching Platform where Lao Zi lectured, within a radius of 10 li [26], there are over 50 historical sites, including the Temple Venerating the Sage (Zongsheng Gong) that the Tang Gaozu Li Yuan [27] built to show respect for Lao Zi over 1,300 years ago. The Louguan Temple and the other historical sites have been destroyed, and all Taoist priests have been forced to leave. According to the Taoist canon, once one becomes a Taoist priest, one can never shave one's beard or have one's hair cut. The Taoist priests were forced to have their hair cut, take off the Taoist robe, and become a member of the People's communes. [28] Some of them married daughters of the local peasants and became their sons-in-law. At the sacred Taoist places in Laoshan Mountain in Shandong Province, the Temple of Supreme Peace, the Temple of the Highest Clarity, the Supreme Clarity Temple, the Doumu Temple, the Huayan Nunnery, the Ningzhen Temple, the Temple of Guan Yu, "the statues of the divine, sacrificial vessels, scrolls of Buddhist sutras, cultural relics, and temple tablets were all smashed and burned down. The Temple of Literature in Jilin Province is one of the four famous Temples of Confucius in China. During the 'Casting Away the Four Olds,' it was severely damaged." [22]
A Special Way to Destroy Religion
Lenin once said, "The easiest way to take a fortress is from within." As a group of grandchildren of Marxism-Leninism, the CCP naturally and tacitly understands this.
In the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" [29], Buddha Sakyamuni predicted that after his nirvana, demons would be reincarnated as monks, nuns, and male and female lay Buddhists to subvert the Dharma. Of course, we cannot verify what Buddha Sakyamuni was referring to exactly; however, the CCP indeed started to destroy Buddhism by forming a "united front" with some Buddhists. They even sent some underground communist party members to infiltrate the religion directly and subvert it from within. In a criticism meeting during the Cultural Revolution, someone questioned Zhao Puchu, the vice president of the Chinese Buddhists Association at the time, "You are a Communist Party member, why do you believe in Buddhism?"
Buddha Sakyamuni attained righteous enlightenment through "precept, concentration, wisdom." So before his nirvana, he taught his disciples to "Uphold and observe the Precepts. Do not let them down or violate them." He also warned, "People who violate the Precepts are abominated by heaven, dragon, ghost and the divine. Their evil reputation spreads far and wide. … When their lives end, they will suffer in hell for their karma, and meet their inexorable doom. Then they will come out; they will continue to suffer by bearing the body of hungry ghosts and animals. They will suffer in a circle like this endlessly with no relief." [30]
The political Buddhist monks turned deaf ears to Buddha's warnings. In 1952, the CCP sent representatives to attend the inaugural meeting of the Chinese Buddhists Association. At the meeting, many Buddhists in the association proposed to abolish the Buddhist precepts. They claimed that these disciplines had caused the death of many young men and women. Some people even advocated the so-called "freedom of religion—the monks and nuns should marry, there should also be freedom to drink and to eat meat, and nobody should interfere." At that time, Master Xuyun was at the meeting and saw that Buddhism was facing the danger of extinction in China. He stepped forward opposing the proposals and appealing for the preservation of the Buddhist precepts and dress. It is precisely this Master Xuyun who was slandered as "counter-revolutionary," detained in the abbot's room, and denied food and drink. He was not allowed out of the room even to use the toilet. He was also ordered to hand over his gold, silver and firearms. When Xuyun answered that he had none, he was beaten severely. His skull was fractured and bleeding, and his ribs broken. At the time, Xuyun was already 112 years old. The military police pushed him from the cot to the ground. When they came back the next day, they saw that Xuyun had not died, so they beat him hard again.
The Chinese Buddhists Association that was founded in 1952 and the Chinese Taoist Association that was founded in 1957 both clearly declared in their founding statements that they would be "under the leadership of the People's government." In reality, they would be under the leadership of the atheistic CCP. Both associations indicated that they would actively participate in production and construction, and implement the governmental policies. They were completely transformed into secular organizations. Yet those Buddhists and Taoists who were devoted and abiding by the precepts were labeled as counter-revolutionaries or members of superstitious sects and secret societies. Under the revolutionary slogan of "purifying the Buddhists and Taoists," they were imprisoned, forced to reform through labor, or even executed. Even religions spread from the West, such as Christianity and Catholicism, were not spared. "Based on the statistics given in the book How the Chinese Communist Party Persecutes the Christians that was published in 1958, just the documents that have been made public revealed that among the clergymen who were charged as 'land lord' or 'local bully,' a staggering 8,840 were killed and 39,200 were sent to labor camps; among the clergymen who were charged as 'counter-revolutionary,' 2,450 were killed, and 24,800 were sent to labor camps." [31]
Undoubtedly religions are a way for people to remove themselves from the secular world and cultivate themselves. They emphasize "the other shore" (the shore of perfect enlightenment) and "heaven." Sakyamuni used to be an Indian prince. In order to seek mukti [32], a state in which one can obtain peace of mind, higher wisdom, full enlightenment, and Nirvana, [33] he gave up the throne and went to a wooded mountain to cultivate diligently. Before Jesus became enlightened, the devil brought him to the top of a mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. The devil said, "If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things." Jesus was not enticed. Yet the political monks and pastors who formed united fronts with the CCP made up a series of deceits and lies such as "human world Buddhism," "religion is the truth, and so is socialism," and "there is no contradiction between this shore and the other shore." They encourage Buddhists and Taoists to pursue happiness, glory, splendor, wealth and rank in this life, and to change the religious doctrines and their meaning.
Buddhism forbids killing. The CCP killed people like flies during the "suppression of counterrevolutionaries." [34] The political monks thereupon cooked up the justification that "killing the counterrevolutionaries is an even greater compassion." During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea [35], monks were sent directly to the front line to kill.
Take Christianity as another example. In 1950, Wu Yaozong formed a "Three-Self" Church, which followed the principles of self-administration, self-support and self-propagation. He claimed that they would break away from imperialism and actively join the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea." A good friend of his was imprisoned for over 20 years for refusing to join the "Three-Self." This friend suffered all kinds of torture and humiliation. When he asked Wu Yaozong, "How do you regard the miracles Jesus performed?" Wu answered, "I have discarded all of them."
Not acknowledging Jesus' miracles equates to not acknowledging Jesus' heaven. How can one be counted as a Christian when one does not even recognize the heaven Jesus ascended into? However, as the founder of the "Three-Self" Church, Wu Yaozong became a member of the Political Consultative Conference standing committee. When he stepped into the Great Hall of the People, he must have completely forgotten Jesus' words "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matthew, 22:37-38) "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matthew, 22:21)
The Chinese Communist Party "confiscated the temple property, forced monks and nuns to study Marxism-Leninism in order to brainwash them, and even forced them to do labor. For instance, there is a 'Buddhism workshop' in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. Over 25,000 monks and nuns were once forced to work here. What is more absurd is that the CCP encouraged monks and nuns to get married so as to disintegrate Buddhism. Another example, just before the March 8th Women's Day in 1951, the Women's Federation in Changsha City, Hunan Province ordered all nuns in the province to decide to get married in a few days. In addition, young and vigorous monks were forced to join the army and were sent to the battlefield to serve as cannon fodder!" [31]
Various religious groups in China have disintegrated under the CCP's brutal suppression. The genuine elites of Buddhism and Taoism have been suppressed. Among those remaining, many returned to secular life, and many others were undisclosed Communist Party members who specialized in putting on the cassock, Taoist robe or pastor's long gown to distort the Buddhist Scriptures, the Taoist Canon and the Holy Bible and to look for justification for the CCP's movements in these doctrines.
Destruction of Cultural Relics
The ruination of cultural relics is an important part of the CCP's destruction of traditional culture. In the "Casting Away of the Four Olds," too many books, calligraphies and paintings of which only one copy existed that had been collected by intellectuals were committed to flames or shredded into paper pulp. Zhang Bojun had a family collection of over 10,000 books. The Red Guard leaders used them to make a fire to warm themselves. What was left was sent to paper mills and shredded into paper pulp. "The calligraphy and painting mounting specialist, Hong Qiusheng, is known as the 'miracle doctor' for ancient calligraphy and paintings. He has mounted countless world-class masterpieces, such as Song Emperor Huizong's [36] painting of scenery, Su Dongpuo's [37] painting of bamboo, and Wen Zhengming [38] and Tang Bohu's [39] paintings. Over several decades, most of the hundreds of ancient calligraphy and paintings that he had rescued were a first class national collection. The calligraphy and paintings that he had spared no pains in collecting were labeled as 'Four Olds' and were committed to flames. Afterwards, Mr. Hong said in tears, 'Over 100 catty (50 kilograms) of calligraphy and paintings; it took a long time to burn them!'"[22]
"While worldly matters come and go,
Ancient, modern, to and fro,
Rivers and mountains are changeless in their glory
And still to be witnessed from this trail. …"
If today's Chinese people were still to remember some of their history, they would probably feel differently when they recite this poem of Meng Haoran's. [40] The famous mountain and river historical sites have been ruined and have disappeared in the storm of the "Casting Away the Four Olds." Not only was the Orchid Pavilion, where Wang Xizhi [41] wrote the famous "Prologue to the Collection of Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion," [42] destroyed, Wang Xizhi's own grave was ruined as well. Wu Chen'en's [43] former residence in Jiangsu Province was demolished, Wu Jingzi's [44] former residence in Anhui Province was smashed, the stone tablet that had Su Dongpo's handwritten article "The Pavilion of the Drunken Old Man" was pushed over by the "young revolutionists," [45] and the characters on the stone tablet were scraped off.
The essence of Chinese culture has been inherited and accumulated over several thousand years. Once it is destroyed, it cannot be restored. Yet the CCP has truculently destroyed it in the name of "revolution." When we sighed over the Old Summer Palace, which is known as the "palace of palaces," being burned down by the allied forces of Great Britain and France, when we sighed over the monumental work of the Yongle Encyclopedia [46] being destroyed by invader's, how could we have anticipated that the destruction caused by the CCP would be so much more widespread, long lasting and thorough than that caused by any invaders?
Destruction of Spiritual Beliefs
In addition to destroying the physical forms of religion and culture, the CCP has also used its utmost capacity to destroy people's spiritual identity formed by faith and culture.
Take the CCP's treatment of ethnic beliefs for example. The CCP considered the traditions of the Hui Muslim group to be one of the "Four Olds"—old thought, culture, tradition, habit; therefore it forced the Hui ethnic group to eat pork. Muslim farmers and the mosques were required to raise pigs, and each household had to furnish two pigs to the country every year. In an extremely cruel incident, the Red Guards forced the second highest Tibetan living Buddha, Panchen Lama, to eat human excrement, while three monks from the Buddhist temple in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province were ordered to hold a poster board that said "The hell with sutras—they are full of shit."
In 1971, after an alleged failed coup to seize power from Mao, Lin Biao, the Vice Chairman of the CCP's central committee, escaped China but was killed when his plane was said to have crashed in Undurkhan, Mongolia. Later, in Lin's Beijing residence at Maojiawan, some Confucian quotations were found. The CCP then started a frantic movement of "Criticizing Lin Biao and Confucius." A writer pen-named Liang Xiao [47] published an article in The Red Flag, the CCP's banner magazine, entitled "Who is Confucius?" The article described Confucius as a madman who wanted to turn history backward, and a deceptive and shrewd demagogue. A series of cartoons and songs followed, demonizing Confucius.
In this way dignity and sacredness of religion and culture were annihilated.
Endless Destruction
In ancient China, the central government only extended its rule to the county level, below which patriarchal clans maintained autonomous control. So in Chinese history, the destruction, such as the burning of Confucian books by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang [48] in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) and the four campaigns to eliminate Buddhism between the fifth and tenth century, went in one direction, i.e., from top to bottom, and did not completely eradicate Buddhism. Confucian and Buddhist classics and ideas continued to survive in the vast spaces of society.
In comparison, the CCP's control of society has been far more complete. Incited by the CCP, young students in their puberty destroyed the "Four Olds" in a nationwide grass-root movement that was launched, "spontaneously and enthusiastically." The CCP's extension to villages through village-level party branches controlled society so tightly that the CCP's movement to eradicate the "Four Olds" affected every person on every inch of land.
While the emperors in Chinese history used violence on the people, the CCP has gone much further by demonizing and repudiating what people consider to be the most beautiful and the most sacred. The destruction of the spirit can often be more damaging and its effect can last even longer than physical destruction alone.
Reforming Intellectuals
The Chinese characters embody the essence of 5000 years of civilization. Their forms, pronunciations, idioms and stories express profound cultural meanings. The CCP has not only simplified the Chinese characters, but also tried to replace them with Romanized pinyin, which would remove all cultural tradition from the Chinese characters and language. But the replacement plan has failed miserably, thus sparing further damage to the Chinese language. The Chinese intellectuals who inherited the same traditional culture were not so fortunate as to be spared destruction.
Prior to 1949, China had two million intellectuals. Although some had studied in Western countries, they still inherited some Confucian ideas. The CCP never relaxed its control of the intellectuals, because as members of the traditional scholar class, their ways of thinking played important roles in shaping the thoughts of ordinary people.
In September 1951, the CCP initiated a large-scale "thought reform movement" starting in Peking University. The intellectuals were urged to confess their historical "mistakes" so as to cleanse any counter-revolutionary elements.
Mao Zedong never liked intellectuals. He once said, "They (the intellectuals) ought to be aware of the truth that actually many so-called intellectuals are, relatively speaking, quite ignorant and the workers and farmers sometimes know more than they do." [49] "Compared with the workers and peasants, the unreformed intellectuals were not clean, and in the last analysis, the workers and peasants were the cleanest people, even though their hands were dirty and their feet smeared with cow-dung…" [50]
The CCP's persecution of intellectuals started with various forms of accusations, ranging from the 1951 criticism of Wu Xun [51] for "running schools by begging" to Mao Zedong's personal attack, in 1955, on writer Hu Feng as a counter-revolutionary. In the beginning, the intellectuals were not categorized as a reactionary class, but in 1957, after several major religious groups had surrendered through the "unified front" movement, the CCP could focus its energy on the intellectuals. The "Anti-Rightist" movement was thus launched.
In February of 1957, claiming to "let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend," the CCP called on intellectuals to voice their suggestions and criticisms to the party, promising no retaliation. Those intellectuals who were dissatisfied with the CCP because of its suppression and cleansing of counter-revolutionaries [52] and its totalitarian manner of ruling, which included implementing regulations in domains about which the CCP knew little such as the sciences, philosophy, culture and the arts, thought the CCP had suddenly become open and tolerant. They spoke their true feelings, and their criticism grew more and more intense.
Years later, many people still believe that Mao Zedong only started to attack the intellectuals after becoming impatient with their overly harsh criticisms. The truth, however, turned out to be quite different.
On May 15, 1957, Mao Zedong wrote an article entitled "Situations are changing" and circulated it among senior CCP officials. The article said, "Recently, the rightists have been behaving fiercely. They want to stir up a category 7 typhoon and attempt to eliminate the CCP." After that, those officials who had been indifferent to the "let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend" campaign suddenly became active. Zhang Bojun, Vice President of the Democratic League and head of the CCP's Central Organization Department, soon became one of the victims. Zhang's daughter recounted, in her memoir The Past Doesn't Disappear Like Smoke, how her father became the number one rightist. Li Weihan, the head of the CCP's United Front Department, called Zhang Bojun in person to invite him to a meeting to discuss how to correct the CCP. Zhang was seated on a front row sofa. Not knowing this to be a trap, Zhang articulated his criticisms of the CCP. According to Zhang's daughter, "Li Weihan appeared relaxed. Zhang thought Li agreed with what he said. Nobody knew Li was pleased to see his prey falling into the trap." After the meeting, Zhang was classified as the number one rightist in China.
We can cite a string of dates in 1957 that marked proposals or speeches delivered by intellectuals offering criticisms and suggestions: Zhang Bojun's "Political Design Institute" on May 21, Long Yun's "Absurd Anti-Soviet Views" on May 22, Luo Longji's "Correction Committee" on May 22, Lin Xiling's speech at Peking University on "Criticizing the CCP's Feudalistic Socialism" on May 30, Wu Zuguang's "The party Should Stop Leading the Arts" on May 31, and Chu Anping's "The Party Dominates the World" on June 1. All these proposals and speeches had been invited, and were offered after Mao Zedong had already sharpened his butcher's knife.
All of these intellectuals, predictably, were later labeled rightists. In China, more than 550,000 intellectuals were labeled and persecuted as rightists.
Chinese tradition has it that "scholars can be killed but cannot be humiliated." The CCP was capable of inflicting the utmost humiliation on intellectuals by denying their right to survive unless they accepted humiliation. Even their families were affected. Many intellectuals surrendered and some of them told on others to save themselves. Those who did not submit to humiliation were eradicated—serving as examples to terrorize other intellectuals.
The traditional "scholarly class," exemplars of social morality, was thus obliterated.
Mao Zedong said proudly of his achievements, "What can Emperor Qin Shihuang brag about? He only killed 460 Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals. In our suppression of counter-revolutionaries, didn't we kill some counter-revolutionary intellectuals as well? I argued with the pro-democratic people who accused us of acting like Emperor Qin Shihuang. I said they were wrong. We surpassed him by a hundred times".
Indeed, Mao did more than kill the intellectuals. He destroyed their minds and hearts.
Creating the Appearance of Culture by Keeping the Semblance of Tradition but Replacing the Contents
After the CCP adopted economic reform and an open-door policy, they renovated many churches as well as many Buddhist and Taoist temples. They also organized many temple fairs in China as well as cultural fairs outside of China. This was the latest effort of the CCP to utilize and destroy the remaining traditional culture. On the one hand, the Party did this to appease the essential human kindness that still exists in people. This kindness clashes with and will eventually aid in the destruction of the "Party culture." On the other hand, the CCP intended to use traditional culture to apply cosmetics to their [true] face in order to cover up their evil nature of deception, wickedness, and violence.
The essence of culture is its inner moral meaning, while the superficial forms have only entertainment value. The CCP restored the superficial elements of culture, which entertain, to cover up its purpose of destroying morality. No matter how many art and calligraphy exhibits the CCP has organized, how many culture festivals with dragon and lion dances it has staged, how many food festivals it has hosted, or how much classical architecture it has built, the Party is simply restoring the superficial appearance, but not the essence, of the culture. In the meantime, the CCP promoted its cultural showpieces both inside and outside of China basically for the sole purpose of maintaining political power.
Once again, temples are an example. Temples are meant to be places for people to cultivate. Inside a temple people can hear bells in the morning and drums at sunset, see burning oil lamps and show respect to Buddha. People in ordinary human society can also confess and worship there. A pure heart that pursues nothing is particularly emphasized in cultivation. A serious and solemn environment is required for confession and worshipping. However, those places have been turned into famous tourist sites for the sake of economic gain. Among the people actually visiting temples, how many of them have come right after taking a bath and changing their clothes to cleanse themselves? How many really have come with a sincere and respectful heart towards Buddha looking to contemplate their mistakes?
Restoring the semblance but destroying the inner meaning of traditional culture is the tactic that the CCP has taken to confuse people. Be it Buddhism, other religions, or cultural forms derived from them, the CCP must degrade them to such an extent for the sake of its own goals.
[To be continued…]
Reprinted from: http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-12-20/25087.html
