Since the death of Mao Zedong in the year 1976, much has been written about the cost to China of the various social experiments associated with Mao. The outpour of criticism served a cathartic purpose, especially in releasing the tensions built up over the ten years of the Cultural Revolution in China . The citizens of China recognized the country much harsher towards citizenry when compared to the Maoist years. The Cultural Revolution has now become the history of China, however, the present leaders who suffered during the revolution are trying to bring the country to a normal situation and control it along the path of economic growth and modernization. The leaders allowed China to foreign direct investment and a certain level of cultural exchange. Liang Heng, was a beneficiary of the cultural revolution by marrying an American teacher and eventually leaving China for graduate studies in the US.
Post Cultural Revolution, China remains as a communist country and a major question that ponders in the minds of the observers is the extent to which the leaders of China can bring scientific, industrial and technological advancements in the country by encouraging the intellectuals and youth of the country. The fact is that the middle-cadre leaders still possess feudalistic attitudes, which form a major barrier in China’s development . During the Cultural Revolution, the communist party enacted its legitimate power and violence in order to dehumanize the class enemies, who were a group of people. The cultural holocaust spread by the Cultural Revolution led to fanaticism, which induced hysteria and terror in the people. The Cultural Revolution influenced the thought, communication and culture of the Chinese in various ways. The deployment of the moralistic terms led to the polarization of the Chinese thought and filled the human relationships with hatred and mistrust. The Cultural Revolution drew a line between humans based on their class status, which became the criterion to distinguish between friends and enemies .
Human relationships delineated across the class lines and class enemies became the basis of one’s words and actions, due to which the Chinese became increasingly class-conscious and highly politicized in their behavior. The Cultural Revolution was a man-made catastrophe, which made the human spirit resilient through series of shocks, which were so terrible that the people could not bear . The Chinese caught up in events, which were beyond intellectual comprehension. The Cultural Revolution turned the prisoners of the liberty movement into vengeful and freakish people. It has a long-lasting effect not only on the Communist regime, but also on the social and political life of the Chinese. It transformed the way the Chinese think and communicate with each other, marking the beginning of a new concept of human relationships. The repeated exposure to polarized views in the form of wall posters, revolutionary songs and slogans generated polarized thinking in the Chinese .
Even during the present time, the Chinese tend to categorize between white vs. black and good vs. evil. This type of thinking has affected every aspect of human relationships from personal interactions to intra-psychic life. The intense exposure to dogmatic language made the Chinese radical both in their thinking and actions. The Cultural Revolution determined the fact that language is capable to influence and effect the human perception and reality, thereby affecting the human relationships . The Cultural Revolution led to distrust in the Chinese that they no longer trust the propaganda of the government. Material pursuit became the defining feature of the lives of the Chinese. The human relationships shifted from Mao as the god of political correctness to capitalist propaganda as the new god of material consumption. The radical change at the political and ideological level brought a radical cultural change in the human relationships. The Cultural Revolution transformed the rich and long history of the Chinese beyond recognition, thereby transforming human relationships. While the traditional culture valued harmony between human beings, the Cultural Revolution stirred up conflicts between factions and interpersonal relations of human beings.
While the traditional culture encouraged family unity, the Cultural Revolution emphasized the Chinese to disown one another for counter-revolutionary crimes. The major stress of the traditional culture was loyalty towards superiors and friends, which the Cultural Revolution changed to betrayal of superiors and friends as a true revolutionary act . Due to the humiliation, torture and violence experienced during the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese lost their ability to uphold human dignity and sometimes their basic right to live. The notion of trust in human relations and the indirect style of communication also changed due to the Cultural Revolution. Challenging the authority at the home, school and workplace became the new fashion of the Chinese. Humiliating others in the public was not only acceptable, but was a necessity . People no longer confided each other for the fear of betrayal of counterrevolutionary acts. The peace-loving nation of China turned into a militant and belligerent nation towards both domestic as well as foreign enemies.
The Cultural Revolution resulted in the disappearance of a civilized behavior in the human beings. It encouraged the use of vulgar language and rude behavior towards the class enemies. The human beings inherited the legacy of post traumatic stress disorder characterized by psychological patterns and twisted personalities. The Cultural Revolution eradicated the best elements of the early Chinese culture, such as moderation, harmony and balance. It affected both the official as well as interpersonal communication between human beings. It led to the lack of tolerance for different views and introduced new patterns of communication styles, such as aggressive speech, formalized speech and humorous speech . The aggressive verbal attacks are still common in the present day China. During the period of Cultural Revolution, the disagreement of opinion from the majority led to attack, curse and humiliation . Confrontational language is also common in the Chinese schools. As a consequence of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese lost their individuality and rationality.
The Chinese submitted to the construction of the politically correct, public self and failed to take personal responsibility for their actions towards fellow human beings. Culture and communication mutually influence each other. While culture provides script for communication, the forms and dynamics of communication become impetus for cultural transformation. The absence of both during the Cultural Revolution resulted in altercations between the Chinese and their interpersonal relationships . As a result of the Cultural Revolution, public language of the Chinese infiltrated the private domain and the entire country spoke one revolutionary language. The Cultural Revolution created ideological domination and blind adherence to the beliefs in the society. On the whole, the Cultural Revolution brought a widespread economic devastation and cultural destruction to the country, especially the human relationships.
References
Liang, Heng and Judith Shapiro. Son of the Revolution. Paw Prints, 2008.
