Comparison: China's 'Cultural Revolution' Versus the U.S. Today 中美文革之九大對比

The death of George Floyd, an African American, has sparked unrest and turmoil in the United States and around the world. The scale and the intensity of the riots have raised many eyebrows, as well as alarmed many Chinese who came from China and have personally experienced the Cultural Revolution there. Some of them ask: “Are we experiencing another Cultural Revolution or Cultural Revolution 2.0 in the U.S.?”

美國黑人佛洛伊德之死，在美國及世界各地引發的騷亂和動盪之烈，讓許多人瞠目結舌，也讓許多來自中國、親身經歷過中國的「文化大革命」的華人驚呼：我們難道在經歷另一場文革嗎？「文革2.0」正發生在美國嗎？

Today, I’d like to talk about some of the similarities between the Cultural Revolution in China and what is currently happening in the U.S. and other countries. 

下面，我就想來談我所觀察到的中國的文革，和當前美國和其他一些國家發生的事情之間的相似之處。

1. Ideological Basis

一、意識形態基礎

"Smashing the old world" is the most important ideological basis of communism. The Communist Manifesto says, "The Communist revolution is the most radical rupture with traditional property relations; no wonder that its development involved the most radical rupture with traditional ideas.”

「砸爛舊世界」，是共產主義最重要的意識形態基礎，《共產黨宣言》說，「共產主義革命就是同傳統的所有制關係實行最徹底的決裂；毫不奇怪，它在自己的發展進程中要同傳統的觀念實行最徹底的決裂。」

When the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, seized power in 1949, it had already "smashed" the previous "old world" and established the so-called "people's democratic dictatorship” and the "People's Republic of China". 

中共1949年奪取了政權，已經「砸爛」了之前的「舊世界」，建立了所謂的「人民民主專政」、「中華人民共和國」。

However, before the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, the head of the CCP, felt that those were not enough and that it was necessary to continue to "smash" them.  Thus, the CCP continued to "smash" its own systems, including the judicial, governmental & administrative, education, cultural and artistic systems, etc. 

但是，在文革之前，中共頭子毛澤東覺得那些還不夠，還是繼續「砸爛」，於是發動「文革」，把中共之前自己建立的體系也一併「砸爛」，原有的司法體系、政府行政體系、教育體系、文化文藝體系統統被「砸爛」，由紅衛兵或「革命群眾」接收，「造反有理」是叫的最響的一句口號，也賦予所有的「砸爛」行為道德和意識形態上的正義性、正當性。「造反」本身，已經比為什麼要「造反」變得更加重要。

After “smashing” all these systems, the Red Guards or the "revolutionary masses" took over. “Rebellion is justified", or “rebellion is wonderful”,  became the loudest slogan, and also bestowed moral and ideological justification and legitimacy to all "smashing". The "rebellion" itself has become more important than why there had to be a "rebellion".

Under such circumstances, the entire country was plunged into internal turmoil and chaos, and various so-called “verbal struggles” or  “armed fightings” became the new social norm. Normal orders no longer existed. Everyone was eagerly "defending Chairman Mao", and they fought one another to death to defend “Chairman Mao”. 

在這種情況下，整個國家陷入內鬥和混亂，各種「文鬥」、「武鬥」成了社會常態，正常的生產秩序和教學秩序被完全破壞，人人都在「保衛毛主席」，大打出手的雙方，都在「誓死捍衛毛主席」。

In the course of ten years, China was flooded by blood. The death toll was somewhere between 7 to 20 million; the society and the entire economy was on the verge of total collapse.

十年當中，中國血流成河，死亡人數高達700萬至2000萬，社會和整個經濟處於崩潰的邊緣。

After the Cultural Revolution ended, even the CCP itself admitted that it was a huge national disaster and called it "Ten Years of Catastrophe.”

文革結束後，連中共自己都承認，這是一場巨大的民族災難，並把它稱之為「十年浩劫」。

During the current wave of protests in the U.S. and around the world, have we seen any similar ideological manifestations to that of  "smashing the old world" and "rebellion is justified" during China’s Cultural Revolution?  

這種「砸爛舊世界」、「造反有理」的意識形態表現，在當今美國和世界各地的抗議潮中有沒有呢？

I don't want to draw any conclusions about this but would like to raise the question for everyone to think about.

對此我不想下什麼結論，只是提出這個問題請大家思考。

2. The Inner Sense of Justice and Fanaticism 

二、內心的正義感與狂熱

After the Cultural Revolution, when Chinese people began to reflect on the catastrophe, it was hard for them to believe that such madness could have happened. For example, to show his loyalty to Chairman Mao, a red guard pinned Mao's badge into his flesh, and when Chairman Mao waved his hand to millions of Red Guards at the Tiananmen Square, many Red Guards couldn’t help crying with emotion, as they were just too excited and honored. 

文革結束後，當中國人開始反思那場浩劫之時，他們很難相信那樣的瘋狂怎麼可能發生。比如，為表示對「毛主席」的忠心，有紅衛兵小將將毛的像章別在肉裡，毛在天安門城樓接見百萬紅衛兵時，真的有人激動得落淚。

However difficult it is for us to understand those people now, at the time, those Red Guard youngsters would not have felt their own frenzy. 

不管我們現在怎麼難以理解這些人，但在當時，這些紅衛兵小將不會感覺到自己的狂熱，相反，他們內心充滿無比的正義感，相信自己是在做一件特別偉大的事情。種種的瘋狂，在內心的正義感的支配下，都變得高尚起來。沒人會覺得自己是瘋狂的。

Instead, their hearts and minds were filled with a tremendous inner sense of justice, as they believed that they were doing something particularly great and righteous. 

All kinds of craziness, when driven by an inner sense of righteousness, became noble. No one would feel or believe that they were crazy, or overly frenetic.

I had always had problems understanding the inner madness of those Red Guards until I read the book "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" published by the Epoch Times in 2004. The book says that the Communist Party is not a normal political party, it is in fact a cult; while in another dimension, it is an evil specter, and this evil specter will dominate or manipulate people in the human world who identify with it to achieve its goals.

我一直不能理解那些紅衛兵小將的內心狂熱，直到我看到大紀元發表的《九評共產黨》這本書，書中說，共產黨不是一個正常的政黨，它事實上是一個邪教，而在另外空間，它是一個邪惡的靈體，這個靈體會支配或操控世人認同它的人，去達到它的目的。

Only when I read these points did I suddenly understand all the madness of the Red Guards and all those unbelievable phenomena during the Cultural Revolution. 

看到這種說法時，我才有恍然大悟之感，覺得用這個理論、這個說法再回頭去看看文革中種種不可思議之事時，就覺得一切都能得到解釋了。

With the theory and the statement in the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party", I felt that everything could be explained.

As a matter of fact, at the very beginning of the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx announced himself, “A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism.” Only I didn’t pay much attention before, nor had I tried to understand what lies behind the word “specter”. 

另外，《共產黨宣言》開篇，自己也說「共產主義」是個「幽靈」。只是當時未意識到這些，也未曾去想那「幽靈背後是什麼。

In 2018, the Epoch Times published another series of articles "How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World".

The article begins by saying, “Though the communist regimes of Eastern Europe have disintegrated, the specter of communism has not disappeared. On the contrary, this evil specter is already ruling our world, and humanity must not harbor a mistaken sense of optimism.”

2018年，大紀元編輯部又發表了另一個系列,《魔鬼在統治我們的世界》。文章一上來就說：「東歐共產主義陣營雖已瓦解，但共產主義邪靈並未隨之而消亡。相反，這個魔鬼已經在統治我們的世界了。人類絕不能樂觀！」

If this is true, is the communist specter also behind what is happening today in the U.S. and some other countries around the world?  

如果真的是這樣，那麼今天在美國和世界其他一些國家發生的事情，背後有無共產黨邪靈的因素呢？

I don't want to draw any conclusions here either. But I am raising this question for everyone to think about. And I do highly recommend that everyone have a read of "How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World" if you haven’t read it yet. 

在此我也不想下結論，也是只提出問題，請大家自己思考並做出自己的結論。另外，如果您還沒看過《魔鬼在統治我們的世界》，我強烈推薦您看上一看。

3. Glorifying Violence

三、崇尚暴力

From the very beginning, the Communist Party has glorified "violent revolution". In the context of the Communist Party’s doctrine, to overthrow the old world and strike the enemy with "violence" is natural, out of question, glorious, and a great choice. The “righteousness” of the 'goal' gives justification to the 'means' and 'methods'. 

共產黨從一開始，就將「暴力革命」神聖化。在共產黨的語境中，用「暴力」推翻舊世界、打擊敵人是理所當然的，光榮偉大的。「目標」的正義賦予了「手段」和「方法」的正義。

To pursue the “noble” goals, to achieve communism, or "equality”, violence, especially violence against "enemies" becomes almost as "lofty" as the goals.

為了追求「崇高」和目標和實現「共產主義」，或「平等」，暴力，尤其是對「敵人」使用暴力，就變得幾乎跟目標一樣「崇高」了。

During the Cultural Revolution, the "righteousness" of such violence exploded in China. It was everyday practice for students to beat up, or struggle against teachers and children against their parents. The use of guns, cannons, and other weapons was also everyday practice among the "rebels”. Sometimes even tanks and gunboats were brought into the fights among different groups of  "rebels”, and for the same purpose of “defending our great leader Chairman Mao”.

在「文革」期間，這種暴力的「正義性」也得到了大爆發。學生「斗」老師、孩子「斗」家長是家常便飯，不同的「造反派」之間的武鬥甚至到了使用槍、炮、坦克、炮船，變成正規軍水準的戰爭，而武鬥雙方的目標都是「誓死捍衛偉大領袖毛主席。」

In the current protests, or riots, in the U.S.  and other countries of the world, are we also legitimizing, justifying and glorifying violence? 

在這次美國和世界其他國的的抗議活動，或稱騷亂之中，有無暴力被正當化、正義化的現象或趨勢呢？

I am pretty much sure that I don’t need to give out an answer here,  as you must already have one of your own.

這個也不用我說吧，相信大家都已經有了答案或結論。

4. The Nature and the Manifestation of the Movement

四、運動本質和表現

The essence of the Cultural Revolution is the destruction of traditional values, as well as the existing social system and order. The so-called "public security, procuratorial and court systems" established by the CCP itself were completely "smashed". The judicial system ceased to exist and was replaced by mass public denunciation sessions or events. The Red Guards were able to even drag out Liu Shaoqi, the Chairman of China at the time, and publicly denounced and humiliated him. There was no rule of law, not to mention human rights or human dignity.

文革的本質，就是破壞傳統的價值，以及現存的社會體系和秩序。中共自己建立的所謂「公、檢、法」被全面「砸爛」，司法體系不復存在，取而代之的群眾批鬥會、萬人宣判會，以思想定罪等種種現象。紅衛兵小將連劉少奇這樣的國家主席都可以隨意揪出來鬥，法治無從有，人權和人的尊嚴更不用提。

In the current protests in the U.S, we heard about “dismantling the police”, “defunding the police”, “end America”, “cancel culture”, etc.. Do they contain, or are they brewing, the same kind of "spirit" or substance, as that of China’s Cultural Revolution? I also invite you to answer this question yourself.

在目前美國的運動中所提出的「解散警隊」、「削減警察資金」、「讓美國完蛋」、「取消文化」等等口號當中，是否也蘊含，或醞釀著同樣的「精神」或實質呢？這一點我也請大家自己回答。

5. The Need for Power Struggle

五、權力鬥爭的需要

As we all know, 35 million or more Chinese people starved to death as a result of the “Great Leap Forward” movement launched by Mao Zedong in the late 1950s to early 1960s. As a result, Mao was forced to admit his own mistakes in1962, and hand over his power to Liu Shaoqi, who was the number two person of the CCP at that time. 

眾所周知，由於毛澤東在50年代末至60年代初發動的大躍進，造成3500萬甚至更多的中國人被餓死，1962年，毛澤東為此不得不在黨內做檢討，同時被迫把權力交給二號人物劉少奇。

After that, for Mao, in order to regain his power, "smashing" the power that had been handed over to Liu Shaoqi became a necessity. That was a very important reason why Mao started the Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards were actually “rebelling” to meet the needs of their “Great Leader Chairman Mao”, and thus became the vanguard for helping Mao to regain his power.  So the various atrocities of the Red Guards could be tolerated and were actually encouraged.

要想奪回權力，「砸爛」已經被交到劉少奇手中的權力就成了必須要做的。這是毛發動文革的一個重要原因。「奉旨造反」的紅衛兵因此成了幫毛奪回權力的急先鋒和功臣，所以他們的種種暴行可以被容忍，並得到鼓勵。

Do we have similar needs in the U.S. now? I think everyone can work this out.

我們現在在美國有類似的需求嗎？我想大家可以自己回答這個問題。

To be frank, I am very, very, very, very reluctant to get involved in American politics. Several days ago, I said on Twitter that “I am politically ‘blind’ when it comes to exposing the evil of the CCP.  CCP is the common enemy for everybody. People should join the force to fight the CCP. After that, the left and the right can fight each other.”

說實話，我非常、非常、非常不願意討論美國政治。幾天前，我在推特上說：「在揭露中共邪惡的問題上，我完全不看政治派別。中共是大家共同的敵人。大家應該共同打擊中共。消滅中共之後，左派和右派之間怎麼鬥都行。」

However, I see what’s happening in the world now is beyond American politics, or politics anywhere. It’s a fight between the specter of Communism and the free world. It’s a fight for mankind to choose its future. The specter of Communism wants to destroy mankind; and mankind has to defeat it if we want to survive, and prosper. 

不過，現在我看到，目前世界上發生的事情，已經超越了美國政治，或者任何地方的政治。這是一場共產主義的幽靈和自由世界之間的鬥爭。這是一場人類選擇自己未來之戰。共產主義的幽靈想要毀滅人類；而人類要想生存，要想繁榮，就必須消滅它。

That’s the reason why I chose to talk about this sensitive issue now.

這就是我選擇現在談這個敏感問題的原因。

6. “Social Class Category” and “Racial Identity”

六.「階級成分」與「種族認定」

After CCP established its power in 1949, everyone was given a “Social Class Category” according to how much money or land you owned before the CCP took power. If you belong to the working class, or “proletariat”, you are politically righteous, and you can be trusted, and given much power and privilege. 

中共在1949年建立政權後，根據在中共掌權前擁有多少錢或土地，每個人都被劃了一個「階級成分」，如果你屬於工人階級，或「無產階級」，你在政治上是正確的，可以信任，可以獲得很多權力和特權。

If you belong to the exploiting class, you are doomed. Even your children and grandchildren cannot raise their heads and are looked down upon by everybody. Nobody from the working class would want to marry you, or your children, as you would pollute the pure blood of this working-class family, etc.

如果你屬於剝削階級，你就完蛋了。連你的子孫都抬不起頭來，大家都看不起你。工人階級沒有人願意與你結婚，也沒有人願意與你的孩子結婚，因為你會污染這個工人階級家庭的純潔的血統，等等。

In the US today, while we don’t put people into different “class” according to their wealth, we are also starting to category people based on their color, race, or what their ancestors did in the past in some areas, or to some extent. We no longer treat people or look at people as an individual based on his or her own merit. If you belong to the “wrong race”, it seems you carry some kind of “innate” sin, and you must pay for it. 

在今天的美國，雖然我們不會根據人們的財富把他們歸入不同的「階級」，但在某些領域，或者在某種程度上，我們也開始根據人們的膚色、種族，或者他們的祖先過去的所做的事情，對人們進行分類。我們不再把人看成一個個體，或根據這個人本人的一切來判斷或對待他。如果你屬於「錯誤的種族」，似乎你揹負著某種「先天」的罪惡，你必須為此付出代價。

In China, during the Cultural Revolution,  landlords’ children were inherently “son of bitch”, or “bastards”, or whatever bad names people wanted to call them, as they belonged to the shameful “landlord” class.

在中國，在文化大革命時期，地主的子女天生就是「狗崽子」，或者是「雜種」，人們想怎麼罵他們都行，因為他們屬於可恥的「地主」階級。

If we are making special policies based on people’s race, on the surface, it seems we are protecting the so-called “vulnerable” people in society. But in reality, we are creating division and racism of another kind. And society will only be more divided.

如果我們根據人們的種族制定特殊政策，表面上看，似乎是在保護社會上所謂的「弱勢群體」。但實際上，我們是在製造另一種分裂和種族主義。而這個社會只會更加分裂。

A divided society is always what the Communists like. If there is no division, the Communists will create one so that people can fight among themselves to benefit the Communist specter. People who have experienced the Cultural Revolution in China understand this particularly well.

分裂的社會永遠是共產黨人喜歡的。如果沒有分裂，共產黨就會製造一個分裂，發動群眾鬥群眾，而共產黨從中漁利。經歷過中國文革的人特別明白這個道理。

7. “Destroy the Four Olds” and “Cancel Culture”

七、「破四舊」和「取消文化」

“Destroy the Four Olds” is a term that many Chinese people are very familiar with. It means destroying “Old Customs”, “Old Culture”, “Old Habits”, and “Old Ideas”. The campaign to destroy the Four Olds began in Beijing in 1966, shortly after the launch of the Cultural Revolution.

「破四舊」是很多中國人都非常熟悉的一個詞。它的意思是破除「舊習俗」、「舊文化」、「舊習慣」、「舊思想」。「破四舊」的運動在1966年始於北京，也就是文革發動後不久。

It is hard to estimate how many books, paintings, cultural relics, temples, and other personal items were destroyed during this campaign. The only thing we know is, it took 5000 years for China to build up the most wonderful, most brilliant, and most profound culture that was once admired and respected by the entire world. But it took only 10 years to destroy almost all of it.

在這場運動中，到底有多少書畫、文物、廟宇，及個人物品被毀，我們很難估計。我們唯一知道的是，中國用了5000年的時間，建立了一個最精彩、最燦爛、最深厚的文化，曾經受到全世界的仰慕和尊重。但共產黨只用了10年時間，就把它幾乎全部摧毀了。

Recently a Chinese friend of mine is doing a series of TV programs called “Walking out of cultural death”. For many intellectuals, Chinese culture has already died; and China has already died in the cultural sense.

最近我的一位華人朋友李軍在做一個系列電視節目，叫「走出文化亡國」。對於很多知識份子來說，中國文化已經死亡；而中國在文化意義上也已經死亡。

Are we doing the same thing to the culture of America and other countries? Yesterday I saw a friend showing his deep concern on Facebook about the news that some rioters in London are threatening to loot the British Museum, after the defacement of the statues of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill.

我們對美國和其他國家的文化是否也在做著同樣的事情？昨天，我在臉書上看到一位朋友對倫敦一些騷亂分子揚言要洗劫大英博物館的消息表示深深的擔憂，林肯和丘吉爾的雕像都已經被污損了。

This friend also experienced China’s Cultural Revolution himself, just like me, that’s why the news of possible looting at the British Museum worried him so much. He clearly mentioned that what is happening today made him remember the Cultural Revolution in China. 

這位朋友也和我一樣，親身經歷了中國的文革，所以大英博物館可能被洗劫的消息讓他非常擔心。他明確表示，今天發生的事情讓他想起了中國的文革。

8.  Re-allocate Wealth

八、重新分配財富

CCP’s leader Mao Zedong summarised Communist ideology into a very simple and easy to understand slogan: “Cracking down on the local tyrants and confiscating their lands.”  He promised the peasants that they could own landlords' land, and sleep with landlords' young wives if they followed Mao to overthrow the “evil old society”. 

中共領導人毛澤東把共產主義思想概括為一個非常簡單易懂的口號：「打土豪、分田地」。他向農民承諾，如果跟著毛澤東推翻「萬惡的舊社會」，就可以擁有地主的土地，睡地主們的小老婆。

Taking away people’s property became the most righteous thing to do in Mao’s “revolution”, as those properties belonged to the evil “exploiting class.”

在毛澤東的「革命」中，奪取別人的財產成了最正義的事情，因為這些財產屬於邪惡的「剝削階級」。

Have we seen something similar here and now? Let’s watch a short clip.

此時此刻，我們是否也在美國看到了類似的事情呢？讓我們看一個短片。

Below is a short speech made by someone at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, USA, on June 13. (Credit: @FromKalen)

以下是6月13日，在西雅圖由抗議人士建立的「自治區」內，一位男子發表的演說：

“Okay. I want you to find, by the time you leave this autonomous zone, I want you to give $10 to one African American person from this autonomous zone. And if you find this difficult, if you find it's hard for you to give $10 to people of color, to black people especially, you have to think really critically about in the future, are you willing to actually give up power and land and capital when you have it? If you have a hard time giving out $10, you got to think about are you really down with this struggle?”

「好，我希望你在離開這個自治區的時候，我希望你能給這個自治區的一個非裔美國人10美元。如果你覺得這個很難，如果你覺得你很難給有色人種，特別是黑人10塊錢，你要真的需要認真地想一想，在未來，當你擁有權力和土地、資本的時候，你是否願意真正放棄？如果你連10塊錢都不想拿出來，你要想一想，你是不是真的在參與我們的鬥爭？」

If 10 dollars are not a big deal, there are other things for a group of people to “give up” and “donate” to another group of people, such as properties. A certain woman in the U.S. has already asked this, but I don’t want to mention her name here.

如果10塊錢不是什麼大事，那麼還有其他的東西可以讓一群人「放棄」或「捐贈」給另一群人，比如房產。美國某位女士已經提出這個事兒，但我不想在這裡提及她的名字。

9.  “Blank Paper Hero” and Ziad Ahmed

九、「白卷英雄」與齊亞德-艾哈邁德（Ziad Ahmed）

During China’s Cultural Revolution, there was a very famous “Blank Paper Hero”. His name was Zhang Tiesheng. As he did not know how to answer the questions when taking a national exam on physics and chemistry, he handed in a blank paper and wrote on the back “a letter to respected leaders”, saying that he came from a “politically clean family”, he loved his time in the countryside where he received “education” from the peasants, and that he was disgusted by bookworms, etc.

在中國文化大革命時期，有一位非常著名的「白卷英雄」。他的名字叫張鐵生。他在參加全國理化考試時，由於不會答題，就交了一張白卷，並在卷子背面寫了一封給「尊敬的領導」的信，說自己出身於一個「政治清白的家庭」，喜歡在農村接受農民的「教育」，厭惡讀書等等。

His letter somehow fit the political needs of that time, when the so-called “Down to the Countryside'' movement was in its peak. All urban youth, high school graduates, were sent to the countryside to be “re-educated” and “reformed” by the peasants. Universities stopped admitting students via entrance examinations. Instead, they admitted worker students, peasant students, and soldier students through recommendations. Politically correct workers, peasants, and soldiers who obeyed the party could go to universities if their leaders recommended them. 

他的這封信某種程度上符合當時的政治需要，當時所謂「上山下鄉」運動正處於高峰期。所有城市青年、高中畢業生都被送到農村，接受農民的「再教育」和「改造」。大學不再通過高考錄取學生。取而代之的是通過推薦錄取工農兵學員。政治正確、服從黨的工農兵，只要領導推薦，就可以上大學。

Therefore, Zhang Tiesheng, who didn’t know physics or chemistry, became a “Blank Paper Hero” for daring to challenge the conventional examination system. He later even won a seat in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 1975. 

因此，不懂物理、化學的張鐵生因為敢於挑戰傳統的考試制度，成了「白卷英雄」。後來，他甚至在1975年獲得了全國人大常委會的席位。

For 10 years, qualified students were refused by the universities, while politically correct workers, peasants, and soldiers became heroes for not having to master any knowledge.

文革十年，合格的學生被大學拒之門外，而政治正確的工農兵卻不用掌握任何知識而成為英雄。

Have we seen similar things in the U.S?

在美國，我們有沒有看到類似的事情？

In 2017, high school senior Ziad Ahmed, was accepted to Stanford University after writing #BlackLivesMatter exactly 100 times in his application essay.

2017年，高中生齊亞德-艾哈邁德（Ziad Ahmed），在申請大學的資料上，整整寫了100次#BlackLivesMatter（黑人命貴），而後被斯坦福大學錄取。

There was a famous movie in China’s Cultural Revolution called “Breaking with Old Ideas”. In this movie, there was a famous scene in which the Communist Labour University was selecting students. When a professor questioned a young peasant’s qualification, as he only had one year’s high school education,  the party secretary grabbed the hand of that peasant and declared that the “calluses on this hand are his  qualification for the university!”

在中國的文化大革命中，有一部著名的電影叫《決裂》。在這部電影中，有一個著名的場景，共產主義勞動大學在選拔學生。當一位教授質疑一位年輕農民的資格，因為他只上過一年中學，黨委書記抓住那位農民的手，宣布「這手上的硬繭就是資格！」

Let’s watch a short clip from this movie:

讓我們看一下這部電影中的這個片段。 

Professor: How many years did you go to school? 

教授孙子清：上過幾年學啊？

A Peasant candidate: I attended one year of high school. 

农民考生：上過一年中學。

Professor: Too little education.

教授孙子清：文化太低。

 Party Secretary: For years, the landlords and the bourgeoisie have been using education level to block our way. Can we be blamed for lack of education? No! The responsibility lies with the Kuomintang, the landlords, and the bourgeoisie! It’s been only 9 years since the liberation.  if only people who have much education can attend the Communist University, we are effectively shutting out the children of workers and peasants.

黨委書記龍國正：多少年來，地主、資產階級就是用文化來卡我們。文化低能怪我們嗎？不能！這筆賬，只能算在國民黨、地主、資產階級身上!解放剛剛九年，要那麼高的文化上共大，實際上是把工農子弟拒之門外。

Some say you have to be qualified to go to university. What are the qualifications? The capitalists have their capitalist qualifications, the proletarians have our own proletarian qualifications! The first qualification for admission to the Communist Labour University is the working people! The hard calluses on this hand are the qualification!

有人說上大學要有資格。什麼是資格?資產階級有資產階級的資格，無產階級有我們無產階級資格!進共產主義勞動大學，第一條資格，就是勞動人民!這手上的硬繭就是資格!

Comrades of poor and middle-class peasants, do you think he is qualified?

貧下中農同志們，你們說，他夠資格嗎？夠！夠！夠！

Crowd: Yes! Yes! Yes!

羣衆（齊聲）：夠！夠！夠！

After the Cultural Revolution, this kind of movie once only made me laugh. Now, seeing what’s happening in the world, I don’t feel like laughing anymore. Instead, I am worrying that this could be our new reality.

文化大革命結束後，這種電影曾經只能讓我發笑。現在，看到世界上發生的事情，我笑不出來了。相反，我很擔心，這可能是我們新的現實。

If we compare carefully, there are many other similarities, but I am afraid today I am running out of time. So I’ll stop here. And I do hope that we don’t repeat the mistakes and tragedies of the Cultural Revolution of China. 

如果我們仔細比較，還有很多相似的地方，但今天恐怕我的時間不多了。所以我就不說了。我也希望我們不要重蹈中國文化大革命的覆轍和悲劇。

Thank you for watching. Truth saves lives. Please subscribe to my channel and share it.

謝謝大家的收看。真相能救命。請訂閱並分享我的頻道。

Thank you. See you next time.

謝謝大家。下次再見。

6/18/2020

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