History 342
Devine
Study Questions for Liang Heng, Son
of the Revolution
- What
was the purpose of the anti-Rightist campaign and other political
movements the Communist Party launched?
How did they affect Liang’s family? How did they affect personal relationships between the
citizens of Changsha and, more broadly, across the entire country?
- What
role did “Chairman Mao” play in the lives of young children in China? Do
political figures play this same role in the United States? Why or why
not?
- How had
Communism changed China after “Liberation” in 1949? How did the lives of both the average
peasant and urban dweller change (for good or ill) as a result of the
triumph of the Communist Party?
- Does
it seem that the Communist Party encouraged people to value equality or to
strive to “get ahead?” Overall,
what qualities did the Party seem to value?
- In
hindsight, Liang is quite critical of the Communist Party, but clearly the
Party (and Chairman Mao) commanded the loyalty of many Chinese (including
Liang’s father). Why? How did Mao
and the Party manage to retain the loyalty of the people?
- Why
was the Party so concerned about unmasking “enemies?” Why was it important
that the “enemies” confess? Why
were “intellectuals” generally considered “enemies?”
- What
was the point of the Cultural Revolution?
- What
was the political agenda of the Red Guard? Why did the Red Guard break into factions that violently
opposed each other? Why did many
march into a hail of bullets knowing that certain death awaited them?
- Do you
know people who would have made good members of the Red Guard? What were these Red Guard members like?
Why did they behave the way they did?
- Do you
see similarities between Communism and other kinds of radical political movements
– Nazism? Radical Islam? Fascism?
What differences do you see?
- What
did the peasants think about Communism?
Did Liang find them to be good Communists? Did the Communist political agenda
further the peasants’ interests?
- Why
and how did a “cult of Mao” develop?
(Recall that young Chinese men and women would give their lives
just to catch a glimpse of the Chairman.)
Could something equivalent happen in the US? Why or why not?
- Critics
of Communism have often argued that the first thing the Party does is to
discourage anyone from having an independent or private thought. Is there evidence in this book to
support this point of view? Is
this a fair criticism of Communism?
- Why
did Mao send the intelligentsia to the countryside to become peasants? What effect did Liang’s father’s
experiences working with the peasants have on him?
- What does the term “eating socialism”
mean?
- What effect does “teacher Xia” have on
Liang?