The New Mandarins and Mass Psychology in China - Yu Shuet & Wu Man

Our phrasing of the Chinese question at this time amounts to something like this: “Mao has mobilised a massive effort to ‘remould the people’ — what is the result of this purposeful transformation of Man and what are its achievements? Is it constructive or destructive, positive or negative? How has it changed the lives and livelihood of the People? How has it changed the face and character of modern Chinese society?

What we are attempting now is the examination of Mao Tse-tung’s human transformation movement and its effects on our people.

The “Personality Model” of Chinese Communist Society

We use the term “PERSONALITY MODEL” to denote a collection of common traits and characteristics displayed by members of a particular society. These characteristics may be the simple overt manifestations of the customs and norms of everyday living, or an all-pervading common attitude towards life and matter. The ‘personality model’ reflects the set of values upheld by the society. When we say that a person is a typical product of a culture (e.g. so and so is a typical American), we are actually making the observation that this man’s thought and actions seldom depart from the norms and standards set by his society. It follows therefore, that the general personality model of a society is the product of the existing state of the culture of that society, and it is not the ‘ideal character’ or ‘ideal personality’ held in esteem by that society.

We will lay emphasis on the ‘basic personality type’ throughout our discussion — this is defined as ‘the group of characteristics shared by most members of society’, disregarding age, status, province and other variables. Another type would be the ‘status personality type’ which is determined by the social position of the person, which we choose to ignore for the time being.

The Political Personality

China has been celebrated for her traditional dictatorial style of rule by a hero or a virtuous sage. The introduction of the concept of the ‘Party’ from the West has given rise to the present day single-party rule in China. The Chinese society has emphasized leadership, which controlled the thinking and running of the whole society, including private life. The effect on society was the evolution of a type of personality termed ‘POLITICAL PERSONALITY’. The sense of right and wrong and all morality has been made political. A man’s income, daily needs, interpersonal relationships etc. are evaluated according to the views of the man in the highest authority. To the common man, life itself is politics; those who are not proletarians are capitalists. Ethics means unceasing criticism, struggle against self and others, a product of the ‘AUTHORITARIAN CONSCIENCE’ cultivated by the Party.

Unquestionably, politics determine the social standing of the person. Other means of social achievement, like economic performance, intellectual creation, artistic creation, scientific advancement are monopolised and likewise politicised by the Party. Only the political way is left.

In this sense, a completely equal society is almost created. All is judged according to politics. But when politics becomes the only way of realising social standing, political manoeuvres and struggles are intensified. There is an abundance of political fanatics in Chinese communist society, for the basic desire for power is fanned and the result is gross inequality and fear...

In China two students might meet and chat about friends and family. A certain friend would be joining the propaganda teams, another would have joined some League or Brigade. Then a third may have turned ‘indifferent’ to politics. This last bit of news would be uttered in a lowered voice, with disinterest and disdain. While the other would either exclaim with disbelief “But he used to be so enthusiastically keen and dedicated! How unbelievable!” or retort, ‘I knew he was no good!”

When one is considered to be indifferent or careless about politics he becomes an outcast. He is destined to being looked down on and ignored for he is ‘no good’, ‘useless’, ‘a loner’. The popular hero in a community in communist China is sure to be a politically successful person. The most ignored and unknown person is bound to be the one least concerned about power politics. And to get a bad name, one only has to commit a ‘political crime’ once.

Yu Shun Wen And Chan Lei Piao

A student with good results, a worker with skill, a farmer with a knack at growing things may well be suspected of being unpolitical or ‘expert without being red’. He could then be in subsequent trouble regardless of his real political stand and consciousness. As long as his studies or career prosper, he is suspect. There is the general belief that politics, or redness, and career success are mutually exclusive. This belief existed as early as 1956 when a letter in the then current magazine Chinese Youth commented that:

“Lecturer Yu Shun Wen of the Crystallisation and Mineral Research laboratory at our Academy (Peking Academy of Geology) is skilled in his research work...But some comrades see him as extremely backward. He is considered a bookworm who cares nothing for politics. Over the last few years he was a model for incorrect thought and behaviour, and has been criticised and condemned time and again...When people ask, ‘Where does the motive of his selfish individualism lie?’ his comrades can only reply, ‘Concrete evidence is hard to come by, the motive never betrays itself so overtly, but the fact is many people do have the impression that he harbours such motives.’.... Although Yu has participated in some activities of a political nature, and has undertaken administrative duties, some of us are still not satisfied. Most of us feel that being a member of the Communist Youth League (which he is) he should devote much more time and effort to social reconstruction, to talking with people, to being a political activist and propagandist. This is not an isolated case; in our school are numerous similar cases.”

The caption to this letter was “Is this kind of criticism appropriate?” It seems that the editor too feels the criticism unjustified and excessive. But now, twenty years later, that kind of criticism is absolutely nothing beside what we have today.

Ever since then, this kind of political evaluation became deeply entrenched in the hearts and minds of the populace. During the Cultural Revolution, it escalated to become a tide of political fanaticism which soon inundated the whole land. There is no need for us to choose any one or two such examples from latter days — people would simply be astounded if they got to know the present reality, or maybe they would not believe it at all.

This attitude simply reduces man and personality to a political commodity. In capitalism, man can sell himself wholesale and retail on the free market with some degree of choice....Some sell their entire person, some in parts. Man becoming a commodity is a dismal reality. But in the pan-political society, man is not only a commodity, but a political commodity to be gambled away at the roll of dice in the political casino — is this man’s ‘victory’ or man’s absurd defeat?

Here, people cannot but place politics as foremost in their lives, or even treat politics as equal to their life. (‘Politics is the commander, Politics the spirit.’)

Their success or failure is decided in the political arena. Everyman is driven to the political campaigns, the spirit and heart must endure the critical test of ruthless, capricious political machinations until ‘Faith’ becomes meaningless and ‘paralysis’ takes over. There is no denial that political competition in totalitarian society surpasses by far capitalism in the destruction of the human soul. A man can choose to stand apart from the capitalist rat-race, but he cannot do the same in totalitarian politics, and still survive.

Chan Lai-piao, a Shanghainese intellectual youth, was sent to the countryside in Kiangsi in 1968, and became a peasant in Loh Peh Yuen Kang Kao Commune. He was allowed to return to Shanghai after 3 years to study in the Shanghai Normal College, as a reward for his model political behaviour. After graduation, he was sent to Kiangsi Province Revolutionary Committee’s Cultural and Education Office as an Education Cadre. His lover, whom he met in the College, worked in the same place and the two agreed to marry each other. College Graduate and Cadre were marks of success then. If he had not been politically sound, he would not have been sent to college, and the cadre who was also a graduate had high standing. He was thus a well-accepted person in society. Then the crisis came in the form of the Campaign to Control Bourgeois Rights. Graduates like him became targets of attack. Unless he volunteered again to go back to the countryside, his political prestige would be in jeopardy. He did so and was roundly praised and his standing was preserved. But neither his fiancee nor her family could accept this adjustment. He had no choice but to declare cessation of the relationship and openly denounce her and her family. She was thus put into a very difficult position, and in effect she was finished. And her fiance, in the meantime, basked in the warmest political sunshine.

Of Chan’s internal struggle we know little. This is in any case irrelevant to our discussion. We can see already that he sold his integrity as a political commodity. All along, ‘Graduate,’ ‘Cadre,’ ‘Peasant’ were but convenient labels. Chan’s success lay in his versatility in adapting his political status to changing times.

On Solidarity Within the Class — Case of the two poor peasant students

When one of us was in High School, there were two poor students from a poor peasant background in the class. The school was in the city, and there were therefore only a handful of poor country students in the entire school. The two poor students were different in personality and interest and had little interaction. In 1962, the school started to promote ‘Class Solidarity and Friendship’. These two immediately discovered each other’s attractiveness overnight and henceforth became David and Solomon, and they were hailed as the ‘Model Red Pair’. During the Cultural Revolution, they went into opposite hostile camps due to differences in political opinion. Both were from ‘good families’ and with this valuable political capital they gained leadership in their respective organisations, fighting each other to the death. What happened to the class friendship?

When politics called for solidarity, they were indeed the best of friends, and publicly recognised to have attained the highest level of friendship. When politics called for struggle, they split overnight and fought each other to prove their loyalty and progressiveness. The brother of yore is also the deadly enemy.

‘Class Love’ is but an abstraction, a conceptualisation. When society stresses it, what people are following is not even the concept but only the political will. Therefore this ‘love’ arises not from their hearts, but from their pragmatism, a monstrous falsity for the sake of politics. And although the theory of class love and class solidarity has an important place in practical politics, it is nevertheless made fun of by political reality. Do you not see ex-comrades in arms fighting a duel to the death in high level modern Chinese politics?

The Deputy Team Captain

After the Cultural Revolution, one of us was sent down to Chu Kiang Yuen of Kwangtung Province to be ‘re-educated’. Living in the home of a deputy team captain of the Commune production team, he was told about the ‘Four Clean-ups’ Campaign. The team captain said:

“Although I am only a minor cadre, I was made a popular target. People knocked on my door to force me to ‘become honest’. While my son and wife were in bed, they stayed at the bedside patiently droning, how much did I take, how much did I take that was out of my share. And write it down item by item. One does not remember — and they stamp their feet and thump the table and yell. The militia man at the door lowered his rifle and summoned me with a roar. The child woke up, startled, and screamed, but his mother clapped her hand over his mouth. They clung to each other, shaking.

“On New Year’s Eve they were around again, pressing for retributions. Stating that I owe the country 100 yuan for what I have taken. No money, no New Year. Where could I find such a sum? So I had to mortgage all our bedding, bed-boards and stove at the Brigade, and still there was not enough. So the tiles were taken down to make good the balance. What could one do, these were the last valuables that remained.” He pointed at the roof and there were signs of a removal. He continued: “We spent that New Year in the cow barn. Later the policy changed somehow, and we were allowed to repay by yearly installments and the tiles came back.” Our comrade asked, “Who were they who carried out the Four Clean-ups? Why were they so ferocious?”

He replied that they were all from the Commune and the Yuen. “Their leader was a deputy secretary of the Party at the Yuen level, a man known for his virtue! One time I sprained my ankle, at the irrigation grounds. He came himself to visit me! Very unusual for a man of his rank. He is the only person I know of that rank. But who can recognise him during the Four Clean-ups? He was transformed, he became the cruellest of the lot. What ‘extra’! It was all forced out of me. I was compelled to make those confessions under the veil of fear!”

One remained the deputy-secretary of the Party, the other remained the deputy team captain of the Commune. Nothing changed. Only the times had changed. The care the one displayed was out of duty not of love, and his later ferocity was only to obey the call of political duty. What place did ‘class love’ have in all this — it is only a concept. The simple-minded team captain cannot grasp this dialectic, he can only say, “the man was transformed.”

The Tragedy of Chan

A friend of ours stayed at a farm in northern Kwangtung for six years. He met a man by the name of Chan there. This young man is by nature taciturn and clumsy, and smiles and talks little. He was conveniently classified as ‘backward’ for his father was a school teacher, an intellectual. His parents were struggled against and denounced in the Cultural Revolution. But he remained quiet, kind, solitary and ‘backward’. And he developed secret sentiments towards a girl in the herding brigade. When he could contain himself no longer, he wrote a fiery letter of love to this girl. The girl was a ‘poor peasant’ and therefore of impeccable family history. She was startled and scared and immediately showed the letter to her brigade (all girls). Their leader arranged for her to shame Chan in public and the incident spread. All the farm marveled at his recklessness. A man of his position daring to touch the daughter of a poor peasant family! The local party branch secretary saw fit to warn him in person, this was a gross violation indeed.

Chan realised that he was indeed outrageous and desired to leave a permanent mark to commemorate this shameful ordeal. He chose a day when there was no one around and chopped his second finger off. Our friend stumbled in and saw what had happened. Chan held his mutilated hand, shaking all over, and implored our friend not to leak out that he had chopped himself. He knew no one would spare him any pity, but only more trouble would come his way if his action was known.

This tragedy arose because Chan’s thoughts and action were detached from the reality of his life. The power of his insides caused him to fight the external realities. He forgot their differences in social standing. Such may be common in any first love, but he was not in a position to be reckless. He deserved his punishment and nobody would pity him. He was out of the personality model of his time, he was a social rebel and that was unforgivable.

Marrying for Political Convenience

Then there was another case of an attractive young girl from a clerical family. Shen went into the factory after High School and became acquainted with a young man who was the son of Indonesian Chinese, therefore a ‘friendly capitalist’. The two were in love for two years. Then the girl joined the Communist Youth League and became an office-holder and change occurred. Before she joined the League, the boy was only slightly below in social status and love made up the balance. But now she had become a party official and a popular character in her factory; her standing rose and ‘love’ evaporated. They separated before long, and this pretty and proud girl married herself to a colonel in the People’s Liberation Army, who was old enough to be her father. She was not a ‘proletarian’ and this marriage was not recommendable in the strictest sense. But she was fortunately a member of the Communist Youth League and that helped. Her fellow comrades at the factory admired her for her cleverness and luck in capturing such a husband. She thought so too, only she had no love for this good comrade colonel.

Breaking up for Political Convenience

Another girl friend of ours was lucky enough to have been transferred to a granary in Kwangtung after three years in the countryside. She came from a capitalist family. She was introduced to an ‘old worker’ of the Shao Kwan Iron and Steel Works, who was 40 and unmarried. He was then promoted to the Publicity section of the Revolutionary Committee of his factory. The two promised to marry. The old worker knew she was from a bad family but accepted her because he was afraid he could not find a better girl. The girl congratulated herself for finding a safe ‘red’ protector. They decided on the date of the wedding and notified friends and relatives. But they were happy too soon. The party officials at the granary got wind of this and wrote to the Iron and Steel Works, informing them of the girl’s origins. This committee then asked the old worker to reconsider and reconsider, and that was the end of the marriage. The girl, understandably, was very disappointed and depressed.

The Case of Ho

We have a distant relative by the name of Ho. Her grandmother was a Hollander, and she looked Eurasian, with fair hair slightly curled, deep-set eyes and high nose bridge, complexion fair; altogether a fair creature. When she was small, she accompanied her mother in land reform activities and became acquainted with a ‘little red devil’. The two quarrelled one day and the girl got out her mother’s revolver and shot at the boy’s face. The boy lost two teeth but not much harm was done. But the pair was terrified afterwards and hugged each other tightly. After their marriage the boy worked as a cadre in the Chungshan University in Kwangchow, and the girl taught at a primary school in Tungkoon Yuan, and they created a son who looked just like her grandmother. In 1957, the anti-rightist movement began and the boy was declared a rightist, driven from the Party and sent to the Northeast for labour reform. The girl was asked to state her position and she felt that the child must not suffer with them. So they decided to divorce each other and she took the child with her. The child grew older every day and she got more and more lonely. But she was reluctant to remarry because she loved her husband and their child dearly. But the ordeal was not quite over. During the Cultural Revolution, she was accused of having an incestuous relationship with her son. Mother and son were disgraced and paraded in the streets and labelled as ‘vagabonds’. Only then was the husband’s political mistake and the disgrace it brought to his family allowed to wear out, temporarily...

Some may say, “It is her own folly; she brought this on herself. Had she conceded to remarry, she would not be suspect. This is a family that is a misfit in the society, serves her right!”

The Prodigal Son

But here is a family that fits well into this society: there are five members in this particular family. The eldest son studies at the Chungshan University, and the two daughters attend High School. During the Cultural Revolution the father was defined as ‘black’. The mother divorced him for the safety of the children and married the new party secretary of her factory. She thought she had found security for herself and her children. But the son was not satisfied. He decided to sever all ties with his disgraced family — his school and society supported him. This ‘freed student’ then took his clear record with him to work at a propaganda team in the Yuan, and soon fell in love with a girl. Before this, he had had a girl friend who studied at the Peking Aeronautics School, and whose father was a cadre of high standing and who had dumped him because of the troubles of his father. Six years later, the boy received a letter from his father which said that he was ‘liberated’ and returned to his former high position and bade him to return to the family. As for matters of transfers, new postings, residence and the like, those would all be taken care of easily in view of his renewed influence and power. The boy immediately wrote to consent to the reconciliation. Soon after he bade farewell to the girl in the Yuan publicity team and returned to the girl of the Aeronautics School.

The Need for Aggression

Marxism is a powerful weapon for attacking the old order. In China when the weapon of attack succeeds in attacking itself, the Chinese communists are completely captivated by the magic of such an attack. It seems that much can be achieved by attack and Mao has adopted this activity into his body of political thought.

“Make 700 million critics out of 700 million people” was a popular slogan. In the Hundred Flowers period and in the early phase of the Cultural Revolution, this was a welcome development, for fresh air was let in through this door of criticism. But then, the reactionary tide always came in and spontaneous criticism was drowned by forced criticism.

Historically, the attempt to turn everyone into critics and attackers is no doubt a high revolutionary endeavour. The traditional Chinese character was patient and contented. All this was done away with so that 700 million fighters took their place. There is no denial that over the years, such careful cultivation through campaigns, movements, struggle meetings and reeducation has produced a far more aggressive, vicious strain of Chinese and this is one result of the personality transformation movement of Mao.

Indeed, “The philosophy of communism is a philosophy of struggle.” Yet, with this new teaching, the destructive need for aggression in man is reinforced. Originally suppressed, this destructive instinct now receives official sanction. More than that, it is now the weapon for survival, it is the hallowed spirit of the times.

The leaders have realised the importance of starting early. The need for aggression and vengeance must be nurtured from the very beginning. The shaping of the personality must start from the cradle. The following is a piece of journalism which will no doubt generate some thinking:

“Early last year (1965) Nanking Army Division’s 1st August Nursery carried out a penetrative revolution on child-rearing and child education.

“First, they examined the aim and content of the education with the tool of ‘class analysis’.... ‘the surroundings should be comfortable and pleasant, protection must be given and advocated, the content should be fairy tales, children’s tales, wild life tales.... when the children watch a movie, they know not how to hate the landlord!’ This is something the Party must not overlook.

“Can we bring class education to children between ages three and seven, and how is this to be carried out? This is the new question... Consequently, they let children see the broadswords, whips and bloodied remains of the Kuomintang killings. After a period of education, the children, on seeing the ugly faces of the landlords on film or paper, know how to stamp their feet and point their finger and shout, ‘Death to you, rogue!’ This is a delightful reaction, shouldn’t we be joyous?....A child drew a Yankee with one leg. The teacher asked why and he replied: ‘The other was shot off by uncle Vietnam.’ Others reached out to tear Johnson’s eyes off when they saw his portrait in a gallery.” (“Great Revolution in Child Education” from “Women of China”, 1966, issue 11)

Pleasant surroundings and children’s tales are designed to cultivate and reinforce the healthy needs of order, affiliation and nurturance in young children. But these do not suit the new society. Children of the new society must be brought up with broadswords, whips and bloody cloths so that they would know how to draw crippled enemies and want to tear out the eyes of a hostile President. Let us look at another lively article which sets out the new form of child-rearing. It is written by a commune teacher in Shansi.

“...Take for example the fighting of young children. In the past I considered all fighting unallowable and stopped many a fight accordingly, unwittingly hurting many young hearts. Now I try to make them understand....that the fist and the gun can be pointed to the reactionary. Now when I impart knowledge of crimes committed by these anti-Party, anti-socialist rightists, they clench their fists and yell ‘vile eggs’. The children sometimes draw chalk figures on the ground and stamp on them, taking off their shoes to beat them. When I ask them who they are beating, they invariably reply, ‘Wu Han, Teng Toh.’ and I say, ‘Well done!’” (from “Women of China”, 1966, issue 11)

More recently, the Kiangsu Province Broadcasting Station released a news item on 12th June 1976, which said:

“...the one hundred-odd little fighters that took part in the little red brigade performance in the Amateur Cultural Concert enacted the fearless revolutionary fervour of the forefathers in the Soviets — all charged forward and fought with Hsiao-peng — highest bravery against the enemy, Teng Hsiao Peng and his ‘reverse verdict wind’. Although their average age is not quite ten, they have produced within a short seven days, 299 critiques, 271 revolutionary nursery rhymes, 12 columns, and organised 14 criticism meetings. The ‘Criticize Teng’ revolutionary fervour is at its highest. It is just as what one song says:

‘Do not say we are small
We are all little cannons
Everywhere is our battlefield
We will fell our enemy, Teng Hsiao-peng.’”

These children are not just mounting fire on Teng, they are moreover reinforcing their need for aggression at the most malleable developmental stage.

How about those that are non-aggressive?

In every school, factory, department, division there exist some ‘backward elements’ who are commonly quiet, sensitive, sentimental, merciful, generous and kind, who prefer cautious, objective observation to quick value judgements, who would readily put themselves in other peoples’ shoes, look not only at the result but also at intention, who are gentle to the fallen, and who are not keen at publicising themselves nor publicly denouncing anyone, who would shoulder the blame to protect a comrade. These people are destined to be left behind the times. Their records often carry such descriptions as “low political consciousness, dim-witted, unenthusiastic towards political activities, timorous fighter, position unsound,” etc. Seldom are they allowed into the Communist Youth League or the Party itself. They are in fact the object of change in reform movements. Their presence dampens the fire of revolution and makes society ‘unhappy’ because they pursue the needs for nurturance and for scrutiny and lack the need for aggression. Their gentleness is in marked contrast to the official ideal of ‘youthful fire’.

The promotion of the need for aggression is pushed on a societal level by massive political campaigns, and every political campaign is ignited and fueled by such mass aggression.

Every person can attack and be attacked. Every parent, elder, friend and relation is susceptible to attack for “the revolution has just begun, the struggle has no end”. This fear of being attacked dwells in every heart. To accomodate this fear and gnawing insecurity, one has to arm oneself with hostility towards family and beloved, to be aggressive, and ready to disown one’s closest ally at the turn of the wind, so that one would not be too hurt when the unavoidable happens. Many attempt to hide this fear behind heroic acts of denial in order to gain the safety of popular approval and hence security. Here is one such instance, an autobiographical article in “China Youth”:

“I was born into a bourgeois intellectual family... my parents expected me to carry on the scholarly tradition of the family. We live fastidiously and are utterly capitalistic ... Our family of five occupied 7 houses and every meal consisted of several meat dishes, and several vegetable dishes. As long as they were nourishing, the cost didn’t count. There must be fruit after each meal. Sometimes when I put on a coat that was slightly worn-out, my grandma would reprimand me, ‘Other people pine for new clothes but cannot have them, you have good clothes but cast them aside, dressing up like a devil.’ They treasured me greatly and I was not allowed to get too much sun or rain. Growing up in this environment sowed and cultivated the seeds of capitalism in me, fostered in me the great wish of following in my father’s footsteps, to climb up and up to be a great scientist...

“For the past few years, I have been educated by the Party...I began to realise the selfishness and hypocrisy of my grandmother and my parents. After I entered the last year of high school, I followed the Party’s wishes and decided to go into agriculture. My family were astounded when I broke the news of my intentions and they tried to mislead me. My father said hypocritically: ‘The Party calls for a red heart, but there can be two kinds of preparation...You are my daughter, you must get into the University or else you are not my daughter.’

“‘What do I care if I am not your daughter, I will be the good daughter of the Party.’

“Where do I get the strength to resist my family? Undoubtedly from the Party, from teacher Wu and classmates, from the works of Chairman Mao — from the glorious image of the heroes.” (“Breaking loose the shackles of the family to become a good daughter of the Party.” China Youth, 1964, issue 21)

Needless to say, she gets the support of the society while her parents get the kicks. But compared to others, she still has a long way to go to become the Party’s good daughter.

There is another girl, Lo. Her parents work at the Chung Shan Medical College. Her family is understandably well-off and she was well cared for. As she grew older, she began to comprehend some of the rules of right conduct: new clothing needs to be ripped open at places and patched before it can be worn, new shoes have to be treated in a similar way. By the second year of High School, she had learnt to denounce her parents’ capitalistic way of living to her class mistress. She was praised by the school and started to report on her parents’ conversations and activities, sending letters to her school and to her parents’ workplace. But at the time of the Cultural Revolution, when heredity and family background were the sole determinants of a person, her early rebellion was forgotten and people used the same maxim of ‘reactionary father, rascal son’ on her, and she was persecuted accordingly. She was shut up, beaten and interrogated by the members of the ‘five red categories’ in her class. Out of intense hatred for her family, she wrote a 20 page accusation letter, accusing her father of having been a Kuomintang field doctor, and of having committed unpardonable crimes, and asked that she be released in order to observe her parents at home. It was permitted and she kicked up a scene on her first day home, screaming that her parents were ‘evil poison’ and posted big character posters outside their house, demanding, ordering her father to submit a confession within 24 hours. Large crowds gathered around the house.

The father was a Kuomintang field doctor who had voluntarily crossed to the communist side in his early days and the Party had then cleared his record. He never dreamt that his daughter could shame him politically in this way. He ran to lie on the rails on that same night and a passing train cut his body into several parts. The Lo girl took this as suicide out of desperate fear and declared that she would have nothing more to do with her family. The Party supported her and she was listed as an ‘orphan’, a most prized status in society.

This is not just aggression, but mania. But still, Lo, like others before and after her, was searching for the same thing, for the recognition and acceptance of society. They hope that in this way they can conquer the feelings of inadequacy, guilt and desertion which come of resisting the standards laid down by society. The Lo girl did not live happily ever after. In fact, after she destroyed her family, the object for her projection was gone and she became very disturbed, pathological, even. Her confessions, repentance notes and self-accusations to the Party became more and more frequent, she signed herself the ‘7th black category of bitches’ and told her friends that the five red categories were right in manhandling her for she was deserving and totally unforgivable.

This is not self-denial, it is the complete loss of self-dignity.

Apprehension And Terror

When one of us was in High School, the school used to organise students to help in the fields in the busy harvest time. “We lived, ate and worked with the peasants (called the ‘three togethers’). One day, I was having the noonday meal, when one of us found a caterpillar in the rice. After looking around, I did not notice anyone spitting out worms and I thought: why was it that other people had not seen any worms but him? I felt it was feelings of class distinction involving my political standpoint, therefore I closed my eyes and swallowed the worm. Looking back, I see that what motivated my behaviour then was political fear, I was afraid my standpoint and consciousness would be ‘incorrect’.”

Then there was the production team captain that committed no crime, political or otherwise, but threw himself into the pond out of sheer apprehension of what was to come — instances of “did nothing wrong, very frightened, better dead than alive” suicide cases were numerous to the point of reaching the hundred thousands. During the Cultural Revolution, such irrational fear alone induced over 100,000 suicides, averaging five thousand per province!

We have experienced other unforgettable incidents. In the suburban farm of Kwangchow were 990 fresh high school graduates who joined the fun at the start of the Cultural Revolution. Then came the massacre. They were driven to an empty barn in a valley ditch and watched night and day. Three hundred militiamen from nearby villages, 100 PLA men and yuan commanders descended on them, and struggled with 600 of them. Then a strange incident occurred.

One night, the nine hundred were assembled at short notice to face armed troops. Some thirty names were called and were hauled away and bound thoroughly and forced to kneel. The commanders proclaimed them to be members of the ‘Taiwanese Anti-Communist Save the Country Army’ and they were beaten mercilessly for several days and nights. Ten days later, the truth surfaced. The thirty names had been ‘revealed’ by a lad of unsound mind to disrupt the monotonous routine of the ‘study camp’ (prison camp).

Two days later, another incident occurred. At breakfast time, two students were seen carrying a large red bundle which turned out to be the body of a suicide victim. No emotion, surprise or fear was expressed by any of the 900. Five hundred of these were girls, most of them between the age of sixteen to seventeen and all were nonchalant. I was one of the five hundred and I experienced a complete blank at the time. I asked and felt nothing, the only thought that surfaced was “Better dead,” and even that thought faded immediately.

The Authoritarian Conscience

“There is no prouder statement man can make than to say: ‘I shall act according to my conscience.’ Throughout history men have upheld the principles of justice, love, and truth against every kind of pressure brought to bear upon them in order to make them relinquish what they knew and believed. The prophets acted according to their conscience when they denounced their country and predicted its downfall because of its corruption and injustice. Socrates preferred death to a course in which he would have betrayed his conscience by compromising the truth. Without the existence of conscience, the human race would have bogged down long ago in its hazardous course.

“Different from these men are others who also have claimed to be motivated by their conscience: the men of the Inquisition who burned men of conscience at the stake, claiming to do so in the name of their own conscience; the predatory warmakers claiming to act on behalf of their conscience when they put their lust for power above all other considerations. In fact, there is hardly any act of cruelty or indifference to others or oneself which has not been rationalized as the dictate of conscience, which shows the power of conscience in its need to be placated.”

(Erich Fromm, ‘Man for Himself’ — An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics)

But how do we recognise and distinguish these two kinds of conscience? Fromm goes on to say:

“Humanistic conscience is the expression of man’s self-interest and integrity, while authoritarian conscience is concerned with man’s obedience, self-sacrifice, duty, or his ‘social adjustment’. The goal of humanistic conscience is productiveness and, therefore, happiness, since happiness is the necessary concomitant of productive living. To cripple oneself by becoming a tool of others, no matter how dignified they are made to appear, to be ‘selfless’, unhappy, resigned, discouraged, is in opposition to the demands of one’s conscience; any violation of the integrity and proper functioning of our personality, with regard to thinking as well as acting, and even with regard to such matters as taste for food or sexual behaviour is acting against one’s own conscience.”

(Erich Fromm, ‘Man for Himself)

‘Obedience’, ‘self-sacrifice’, ‘duty’, ‘social adjustment’, ‘selfless’: these terms are all very familiar. The first posters that we see, the first books we learn to read in primary school, summer exercises, diaries, teachers, films are all screaming such terms at us all the time — remould yourself, remould yourself, until we are remorseful, disturbed, tearful and frustrated, for we cannot reach the pure and noble image, nor can we feel good, satisfied, contented, and have sweet dreams for what we have done to approximate the ideal figure.

What is the ideal figure like? Here are some excerpts from the diary of Comrade Lei Fung, ‘the great communist fighter’.

“Oh my great party...all mine is yours. I will bow to your wishes always, will consecrate all my energy to serve you and be your ever faithful son.” (8th November, 1960)

“I awoke happily this morning, for last night I dreamt of our great leader, Chairman Mao Tse-tung. And today is the 40th Anniversary of our Party’s Birthday. Today, I have so many words I want to say to the Party that I will never finish; I am determined to give all my life to the Party....

“On this great day, as I remember the past, I feel charging excitement, for the Party has educated me to become a real proletarian, the Party has given me the ability to ‘serve the people’. But I have contributed too little. Dear Party, mother dear, I will be your loyal son always, and go forward with all the vigor in me, for you, I will be studious, diligent in my work and study and not spare myself but contribute all I have to build socialism and realise communism. I will not spare my life even.” (1st July, 1961)

“I will splash blood and be faithful to the Party. For the revolution in the highest interest of the class, I am ready to charge out any moment and give all, all that is mine.” (1st July, 1962)

“Now that I have studied the four volumes of collected works of Mao Tse-tung, I know how to be a man, I know who I live for. I understand that I am alive for others, so that others may live a better life because of me.” (26th November, 1961)

“One must be honest and loyal to the Party and the People. To the enemy, the more cunning the better.” (4th March, 1961)

“We must be ruthless to the enemy, be chilly and bleak as the severest winter. We must be true and honest to the Party and to the People. I will be true always to Party and People.” (from ‘Chinese Youth’ 1965, issue 5–6; reprinted in the People’s Daily, March 5, 6, 7, 8, 1977)

The diary should be the trust record of a person, carrying the most honest aspirations of its owner. Lei Fung has left us a portrait of his conscience in these excerpts. We discover that Lei’s ‘conscience’ reflects a very close relationship with an external authority, the Party and Chairman Mao, who are in turn internalised to become Lei’s conscience itself. This internalisation of external authority, is precisely the authoritarian conscience we are discussing. It stems from the worship and awe inspired by authority. For Lei it develops from the gratitude and worship he has for the Party. In practise, it forces one to obey the rules of the authority. For Lei, these rules come out of Mao’s ethical teachings, selfless loyalty to Party and Chairman. “Content to be a screw in the works, existing for others”; “the more cunning to the enemy the better”; “cruel to the enemy as the severest winter”, etc. And it is precisely this kind of authoritarian conscience, with the same set of ethical rules, that the Chinese communist government is working to instil into the People. All along, Lei Fung and like characters have been elevated to the position of the ideal communist man, the perfect hero, the example for every child to follow.

In actuality, Lei Fung’s act of internalising authoritarian conscience does create a kind of integrity, or helps to produce a feeling of integrity. A feeling which not only the orphan Lei Fung, but also the white haired grandpa intellectual, and even the red scarved kid will need. Thus by creating and cultivating this authoritarian conscience into the personality model, the Party has built an internal control into the People, which forces them to ‘voluntarily’ succumb to the wishes of the regime.

On the one hand there is aggressive social pressure, on the other hand there is this need for acceptance, to be satisfied. Where can a man turn? He cannot escape. Thus they sing after Lei Fung:

The greatest gardener of our Eden is Mao Tse-tung

Our will of life is Mao Tse-tung

Mao Tse-tung looks after our growing-up

You are our most respected father and Teacher

Long Live, Long Live, Long Live, Long Live Mao Tse-tung!

(a ‘pop’ song, originally by Lei Fung):

Sing a model for the Party

Comparing the Party with my mother,

I see that mother gave me only a mortal body

But the Party gave me light in my heart.

(from Lei Fung Diaries):

“Mother and Father are dear, but none is dearer than Chairman Mao,” became the new ethic and through the popular need for integrity through union with authoritarian conscience, the ethic established itself firmly in many young hearts. Thus the Lo girl was led to desert her parents for the Party, thus she was driven to rip up new clothes and pierce new shoes. Thus she was driven to compulsive self-denial and self-persecution. Her pathology is the creation of such a conscience.

One of my classmates has a father who was a poor peasant. He was forcibly conscripted by the Kuomintang during the Sino-Japanese War but escaped from the army at the start of the KMT-CP civil war. But his record is already muddied, and he was classified as a case of ‘contradiction among the people’. During the Cultural Revolution the daughter began to query his past and was encouraged by the school to investigate. After one month of diligent enquiries, made possible by letters of introduction to the various authorities, it was discovered that he was once a KMT colonel and therefore ‘must have the People’s blood on his hands’. She asked the government to punish her father severely, and he was clapped into prison. That was in 1966. After the Cultural Revolution, she revealed that those discoveries were actually made-up to express her loyalty.

“But you were not forced to submit such a report!”

“I had to be faithful to the Party. That was the only thought that occupied my mind then.”

Anything can be done in the name of socialism — and be accepted by the people who have adopted the authoritarian conscience as their own.

You may remember the Tang Shan earthquake of 1976, when 660,000 lost their lives. In the People’s Daily of 25th August, there was an account of a Party member:

“The severe tremor had just passed. A standing member of the City Council, Chu Chun-meng, climbed out of the rubble of a collapsed stonehouse. His 16 year old son and 13 year old daughter screamed from under the rockpile, “Father, help me quick!” Chu turned to save his children but heard the calls of Yu Kwong-yu across the wall. Yu was the Party Secretary of the Lu Pei District of Tang Shan. The earth was still quaking and time was life. In this critical moment, how should a member of the Party act? Chu told his wife decidedly, “I’ll save old Yu first.” After Yu and his family were released, Yu asked hurriedly, “How are your children?” Chu said, “Never mind them. You are the district Party Secretary, start organising the relief work for this district.” Chu returned to where his children were, but they were already gone. He was not sorry, felt no grief and was not discouraged.” “In Tang Shan, glorious Party members like Chu are innumerable.”

(from “The Wondrous Central Force”, People’s Daily, 25 August, 1976)

To be able to leave the trapped kids and go across the wall to save the Secretary, no matter how noble this may be, nevertheless casts horror and despair into our hearts. Imagine the 16-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl calling ‘Father, help us quick!’ and the father replying, ‘Never mind them,’ — and you know the power of the authoritarian conscience.

His behaviour cannot be explained in terms of class analysis, since his children were not class enemies, nor of the five black categories. The only explanation for his determination to leave them at a time when every second counts is that these kids were his own. If these were a neighbour’s kid, as long as they were not reactionaries, it would be alright. The issue is ‘ethical duty’. The report did not reveal whether the survival of the Secretary and family depended on his aid, but it can be ascertained that his saving them came not of life. “In the critical moment, how should a Party member act?” He should leave his kids. For this he was duly praised by the Party and was at peace with his social conscience. He may be a noble Party member but he is not ‘human’. He is only a human being who has lost the ability to love.

Returning to more mundane, everyday matters, which are fantastically bewildering. During the Great Leap Forward — “Paddy yields over 10,000 kilos per mu!”, “Fat pig over 6,000 catties!”, “Iron smelting in the country stove!”: such fairy tales appeared as headlines on the first page of the Party Central newspapers. The editor must have had admirable courage. Yet no one dared point out the outrage. Some may have chosen to be silent, but most people were carried away by the soaring flames of fanaticism, the spirit of the Great Leap Forward ruled supreme.

“The commune where I worked during the Great Leap Forward was one of the advanced models and visits by foreign guests were frequent. To impress visitors, corn was ‘sowed’ in front of the barn door, and visitors were amazed at the productivity of the bumper harvests, that there was actually an overflow of corn out of the barns. Up till 1969 (10 years after the GLF), the commune peasants were still referring to the incident with relish. There was not the slightest indication that people had seen through the hypocrisy involved, instead, there was the prideful, “We have been something, haha!” These peasants were still very much charmed by the “3 Red Flags” of the GLF.

Although three years of famine followed the GLF, when many died of hunger, the Chinese Exports Fair still opened its doors. Those were exciting seasons for the Kwangchow people. Vacuum flasks reappeared after a very long absence, the shop-windows of department stores were transformed, good quality tobacco appeared, lo and behold, even bicycles. In the city market, the stalls were full of vegetables and fruits; the butchery had whole pigs on its tables, and rows and rows of fish sat neatly at the fishmongers’.

“These are magnificent tomatoes, what price?”

“Exhibits! For the glory of the socialist motherland!”

The reply was made with confidence and authority and was received with grace and understanding. “For the socialist motherland,” that is, for the glory of every Chinese.

Many visitors, looking at the corn outside the barn door, looking at the television sets in the homes, looking at the preserved duck of Nanking, red tomatoes, potatoes and adorable kids with pink cheeks and bows in their hair, say, “Surely this cannot be a sham! They are not dumb idiots! They are not string puppets!” We congratulate one who remarks thus, for he is fortunate to have spent his life in an open society and to be unable to understand the totalitarian personality. But every one (mark my words: each and every one) who has grown up in China will have experienced at least one such fairy tale.

We were told how a documentary was made when we were posted to a Shan Shui Yuan commune. The friend had seen the making of a medical documentary on “the mobilisation of the masses to rout out parasites”. A five minute shot was to be made. All members of the commune were instructed to put on their Sunday best. Those who did not have better clothing were told to borrow some. Then the whole commune (several thousand strong) was assembled on the fields and dispersed in all directions. The crew adjusted positions and camera and picked out the most robust youths and pretty girls to stand in front. The order was given and the thousands hauled, pushed, and dragged at top speed. Dust flew as feet sped. It seemed an army was approaching. After the five minutes’ was over, the order, ‘Stop!’ was given and the whole commune went on holiday for one day. This 5 minute truthful documentary was shown in cinemas throughout the country and the world, and made out to show the everyday, spontaneous vigor of socialist man.

The thousands did not feel any misgiving for acting in a documentary. Conversely, if one of them had moved with less haste, or dressed with less care, he would have been criticised for his lack of enthusiasm, or even for sabotaging “socialist construction.”

From the above accounts, it should be clear that the ‘authoritarian conscience’ causes one to curry favour with the authority in order to be accepted and ‘crime’ becomes that which is against the authoritarian will. And the most serious crime is precisely the rebellion against authority, and obedience, contrarily, is the greatest virtue. (We should remember that the politicians are the authoritarians. It is no crime, sometimes even a virtue, to oppose intellectual writers, physicists, literati, and the like.)

We will not burden you with any more cruel and tortuous memories. We hope the understanding of conceptions of crime in authoritarian conscience will help to make the absurdity and cruelty and harshness comprehensible. For it can be imagined what treatment the enemies of the Party receive, since the Party wills that they be treated with coldness as of the severest winter. Indeed all writings, pro-, anti-, neutral, leftist, rightist, and comprehensive, acknowledge the legitimacy of such violence towards enemies. People have become used to such phenomena.

The dictatorship of the people is only a synonum for ‘red terror’, because of the authoritarian personality of its members. And a class dictatorship without a group of authoritarians is unthinkable. After the establishment of a class dictatorship, the absence of a group of authoritarian supporters is also unthinkable. And “the natural disappearance of the class dictatorship” is only the wishful thinking of intellectuals with no real understanding of authoritarianism. This preposition reveals their own liberty and their ignorance of man’s nature.

“Rebellion is the greatest crime in the authoritarian society.” Once this is understood we know why victims of a political campaign remain victims even when they are later found to be “correct” through other campaigns, e.g. those who opposed Lin Piao or the Gang of Four. For their despicable crime is not the reactionary opposition to a particular person or matter but that they dare to oppose, setting a very hard example. Their actions are not commensurate with the personality model, the authoritarian constructed for the society, and he is therefore an enemy of the society, which is an eternal sin.

Look at the Cultural Revolution. That is the strongest answer! Mao used the CR to smash the old authoritarian personality. But the bureaucrats’ ultimatum, and the awakening of the People’s own conscience prevented him from installing his new religious personality model and anarchism reigned over the country. “Lei Fung is gone” — the faithful sighed. The old times are silenced with Mao gone and the Gang of Four erased, the bureaucrats have reinstated their ideology and praise Uncle Lei Fung again. The ‘Learn from Lei Fung Popular Movement’ has appeared, an attempt to rescue the pre-CR authoritarian personality. But times have changed, people can see that Lei Fung is no longer the great.

During the Cultural Revolution the fearsome external authority weakened its hold on the hearts and minds of the People, the authoritarian conscience was rapidly blurred and inactivated, and a reaction took place — more and more people now took themselves as the ultimate and final authority! Whether this new Lei Fung Movement will re-establish the authoritarian conscience has yet to be seen. But this is irrefutable: that the authoritarian conscience instilled by the Party has wrought great harm to the integrity of the Chinese personality and the spirit of the Chinese People.

Several times in history, the authoritarian conscience has conquered the humanistic conscience, but always only for short periods. The humanistic conscience has never deserted and even in times of mortal peril, it points the way to self-love.

The Religious Personality

Why is it essential for the rulers to develop religious properties in the social personality? Religion makes one feel that one is carrying the cross; and with this spiritual support, man can accept the dehumanised society, or even explain and beautify the situation in which he finds himself. At the same time, religion can divert people’s anger and hatred for the rulers into their own self-examinations. Religion turns men into sinners. Religion turns the rebellious Masses who have immense hatred for the rulers into dependent, worshipping slaves of the latter. The more authoritarian society is, the more successful a religious personality may be moulded. How is this religious social personality created out of people’s life? The suffering masses, in their resistance and reaction to the miseries of their social life, come to a feeling of utter hopelessness in such an autocratic society, so that they would rather depend on religion. Men will only rise and rebel when society is less autocratic. When the Chinese communists first set up their regime, people thought they would bring an ideal society. But the Chinese communists never realised their promises and the people felt that after all that bloodshed and struggle, they had simply left one hell and plunged into another slightly better hell. They were totally disappointed and felt that rebelling against the rulers provided no solutions. The only way then was to embrace the regime, and in doing so they had to rely on religion for support in the controlled society.

The religious personality is highly idealistic. People believe that the society is progressing to a better state, but they do not know what it is that they want. All they have is faith in themselves and in sayings like, “Communism is heaven, socialism is Jacob’s ladder,” or “Chairman Mao waves and I go forward”. No one really knows, or cares to find out, what is true socialism. The idealism of this generation is the transformation of the spirit of the people brought about by Mao Tse-tung.

To the West, idealism means humanism and something that is desirable. On account of their experience, westerners have no idea of totalitarian idealism, which can be characterised by the believer’s passionlessness and dependence on the figurehead. This kind of idealism defies the will of pursuit, and refutes knowledge of the self. This is the situation of China in the Mao Tse-tung era. In a spring Trade Fair, a man from another province saw a display of tomatoes in the Canton market, and asked to buy a catty. The seller replied that the tomatoes, which acclaimed the glory of Chairman Mao and were the pride of the society, were not for sale. In this common and yet so uncommon reply, the blindness of the people under the great idealism is well demonstrated. What did the people become? The reaction of the intellectual youths to this great idealism was blind fervour and blind sacrifice. Before the Cultural Revolution, they thought it was worthwhile and glorifying to suffer and sacrifice for their motherland. They gave up their studentships even after they had been admitted, to work in rural communities. But how did the farmers educate them? A 15-year-old girl, having graduated from junior high, refused to attend senior high but preferred to follow older youths and work in the countryside. She was as courageous as the Red Guards who crossed the mountain with indomitable strength. In her enthusiasm, unswayed by her family’s objection, she left for a small Hakka mountain village. The villagers all thought that she did not understand the dialect, but before long she had learnt it. She found out that the farmers, appearing to welcome her, actually resented her — a city dweller who had the best of everything, coming to the village to take a share of what little they had. The farmers had not intended to torture the girl, but it was just a fact of life. In another instance, a group of young people who came from different backgrounds went to a village commune with the intention of building up the village. They found that in order to introduce socialism to the villagers, the policies set by the regime were insufficient. They wanted to show the farmers a paradise, but the farmers did not want it. The village community thought they were trouble-makers. They were cruelly beaten and were looked upon as counter-revolutionaries. Their conclusion was: in this society, even though idealism is advocated, the higher your ideals, the more you are oppressed.

This numbness in the people did not exist when communism first took over the country. In the early years, many intellectual youths came forward to express their views on an ideal society. The people were prepared to seek and experiment. But when Mao Tse-tung first utilized political power to create a totalitarian idealism, those raising objections were looked upon as counter-revolutionaries. After numerous suppressions, the People became unfeeling, and Idealism became a popular slogan. And now, Chinese peopel cannot even maintain self-respect, not to say personal ideals. Intellectuals like Kuo Muo-jo are held in contempt by the literary circle. Have they indeed no ideals? It is not that they are so degraded as to give away their self-respect, but rather that the society has not allowed them to save any ideals.

Those living outside China often adopt an attitude of objectivity and apathy when they criticise China. They refer to those youths who escape to Hong Kong as ‘scum’. It cannot be denied that some of them have bad habits, yet should they be held responsible for it? One should therefore speak from the point of view of a human being when discussing the affairs of China or criticising the people, instead of that of an apathetic spectator.

Another characteristic of the religious personality is hero-worship. If the basic structure of society is a collectivism in which the single uniting force is power, it will shatter many people. It is this feeling of impotence that gives rise to hero-worship. Only the embracing of a hero can give direction and support in the people’s lives. It was under these circumstances that Mao Tse-tung, on his pedestal, very successfully became the god of the people.

A good example would be Mui Hsien-teh, who was badly injured while carrying out his duties in Hainan. He could not recognise his parents, but he would cry out ‘Long Live Chairman Mao’ when a portrait of Mao was brought near. On this account, Yet Chien-ying paid him a visit, was impressed and spread word around to tell people to learn from him. Everyone praised him. Should not a free man, or Mao Tse-tung himself, hearing Of such an incident from 7 hundred million people, feel ashamed! Is it not a tragedy?

There was another student who, in a high fever, recited the writings of Mao. He was admired by everyone and was looked upon as a model countryman. The hospital diagnosed him to be an acute case of schizophrenia. An analysis of his social background showed that he was born of an intellectual family. His parents were school teachers which was slightly better than landowners and capitalists. From the psychological point of view he broke down under the pressure.

One other characteristic of the religious personality is selflessness. Anything that suppresses the self, the id, forms the core of Mao’s standard of ethical values. This standard of ethics manifests itself in a selfless personality. This is not the sublime state reached through true religiousity, but a cruel suppression of desires brought about by force. Mao Tse-tung exemplifies it with, “firstly, fear not suffering, secondly, fear not death”. During the Cultural Revolution, a newsletter from a high school recorded the following: a pot of soup served at lunch had a small piece of meat floating in it. Students were attracted but all conscientiously avoided this morsel when they filled their bowls. The officer from the Branch of the League was watching the proceedings till one student unintentionally ladled it into his bowl. The student instantly became pale with fear, while the officer glared at him. This student unavoidably became the object of attack. He was boycotted and later went into a stupor. The intention of the newsletter was to point out the officer’s lack of concern for the people. Viewed from the present, it belied the spirit of the times. How should the question of material needs be handled? The indulgence of the West undoubtedly merits criticism. But similarly, Suppression of material desires, resulting in psychological abnormality, which is then considered normal, is equally obnoxious meriting criticism as well.

During the reign of Mao Tse-tung, China could be called a moral society. Suppression of sex seemed to be an answer. But on closer observation, are Chinese people special? Do they need the opposite sex, or are they puritans or moralists, as they are thought of by Western society? The inhibition China has fostered towards sex is as abnormal as the licentiousness of the West. The policies and advocates of dictatorship have strangled the need for emotional interaction between the sexes. For a whole generation, sex has become fearful, with guilty feelings. A group of youths were assigned to work in a village in Hainan. One of them chanced to see the naked body of a girl when he passed the dormitory and was strangely excited. After this incident, unaware of what was happening, he had sexual relations with the girl. She got pregnant and out of fear, she confessed to her superiors and stirred up hatred for the young man. These incidents are very common. The sexual awakening that comes with maturity usually gives the young people a feeling of guilt. Those with strong self-discipline usually become mentally disturbed, and in behaviour, become stupefied; those who are of a nervous disposition become slaves of guilt feelings.

But, it might be asked, does society really need to punish these ‘amoralists’? The method employed by the masses was unnecessarily gross.

There were two students who were from intellectual families. Both liked Western classical literature. They often talked to each other. As their thinking was more open, they were criticised by their classmates. They became the target of attack in a political struggle, and were paraded along the streets with black placards hung around their necks. The crowd was gleeful when the two were made to demonstrate their intimacy. The psychology of the masses showed that they condemned ‘immoral behaviour’, yet in their own behaviour they were vulgar.

This study on the mass psychology of the Chinese people under the rule of the new Mandarins has not yet been completed. The authors are preparing a final version in which more aspects of the mass psychology will be discussed and elaborated.