Therefore, to grasp the changes the society is going through and to fully appreciate those changes which would undoubtedly lead to a better understanding of China, it is necessary to look at the Chinese society from 1949-1976 (Mao era) and from 1976 onwards (the post-Mao era).
New China, New Culture
After the founding of PRC, the new leadership wanted to get rid of all things old to create an egalitarian society. Although attack on traditional culture started well before the founding of PRC, in the 60s it gained momentum. People stopped celebrating traditional festivals, for example Qing Ming Jie (the day to sweep their ancestors´ tombs) for the fear of being labeled regressive and counter revolutionary. Instead, people started celebrating new festivals such as International Labor Day, International Women´s Day, etc that were promoted by the state.
The tradition of putting up posters of Men Shen (door gods) on the doors during the Chinese New Year festivities (Chun Jie) for protection from evils too came under attack. The state dictated that the people rely on the leaders instead of Gods for protection and people had no alternative but to put up the posters of Chairman Mao on their doors. If not from the evil spirits, putting up posters of Chairman Mao protected them from the party zealots on a lookout for counter revolutionaries. Similarly, the tradition of putting up a poster with the character "fu" (wealth) on the main entrance of homes during the New Year’s celebrations was also abandoned. Who dared becoming wealthy when the state wanted everyone to remain poor?
Even private affairs such as marriages became a political affair. People married in front of Chairman Mao´s poster or mural and the newly-weds often got "The Complete Works of Chairman Mao" and Mao´s busts as wedding gifts. And when the newly-weds gave birth to babies, most of them made sure that they gave patriotic and revolutionary names to their new borns lest they be accused of defying the party. Instead of looking at the classical texts/poems for suitable names for their babies as was the tradition, they now had to look at the political events and name their babies accordingly such as "Nation Builder" (Jian Guo), "Iron Soldier" (Tie Jun), "Strong China" (Qiang Guo), "Resist America" (Kang Mei) etc.
As China´s immediate neighbor, it is important for us to not only look at what´s happening at the government and economic fronts but also at the patterns of changes in its society, which will undoubtedly further our understanding of it and help adjust our China policy accordingly.
Songs, Peking Opera, movies and television programs, the source of entertainment of the masses too became politicized. People woke up to propaganda songs like "East is Red" and "Strength in Unity" blaring from the loudspeakers in/around their residence. Then the day was spent discussing Chairman Mao´s works, spying/reporting on the neighbors´ activities, and sometimes in the evenings they saw revolutionary movies. One of the popular entertainments of the masses then, Peking Opera, too, was revolutionized. Sanctioned by Chairman Mao´s wife, Jiang Qing, an actress herself before joining the Communist Party, the kings, queens, gods and good generals of the opera were replaced by the communist heroes and capitalist villains, and brave Chinese and evil Japanese. Similarly, literature and arts too had to be revolutionary.
People´s materialistic aspiration was limited to four bigs (si da): Transistor radio, bicycle, wrist watch and sewing machine. Work units would give those items to good workers as rewards. Therefore, in the 60s China, anyone who possessed these four items was automatically considered wealthy, a model to emulate and subject of envy of neighbors and friends. Nobody dreamt of owning property or business and took pride in their being poor.
But to give credit to the new regime, it banned the tradition of foot binding of women that was still prevalent in certain segments of the society. For a millenium, the Chinese men were obsessed with women with small feet, also called lily feet, and a brutal method of binding girls´ feet was invented that would keep their feet small. It also served another purpose: Women could be confined to their households as it was extremely painful for them to walk or go out to work with their small feet. By banning this cruel tradition, the communists made a significant contribution to women´s liberation in China .
Revival of Culture
With Deng Xiaoping´s ascent to power and the economic reforms, things took a U-turn. Once the people realized that the state´s priorities have changed, all things deemed counter revolutionary in the not-so-distant past resurfaced. The door gods along with money god and character representing wealth suddenly reappeared to adorn the doors of Chinese homes during the New Year’s celebrations. People could now go and sweep their ancestors´ tombs on the tomb sweeping day without having to fear being labeled counter revolutionary. Realizing that the people were celebrating the traditional festivals with a new found zeal, the Chinese state starting 2008 cut down the May 1 holidays, which lasted for a week in the past to a day or two (depending on the organization), and declared public holidays during traditional Chinese festivals.
Marriages are now again a lavish affair and the newly-weds, instead of posing for a photograph with Chairman Mao´s figure/image in the background, spend thousands of yuan in what is uniquely Chinese phenomenon: Wedding photographs. Unlike in other countries, Chinese wedding photographs are usually taken before the wedding in which the bride and the groom are dressed up in various costumes, and against various backgrounds. New borns too are getting names derived from classics.
Songs, movies, TV shows and Peking Opera too have been free of political influence. The revolutionary songs that one woke up to until the 70s have been confined to memory. Youths today listen to love songs and religious songs. Many Buddhist hymns are now popular songs, the most popular being the Great Compassionate Mantra (mahakarunikaya in Sanskrit, da bei zhou in Chinese). The state´s loosening grip on music is evident from the fact that artists like Cui Jian can sing songs criticizing the party without having to fear persecution. Although banned in the official media, they can be downloaded from the popular Chinese sites such as baidu.com and gougou.com and his CDs can be brought everywhere. Literature and arts are changing too. Now, people are writing about the excesses of communist rule in the 50s and 60s, and contemporary issues such as sex, drugs and crimes. In Beijing ´s Da Shan Zi area, artists have set up studios and galleries that sell paintings with quite unrevolutionary characteristics.
TV shows now reflect the problems in the society: If we look at the popular serials/soaps of the last 2-3 years, they are all about confused youths, people struggling to make it big, relationship problems and widening wealth disparity in today´s Chinese society. Peking Opera is again providing entertainment to fans and foreigners wishing to learn a thing or two about Chinese culture with its kings, queens, gods, generals and demons.
The consumption pattern is also changing. There are no four bigs today. In the immediate aftermath of the economic reforms, the four bigs were replaced by the eight bigs (apartment, music system, height, etc), but now, the Chinese want everything. Expensive Swiss watches and Japanese cars can be bought almost everywhere, even in small towns. Tailoring needs of those who have money are taken care by expensive tailors and boutiques. Those who do not have the money yet to afford on luxuries seem to have gained the confidence that one day they too would make it big and be able to afford those, and it’s this feeling that is driving entrepreneurship among the youth.
Today´s youth are different. They value gexing (individualism) in a society that values collectivism. They idolize people with individuality/ uniqueness and in China´s schools and colleges, one often hears that s/he is very individualistic/unique (ta ting you ge xing).
Although economic reforms initiated by the state led to the changes in the society, today, the society is somewhat, if not completely, independent of the state. Today´s leaders cannot even imagine doing things that their predecessors did; the population too cannot imagine being controlled by the state. The way things are changing in China gives an impression that there is a tacit understanding between the state and people―–the state expects people not to create any trouble politically, the people expect the state not to unnecessarily interfere in their lives.
As China´s immediate neighbor, it is important for us to not only look at what´s happening at the government and economic fronts but also at the patterns of changes in its society, which will undoubtedly further our understanding of it and help adjust our China policy accordingly. It would also serve another purpose: Maybe it will teach a lesson or two to those radical elements in our society fascinated with the Mao regime the futility of trying to control people and staging a Chinese-style cultural revolution to do away with all things old.
Writer is a Republica staff. He holds a BA degree in Chinese Studies from a US college and MA in International Relations from a Chinese university
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