Flowers or More Weeds

Flowers or More Weeds?
--Culture in China since the Fall of the Gang of Four

Author(s): G. Barme
Source: The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs , Jan., 1979, No. 1 (Jan., 1979), pp.
125-133
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the College of Asia and the
Pacific, The Australian National University
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2159078
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FLOWERS OR MORE WEEDS?

CULTURE IN CHINA SINCE THE FALL
OF
THE GANG OF FOUR
G. Barme
Flipping through any of the major or even local literary gazettes or reviews
produced in the People's Republic during the last year, one not uncommonly
comes across the names of authors unseen in print for ten or even twenty
years.1 Some of these authors, even as recently as eighteen months ago,
were still regarded as being "enemies of the people", "rightist elements",
"unreformed bourgeois intellectuals" or some other category of abuse
reserved for the victims of the literary and political struggles of the mainland.
The reappearance of many old writers, artists, actors and arts administrators
has, during 1978, become an intrinsic part of the new "literary spring" and
"blooming of a hundred flowers" as the present cultural revival is referred
to in the Chinese press.2
What are the practical implications of the rehabilitation of the older
generation of literati? How much does the reprinting of Chinese and foreign
classical works in limited editions do for a culture-starved population? How
long can this "spring" go on before ushering in a new and perhaps harsher
winter? These and many other questions are by no means the prerogative
of the doubting foreign observer, but are equally real and pressing problems
for intellectuals and people throughout China.3 Their resolution is a matter
of time; their significance, however, is worth immediate discussion. This
short review is an attempt to outline some of the reforms or "thaw" in the
arts in China following the arrest of the gang of four in October 1976, as
well as to discuss what these reforms have achieved and what prospects there
are for the future.
Since the inception of an organized Chinese literary movement in the early
1930s, the leftist writers and artists of China have shown a predilection for
faction-making and feuding equalled only by political leaders and secret
societies. The coming to power of the Communist Party in 1949, though
allowing a period of peace and stability for the war-torn country and a new
THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE AFFAIRS NO.1

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126 THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE AFFAIRS
period of development for the arts, both traditional-native and imported

innovative, also gave considerable power to people whose ideas were tempered
and deeply influenced by prolonged war, underground activities. secrecy and
a strange mixture of Soviet, traditional and Chinese Communist literary
thinking. The result of this curious conglomeration of influenc,es produced a
not altogether uninteresting collection of literature, art and drama during
the first years of the People's Republic. Nevertheless, the factionalism of
pre-1949 Shanghai and Yan'an remained strong, achieving a greater weight
than previously possible through the new nation-wide centralized cultural
organizations.4 As early as 1950, the criticism in Ding Ling's Wlenyi bao of
Between Husband and wife (Futfu zhi jian) - a short story by the amateur
writer Xiao Ye-mu which appeared in the first issue of People's Literature
(Renmin wenxue) in 1949 - revealed more than a desire for ideological
purity.5 The criticisms, though they brought a number of issues in need
of discussion into the open, were basically aimed at bolstering the prestige
of Wenyi bao as a bastion of proletarian literary correctness at the expense
of the less ideologically-minded magazine, People's Literature. Although such
examples are fairly common during the first seven years of the People's
Republic,6 the vying of literary critics and leaders to prove their ideological
superiority did not result in excessive literary repression. It had, however,
already begun to influence the enthusiasm and daring of many writers, both
young and old.
The period 1956-57 not only marked a turning point in China's economic
revolution, but also resulted in the disastrous fusion of politics and culture,
beginning the decade-long prelude to the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
During this "hundred flowers" period, as it was called, the leader of the
cultural administration, Zhou Yang (later known as China's "cultural
hegemon" or wventan duba), saw the removal of his greatest opponents,
Ding Ling, Chen Qi-xia, and Feng Xue-feng, as well as any others who chose
to speak out honestly about the Party's cultural policies. Added to the
earlier removal of Hu Feng (an enemy of Zhou's from the days of debate
with Lu Xun in 1935) in 1955, this left Zhou in a seemingly unassailable
position. The short-lived flourishing of literary creation and debate over
literary theory, though more praiseworthy for its openness and daring than
actual literary worth, was to be the last of its kind for over twenty years.
An interesting by-product of this year and the ensuing "Great Leap Forward"
of 1958 was the rise of two Shanghai writers and literary critics, Yao
Wen-yuan and Zhang Chun-qiao.
All this talk of factions, politics and literature does not mean that the
views and theories under debate or contention were any the less real and
relevant than the forces that were using them. However, it is now common
in China to see all literary stagnation and cultural repression in the light of
the rise and rule of the Jiang-Yao-Zhang cultural triumvirate of 1966-76.

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THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE AFFAIRS 127
The fact, though still clouded by a lack of detailed information,

Jiang and her fellows only did more thoroughly and effectively to their
opponents what Zhou Yang and his cohorts did to theirs, to numerous
innocents, and to literary theory itself ten years earlier. The truth of this
is already widely recognized and discussed in China, though the support of
top government officials is necessary before it can be made more public.
Then what of the Cultural Revolution? Both culturally and politically, it
really began in 1957, or at least was an inevitable corollary of the events of
1957. What was there of culture during it? The most well-known cultural
products of the period are the eight official "model" Peking operas. The
significance of these modernized operas and their connection with Jiang
Qing's claim to cultural legitimacy is a subject still little studied either inside
or outside China.7 Nevertheless, these works were, for nearly ten years, the
only officially approved pieces of theatre and literature in China. All
other creations of the new dispensation (in that they were produced after
the beginning of the "new millenium" which the model operas marked in
the history of proletarian literature), be they short stories, novels, films,
drama, poetry, or painting, had to be modelled on these operas and on the
"creative techniques" (such as the "triple prominences" - san tuchu and the
"twin revolutionaries" - shuangge) which had produced them. The result,
though doubtless politically sound, was far from edifying or even particularly
interesting. Even Mao Ze-dong, an avid supporter of the revolution in
opera, was forced to comment in 1975 that eight operas were not enough for
800 million people.8 Unfortunately, Mao's comments have not yet been
published in full, and the few quotations released fail to touch on the reasons
for the dearth of cultural life at the time. The real problem was not one
of quantity, for the politically correct editors were providing numerous
wordly politico-literary screeds, most obvious in the unending stream of
full-length epic novels and short stories published in 1975-76.9 The problem
was that such dry and stereotyped literature failed to interest the reading
public. A few local operas based on the "eight" were insufficient to satisfy
even the most compliant audience.
Following the arrest of the gang of four, the first widespread and popular
sign of a change in the cultural atmosphere was the spontaneous drawing
and posting of anti-gang cartoons in schools and factories and in the streets of
all major cities in China. The use of cartoons in the "battle against the gang
of four" was later extended to include associates of the gang and even some
of their supporters in provincial governments. During 1977, a number of
displays of the works of amateur cartoonists were held and a series of books
containing some of the most popular cartoons was published by leading
Chinese daily newspapers for internal distribution. However, this flurry of
creative energy came to an abrupt end in mid-1977. The reason was simple:
once the gang had been "done to death" in cartoon, what other topics

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could be satirized? A population conditioned by literary and political

witch-hunts sparked off by much less than a few satirical drawings was
quick to see that cartoons had "served their historical function" in the
criticism of the Gang and that it was best to leave it at that. The paranoia
caused by what is officially called "residual fear" (yuji as in xin you yuji) has
been one of the major blocks in the revival of Chinese culture following
1976. Even now, two years later, few indeed are the people who can declare
confidently that the present "hundred flowers" will not suffer a fate similar
to the movement of 1957.
Although cartoon drawing has been considerably reduced since 1977,
newspapers (especially the Guangming ribao) have begun to print cartoons
by the famous artist and arts administrator, Hua Jun-wu, as they did before
1966. The rehabilitation of the "rightist" artist and member of erliutang
(a literary "club"), Huang Miao-zi, another well-known cartoonist, is also a
hopeful sign for more cartoons in the future. The real loss to this field of
creation at the moment, however, is the amateur artists who, fired by the
freedom to satirize the gang, are now wary as officially approved professionals
take over.
Painting in general has been allowed to revive to an unexpected extent.
The days when artists were not allowed to use black paint in traditional
Chinese painting because it represented the "black line" are gone.10
Similarly, red flags, high-tension electricity wires, chimneys and the myriad
other symbols of industrialization (or "modernization", the vogue word in
China at the moment) in painting have disappeared. The printing of the
works of foreign artists, a limited experimentation with western techniques
and a greater willingness to discuss modern art theory rather than condemn
it out of hand will certainly lead to considerable technical innovation and
perhaps even originality in the future.
The performing arts, especially drama and the Peking comic dialogue
(xiangsheng) were also quick to reflect the freer cultural policies of the
post-gang leadership. Plays such as the satire Fengshuye hongle de shihou
(When the maple leaves are red) and the more recent Baijuan xiansheng (Mr
Blank Paper) 11 though pointedly critical of the gang and their followers,
have been immensely popular with comedy-starved audiences. Less well-
known plays have also introduced humour and emotion, qualities which in
Cultural Revolution productions were at best stereotyped into sterility.
Other productions such as Danxinpu (Paen of red hearts), a contemporary
story in which the late Premier Zhou En-lai figures, Yang Kai-hui, the story
of Mao's first wife (or second, according to some schools) featuring the first
appearance of Mao on the stage, and Baotong (The Paper-boy) about Zhou
En-lai in Chongqing have all been very well received.12 In viewing or reading
these plays, however, it is important to remember the type of theatre
available in China since the early 1960s. Realism, humour and all human

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emotions have generally been eschewed in drama since 1966. Drama with
more classical overtones, especially that of the recently deceased writer
Guo Mo-ruol 3 has also been restaged. Classical opera and the various forms
of local opera have reappeared with a vengeance, though non-contemporary
works are enjoyed mainly by the older generation. Regardless of the form
or content of post-1976 stage productions there are a number of problems
that can only be solved by a period of cultural freedom and experimentation.
The most obvious of these is the serious lack of young performers capable
of movements and emotions other than the stiff stylization of "model"
Peking theatre. Production techniques and know-how are also lacking in
innovation, the tendency being to use the methods current before the
Cultural Revolution. The result, though fresh and appealing at present,
may soon develop into a new stereotype. Again the doubt remains: will
the political leadership allow the time needed to develop something new?
Of the visual arts and post-gang cultural activity in general, the film
industry is the most disappointing. 1977-78 has witnessed the release (or
rather re-release) of numerous old films. This in itself has enriched the
cultural life of China beyond measure. Some of the writer's more cynical
Chinese friends comment, however, that one of the reasons for releasing so
many old films is to prove that the new leadership is interested in the people
and concerned about entertainment. Nevertheless, the more recent
introduction of a number of foreign films, - mainly Romanian and
Yugoslavian with a few ancient products such as Oliver Twist, The Million
Pound Note starring Gregory Peck, and the French Hunchback of Notre Dame
starring Gina Lollabrigida and a number of Japanese films (including the
controversial Wang Xiang and the C-rate spy story Beihaidao dazhuisha) to
commemorate the signing of the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty
in August 1978, - does show a desire on the part of the authorities to
introduce varied foreign cinema. A number of films made by the "leftist"
film studios of Hong Kong have also been shown.
In commenting on the films made in China in the last two years the
playwright, critic and novelist Xia Yan14 (a former member of Zhou Yang's
owvn "gang of four") said that in 1960 he saw the four main faults in Chinese
film-script writing as being that they were too "direct, obvious, clumsy and
numerous". He now thinks that one more fault should be added, that of
being too "phoney".15 As one of the severest critics of recent film-making,
Xia Yan has declared that there must be an attempt to break out of the
stilted framework of the "model" operas and restore some life to the cinema.
As with other fields of cultural activity, writers and producers are still
suffering from "Cultural Revolution shock". The recent plethora of war and
spy films is due to the fear of touching on any contemporary, and therefore
political, themes. The comment by many writers during the Cultural
Revolution that "writing is dangerous" still holds sway. However, Xia Yan

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has demanded that the thirtieth anniversary of the People's Republic in

October 1979 see the screening of many new, high-quality films. Old actors
and producers are making a film based on the novel Li Zi-cheng, another
called The Life of Wen Yi-duo and one on Lu Xun16 (the latter two to be
acted by Zhao Dan) as well as a number of films with more contemporary
themes such as Zui ren (The criminal); 17 1979 will undoubtedly see a
quantitative and qualitative improvement in the Chinese cinema.
The most promising field of cultural activity since 1976 is that of short
story writing. Although slow to reflect the new cultural policies, following
the publication of Ban zhuren (The Class Monitor) by Liu Xin-wu in
November 1977,18 a number of interesting short stories have appeared
throughout China. For the first time in over two decades there is some
officially sanctioned writing that has managed to combine an intriguing
socio-political plot with a readable and appealing style, the so-called unity of
political correctness and artistic excellence called for by Mao in 1957.19
Many of these new works have nonetheless been a source of considerable
debate and argument during 1978.
Liu Xin-wu's "revolutionary" story about a class monitor and his
relationship with his students following the arrest of the gang of four was
the first to touch on the problem of the disillusionment of young people
following the Cultural Revolution. In more recent works such as Aiqingde
weizhi (The place of love), Mianduizhe zuguode dadi (With our motherland)
and Xinglai ba, didi! (Wake up, my brother!),20 Liu has touched on many
of the "forbidden regions" (]inqu) of gang of four literature: love and the
description of imperfect, doubting and even utterly pessimistic young
people who are not class enemies are his forte. During the broadcasting of
The place of love over the radio in July-August 1978, it was even reported
that people in department stores crowded around radios to listen - a nearly
unheard of occurrence in the last three decades.21
Of the many other controversial stories that appeared in 1978, the most
widely debated was the story Shanghen (The wounded) by Lu Xin-hua, a
first year student in the Chinese department of Fudan University in
Shanghai.22 Originally rejected by the Peking-based magainze People's
Literature, the Shanghai daily paper Wenhui bao printed it after Lu wrote it
up as a big-character poster in Fudan. The story is about a girl who rejects
her mother, who was declared to be a counter-revolutionary and traitor
during the early years of the Cultural Revolution. The girl flees to the
countryside in an attempt to escape from the ignominy of being the
offspring of such a vile character, only to find that her political and personal
life is plagued by the "crimes" of her mother. Some time after the fall of the
gang the girl decides to return to Shanghai to see her mother only to find
that she has just died. Rigorously discussed in Shanghai and Peking
following its appearance and widespread acclaim, it was finally praised in an

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article in the national paper Guangming ribao.23 It having been established

that the story was not a direct attack on the Cultural Revolution but rather
a forceful literary attack on the hateful Lin Biao and gang of four, the author
was invited to Peking to take part in the writing of a film-script for the
story.
Shanghen and the film-script Zui ren are some of the first pieces of
literature to deal with the Cultural Revolution (this does not include
underground literature in manuscript form), and their appearance has
witnessed the beginning of a more honest attempt to represent the Cultural
Revolution in literature. Though perhaps lacking the literary merit of
Chen Ruo-xi's short stories 24 or the candidness of Gu Wei-wei's works,25
there is no doubt that the following months and years will see some
genuinely realistic and moving attempts to represent contemporary Chinese
life in literature and on the screen. It is interesting to note that a meeting
of writers and critics in Peking held under the auspices of the Ministry of
Culture to discuss the stories that have appeared in the last two years
approved such blatantly negative themes by declaring that to reveal and
attack the "crimes of the gang of four" is fully in accord with Chairman
Mao's literary line and cannot be seen as "uncovering the dark side"
(jielou heian mian) of socialist society.26 With the appearance of "love
stories", stories on the Cultural Revolution, science fiction"7 and spy stories,
it is possible that the semi-pornographic and thriller underground literature
of China may wane in the near future. (Of course, this also depends on how
the problem of "intellectual youth" being sent into semi-exile in the
countryside is dealt with.)
This short review of cultural life in China in the last two years has been
limited to outlining a few of the most obvious changes in the most popular
fields of cultural activity. Local theatre, television, quyi and other traditional
arts must be left for a future study. In short, 1977-78 has seen more a
revival of culture than any great new creativity. The prospects for a
lively and genuine cultural movement are hopeful, but as yet far from assured.
The wasted energies and enthusiasm of a generation of Chinese people and
the residual fear of many old writers and artists have resulted in immeasurable
losses to Chinese culture. If the political leaders of China can keep their
"mass movements" restricted to the upper echelon of the Party without
influencing basic policies and the entire population then there is some hope
for an extended period of internal peace in China. It is only in such an
atmosphere that there will be any hope for Chinese culture in the future.
To distort a well-known Chinese saying: the situation is not as bad as it was,
yet there are still many difficulties ahead.
November 1978
Hong Kong

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Notes
1 The more familiar of these are Bi Ye, Wang Meng, Fang Ji, Du Peng-cheng, Ai Qing,
Yao Zue-yin, Xu Chi, Wang Ya-ping and many others.
2 See Mao Dun's article Mantan wenyi chuangzuo (Comments on literary creation) in
the May issue of Hongqi (Red Flag).
3 In a recent trip back to China in the late summer of 1978, the writer had occasion to
meet a number of old writers and intellectuals. They were unanimous in their praise for
the new cultural policies but equally dubious about the future.
4 These include the Chinese Writer's Association (Zuoxie), Literary Association
(Wenlian) and associations for poets, dramatists, painters, dancers and musicians.
5 Ding Ling's magazine was established after People's Literature and was anxious to
achieve speedy national prestige. The struggle between the two magazines continued for
some years until Ding's fall and exile to the north-east in 1956.
6 Such criticisms continued and included attacks on the works of authors such as Bi Ye,
Wang Meng, Fang Ji and others. A fairly complete account of the literary history of this
period is given by Merle Goldman in her work Literary Dissent in Communist China,
Cambridge, Mass., 1967.
7 The movement to modernize traditional opera, both metropolitan and local, began in
the late 1950s. The former mayor of Shanghai, Ke Qing-shi, had a considerable influence
on the theory of modernization and updating. His role was later negated by Jiang's rise
to prominence.
8 These comments were made in talks Mao gave on literature in July 1975. The full
statements have only been made public in local wall posters in China.
9 The short stories published ad nauseum in the Shanghai-based magazine Zhaoxia are
the best example of this genre of literature, although local literary gazettes throughout
the country produced similar amounts of "gang-literature". Those interested in a
selection of pro-gang stories on the Cultural Revolution should consult the collection
Yingzhe zhaoyang produced in Peking in January 1975 by workers from the factories
who led the worker-offensive on Beida, Qinghua and other Peking universities in 1968.
The novels Zhengtu (Shanghai, 1975) and Kuangbiaoqu (Liaoning, 1976) are also good
examples of this literature.
10 Some artists, in their effort to avoid persecution, even resorted to using only greens,
reds and yellows in their paintings, unfortunately with little success. Lao She's widow
and student of Qi Bai-shi, Hu Jie-qing, was one such artist.
'1 The script of Feng appeared in the June 1977 issue of Renmin xiju. Baijuan
xiansheng, a comedy about the Gang's "Education Minister", Zhang Tie-sheng, is yet to
appear in printed form.
12 Danxinpu appeared in the May issue (1978) of Renmin xiju, BaotongintheJune issue
of the same year, Yang Kai-hui in the August issue.
13 The two plays that have so far been restaged are Chai Wenji and Qu Yuan.
14 Shen Rui-xian, a prolific writer before 1949 and a prominent administrator after. See
his speech entitled Cong Guangzhou huiyi tanqi in the August 1978 issue of Renmin
xiju, pp. 2-5.

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15 See the June 1978 issue of Shanghai wenyi, pp. 6-10 for Xia's ar
zhishi jiqiao.
16 The film Li Zi-cheng is based on the mammoth and as yet incomplete work of Yao
Xue-yin of the same name, and promises to carry on in the tradition of such films as
Jiawu fengyun, Lin Ze-xu and Li Shi-zhen. The other two films are based on the lives
and works of the writers Wen Yi-duo and Lu Xun.
17 See the June 1978 issue of Renmin dianying.
18 See the November 1977 issue of Renmin wenzue.
19 See Mao Ze-dong's On the correct handling of contradictions among the people.
(Section eight), February 1957.
20 Aiqingde weizhi appeared in the first issue of the new Peking literary magazine
Shiyue (October), in September 1978. Mianduizhe zuguode dadi appeared in the
August issue (1978) of Yalu jiang (previously called Liaoning wenyi), and Xinglai ba, didi!
appeared in the second issue of Zhongguo qingnian (China Youth) for 1978 in October.
21 See page 11 of the fourth (October) issue of Wenyi bao for 1978. This article
(Duanpian xiaoshuode xin qixiang, xin tupo, Wenyi bao 4 (1978) 5-14) also contains
a list of some of the more successful post-1976 short stories.
22 As yet not available in any exported Chinese periodical. The Hong Kong magazines,
Qishi niandai (The Seventies, November 1978) and the first issue of Dongxiang
(Directions, 20 October 1978) have both reprinted it with some editorial comments.
23 See Guangming ribao, 29 September 1978.

24 A collection of these entitled Yin xianzhang in Chinese has recently appeared in
English. See The Execution of Mayor Yin and Other Stories from the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution by Chen Jo-hsi, translated by Nancy Ing and Howard Goldblatt,
Bloomington, 1978.
25 Gu Wei-wei is a recent immigrant to Hong Kong from Peking. Her two works to date
are 16 sui Beiping and Wo jia zhu zai Tiananmen houmian, both published in Taiwan.
26 See the fourth (October) issue of Wenyi bao pp 15-9, Jiefang sixiang, chongpo
jinqu, fanrong duanpian xiaoshuo chuangzuo.
27 See Religion- Rationality- Practice (a philosophical-fiction story)! by Yan Jia-qi,
guangming ribao, 14 September 1978, and The death ray of coral island by Tong
En-zheng in the August issue of Renmin wenxue, pp. 41-58.

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--Culture in China since the Fall of the Gang of Four

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