320
BOOK REVIEWS
Those who had worked in the Party and government organisations, as well as in cultural, educational and scientific research institutions in the late 60s and early 70s will still remember that many of these organisations were either closed down or amalgamated when the country went in for cadre schools in a big way. Quite a large number of people working in organisations that were retained, indeed the greater part of them, were sent down to cadre schools for re-education. Trains were used to transport furniture, luggage and other goods and materials to places all over China where these people now had to make their homes. In the chapter entitled "Going Down to Cadre Schools: A Chapter on Separation", one can find vivid descriptions of this. In the process of moving, much damage was done. Take, for instance, the School of Philosophical and Social Studies where Mr. Qian and Mdm. Yang were staying. As the school was to be handed over to some other units, it could not but take to the Yanjing paper mill all the reference material amassed and compiled over the years, only for it to be turned into paper pulp. Books and other reference materials left behind were piled up in the corridors, bitten by rats and worm-eaten. What a pathetic sight, especially to those like us who have spent most of our time studying! How sorrowful we were as we could do nothing about it!
Yet it was even more distressing to see time being wasted and talent trampled on. In 1970, sometime around the Spring Festival, I went to a cadre school in Liyu Zhou near Poyang Lake, where I spent 19 days visiting friends and relatives. There I saw many highly-respected teachers from the famous Beijing University doing manual labour in a wasteland where snail fever was widespread. Grey-headed scholars slept in haystacks and ate in the open. After work, they still had to attend study classes. Very often they were wakened in the middle of the night or in a violent storm to undergo military manoeuvres. They had only chaff and wild herbs to eat on New Year's Eve and were told to chant quotations from Chairman Mao. While I considered myself lucky to belong to a cadre school where living and working conditions were much better, I was, nevertheless, greatly saddened to see people of such talent being wasted. I once wrote a couplet in doggerel style for myself and fellow workers:
320
BOOK REVIEWS
Those who had worked in the Party and government organisations, as well as in cultural, educational and scientific research institutions in the late 60s and early 70s will still remember that many of these organisations were either closed down or amalgamated when the country went in for cadre schools in a big way. Quite a large number of people working in organisations that were retained indeed the greater part of them were sent down to cadre schools for re-education. Trains were used to transport furniture, luggage and other goods and materials to places all over China where these people now had to make their homes. In the chapter entitled "Going Down
Chapter on Separation", one can find vivid descriptions of this. In the process of moving much damage was done. Take for instance the School of Philosophical and Social Studies where Mr. Qian and Mdm. Yang were staying. As the school was to be handed over to some other units, it could not but take to the Yanjing paper mill all the reference material amassed and com- piled over the years only for it to be turned into paper pulp. Books and other reference materials left behind were piled up in the corridors, bitten by rats and worm-caten. What a pathetic sight, especially to those like us who have spent most of our time studying! How sorrowful we were as we could do nothing about it!
Yet it was even more distressing to see time being wasted and talent trampled on. In 1970, sometime around the Spring Festival, I went to a cadre school in Liyu Zhou near Poyang Lake where I spent 19 days visiting friends and relatives. There I saw many highly-respected teachers from the famous Beijing University doing manual labour in a wasteland where snail fever was wide spread. Grey-headed scholars slept in haystacks and ate in the open. After work they still had to attend study classes. Very often they were wakened in the middle of the night or in a violent storm to undergo military manoeuvres. They had only chaff and wild herbs to eat on New Year's Eve and were told to chant quotations from Chairman Mao. While I con- sidered myself lucky to belong to a cadre school where living and working conditions were much better, I was, nevertheless, greatly saddened to see people of such talent being wasted. I once wrote a couplet in doggerel style for myself and fellow workers:
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