CULTURAL REVOLUTION REMEMBERED BY SOME, FORGOTTEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 010507

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2031
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI CH
SUBJECT: CULTURAL REVOLUTION REMEMBERED BY SOME, FORGOTTEN
BY MANY AMID PARTY-IMPOSED SILENCE

REF: BEIJING 3744

Classified By: Classified by Acting Political Internal Unit Chief
Susan Thornton. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Chinese authorities are treading carefully
around sensitive anniversaries this month related to
the launch of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The
Propaganda Department has restricted media
commemorations or commentary. Security officials have
prevented some survivors of the tumult from attending
international conferences on the subject and
discouraged others from talking to the press.
Contacts said the tight controls stem from official
fears that raising questions anew about the Cultural
Revolution, as well as Mao Zedong's role in it, risks
undermining the legitimacy of Party rule and the
current leadership. Scholars told us they believe
unbiased research into the Cultural Revolution is
urgent while some key players and victims remain
alive. Nonetheless, there is little serious agitation
in intellectual circles for an official reassessment
of this controversial chapter in China's history.
Instead, changing the Party's verdict on the 1989
Tiananmen crackdown and addressing current social ills
take precedence. End Summary.

A Season of Anniversaries
--------------


2. (C) May and June were crucial months in the
opening stages of the Cultural Revolution 40 years
ago. On May 16, 1966, the Government released a
circular announcing the creation of the Cultural
Revolution Group under the Politburo Standing
Committee. This was followed on May 25 by the
appearance of a "big character poster" attacking the
intellectual establishment. Then, on May 31,
nationwide inflammatory propaganda broadcasts got the
movement underway in earnest. A number of sensitive
dates come in August, marking 40 years since Mao
expressed support for the Red Guards as well as his
writing a big character poster headlined "bombard the
headquarters" that was an attack on State President
Liu Shaoqi. The May 16 anniversary passed quietly in
Beijing this year and contacts told us there are no
plans for conspicuous commemorations of other key
dates.

Media Remains Quiet
--------------


3. (C) Mainland media has orders to remain quiet on
the matter. At the end of 2005, the Propaganda
Department issued guidance prohibiting media outlets
from running unsanctioned articles about the 40th
anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution in
2006, said Dong Yuyu (protect),a journalist at Party
mouthpiece the Guangming Daily. His newspaper printed
one of two recent articles that appeared about the
anniversary. The article ran on May 16 and repeated
the established official position on the Cultural
Revolution, that is, it was "a disaster of enormous
magnitude" but that society must "stay united and be
forward looking." A similar piece from the Central
Committee journal Qiushi was posted on the Xinhuanet
online wire service website May 25. Aside from
raising questions of Party legitimacy, discussion of
the sensitive topics like the Cultural Revolution are
unwelcome in the runup to the 17th Party Congress next
year, said Wu Jiaxiang (protect),an author who served
as Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang's staff assistant in the
1980s and who maintains links to current officialdom.


4. (C) The controls extend beyond media. Several
prominent Beijing-based scholars invited to attend a
symposium on the Cultural Revolution hosted by City
University of New York-Staten Island in May received a
warning from the local Public Security Bureau not to
participate. Among them were three professors who
signed an open letter in February supporting ousted
Freezing Point editor Li Datong (reftel). Historian
Ding Dong (protect),a signatory to the Li letter,
told Poloff he asked the PSB if he could travel to the
United States during the May timeframe anyway if he
promised not to attend the symposium. He related that
the PSB warned him that if he tried to fly, border
officials at Beijing airport would confiscate his

BEIJING 00010507 002 OF 003


passport to ensure he did not travel. Former editor
of the Public Interest Times Chen Jieren told poloff
that several high-profile figures from the Cultural
Revolution were warned by authorities not to accept
media interviews on the subject.

Legitimacy and Social Stability
--------------


5. (C) Sensitivity about reexamining the Cultural
Revolution reflect concerns that doing so could
undermine the Party and the current leadership, our
contacts said. "To open the Cultural Revolution to
public discussion would raise the question of Mao's
legitimacy," remarked Zhang Guangyou (protect),former
editor of the Farmer's Daily and a longtime Embassy
contact. By implication, this would cast doubt on the
legitimacy of Mao's successors, the current Party
leadership and the Party's claim to the right to rule,
he added. Zhang stressed that discussing the Cultural
Revolution following the collapse of the Soviet Union
has become much more sensitive. "Before we could
blame the disaster on the errors of one man," he said,
"but now people can see that it was the system that
brought us to disaster."


6. (C) Controls on discussion of the movement's
history are stricter now than 10 years ago, noted Cui
Weiping (protect),a professor at the Beijing Film
Academy who is active in reform circles and who was
warned off the CUNY symposium. Current official
skittishness about difficult history reveals concerns
over social tensions, particularly the gap between
rich and poor, she said. Cui noted that in 1996, when
many prominent universities conducted scholarly
seminars about the 30th anniversary of the Cultural
Revolution, the social frictions were less pronounced.


Not the Top Priority
--------------


7. (C) Many historians and intellectuals desire a
thorough accounting of the events of the Cultural
Revolution while key figures (and millions of aging
victims) are still alive, our contacts assessed. But
for a majority of reformist-leaning scholars, such a
project is not the top priority, author Wu said. The
Government has reached an incomplete verdict on the
Cultural Revolution, but at least the tragedy is
officially considered wrong and a disaster. This is
not the case with the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, Wu
observed. He added that even though the June 4 events
affected far fewer people than the Cultural
Revolution, official willingness to reconsider the
Tiananmen record would be a concrete sign that Chinese
Government is moving toward more openness.

Generation Gap
--------------


8. (C) The Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen and other
traumatic chapters of China's recent past remain
uncharted territory for most university students
today. Cui of the Beijing Film Academy related that
she gave her students some introductory material to
read about the Cultural Revolution. But very few
students approached her to ask questions. Taken in
isolation, the unrest made no sense to the students
because they have never had an accurate picture of the
history of the political campaigns of the 1950s, or
even of the rest of the 20th century back to the
Boxers, she said. Dong of Guangming Daily separately
made a similar point, adding that parents, if they had
bad experiences, avoid discussing the Cultural
Revolution with their children. The fear is that the
children will mention it publicly at school and then
be branded as a person with incorrect thinking.

Quiet Commemorations
--------------


9. (C) Despite the official touchiness about
commemorations, some people and institutions have
found ways to quietly mark the Cultural Revolution
anniversary. The historian Ding said he attended a
conference on the Cultural Revolution in mid-May at
Bohai University in Liaoning Province. He said
participants, many of whom had been victims of the
unrest in the 1960s and 70s, held discussions groups
and read essays survivors had written. In Ding's

BEIJING 00010507 003 OF 003


view, the conference went ahead successfully because
the organizers kept a low profile and Bohai University
is far enough from Beijing so as not to attract
unwelcome attention from central authorities.
Meanwhile, Ding's wife Xing Xiaoqun, a professor at
the China Youth University for Political Science,
organized an "underground" meeting of 16 scholars to
discuss the Cultural Revolution. She is preparing an
oral history, recording victims' own accounts of their
experiences on tape. Many other scholars are
publishing articles in specialized intellectual
journals within China and in Hong Kong.
RANDT