The Color of Sacrifice 牺牲的颜色 – Chapter 20
The story of a young Chinese peasant’s search for a better life and the Long March ... 中国青年农民寻找更好的生活与长征的故事 by 作者: Ramses Rashidi 华蓝星
Chapter 20 The East and the West
Ping was feeling better. During the day when teacher Liang and his wife - teacher Li - were gone to school, Ping would pick a book to study from the stack of books by his bedside or sometimes he would talk to Teacher Liang’s parents or he would sit by the window and look at what was happening in the busy street adjacent to the house.
The street was a microcosm of life in the small city of Zunyi. The vendors pushing their carts up and down the street and singing about how delicious were the apples or how wonderful were the sweet yams. What would particularly attract Ping’s attention were the farmers that would be carrying their vegetables, fruits or chickens on their donkey-driven carts to be sold. The skinny rickshaw drivers sweating as they ran carrying people sitting in the back under the shade of the canopy.
The spring weather was pleasant for the most part. The blossoms on the fruit trees and the flowers in the garden were colorful. It was a time of renewal of the cycle of life. At times Ping would sit near the fountain under a tree in the courtyard and talk to teacher Liang’s parents who were retired farmers which in itself was a novel idea. They were lucky to be in this position. Usually, the reality of the life of a farmer was a never-ending picture of hard work till death.
Mr. Liang brought a cup of tea for Ping as he sat near him and started talking. “We come from many generations of farmers. Both me and my wife were born on farms in southern China. You yourself come from a farmer family. So, you know what it’s like. The warlords in our area were ruthless. For our son to go to college and become a teacher… was almost impossible. We had to make a lot of sacrifices. He went through much hardship and difficulties. His achievements are really a great honor for our family. Our three daughters got married to farmers and they still live on the farm.”
Ping listened carefully to Mr. Liang until he stopped talking. “Yes, I know. It’s a very difficult life. The last few years have been brutal. The landlord in our village has made our lives miserable and there is nothing we can do about it. So now for us communism is the answer. It’s our only hope for the path to freedom and prosperity.” Ping shared his thoughts about the future and that losing his leg was a small price to pay for what the Red Army could achieve.
Ping was anxious to hear what teacher Li was going to share that night. After dinner, it was time for the nightly talk. Teacher Liang’s parents also joined the nightly talk.
Teacher Li put her baby girl to bed by singing lullaby and holding her in her arms till she fell asleep and then joined everyone at Ping’s room.
When she entered the room Ping started clapping with great excitement. Teacher Liang served everyone with a special local tea blend. There was a silence for a few minutes as every one tasted the wonderful aromatic tea blend served by teacher Liang.
“Ping, your presence here is a wonderful opportunity for us all to come together to share ideas, philosophies and ways of thinking both from the traditional ancient culture of China as well as modern ideologies like Marxism. As I told you last night my wife has done a great deal of research about Marxism and I would like to invite her now to share with us he thoughts on the topic.” At this point Teacher Liang turned and looked at his wife as if though inviting her to start her talk.
“Thank you. Well. I have done a little bit of research. So, my understanding is limited. I enjoy learning new things.” Teacher Li talked about her upbringing in southern China. “My father was a doctor and my mom was a teacher. When I was growing up, they were always reading and talking about all kinds of ideas. They planted the love of learning in my heart. I am grateful to my parents and how they have been my role models. I hope I can do the same for my daughter.” Teacher Li paused for a few seconds and then continued.
“So, what I have learned in my research of Marxism is that it’s of course a western philosophy which is different from most Eastern philosophies. Obviously, there are different ways of thinking in the west and the east. The western thinking tend to gravitate towards the absolute by trying to resolve everything into good and bad, right or wrong, black and white, which lends itself to problem-solving, individualism and materialism. There is a need for a defined and set agreement to move forward.
Basically, life is a problem and you try so break it down into small segments and then solve the problems one by one. This of course is popular in the western scientific circles as well. The feeling that what you know is absolutely right. You also see this in Marxism. Marx treats the subject of capitalism and the difficult life conditions of the workers with very simplistic solutions and predictions.” Teacher Li paused again for a few seconds as everyone was listening carefully.
“To make a contrast we need to look at the eastern philosophies which tend to be based on relative thoughts, balance, harmony, the unknowable and humility. The Yin and Yang symbol is a good example.
The two sides are complimentary and in harmony with the universe. Each side has a small circle of the opposite color, which I believe it means the relative nature of Yin and Yang. You find similar concepts in many eastern philosophies including ancient China which nurtures a posture of learning and humility. When you feel that you know something, think again. Your thoughts are relative to time and space.”
Teacher Li took a sip from her teacup and looked around with a smile. “What is also interesting is that Marx himself never worked in his lifetime. He lived mostly on handouts by his students and help from Engel, his research partner. So, his ideas and theories of class wars, classless and stateless libertarian society with the common ownership of production by the workers and peasants is far from what we see in communist regimes like Russia which is right now going through a dictatorship under Joseph Stalin who is utilizing tyrannical tactics to destroy his opponents who are purged and sent to hard labor Gulags in Siberia. However, in China we are infatuated with western ideas, even if it doesn’t work. So, we are now experimenting with Marxism.”
Teacher Li paused at this point and looked around to make sure she had everyone’s attention. “please continue, this is fascinating. I never heard you talk about this in such details.” Teacher Liang commented as Ping seemed a little shocked.
“For Marx, human relations are the result of their role in the economic life and competing social classes. So, gender inequality is also about economic disparity and not so much about women’s rights and roles in society. This way of thinking is again kind of simplistic way of explaining something without much knowledge of society and cultures. For example, in China the traditional practice of foot-binding and keeping women at home while glorifying the value of boys in the family in a mostly because of our history, culture and the life of the peasants who are today about 90% of our country. It is much more complicated than a simple economic disparity thing. In fact, the Red Army started the Long March by leaving Ruijin with 86,000 soldiers of which only 32 were women.”
“For now, the communists in China have an advantage because they are not in power. So, they can draw a beautiful picture of communism which is very appealing. The idea of peasants and workers having a better life with lots of freedom and absolute equality while controlling the economy and production is more of pipe dream. How would you control the economy while the peasants and workers are mostly illiterate? How would the system give workers incentive for performing well or working hard.? So, we don’t know what communist will do once they are in power.” Teacher Li paused at this point and looked at her husband teacher Liang who was smiling while Ping looked like someone had hit him in the head with something.
Teacher Liang smiled as he looked at his wife, Ping and his parents. “Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I wished that more people could hear you. These are very valuable insights which helps me to think about the future of China. However, in my opinion, currently, considering the conditions of our country, it seems like communism is a better choice and a way out of our difficulties with the regional warlords, the small landlords and economic hardships. I feel that we need to support the communist party and hope for the best.”
Ping was digesting the information and thinking about what teacher Li had shared.
Teacher Liang as usual was keeping an eye on the clock.
“Ping, It’s getting late. Let’s get some rest. We have many opportunities to talk some more, and we need to hear more from teacher Li. She always brings a fresh perspective which help us look at things independently without prejudice and bias.”
© 2021 Ramses Rashidi
"When you feel that you know something, think again. Your thoughts are relative to time and space." YES! A fascinating journey of thought.