MCLC: Yan'an Talks anniversary

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: ann huss <ahuss228 at gmail.com>
Subject: Yan'an Talks anniversary
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This video accompanies the article below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9JTT_N_Z7YA

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Source: International Herald Tribune (6/6/12):
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/chairman-mao-in-their-own-hand
/

Chairman Mao, in Their Own Hand
By ERIC ABRAHAMSEN

BEIJING ‹ The past few days have brought some encouragement for observers
of grassroots political mobilization in China. As June 4, the 23rd
anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident rolled around, the sheer
variety of words and phrases that online censors have had to block
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2012/06/sensitive-words-the-tiananmen-edition
-2/> is a heartening indicator of how hard Chinese netizens are pushing
for political justice. (The microblogging platform Weibo even removed the
candle icon 
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2012/06/weibo-removes-candle-icon-ahead-of-ti
ananmen-anniversary/>, a common expression of mourning, from its selection
of emoticons.)

However bad 2012 may wind up being for political freedoms, there¹s good
reason to believe that, at a social level, the fighting spirit is strong.

At least in some quarters. Last week brought a seemingly minor, but highly
baffling, reminder of how limited that spirit may be among authors.

Amid very little fanfare, the Writers Publishing House, one of China¹s
most prestigious publishers of literary fiction, brought out a book
entitled ³One Hundred Writers¹ and Artists¹ Hand-Copied Commemorative
Edition of the ŒYan¹an Talks.²¹

The Yan¹an Talks on Literature and Art
<http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-3/mswv
3_08.htm>, delivered in 1942 by Mao Zedong, laid out his plan for the role
of art in Chinese society. Seven years before the establishment of the
People¹s Republic, Mao was essentially telling artists that in a future
Communist paradise they could expect to work solely in the service of the
political aims of the party.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the talks, and there¹s nothing
unusual about state-owned publishers bringing out commemorative editions
of political texts. This one would include facsimiles of several
historical publications of the talks, as well as a new version pieced
together from hand-copied passages by one hundred contemporary Chinese
writers. And it was likely to go nowhere but warehouse shelves, next to
thousands of commemorative books like it.

But the hand-copied feature caught the notice of online commentators.
Among the hundred calligraphers were most of China¹s best-known and
respected authors, including Mo Yan, Su Tong, Jia Pingwa and Han Shaogong.

With growing incredulity, critics began to spell out the significance of
the exercise: decades after the official repudiation of Soviet-style
cultural management, a hundred writers were asked to meticulously
transcribe what once amounted to an artistic death sentence pronounced on
their forebears ‹ and the vast majority assented.

A few did demur. Yan Lianke, a writer of conscience who is occasionally
banned, wanted no part in it. And Wang Anyi noted dryly that she preferred
to copy out her own words rather than someone else¹s. Yet others didn¹t
bat an eye at writing phrases like: ³The purpose of our meeting today is
to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary
machine as a component part.²

What could they have been thinking? The writers were given 1,000 yuan
(around $160) each for their troubles: they couldn¹t have been doing it
for the money. The book was unlikely ever to be read, so there wasn¹t much
glory to be gained either.

Ye Zhaoyan, one of several writers who participated and later posted
contrite apologies on the Web, said, ³I¹m deeply repentant of not taking
this more seriously.² Other mea culpas took the same tone: I wasn¹t
thinking.

That this nation¹s literati can be so blasé about their integrity and role
in society and politics is a reminder of the dangers of blithe optimism
about the progress of freedom in China.

________________________________________
Eric Abrahamsen is a literary translator and publishing consultant.