by Hua Bai
ber 1 enemy, and U.S. imperialism number 2. Of course,
number 1 and number 2 need to be treated differently. We must attack number 1 first. While attacking number 1, we may as well put number 2 aside or even get them drunk
with some mao-tai wine. After wiping out Soviet revisionism, we can turn back to annihilate number 2. We can do it; we can definitely do it. This is indeed wisdom! The strategy is known as the one-front war. In war we must fight one
battle at a time; at dinner we must eat one mouthful at a 1 2 8
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time. These are not my own words, but Chairman Mao’s
original – ”
“Old Gui, I know all this. But how could you move from
the farm to the city? Tell me how. Why did a meat pie drop from heaven right into your mouth, and how is it that you were looking up at the moon with an open mouth at that
very moment?”
Gui Renzhong rubbed his hands in excitement and joy. “I
owe my luck to Chairman Mao. Long live Chairman Mao!
Long live Chairman Mao! However, we cannot use idealism
to perceive things in the world; otherwise the party’s patient teaching and our hard reform achieved under the guidance of Mao Zedong thought would all be in vain. We must look at the world as whole and shape our viewpoints from the
angle of the general strategy of world revolution. This matter concerns not the fortune or misfortune of any one individual but the needs of revolution and the needs of the
party.”
“But what does all this have to do with you? ”
“Did you know I once studied in America and even
received a doctoral degree there?”
“Yes, I know. I heard that at least fifty times during your confessions.”
“That’s right. I received a Western-enslaving education
and was poisoned through and through. My experience led
me to admire the American lifestyle, and, as a bourgeois intellectual, I stank and putrefied wherever I went. I really was rotten to the core and hard to change. If not for the party’s patient education, reform, rehabilitation – ”
“Old Gui, I know, I know all this. But I want to know
how you can – ?”
“In America I had a lot of classmates. They are all better off – damn it, see how deep my bad roots go! As the saying goes, ‘Different vines bear different melons; different classes speak different languages.’ What does better off mean? It implies the possession of cars, houses, high position –
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money, in a word, the comforts of fame and fortune. But
fame and fortune are the root of all evils. How dare I say they are better off? The sinister implication is that I am not doing well. How can I complain? Isn’t it a good thing to remold oneself into a new person under Chairman Mao’s
leadership in the most revolutionary country in the world?
Of course, it is a good, a very good, an extremely good
thing. It is one’s greatest happiness. What does material wealth count for? Spirit and revolutionary will are the most precious wealth. I feel infinitely honored to stand in the ranks of the Chinese people, even in the status of being reformed. I should look down on American cars, houses,
fame and fortune, etc.”
I dared not cut his self-criticism short and had to let him go on. I had lost my curiosity. Who cared why he was moving to the city? I shut my eyes. He continued to lash himself.
“Chairman Mao teaches us: The further the socialist revolution develops, the more desperately people resist, the more they show their antiparty and antisocialist faces. My case proves the truth of Chairman Mao’s wise teaching.
What I said a moment ago revealed the antiparty, antisocialist nature hidden in my bones. Come to think of it, I am truly shocked. Despite my having suffered so much and
undergone so many criticism meetings and written thou-
sands of self-criticisms, I remain the same – am I going to meet my judge in the other world with such a stubborn,
granite head? It’s difficult. It is harder to remold an intellectual’s thought than it is to climb the blue sky!”
Uttering a long sigh, Gui murmured for a long time
with tears all over his face. I knew he was very sincere in all this. He would be very much annoyed if I interrupted him.
The bus was crawling in the warm sunlight, and I felt a bit too hot in my worn-out sweater. However, I dared not move for fear of affecting his faithful confession. The jerking of 1 3 0
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the bus soon put me to sleep. I don’t know how much time had passed before I heard a voice in my ear.
“Little Liang, aren’t you listening to me?”
He shook me awake. I nearly burst out laughing, seeing
his tearful face leaning against my shoulder. “Old Gui,
please don’t get too close to me. I have TB.”
“I’m not afraid. I’m immune to all germs except decadent ideas.” I dared not challenge him. One word from me would kindle another tedious self-criticism.
“I have an American classmate named Thomas Eliot –
not the modernist poet who won the Nobel Prize in 1948
and died in 1965. My classmate Thomas Eliot is an impor-
tant nuclear physicist in America, very famous – infamous, I mean.” (He added infamous hurriedly in order to show his critical attitude. Naming was a simplified version of criticism.) “Through Kissinger, he passed a list of the Chinese scholars who had studied in the United States to our government. A small number of them are designated as emi-
nent scholars. Unfortunately, I was one of the most famous, the most infamous – this is the root of my evil; otherwise, I could be reformed more easily. Thomas Eliot is coming to visit China soon. He plans to spend two hours in Gui Renzhong’s residence. This creates a tense situation, for where is Gui Renzhong’s residence? My residence of course is your residence, as well as everyone else’s residence. We feel comfortable and warm living together in communist style. But the Yankees think differently. If they saw me living in a barn, sleeping with dozens of others on one long platform, running after our cows with a whip, they would slander
China, saying that we persecute intellectuals. We and they have different, or opposite, concepts of suffering and happiness. We need to treat our own people and foreigners differently in order to avoid leaving loopholes for our enemies.
For this purpose, the leadership assigned me a house, which was said to be first owned by a garment merchant and then 1 3 1
Bai Hua.book Page 132 Friday, October 26, 2001 2:56 PM
used as the consulate of an eastern European country. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the diplomats of the revisionist countries were all chased out. So the garden lay in waste, the roof grew weedy, the rooms became dark with smoke as Red Guards roasted their chickens inside, and the floor had several burn holes. But everything has been
repaired now. Because it was an emergency, no one dared
delay. Within a week, everything in the house was properly installed except for the hopeless garden. It was pretty hard to rebuild the garden because all the flowers, birds, fish, and insects – the pets of the leisured class – had practically been annihilated. However, the comrades working in Foreign
Affairs were truly capable. They transplanted a plot of Lucerne lettuce and dozens of green cabbage. The green vegetables and the Lucerne with purple buds were quite a sight.
I can tell Thomas that we Chinese utilize every inch of our land to produce for the revolution and to create beauty at the same time. Liang, you must pay a visit to my place. You know, they even assigned me a ‘servant.’ Don’t be surprised.
The duty of this servant is limited to opening the door for Thomas when he arrives and making us
coffee and serving
dessert. Then when Thomas is leaving, he needs to open the door again and hold his car door, bowing a good-bye. Please, come with me to see my house. Oh, no – excuse my slip. I meant the socialist state house assigned to me at the
moment by the leadership.”
“Okay. A chance to do a little sight-seeing.”
When old Gui and I got off the bus at the terminal in the town center, I found his broken leg had completely recovered. You wouldn’t have known his leg had once been fractured unless you knew the story. In high spirits, old Gui took me to the street in an area known as the French Con-cession before 1949. He pressed the doorbell of a large villa.
On the square marble column by the iron door hung an
enamel plate that read, Gui’s residence. This small plate no doubt ran counter to the order of the day in revolutionary 1 3 2
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China. It should appear only when it was needed for filming life in prerevolutionary society. But now they were not making a movie. I was so astonished by what I saw that my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Odder still, a robust man wearing a sort of Western black uniform of the old days
opened the iron gate. I guessed he must be old Gui’s servant. This servant shot a fierce stare at old Gui. “Why did you come back so late? Do you know what time it is?”
Gui’s high spirits vanished with a shiver. “The bus – the bus – it’s very hard to catch. If you don’t believe me, you can
– ask – him.”
“Who’s he?”
“Little – Little Liang, a comrade from our farm.”
“I expected you home early so we could rehearse. You
went to the farm just for that shoe box?! Damn it, you
stinking intellectual, making such a fuss about nothing.”
Rehearsal? I was puzzled. Was it true that old Gui was
going to perform on stage?
“I’m to blame. I’m to blame – ” Old Gui bowed low sev-
eral times. “Rehearsal is easy for me. I can manage it in a minute.”
“How long is your minute? I need to fetch my son from
kindergarten.”
“Take it easy. We can start the rehearsal right away.”
“Take it easy? If we don’t hurry up, we won’t finish before dark!”
“Let’s begin, then. Little Liang, you came at the right
time. Would you please play the part of Thomas Eliot?” He hid Jane’s ash box in the vegetable garden.
“Me? Play the part of Thomas Eliot? I’m no actor.”
“You have only a few lines. Now please go wait outside
the gate.” He pushed me out and locked the door. “Little Liang, press the bell now.”
Following his instructions, I pressed the bell. I had never touched a bell before and felt quite excited. How wonderful was this tiny gadget that rang at merely the gentlest touch.
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Wanting to test the magic power of my finger, I pressed it for about ten seconds. Old Gui’s servant yanked the door open and roared, “What’s wrong with you, you bastard?
Who’s going to pay for it if you break it? Even if you can afford to pay for it, who could come and fix it in time? The American devil is coming here in three days. We can’t afford any damage.”
Like a child who had broken his toy, I looked at the finger that had brought this horrible reproach. To challenge this servant, I pressed the bell and released it in a flash. The bell gave a crisp ring to prove it was still in perfect working order.
Old Gui said apologetically, “This young man’s a bit
careless. Let’s start again.” The servant slammed the door shut. “Look at your watch and don’t press for more than
three seconds,” Gui shouted. “Now start.” I watched the
time and pressed for three seconds. The servant opened the door with a long face.
Old Gui reminded him, “Bow deeply. Then extend your
right hand to invite the guest in with the words, ‘Are you Mister – ?’ Little Liang, please tell him, ‘I’m Thomas Eliot.
I came from America to see my old friend Gui Renzhong.’”
The servant stood erect and glared at me: “Are you
Mister – ?”
“I’m Thomas Eliot. I came from America to see my old
friend Gui Renzhong.”
Old Gui reminded him of the next line: “Say, ‘Please
come in, sir. Mr. Gui is waiting for you.’”
Imitating Gui Renzhong’s manner, but with an angry
tone, he said, “Please come in, sir. Mr. Gui is waiting for you – ”
“Say, ‘Here is Mr. Thomas Eliot!’”
“Here is Mr. Thomas Eliot!”
“Very good, very good,” old Gui said cautiously to the
servant. “But you’ll play your part even better if you assume a little more politeness and show a bit more respect.”
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“What? More politeness and respect? I’m already polite
and respectful enough.”
“All right. Do it the way you want.” Gui Renzhong came
in from the sitting room to shake hands with me. “Tom,
long time no see. Tom, how are Mary and the kids?”
I didn’t know how to reply. Old Gui improvised lines for me. “‘How are you, Gui? Where is Jane?’ Oh, no! Little Liang, you can’t ask that. If you do I’ll be at a loss for an answer.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Of course, I don’t need to ask about Jane; I’m not the real Thomas. But I’ll bet you anything Thomas is going to ask about her. He won’t
just stick to the words you’ve made up for him.”
“That’s true.” Slapping his brow, he found himself in a
dilemma. “If he really asks that, I – I can only try my best to avoid it. Little Liang, come try it out on me.”
I said in an affected foreign accent, “Dear Gui, how are you?”
“Fine, Tom. I’m fine. See, I look well, don’t I?” He
stretched out his arms expansively to show his vitality.
There was a tearing sound, as the thread at the joint
between shoulders and sleeves came undone. Old Gui said
in haste, “It doesn’t matter. I know how to sew it. Thanks to our labor reform, I’ve learned all sorts of things. Tom, I’ll bet you don’t know how to sew. I believe you don’t do any manual labor. The aristocrat class is ignorant because they are clothed and fed by others – ”
“What are you saying?” The servant cut off Gui abruptly.
“How dare you lecture our foreign guest? How can you use our terms to deal with foreigners? They would seize this case as an example to say that we are criticizing them. Why are you such a bumbler?”
“I’m sorry. Let’s try it from the beginning again. I guar-antee there’ll be no bare thread around the sleeves on the real occasion. Don’t worry. I’ll sew them with thread from the quilt and I won’t make such large motions. Little Liang, come on, let’s try again.”
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“Gui, where’s Jane? Where’s our beautiful lady Jane?
Why didn’t she come to meet me?”
Tears streamed from poor old Gui’s eyes. However, he
managed to avoid the question pretty well. “Tom, my old
friend, you – you look the same as always. Please come in.”
He led me to the sitting room. The servant withdrew to the kitchen to make coffee for us.
The sitting room was newly painted; a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, a grand piano stood in a corner, and a landscape watercolor print was on the wall above the piano.
Who knows where they had gotten it all? In the niche
of
one wall was a pedestal. In the past, it must have supported a sculpture, perhaps a nude, but now it displayed a brightly colored clay sculpture of Wu Qinghua, the heroine of the revolutionary ballet The Red Detachment of Women. The balle-rina held a rifle and tiptoed on one foot. The plusher sofas were covered with fine drawnwork; however, from the words The Red Flag Hotel, one could easily tell that the furniture in the house was really borrowed.
“How come you’re living alone, Gui? Where’s Jane?” As
I sat back into the sofa, I repeated my earlier question.
Holding back the tears, old Gui complained, “Little
Liang, please don’t make trouble for me. Why do you have to cling to that question?”
“It’s not me who’s clinging to this question. When Mr.
Eliot sits down in this spacious house, he’ll naturally think about your family life and find it odd that you’re living alone here.”
“All right. Go ahead and ask.”
“Gui, where’s Jane? Why doesn’t she come to greet me?”
“Thomas,” with great effort old Gui mumbled, “sorry,
Jane, Jane – she hasn’t come back from work yet.”
“Oh, can I go see her in her office before I leave?”
“Uh, of course – of course not.”
“Why not?”
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“She is – is – not in this city.”
“How can that be? Don’t tell me you two have to work in
two different cities? Why don’t you talk with the authorities? Shall I talk to them for you?”
“No. This is a trifling matter. We are willing to – ”
“Willing? I don’t get it. How can you two be willing to
be separated by your jobs? Please tell me what city Jane is working in now. I can easily postpone my itinerary one day and go with you to visit her.”
“No – thank you, Thomas, but that won’t be necessary.”
“Gui, I can see you are hiding some pain.”
“No, not at all, Thomas.” Old Gui was caught unaware.
“You must be hiding something from me. Jane has
passed away from this city, this state, this world after being tortured, hasn’t she?”
Sobbing and sobbing, suddenly old Gui howled like a res-
ervoir breaking its dam. Frightened, I stood up and shook him. “Old Gui, stop behaving like this. Look who’s coming!”