Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard (American Lives) PDF
Preview Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard (American Lives)
Gang of One American Lives Series editor : tobias wolff Gang of One Memoirs of a Red Guard fan shen University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 䉷 by Fan Shen All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Shen, Fan, – Gang of one : memoirs of a Red Guard / Fan Shen. p. cm. – (American lives) isbn -- - (hardcover : alk. paper) . Shen, Fan, – . China – History – Cultural Revolution, –. . China – Social life and customs – – . China – Biography. . Chinese Americans – Biography. I. Title. II. Series. ct.s a .⬘ – dc This is what life is made of: Fire Earth Metal Wood & Water. Lao-tzu (th century bc) Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii part one: fire . ‘‘Burn the Old World!’’ . ‘‘Long Live the Red Terror!’’ . ‘‘That’s My Piano!’’ . The Great Wall Fighting Team . ‘‘Revolution Means Chopping Life’’ . The Forbidden Books . The Great Leader Meets the Red Guards part two: earth . The Journey West . The Beijing Kids . ‘‘Be a Revolutionary Peasant!’’ . The Great Mountain Flood . The Barefoot Doctor . Moon Face . Smoking Devil’s Wedding . The Death of Uncle Cricket part three: metal . A Mouse Wants to Fly to the Sky . Li Ling . ‘‘Another Jumped Last Night’’ . The Year with Two Augusts . ‘‘The Goal: Join the Party’’ . ‘‘Confession Is Death!’’ . The Lucky Eleven part four: wood . The Heavenly White Pagoda . ‘‘Two Uncles Are Here to See You’’ . ‘‘Clever Zhao’s Missing!’’ . The Nun . The Monster of Ambition . The Last Battle in College part five: water . ‘‘Forget It!’’ . Watery Stool, No Bacteria? . A Stinking Stone from the Outhouse . ‘‘You Have Launched a Satellite!’’ . ‘‘I’m the Only One Who Reads Your Letters’’ . The Campaign for a Passport . ‘‘Savor It’’ . Don’t Laugh Yet! Preface I am a first-generation immigrant and a proud American. I came to America in January as a graduate student. Like most immigrants to America, I brought with me little money ($ to be exact) but a big am- bitious heart. In the next six years, I studied very hard, supporting myself with a scholarship and odd jobs at a restaurant and a bookstore. To com- plement my formal schooling, I also took every opportunity to visit vari- ous institutions that make up the vital parts of American society, in or- der to study and understand the country that I admired. I sat through church services and court trials, visited farms and state penitentiaries, toured TV stations and newspapers offices, and volunteered in retire- ment centers. I received my master’s degree in a year and a half and my Ph.D. in five years. Today, I have a happy family life and I teach as a professor at a beautiful college in southern Minnesota. Happy as I am, I still often wake up in the middle of the night and find myself reliving my tor- mented past, a life full of struggle and despair, and yet, a life that sharp- ened my determination to succeed and made me appreciate the opportu- nities in the land of the free. It took me a long time to make up my mind about whether to write this book and to divulge the secrets that I had harbored in my heart for many years. The decision was agonizing because the book will almost certainly upset my parents; it may even cause them to regret that they had ever given birth to me. Having been revolutionaries all their lives, they will be angry and hurt because I have committed the ultimate crime as a revolu- tionary: I have rebelled against the Great Leader, Chairman Mao, and have become an anti-revolutionary despite their lifelong teachings. Without a doubt, my ‘‘treachery’’ will be unbearably painful and dis- appointing to my parents, since they had every reason to believe that I would grow up to be a perfect revolutionary, having been born and brought up in a family full of dedicated revolutionaries. Both my grand
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