My revolutions video

1. Excerpts from the
journal of Wang
Xiaoming
By Jared Murphy

2. May 31st
, 1966
A red sun rises, and its glorious rays will cut through the capitalist’s black souls and free China from
them. The best thing about it is that I am a part of it! Yesterday, I joined the Red Guards. Today, I marched through
the streets alongside my classmates spreading Communism!
It all began so long ago. My parents told me that the great leap forward was what killed my uncle.
They said that many had gone hungry, but we made it through… although the chairman resigned, leaving the
government behind. Thankfully, he released the Little Red Book so that we could read about his ideals wherever
we go. When he stepped down, counter-revolutionaries took power because Chairman Mao Zedong was no longer
there to stop them.
Fortunately, our great leader Mao Zedong has begun to expose the sneaky Rightist snakes that have
wormed their way into our government. In order to get rid of the evils that ravage China, he has asked us to seize
power, with the Red Guards being formed on May 29th to make it all happen. Mao’s words filled us all will
confidence so that we could criticize those that we had lacked the courage to stand up against before. This was
shown when a Dazibao was put up in Beijing to criticize the bourgeois intellectuals. I just knew when I read about
this new revolution in the newspaper that I wanted to help the Red Guards to promote Mao and combat Western
Influences. After all, it is always right to rebel.
Yesterday morning I was so excited to join the Red Guard that I woke up early, gulped down my
breakfast, barely remembered to say goodbye, and nearly forgot my Little Red book! I got on my bike and rode as
fast as I could through Shunyi, with my friends racing alongside me. We arrived at the high school and found some
of the Red Guard from Beijing waiting there. We all signed up immediately to join them as Red Guards. They gave
me a red armband, some green clothing, and an even nicer version of the little red book. To think that I, Wang
Xiaoming, was now a member of the Red Guard! It was the best day of my life.
Today, I dressed in my Red Guard uniform and joined my classmates as we marched through the town,
spreading Mao Zedong thought, putting up posters of Chairman Mao, and making Dazibaos to promote Mao and
criticize any who apposed him. I am all tired out from all the parading but there was nothing I’d rather have been
doing.
Long live Mao Zedong! Long live Mao Zedong thought! Long live China!

3. Pictures
My class joining the Red
Guard and celebrating. I don’t
need pictures to remember
this moment forever: It was
the best moment of my life!
Our new Little Red book. It is even nicer than
before! I will read it every chance I get so that
I know all about Mao Zedong thought.

Me

4. September 14th
, 1971
Who can be trusted? I don’t know anymore. Our beloved hero, Lin Biao, died yesterday. That’s not the worst part.
The worst part is that he was a traitor. The newspapers said so. I can hardly believe it… but Lin Biao tried to kill Mao Zedong.
Now Lin Biao is dead.
I haven’t been the upset since 1968, when Red Guards were abolished (leaving me with no purpose) and I had to
leave my family behind to go work the fields because of the Down To The Countryside Movement.
How did it come to this? He had been a huge supporter of Mao. He had spearheaded the campaign to tell young
students about Mao’s glory. Perhaps it was something else. Was it that he had been a wicked snake in the grass all along, and had
waited for the Red Guards to be out of the picture before striking at Mao? What we had been doing was what was right, not
spreading chaos! We had been doing what Mao asked us to do: Rebel, crush the four olds, and destroy Western Influences. We
had been defending China from the rival Red Guard Factions, who were wrong about what Mao wanted. If we had to burn the
food stores to do that, then so be it. Hell, if we had to kill people, then it was for the greater good! If people went hungry, then it
was their own damn fault for not doing what Mao wanted! Then, Mao asked us to stop. He abolished us for doing what he wanted.
Then, he sent us to work the fields. I haven’t seen my family for nearly three years because of that. Was it Lin all along? Had he
been whispering corrupted words into Mao’s ear, telling him to give up his greatest weapon? Was it all so that when Mao made
Lin his successor, he could kill him to gain power? After all, Lin had tried to have Mao move down to the level of president in
1970. No, that couldn’t have been it. That was his lieutenant’s idea, and he had been disgraced for it.
Now, Lin Biao is dead. He died in a plane crash when he attempted to flee to the Soviet Union after he failed to
kill Mao. I can hardly believe it. Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe no one can be trusted. If Lin Biao was a monster, who else is? How
can I support any officials again? Lin was a hero. What if someone framed Lin Biao to dispose of him when he was getting far too
powerful? What if Lin was actually a hero? What if he fled by plane to escape before some evil villain murdered him? What if he
was shot down?
What am I going to do? If I send a letter to my family to tell them what I think, they might report me. If I tell my
friends that I even vaguely doubt that Lin was evil, I might be criticized. If anyone finds this journal, it’s all over. Yet what if
people listen to me? What if they help me figure out what’s going on, or even rally with me to end whatever corruption lurks in the
government? I’m too scared to speak, but if I don’t, how will I sleep at night with the thought that there might be some evil lurking
in our leadership? I must make up my mind. Do I take a chance to try to let others know what may be happening… or do I burn
this journal and never speak about it again? Either way, I lose. First, I must make a simpler choice: deciding which side I believe
in. Was Lin Baio a hero, or a monster? It’s going to be a long night.

5. Pictures
I can’t believe it. Lin Biao
and Mao seemed like such
good friends. Heck, Lin Was
the one that spearheaded the
Pro-Mao movement. He was
his successor. There’s no
way that Lin Biao would be
wicked enough to try to kill
Mao.

6. September 9th
, 1976
Is it over? Is it all finally over? I hope so. I hope that the Gang of Four really did cause all the problems, like
everyone’s saying. I hope that their arrest ended this all. I hope that now I can sleep at night because it’s all finally over. I hope so. I
really, really, hope so…
I guess that the beginning of the end was Lin Biao’s death, five whole years ago. That was when people’s blatant trust
in their leaders began to waver. It was when my end started. I immediately hid my journal in the floorboards for a long time. I knew that
I could let no one see it, yet I couldn’t bear to destroy it. I still worried about it, so I disguised it as a little red book so that I could carry
it with me.
Anyway, the fanaticism died down slowly, sputtering like a fire’s embers near the end. The gang of four stepped in
after Lin Biao’s death. First, they told everyone that all the revolution’s mistakes were Lin Biao’s fault. At first, I was happy to listen.
Then, I figured out that they were using him as a scapegoat so that they could save face. I spoke out later about it, but a few ex-Red
Guards beat me viciously. I was afraid to speak after that. When the Gang of Four tried to erase everything about Zhou En Lai when he
died in 1975, the people knew when to put their foot down. They rebelled in what would later be called the Tianmen Incident.
Mao died about a month ago. Countless sobbing people went to Beijing to pay their respects. I joined them. If there was
one man who I still trusted, it was Mao Zedong. If anyone was a true hero, it was him. Mao Zedong may as well be god around here. As
soon as he died, there was no one to back up the gang of four. Suddenly, people saw a new scapegoat to pin their mistakes on. Nobody
wanted to admit that they had killed people in their insane raids as Red Guards. Nobody in the government wanted to admit that they
had made huge mistakes. Nobody wanted to admit that we all bore scars because of our own mistakes in misinterpreting Mao’s words.
So we blamed it all on the gang of four.
Were they really guilty of everything we said they were? Probably not. Maybe some of it was them, but not all of it. In
any case, we all get to sleep at night because now a few people are rotting in jail, and if we say that it was entirely their fault, everything
seems fine. They had done much of the stuff near the end, but they didn’t cause the Red Guards to do what we did. They’ve been
criticized now for what they did. In any case, I guess it’s over. I don’t even know anymore. I just want to accept something and be done
with it. Mao Zedong created a glorious revolution, but then the gang of four and Lin Biao twisted it into what it became. I guess so. No
matter what, what happened in China was bad. No matter whom we blame for it, it doesn’t change what happened. Mao would not have
wanted us to blame someone else and move on. He was a hero. Oh well. I guess that I accept it all.
It just so happens that my patchwork of a journal, with the fake little red book cover stitched on, extra pages stuffed in, mud and blood
and tears all smeared into its paper, has run out of space. I think that I’m going to give it to someone one day. Then, someone will
remember Wang Xiaoming, Red Guard, farmer, student, supporter, victim, victimizer, who was beaten by leftists for speaking his mind,
who beat rightists for speaking theirs, peasant, family-less youth and tired man. Even if no one remembers how I looked (my short black
hair and face that smiles less and less), how my voice sounded, or even my name, my life will be remembered. All of this will be
remembered. The Cultural Revolution will be remembered for what it really was.
I’m very tired now. I’ve been tired for a long time. Now, the Cultural Revolution might finally be over. It’s time to rest.

7. Pictures
Countless people (myself
among them) paid their last
respects to our leader. This
picture shows other powerful
Government officials
mourning. I cut this out of the
newspaper because I don’t
have a camera.
Was it really all their
fault? I hope so. Who
knows for sure? Not me.
Not me…

8. Works Cited
• "HOLD HIGH THE BRIGHT RED BANNER OF MARXISM-
LENINISM-MAOISM." Signalfire. Signalfire, 13 Jan. 2015. Web.
17 Mar. 2015.
• "Collector' S News by Www.collect.at Vintage Collectibles Finds."
Collector' S News by Www.collect.at Vintage Collectibles Finds.
Www.collect.at, 27 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
• Branigan, Tania. "China's Major Political Trials- a Timeline." The
Guardian. The Guardian, 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
• " 揭秘林彪笔记：毛泽东惯用捏造伎俩 得防着这招 ." -- 中国政
协新闻网 -- 人民网 . CPPCC, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
• Dewey, Caitlin. "A Photographic Guide to the World’s Embalmed
Leaders." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2013.
Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
• Citations made using “Easybib”.