1984, By George Orwell: Nightmare During The Chinese Cultural Revolution

Utopian Ideals and Dystopian Disappointments

A _1984_ Nightmare during the Chinese Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution in China was a political campaign launched by the Central Committee of the Communist Party on May 16, 1966. It was also the call for a massive purge of China 's past and of all influences from abroad. Chinese society in this era reflects the one described in George Orwell 's _1984_. In both cases, the party in power blames its failures on past regimes or on enemy individuals, while at the same time the party making the people believe that it has brought upon a great amount of successes. Additionally, it targeted the family unit so that the party is more important in the people 's minds. With the massive amount of
propaganda featuring a charismatic leader as a symbol, children grow up as brainwashed fanatics of the party. In both cases, totalitarian rule and the party 's firm grasp on their excessive power create a repressive social atmosphere. Through the eyes of Winston Smith, the main character of _1984_, George Orwell exposes an extremely dystopian nightmare that was meant as a warning for humanity. The frighteningly oppressive and overcontrolling characteristics that the party shows in _1984_ are the same that the Chinese communist party adopted well after the publication of the book. There are both political and social similarities between the two societies. _1984_ was actually banned in China and this highlights further the fear that it might inspire people to make the connections between their culture and the novel. The party 's way of acting, as well as the manner in which people responded to totalitarian rule in _1984_ Ingsoc society, later became a reality in China during the Cultural Revolution.

In both Chinese society during the Cultural Revolution as well as civilization in _1984_, the parties made people believe that everything was better off with their coming into power. In China, they had brainwashing activities such as communal meetings where they discussed the supposed feudal chaos and economic disaster that occurred before the revolution and prior to the ascention of the Communist Party. Likewise, in _1984_, the party claimed that before the 'glorious Revolution ', there was a terrible inequality of income, which created a world in which people lived in terrible poverty, feeding on drops of water and breadcrumbs, while others had huge houses, wore tophats, and had anything they wanted by snapping their fingers. As Orwell states, "London was not the beautiful city we know today. It was a dark, dirty, miserable place where hardly anybody had anything to eat and where hundreds and thousands of poor people had no boots on their feet and not even a roof to sleep under"( Orwell 72). In reality, the party did not provide people with enough food and they lived in miserable conditions. The lies of blaming tragedies on anything besides the party was a way to hold onto power in _1984_. In China, the Cultural Revolution was Mao Zedong 's strategy to regain power after the disastrous Great Leap Forward where more than thirty million Chinese died of starvation. The party officialy blamed the famine on "three years of natural disasters" and not on Mao 's devastating policies. In both cases there was no proof that the people in fact lived in better conditions after the revolutions, other than the party claims. As in _1984_, where the party made it seem that their food and chocolate rations were better with their rule, in China too people believed the lies and allowed the party to stay in power.

In order to hold onto power, the government in both China and _1984_ altered history and the party ordered that anything old or foreign to be destroyed. During the Cultural Revolution, for instance, the slogan _po si jiu_ was also an order to destroy the "four olds"-old ideas, old customs, old culture, and old habits. Anything ancient and beautiful was destroyed in the name of ideology. Thousands of books, paintings, and artifacts were burned or destroyed, eliminating historically valuable ojects that enriched China 's culture. Chinese history itself was revised through images, symbols, and rituals. In _1984_, a party slogan said "History is Bunk." Children 's history textbooks were full of lies made up by the party. The only place where there were historic objects was in junk shops in the proles ' neighborhoods. There, some rare and small artifacts such as a coral, a glass lamp, prints, or a notebook could still be found. The hunting down and destruction of books was done thoroughly in all of Oceania. Whatever object did remain of the past was rare and all information of the past was made up by the party. In both China and Ingsoc society, the obliteration of historical artifacts and history in general was a key method for the party to hold onto power.

Besides modifying factual history and removing ancient artifacts, people who were a threat to the insitutions were permanently erradicated by the party as an aim to firmly maintain a grasp of power.
In China too, Mao Zedong wanted to rid of more pragmatic leaders, so he declared them "enemies of the revolution." These included former landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists. Additionally, artists and cultural professionals were persecuted and forced to stop working. Some 30,000,000 victims were wiped clean from historical records after being shot in the back of the head(Frodsham 145). Mao claimed that many leaders such as China 's head of state, Liu Shaoqi, and others including Deng Xiaopeng were corrupt "capitalists" who opposed socialism and must therefore be thrown out of power. In schools, factories, and government agencies, those who were a threat to party power were criticized and persecuted. Similarly, in _1984_, Goldstein was the enemy of the party and therefore of the people. He represented everything Ingsoc was against and was the epitome of a party enemy and a threat to power. All the other party adversaries who had even a slight characteristic resembling one of Goldstein 's, were eliminated. It was normal for people to suddenly disappear one day, "a few agents of the Thought Police moved always among them, spreading false rumors and marking down and eliminating the few individuals who were judged capable of becoming
dangerous"(Orwell 71). They were forever erased from all records and from history, as if they had never existed. This is evident with Syme, who was a strong supporter of the party and venerated Big Brother, but lacked discretion, read too many books, and spoke too much. Although he was a fervent supporter of Ingsoc, he was too alert, up-to-date, and intelligent. These characteristics were dangerous. He in fact went missing from work one day and then he ceased to exist. It was Winston 's job to alter news articles and he frequently deleted the names of individuals who were eliminated by the government. In China and in _1984_, many individuals were purged and removed from history with the goal of securing party power.

In both China and Ingsoc society, the proletariat were the least threatening to power, and therefore they had some more freedoms or were saved from harm to a certain degree. During the Cultural Revolution, the proletariat or poor peasants were lucky enough to have abject misery in their lives, and therefore they were not beaten, publicly humiliated, or bothered during the violent times(Zhang 134). Similarly, in _1984_, the proles were the ones that lived in the worst conditions. They had the worst living quarters, were rationed minimum amounts of food, and dressed in rags. Although they made up around 85 percent of the population, they were the "dumb masses". Since they lacked education, power, and ability to understand their miserable condition, however, they were not a threat. Therefore, they did not have telescreens spying on them; they were allowed to have family bonds, sing freely, divorce, be sexually promiscuous; and "even religious worship would have been permitted if the proles had shown any sign of needing or wanting it"(Orwell, 72). The proles were beneath suspicion and were free because they were uneducated and harmless. The party manipulated them like cattle, for when they wanted the proles to hate Goldsten, they did, and when they wanted them to be appeased, they were. The party slogan said "Proles and animals are free"(Orwell 72). Besides civil freedoms, they maintained primitive qualities that the rest of the people were rid of. They were able to maintain their "individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself…The proles had stayed human"(Orwell, 165). In China and in Ingoc society, the proletariat population received benefits-in comparison to the intellectual and upper classes-because of their lacking power as well as for living in ignorance and in misery.

The youth population in Chinese and Ingsoc societies were the most fervently loyal followers of the party. In China, the young revered Mao Zedong and the Communist Party, and they also despised the "class enemies". China 's high school students were organized into Red Guard organization, which were the core to Mao 's Cultural Revolution. They were renowned for engaging in acts of senseless violence. They beat up teachers, friends, and anyone accused of being capitalist or against Mao 's ideals in general(Zhang 87). They were so radical that they went into houses, destroyed anything western-looking such as radio sets. They also obliterated temples, relics, and all counterrevolutionary contraband. For example, jewelry, gold, and silver were considered burgeois and therefore inapropriate to own. The Red Guards were known for breaking into houses, overturning mattresses, sifting through shelves and cabinets. If their targets refused to hand over items, even simple cotton, they would expropriate it. The confiscated items would be distributed among the members of the Red Guards-it was state sanctioned robbery. Similarly, in _1984_, the young were the most ruthless in society. In street demonstrations, the most savage screams always came from the schoolchildren. Winson would always be attacked by the children of his neighbors. They threw slingshots at him and were constanly alert for any signal that he could be an enemy of the party. The young were the most violent and fanatical members of the party in both Chinese and Ingsoc societies.

In both China and _1984_, family bonds were sabotaged so that everyone was solely faithful and committed to the party in power. The family was a primary target for Mao and his Cultural Revolution. The goal was to create a single allegiance to the Communist party. This was a drastic change from a culture where ancestor worship had been practiced since ancient times. The Cultural Revolution sought to destroy generations of tradition of venerating the family tree. In traditional Chinese society, nothing is worse than dishonoring one 's father, yet in the Cultural Revolution people were encouraged to break their family bonds. "Brothers were pitted against sisters, children against parents, wives against husbands. People were expected to report on those dearest to them because it was they alone who knew the most private thoughts of their loved ones. China was turned into a society of snitches"(Pomfret, 23). Many individuals shamelessly turned their back on their families because they believed that it was their supposed duty to the party to do so. For example, an ex-member of the Red Guard, Zhou, confessed to denouncing his mother for having a second job as a seamstress besides being a simple peasant. Even though she used the extra money she made to buy gifts for Zhou, he did not hesitate to criticize her professions as capitalist. He forced her to repeat Maoist phrases in front of revolutionary elders and demanded for her to recognize and repent for her mistake. He publicly humiliated his loving mother because in the political and social atmosphere at the time, this betrayal was what was right. In _1984_, Winston Smith similarly acted cruelly toward his mother. Even though she would always give him a bigger chocolate ration, he stole it all and did not care that his mother and sister were starving to death. His mother 's love did not keep him from disrespecting her because that society was not an atmosphere for a nurturing family. They discouraged any caring emotion from children to their parents, "the children…were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations"(Orwell, 133). In both Maoist China and _1984_, they wanted to break the allegiance to their family and transform it into loyalty for the party.

In both societies, besides devotion to the party, veneration of Mao Zedong or Big Brother was also a key characteristic. It is easier to feel strong emotions towards an individual than towards an organization, so Mao and Big Brother were symbols for the party that people worship. In China, Mao was named "the esteemed and beloved father" since the goal was for the reverence to be toward him. "Long live Chairman Mao" was a popular saying at the time(Pomfret, 89). In _1984_, Big Brother is the personal and family figure that is also meant to be the people 's symbol for devotion. He was given the credit for "every success, every achievement, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, all virtue…"(Orwell, 208). His person inspires and encourages. People become fanatics towards him because, besides being something powerful, he represents everything positive in their lives and they channel all good energy towards him. He is the equivalent to a father figure. "His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence"(Orwell 208).

Propaganda of Mao Zedong and the party was massively disseminated during the Cultural Revolution, just as Big Brother publicity was widespread. Posters and visual propaganda, as well as significant amounts of slogans, all contributed to the symbolic and revered figures of Mao and Big Brother. In China, Thought Propaganda Teams were assembled in different villages to conduct various campaigns to erradicate superstition, to promote party values, and to encourage devotion to Mao. Mao portraits were painted on Buddhist temples, replacing Buddha images. In fact, some Tibetans believed that Mao was a living Buddha and that they were liberated by him. Propaganda molded people 's way of seeing their leaders, and the party, and added to fanaticism in the societies. In _1984_, Big Brother 's face was on the advertisements and his voice on telescreens and loudspeakers. The image of Big Brother was stamped on all children 's history textbooks. The party administrated banners, processions, slogans, and games to foster sentiment towards Big Brother and the party. For example, Hate Week was a campaign to promote patriotic sentiment with the use of mass propaganda, and in preparation, one person made a two-meter-wide paper mache model of Big Brother 's head. People were bombarded with the image of the party in everyday life. The advertising made people obsessed with Big Brother as well as submissive to the party. In short, both China and Ingsoc exploit the power of propaganda to dominate people 's minds.

During the Cultural Revolution in China as well as in Ingsoc society in _1984_, individual hobbies and interests became potential liabilities.
People deeply mistrusted not only their neighbors and friends, but also their family members and own children. There was an atmosphere of paranoia and of the selfish individual caring only for one 's self and of favoring the party. History was modified by the destruction of artifacts, books, and the erasing of people. This societal situation in China is corresponding to the one Orwell describes in _1984_. Parallels between Big Brother and Chairman Mao Zedong are undeniable. _1984_, written over a decade before Mao 's social movement, predicts what could happen to civilization if people in power lean towards totalitarian socialism. He saw the dangers of party power and accurately foresaw the effects it could have on the individual and to different aspects of society. "Huge portraits of the divine leader everywhere, the ritualistic cult of the Little Red Book, the endlessly blaring loudspeakers in public places, the queues, the empty shops, men and women identically clad in shoddy blue overalls and shuffling silently along drab streets, grossly overworked, half-starved, suffering from endless shortages of everything that makes life bearable, forbidden to marry for years and then promptly separated from their spouses, dehumanized, forbidden privacy, incessantly fed with lies and yet more lies, cowering under the menace of the Secret
Police-all this was 1984 before my very eyes"(Frodsham, 144). Chinese society in the Cultural Revolution is frightengly alike the nightmarish Ingsoc society in _1984_.

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