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[Interview begins shortly.]
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Interviewer: Hello. Thank you for accepting my interview.
First, could you please tell me the decade of your birth?
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Interviewer: You don’t need to say the specific year.
For example, “1930s,” “1940s,” “1950s” is fine.
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I [was born in] the 1940s.
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Interviewer: Would you mind telling me where you were in
China from 1966 to 1976?
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I can speak somewhat specifically. In 1965, I passed the
entrance exam for Peking University’s history department, to major in
world history.
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In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out. From June 1,
1966 up until March 1970 [I was at Peking University].
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[Then] we graduated and were given work assignments.
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During the Cultural Revolution, I was in Peking University
for three years and nine months; at the time [Peking University] was the
epicenter of the Cultural Revolution.
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After March 1970, we were sent to rural villages.
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Interviewer: To which rural village?
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Baoding District, Hebei [Province]. Our group didn’t go
to the army farm; we went to join the production team for training.
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It was different from middle school students going “up
to the mountains and down to the countryside.”
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At the time, we graduated, were given assignments, and
drew a wage.
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A year later, we were given work assignments, and after a
year at these assignments, we were all sent to the grassroots.
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In Baoding District, most of us were sent to teach middle
school.
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Interviewer: Thank you. So, it seems like you had a lot of
experiences during those 10 years.
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Interviewer: Probably even in several days and nights, you
couldn’t talk about everything.
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Interviewer: Of course, we aren't able to let you speak
[for that long], and also, we’d like to ask you to think about within the
initial 10 minutes of the interview.
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Interviewer: Could you talk about the memories you’d
most like to share?
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What I’d like to talk about in the first 10 minutes is
the most important thing that happened at Peking University during the
Cultural Revolution: the first “big-character poster.”
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From when [the first] “big-character poster” was
pasted up on May 25 [1966], and then on to June 1 [1966], when Mao Zedong
gave a commentary [on it on] China Central Radio,
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to the next day, when People’s
Daily published a story saying the Cultural
Revolution was a mass movement—[this all] arose from that
“big-character poster.” I was there personally.
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I have some memories of my own, but more of the
memories—that is, in the past two or three years, I’ve constantly been
researching the creation of this “big-character poster.”
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I’ve interviewed the authors of it; I’ve interviewed
three people: Nie Yuanzi, Gao Yunpeng, and Xia Jianzhi.
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With these interviews, [I] wasn’t like a journalist
conducting interviews.
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I’d go to [the interviewees’] homes to interview, to
visit, and just naturally bring up the Cultural Revolution, talk about the
first “big-character poster.”
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Also, when, for instance, Peking University would have a
class reunion and I’d run into one of the “big-character poster”
authors [such as] Gao Yunpeng [or] Xia Jianzhi, they’d both talk a lot
about the process of creating that first poster.
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So, I talked about the first “big-character poster” is
part of my experiences during the Cultural Revolution.
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Also, I could say this reflects a collective memory, since
some things are what I’ve heard them talk about—Nie Yuanzi, Xia
Jianzhi, and Gao Yunpeng.
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The first “big-character poster” had seven [authors]
altogether.
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Two of those people have already passed away: Zhao Zhengyi
and Song Yixiu.
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Then there are five people; other than the three I’ve
already mentioned, there are [two more], Yang Keming and Li Xingchen.
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I’ve been in touch with three of the five who are still
living, and what’s more, we’ve communicated more than once.
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In the course of my contact with them, I also consciously
tried to gain an understanding from them about the background of the first
“big-character poster” and its process of creation.
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I feel that this was the most important thing that
happened at Peking University during the Cultural Revolution, and it had
the most influence on the Cultural Revolution, since Mao Zedong used this
“big-character poster” as a breakthrough.
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If Mao Zedong hadn’t commented on it on the radio, or in
newspapers all over the country, its influence would’ve been quite
small.
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But after Mao Zedong used this “big-character poster”
on the radio and after People’s
Daily wrote about it, its influence was huge.
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Then, in the whole country mass movements from bottom to
top arose from that “big-character poster.”
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This poster—I returned to Peking University on June 3
[1966]. Before June 3, our history department was doing work-study at
Shisanling Sangen—a branch school of Peking University.
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After I’d enrolled in school, I spent the first year on
the Peking University [Beijing] campus, and in the second semester we were
sent to Shisanling for work-study.
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At the time, Peng Peiyun, Deputy Secretary [of the Peking
University Party committee] was in our history department, gaining
firsthand experience by working with a grassroots unit, leading this
work-study and the historical criticism of the time.
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In itself, this shows that [Peng Peiyun and Peking
University president] Lu Ping were already very left, already aligned with
Mao Zedong, but they really didn’t know what Mao Zedong was going to
do.
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Furthermore, they never imagined that later, Mao Zedong
would stab them in the back.
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Because three people were called out on the first
“big-character poster”—Song Shuo, Lu Ping, [and] Peng Peiyun.
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What, after all, were they doing in the Cultural
Revolution? That was the topic of this “big-character poster.”
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At the time, they were all aligned with Mao Zedong, and
they were to run into trouble—I mean Lu Ping and Peng Peiyun.
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Peng Peiyun was gaining firsthand experience working in my
history department.
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After listening to the radio on June 1 [1966], Peking
University just erupted. The history department
couldn’t stay [at the branch school]; everyone was required to return to
the [Beijing] campus on June 3.
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After we got back, the campus was packed with people every
day, tens of thousands of people -- 70 to 80 or 100 thousand or more people
poured into Peking University to check out what we were doing.
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At the time I also heard about how the [first]
“big-character poster” came about.
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I heard a lot of things, and what’s more, I had some
contact with the authors of it.
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At the time, I personally felt that the creation of the
“big-character poster” was not directed by one single person, but
rather was a natural result of the microclimate and atmosphere.
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I say “microclimate”—Peking University’s
microclimate was its conflicted internal struggle.
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“Atmosphere” means struggle within the central
authorities. In the directive that Mao Zedong in the central authorities
wanted to undertake the Cultural Revolution, the May 16 Circular was really
important.
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At the time, that was my feeling and understanding.
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During the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution in
2016, all kinds of discussion forums were being prepared both in and
outside of China, wanting to make a conclusion on lessons learned from the
experience of the Cultural Revolution.
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At the time, the editor of an online magazine in Beijing
on the history of the Cultural Revolution called
Remembrance commissioned
an article from me. The editor was Mr. Qi Zhi [Wu].
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I said I would write about the first “big-character
poster.” My title was “A Preliminary Investigation Into the Reason for
the Production of the First Marxist-Leninist ‘Big-Character
Poster.’”
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I investigated this question—an initial exploration. But
in 2016, the 50th anniversary, this forum in Beijing was never held.
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The higher authorities talked it over, and wouldn’t let
them hold it.
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At the time they said, “After the 50th anniversary, you
all can do whatever.” This was just tricking them.
This discussion forum never was held.
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My article wasn’t published in
Remembrance until April
2017. During this process [of writing], as I just said, I did a lot of
interviews with the creators of the first “big-character poster.”
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According to my research and my own personal
understanding—I also experienced the Cultural Revolution at Peking
University—I believe there were two major elements to the creation of
this “big-character poster.”
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One was the release of the May 16 Circular. This was the
central authorities’ document.
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Another thing is a meeting at an international hotel in
Peking University; that is the direct background of the creation of the
first “big-character poster.”
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What was this meeting at the international hotel all
about?
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In July 1964, the Department of Propaganda sent an
investigation team to Peking University, to investigate issues there, in
preparation for carrying out the Four Cleans campaign and socialist
education.
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Then, in July 1964 they formally began the Socialist
Education Movement. The work group team leader of socialist education was
the Department of Propaganda’s deputy department head Zhang Panshi.
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Every week, Zhang had to report back to [Peking University
president] Lu Ping.
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The first phase of socialist education in Peking
University—that is, from November 1964 to March 1965—the task force
encouraged the masses to put forth opinions.
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Because during the period from 1957 to 1959 to the
’60s—socialist education in 1964—a lot of contradictions had built up
internally in Peking University.
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At that time, class struggle was also a guiding
principle.
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So-called class struggle as a guiding principle was just
people messing with one another. You mess with me; I mess with you, and a
lot of conflicts build up.
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In 1964 when the task force encouraged the masses to offer
their opinions, they did—the more they offered their opinions, the
fiercer it got.
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My feeling is that it was a bit like the Yan’an
Rectification Movement in 1957, bringing up opinions.
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Like Nie Yuanzi: at that time she was party branch
secretary of the Department of Philosophy [at Peking University].
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She offered ideas to Lu Ping, that is, [fighting]
sectarianism and bureaucracy, she brought this up.
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But as for the work group, it mobilized the masses to
study the “nine commentaries,” to study the speeches of the central
leadership.
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[Nie and others] wanted them to "elevate minor faults to
the level of principle violation,” that is, to take the problems of Lu
Ping’s Party committee and raise them to the [same] level of the problem
of “taking the ‘capitalist road.’”
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In this way, on November 7, 1964, Zhang Panshi gave a
report to the central authorities. This was called the No. 2 Report.
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The main point was that Lu Ping’s Party committee was
taking the road toward capitalism—that was already the point.
At the time, they were guiding the masses to move in
this direction.
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So, one thing that was different from the "great airing of
views" (of 1951-57) was that at the time, these so-called socialist
education activist elements—that is, those who actively put forth
opinions—they were different from 1957.
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They didn’t want democracy and freedom; they all just
criticized Lu Ping as being Right—it wasn’t criticizing Lu Ping as
extremely Left; it was criticizing him as being on the Right.
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In this way [they said Lu Ping] wasn’t aligned with
Chairman Mao’s education revolution. [He was] carrying out this activist
line improperly; [he was] right-deviationist. [They] criticized from this
angle.
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That was quite natural, since at the time there was no
other ideological weapon.
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This resource—China was closed off, there were just
these few resources, Four Selected Volumes of
Mao; the commentary in "two newspapers and a
magazine"; Red Flag
magazine’s commentary, just these few.
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They were all criticizing Lu Ping’s Party committee from
these positions, but actually what they were publishing was [their]
dissatisfaction with the leadership.
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But later, this situation changed during the meeting at
the international hotel, [during] the second phase of socialist education
in Peking University.
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Beginning March 3, 1965—at the time the secretariat of
the Central Committee held this meeting.
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Deng Xiaoping spoke and said Peking University’s Four
Cleans campaign had issues; the method of struggle had serious
problems.
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[The speech treated] Peking University’s Party committee
as corrupt. Actually, Lu Ping was a good person who’d made mistakes [the
speech said].
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This set the tone, and next the international hotel
meeting was called together. Before this meeting, there was the meeting at
the Minzu Hotel, which was to attack the “work group.”
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[They] said Zhang Panshi’s direction was wrong—the
Minzu Hotel meeting sacked Zhang Panshi, saying he’d made mistakes.
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It eliminated him, and took [deputy] director of the
Propaganda Department, Xu Liqun, and made him team leader of the work
group.
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In this way, the group of leaders added a few people,
including Song Shuo; Song Shuo was brought in, and also Deng Tuo.
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Deng Tuo was the victim of an attack at the beginning of
the Cultural Revolution and [later] committed suicide.
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However, during the meeting at the international hotel, he
was the one attacking people.
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Deng Tuo was the deputy team leader of the work group
during the second phase at Peking University, and was also a person in
charge of the small leadership group during the international hotel
meeting.
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He was the person in charge of the Yan’an Rectification
Movement meeting. At the time, he called together
attacks on these activist elements who’d put forth their opinions,
[saying] “You are all daring to bleed at the point of a bayonet.”
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Peng Zhen also said, “These people can be criticized.
Why can’t [we] criticize them?” meaning the socialist education
activist elements, [who had] offered opinions on Lu Ping’s Party
committee.
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In this way, it was turned on its head. The second phase
of the Socialist Education Movement was the meeting at the international
hotel turning around and attacking these socialist education activist
elements.
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The focus was attacking the department of philosophy,
since at the time that department put forth the most opinions, [from
faculty members] such as Nie Yuanzi.
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At the time, the department of philosophy had four
important people [who were attacked], Nie Yuanzi, Zhang Enci, Kong Fan, and
Sun Pengyi—these four people were the center of attacks.
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Later, the seven writers of the first “big-character
poster” were all from among these ranks of those who’d been
attacked.
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So, the creation of this “big-character poster” was
not a coincidence; [they] had all been attacked.
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To what extent were they attacked? It was planned to turn
them into an anti-party clique. These people who were
most vocal in the philosophy department were turned into an anti-party
clique.
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Since at the time Deng Tuo had called a meeting at the
[CCP] Beijing Municipal Committee office, letting this meaning slip: these
people were anti-party, were a little clique; this was the intention.
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So, they were fiercely attacked. According to what Nie
Yuanzi said, they were struggled against.
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But later, up to the beginning of 1966, they didn’t
continue being attacked. Why? Because at that time Wu Han of the department
of western history was being criticized.
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It was already quite deep, and the Three-Family Village
[Anti-Party Clique] began to be criticized. The Three-Family Village was
Deng Tuo, Wu Han, and Liao Mosha.
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The Beijing Municipal Party Committee realized this was a
bad turn of events, and stopped this meeting at the international
hotel.
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After it was halted, [the Beijing Municipal Party
Committee] took these activist elements from the international hotel and
sent them to the Four Cleans campaign army.
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Lu Ping had a saying: with this group of people, it was
[like] throwing a steamed bun to hit a dog—gone, never to return.
That is, these people had been decided on internally
at the time.
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The Beijing Municipal Party Committee notified each work
team that, first of all, these people could not be given important
positions; they could not be in charge of work teams for the Four Cleans
campaign.
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Second, after the work of the Four Cleans campaign was
finished, they had to stay in the rural villages. Work had to be arranged
for them locally.
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This amounted to the same thing as [sending] Rightists to
rural villages for reform through labor in 1957. Looking at it now, there
wasn’t this understanding back then.
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This meeting at the international hotel was really like
the Anti-Rightist campaign.
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These people offered opinions and became the targets of
attacks [saying these people were] anti-Party, and finally they were sent
away to serve their sentences.
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Of course these people didn’t accept it; they fiercely
resisted. To what extent?
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At the time, Kong Fan from the department of philosophy
had a saying: “So what if you behead me—as long as there is
truth.”
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This was quoted from a poem by the martyr Xia Minghan, but
the last two lines [“Kill Xia Minghan, but there are still his
successors”] were changed to “Kill Sun Pengyi, but there is still Guo
Luoji.”
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At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, we heard
these two really resisted. [We] didn’t get it wrong; I’m not wrong.
“The way you all attack people is wrong” – they resisted.
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But back then, they felt there was nothing they could do;
in the end they were left to stay in the rural villages.
Guo Luoji said that at the time, he was prepared to
spend the rest of his life in the village.
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However, on May 19 [1966], Beijing’s Party committee
passed along a document: the May 16 Circular. This is
something Nie Yuanzi told me, that it wasn’t picked up until May 19.
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This was related to issues among the higher authorities;
that is, between May 4 to May 26, the enlarged sessions of the Politburo
were held to draw up the May 16 Circular.
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[It] attacked the Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang [Anti-Party Clique],
dismissed Peng Zhen’s Five-Person Cultural Revolution Small Group,
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and set up the Central Cultural Revolution Small Group
(CCRSG), which was Chen Boda, Kang Sheng, Jiang Qing, Qi Benyu, Zhang
Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, etc.—these people.
129
00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:49.000 align:center line:-1
This small group was set up. The spirit of this May 16
Circular was passed along by the Beijing Party committee on May 19.
130
00:20:49.010 --> 00:20:55.070 align:center line:-1
Since Nie Yuanzi was a member of the Peking University
Party committee; Zhao Zhengyi was the deputy secretary of the Department of
Philosophy Party committee.
131
00:20:55.080 --> 00:21:07.580 align:center line:-1
These two were later authors of the first “big-character
poster.” After they heard [about the May 16 Circular], they thought,
“Oh, they will attack us, right?”
132
00:21:07.590 --> 00:21:16.480 align:center line:-1
They thought about that, feeling quite oppressed, and
wondered if this might be an opportunity, a chance to clarify things.
133
00:21:16.490 --> 00:21:21.210 align:center line:-1
[They thought], “Are we anti-Party? We’d better make
this clear.”
134
00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:33.530 align:center line:-1
But at that time, in society—not talking about the May
16 Circular—out in society, in April 1966,
Beijing Daily News and
Liberation Army Daily were
already publicly criticizing Deng Tuo.
135
00:21:33.540 --> 00:21:42.260 align:center line:-1
Gao Yunpeng told me, “At the meeting at the
international hotel, Deng Tuo attacked us, and now the newspaper was openly
naming him.”
136
00:21:42.270 --> 00:21:55.430 align:center line:-1
So, I think the tide turned; maybe fortunes changed,
otherwise they could’ve been turned into anti-Party elements; there would
have been no way to turn that around.
137
00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:08.150 align:center line:-1
So, in this way, they anticipated this incident; they
prepared to write a letter to the central authorities, to Mao Zedong, to
Liu Shaoqi, to respond to Peking University’s Four Cleans, [saying] they
were wrongly accused.
138
00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:13.900 align:center line:-1
Later on, they talked it over, and said they’d just go
ahead and write a “big-character poster.”
139
00:22:13.910 --> 00:22:19.940 align:center line:-1
The exact date of their decision was May 23, since the
poster was put up on May 25.
140
00:22:19.950 --> 00:22:29.100 align:center line:-1
Xia Jianzhi said that on May 23 they held a meeting; Li
Xingchen was not there, but the [other] six people were.
141
00:22:29.110 --> 00:22:36.410 align:center line:-1
They held a meeting to decide whether to write a letter to
Chairman Mao or write a “big-character poster.”
142
00:22:36.420 --> 00:22:41.240 align:center line:-1
[Xia Jianzhi] said if they weren’t going to write to
Chairman Mao, then they should make a poster.
143
00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:59.900 align:center line:-1
Xia Jianzhi emphasized to me that on May 23 when they
decided to make a “big-character poster,” Cao Yi’ou was not there;
Kang Sheng’s wife Cao Yi’ou was not on the scene, so this decision was
made by them together; it was not Cao Yi’ou’s directive.
144
00:22:59.910 --> 00:23:15.320 align:center line:-1
Also, according to my research, over these 50 years [since
the Cultural Revolution began], although Cao Yi’ou went to Peking
University in the name of the CCRSG, she never convened a single
meeting.
145
00:23:15.330 --> 00:23:26.150 align:center line:-1
She never called together [those] seven people,
never even called together a meeting or three or people, saying, “You
all ought to write a ‘big-character poster,’ here’s how to write it,
here’s the content, here’s the best title”—not at all.
146
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:31.010 align:center line:-1
In 50 years, [I’ve] never found proof [that she directed
the writing of the poster], so this [idea that Cao Yi’ou was behind it]
is unfounded.
147
00:23:31.020 --> 00:23:43.070 align:center line:-1
I've researched this question and emphasize this because
it shows that the first “big-character poster” was not the result of a
conspiracy.
148
00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:49.560 align:center line:-1
Rather, it was the result of contradictions within the
internal society of Peking University and ideas passed on from the central
authorities.
149
00:23:49.570 --> 00:24:07.760 align:center line:-1
I want to explain this issue. In this way, on May 24, Yang
Keming took the foundation of a draft Song Yixiu had written and revised
it. This was May 24.
150
00:24:07.770 --> 00:24:20.730 align:center line:-1
Before May 24, Liberation Army
Daily had solicited a piece from the philosophy
department, to discuss the Cultural Revolution, that the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution was not a cultural revolution, but a political
revolution.
151
00:24:20.740 --> 00:24:32.860 align:center line:-1
[The newspaper] wanted something on this theme. Zhao
Zhengyi wrote the first draft, but Song Yixiu felt it wasn’t too good, so
he wrote the second draft, which was submitted to the newspaper.
152
00:24:32.870 --> 00:24:42.080 align:center line:-1
On May 23, after they had all decided to write a
“big-character poster,” Yang Keming transcribed [the piece] into the
“big-character poster” format.
153
00:24:42.090 --> 00:24:48.540 align:center line:-1
So, later it was said that Yang Keming was the main writer
of the poster because of this point.
154
00:24:48.550 --> 00:24:55.350 align:center line:-1
That is, Yang Keming made some changes to Song Yixiu’s
writing, and wrote it in a “big-character poster” format.
155
00:24:55.360 --> 00:25:07.110 align:center line:-1
Guo Luoji told me the main writer of this “big-character
poster” must’ve been Yang Keming, since the whole style of the
“big-character poster” was the style Yang Keming used in writing big
criticisms.
156
00:25:07.120 --> 00:25:12.650 align:center line:-1
They were all in the department of philosophy, [so they
were familiar with one another’s writing]. That’s what Guo Luoji told
me.
157
00:25:12.660 --> 00:25:24.860 align:center line:-1
Then, on the morning of May 25, Yang Keming arrived for
work at the Academy of Sciences; at the time he’d left Peking University,
and gone to work at the Academy of Sciences.
158
00:25:24.870 --> 00:25:38.020 align:center line:-1
Gao Yunpeng got the first draft of the “big-character
poster” out—this is the morning of May 25—and, along with Song Yixiu,
the two of them, in the Number 22 dormitory, revised [the poster] line by
line.
159
00:25:38.030 --> 00:25:59.460 align:center line:-1
They hadn’t been revising too long when, at around eight
or nine, Xia Jianzhi and Song Yixiu—everyone except Yang Keming and Li
Xingchen—all came along.
160
00:25:59.470 --> 00:26:09.000 align:center line:-1
They all revised it line by line, from top to bottom, and
everyone agreed on each line one by one.
161
00:26:09.010 --> 00:26:14.990 align:center line:-1
When the draft was finished, it was already after 12 noon,
and then each person signed his or her name.
162
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:24.970 align:center line:-1
Nie Yuanzi signed [at the top], since she was the
department’s Party secretary. At the time, the person who signed [at the
top] was the one taking the greatest risk.
163
00:26:24.980 --> 00:26:38.170 align:center line:-1
They really weren’t all scrambling to be the first to
sign; [Nie Yuanzi] was the [department’s] Party secretary, so naturally
she signed [first]. Because during rectification at the meeting at the
international hotel, she was the first to be attacked.
164
00:26:38.180 --> 00:26:42.550 align:center line:-1
Yang Keming wasn’t present at the time, so Gao Yunpeng
signed on his behalf.
165
00:26:42.560 --> 00:26:55.070 align:center line:-1
Six people signed their names; Gao Yunpeng told me
this—Xia Jianzhi also corroborated this detail.
166
00:26:55.080 --> 00:27:01.990 align:center line:-1
Then, when [they] went to put up the poster, it was after
one o’clock [p.m.]. Gao Yunpeng ran into Li Xingchen in the hallway.
167
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:08.990 align:center line:-1
Li Xingchen saw the “big-character poster” and
approved it. He signed his name, so there were seven people [who signed].
Why am I talking about this in such detail?
168
00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:19.120 align:center line:-1
The ultimate process of hanging up the “big-character
poster”: checking and finalizing the final draft; copying the text;
making two copies—Gao Yunpeng made one copy, and Xia Jianzhi made
another…
169
00:27:19.130 --> 00:27:30.070 align:center line:-1
In the end, Li Xingchen ran into [Gao Yunpeng] and also
signed his name. In this whole process, Cao Yi’ou was not around.
170
00:27:30.080 --> 00:27:38.900 align:center line:-1
[The writers] didn’t have time to report back [to her];
they just hung it up. The process of hanging it up also shows this was a
spontaneous process.
171
00:27:38.910 --> 00:27:50.300 align:center line:-1
There was another element to the plot at the time. That
is, before hanging the “big-character poster” on May 25, Nie Yuanzi,
since she was a Party cadre, there were some discipline requirements of the
organization.
172
00:27:50.310 --> 00:27:57.170 align:center line:-1
She said, “We’d better ask; in previous movements
there were no ‘big-character posters.’ Is it okay for us to hang a
‘big-character poster’?” [She said] go to ask
Cao Yi’ou.
173
00:27:57.180 --> 00:28:07.990 align:center line:-1
[Nie Yuanzi], Yang Keming, and Zhang Enci all went. Cao
Yi’ou didn’t ask about the content of the “big-character poster,”
and didn’t ask the poster’s title.
174
00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:19.270 align:center line:-1
She only expressed an attitude, saying the May 16 Circular
had been issued, and putting up “big-character posters” was in line
with it, so [they] could go ahead and put up [the poster].
175
00:28:19.280 --> 00:28:29.430 align:center line:-1
[The ones] who knew Cao Yi’ou’s attitude were Nie
Yuanzi and Yang Keming; the others didn’t know. In this way, the
“big-character poster” was put up.
176
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:33.720 align:center line:-1
After it was posted, it really created an uproar.
177
00:28:33.730 --> 00:28:50.990 align:center line:-1
At the time, there was a rumor passed around the campus
that the place where Nie Yuanzi hung up the “big-character poster” was
the [same] place Tan Tianrong had hung a poster in 1957 during the
Anti-Rightist campaign, that Rightists were appearing again.
178
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:55.700 align:center line:-1
Some people said Tan Tianrong [a Peking University student
who wrote a series of "big-character posters" in 1957] was appearing
again.
179
00:28:55.710 --> 00:29:01.420 align:center line:-1
At the time, there were many people who supported the
“big-character poster,” but also many who opposed it; they were evenly
matched.
180
00:29:01.430 --> 00:29:10.890 align:center line:-1
However, in the evening it changed. [Peking University
president] Lu Ping convened a meeting of the standing committee of the
Party committee, preparing to fight back.
181
00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:18.690 align:center line:-1
In this way, on the evening of May 25, up until two days
later, May 26, May 27, more and more people began to oppose this
“big-character poster.”
182
00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:26.910 align:center line:-1
It was four to one: those opposed were four; those who
supported were one. There were debates all over the campus.
183
00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:41.580 align:center line:-1
Some people lined up in front of the “big-character
poster” to vow to protect the Party, to protect Lu Ping’s Party
committee. At the time, the struggle was fierce.
184
00:29:41.590 --> 00:30:01.320 align:center line:-1
In my essay “A Preliminary Investigation Into the Reason
for the Production of the First Marxist-Leninist ‘Big-Character
Poster,’” my conclusion about the creation of this first
“big-character poster” was that the primary reason was two
interconnected factors.
185
00:30:01.330 --> 00:30:15.290 align:center line:-1
One was the meeting at the international hotel. This
meeting reflected the internal conflicts in Peking University, since all of
the activist elements who’d put forth opinions didn’t comply.
186
00:30:15.300 --> 00:30:21.130 align:center line:-1
This is the background. Another interrelated element was
the May 16 Circular.
187
00:30:21.140 --> 00:30:27.115 align:center line:-1
[After] the May 16 Circular was issued, these people felt
the opportunity had come to turn the tide.
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