Thought In Mao ’s China

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31143, 20 August 1966, Page 5

Thought In Mao ’s China

(By

KATHLEEN COMMINS

tn the

••Sydney Morning Herald.”]

IN the last week of July, in Peking, the vice-president of the Institute of Nationalities, Mr Png PengJi wan, told 11 of us from five different countries that the part.v was at present reforming the education system. “Before the cultural revolu-l tion we had examinations,” he I said. “But these are not rea-) sonable. Now we wish to) change the old system. In the I future, all students will under-; take manual work with their) studies with greater intensity, j Politics will be the chief qualification for entry. “Here in this institute of) 2400 students and 500 teachers. students must develop morally, phvsically and intellectually. They must be labourers and socialist-minded as well as professional. “Under the old system; gome students did well, but) ideologically they were very I poor. They paid greater atten-) tion to their textbooks and! were indifferent to politics.' No-one can work to serve the worker, the peasant or the) soldier unless he knows politics. This is most important.” j Cadres’ Task This institute was founded in 1951 to train Communist cadres for the Chinese minorities and to teach students that education must combine with productive labour. The institute is engaged on the task of bringing up the successors to the 1949 revolution. “We must fight imperialism, colonialism and modern revisionism," said gentle Mr Png. "We actively support the cultural revolution in which our students and teachers are taking part. They are studying creatively Chairman Mao’s works.

“The people of China gain Inspiration from Chairman Mao’s work.”

When we protested that Chinese students, who receive no degrees and under the new system will not sit for examinations, will have no standard for work outside China, the matter was shrugged off. Obviously it is what happens in China that matters. We were given plenty of time to talk to the students both in the institute rooms and in their living quarters. Those with whom we talked were from outer regions and Korea. All other students are at present on holiday while the new educational forms are ! devised. Long Day The students’ day begins at 6 a.m. and finishes at 9.50 | p.m. Other than a half-hour’s : physical training, meals, and a brief hour for washing and ‘ shopping, they were busy ! studying Chairman Mao’s works. They are ardent, devoted to their cause, look happy and enthusiastic and are ignorant of the West. There were floods of protest to our interpreter when I said that if ■ they regarded the United | States as imperialists, then the Russians were also because they occupied East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other places. They retorted that “the people” had liberated these countries. When I remarked that long before Hitler's attack on Russia, England stood alone against what they called “the German Fascist beasts” and that without the might of the United States neither Germany nor Japan would have been beaten, I was told angrily: “You are wrong.” I politely reminded the young interpreter that he was just born as the Second World War began and I had lived through it. The students asked us why we came to China and who financed our tour. They were polite but unbelieving when I said that I was one of the world’s workers and had saved up for years to make this trip.

They asked a West German who owned the land in his country. “The farmers,” he said. “Exploitation of the workers,” said the students. It was patiently explained that German families worked the farms, that there was much mechanisation because of the shortage of farm labour, and that there was no exploitation. “Did you investigate every village?” the students asked. Astonished, our companion said: “No, it wouldn’t be possible to investigate every village in Germany.” “Ah,” said the students. “Then you don’t know.” That afternoon in the Museum of Chinese History we understood what the students were getting at. There, on the wall, was a painting of the young Mao in Army uniform sitting among the peasants, notebook in hand, “investigating” the complaints of the peasants. Self-Reliance j When one of us suggested (that the West also had its ! achievements, we were told that the motive for the West’s achievement was wrong. The capitalist motive was bourgeois, profit was made without any concern for anyone i but the capitalists. Throughout China, Chairman Mao is venerated. Piaster busts of him were found everywhere. Often they are surrounded by vases of ! flowers. After work masses of people in groups, small and large, can be seen studying his works. There are abbreviated editions of these works for the less literate. To me, these books looked like prayerbooks. They certainly are the right size. The 34-year-old director of the silk-weaving factory in Hangchow, Mr Chang, told us solemnly that “after the Liberation the workers carried through the teaching of Chairman Mao, the policy we call self-reliance. “In 1964 the workers themselves designed a new type of

machine without the aid of engineers,” he said. “In manufacturing the new machine, the workers encountered many difficulties. They studied Chairman Mao’s thinking and his works, overcame their difficulties and finally succeeded.” A Swiss businessman asked: “Does Chairman Mao ever make a mistake?” “In Good Health” Mr Chang replied: “Under Chairman Mao, China goes from victory to victory. From all our experiences we look at the record, and in the heart of all workers is Mao Tsetung’s thinking. We know that under Chairman Mao’s guidance we will succeed in any kind of work. If we do anything without his guidance, we will fail. The corrected leadership of Mao Tse-tung has liberated and guided us.” This is the voice of new China and those sentiments are expressed throughout its vast land. When I suggested to the students that, because a man must die, there would be some conceivable difficulties for Chairman Mao's successor, that the veneration of Mao made it difficult for a successor to impose a new image, Students and interpreters were shocked. After an emotional exchange the interpreter said: “Our Chairman is in good health: he has just swum the Yangtse river. We wish him long health and happiness and, armed with his thinking, the Chinese people will go from victory to victory. Your question is not practical.”