Mao, of course, had correctly noted a kind of creeping elitism that the CR may have well put into its place for some years (he first suggested that the problem was within the party itself in his “twenty-three articles” discussion of January 1965). This would have been a deliberate aim of the CR and a worthy achievement of it. Grassroots activism to counter it was enhanced.
Both the Mao cult and the idea of revolutionary successors in the social life also outlived Mao (and weren’t unalloyed negatives for the future).
Another feature of the CR era is so-called “proletarian culture” and specifically the proliferation of ‘revolutionary operas', folk songs and films. Mao had made clear his interest in reforming the outputs of Chinese cultural forms since at least his time in Yan’an. There he berated certain writers and other ‘cultural workers' when they didn’t conform to this vision of the revolutionary forms.
There was a long history of debating the correct way to ‘do’ revolutionary culture and 'correct content' and as I’ve noted the Anti-Rightist campaign following the short Hundred Flowers epoch was essentially directed against cultural workers. Writers were a constant target and one non-conformist poet in the early 1950s was famously targeted. The playwright who sought to defend Marshall Peng in a veiled critique of Mao in a new play has been considered by some to be something of a catalyst for Mao’s conception of the CR (formally the Great Proletarian CR) because of the very importance for Mao of this debate. The debate continued into the CR.
Mao did recognise that the forms should be popular, though, and this was the positive aspect of this cultural development. It wasn’t elitist. It certainly was driven politically and propagandistically, however. To achieve popularity, Mao sought to use popular traditional forms of culture suitably modified. There were new lyrics and themes designed to inspire devotion to the cause. The Ministry of Culture was set up to control all media, cinema, writings, music and artworks.
The model operas (they were occasionally quite balletic as well and some were also filmed) were retellings of the heroic deeds of past Chinese heroes in the revolutionary era especially. They were thus models of socialist culture for CR revolutionaries and were themselves seen as a growing up of Chinese culture into its correct socialist form. They tended to be of two fairly distinct types: either they told of a distant revolutionary past depicting the travails and struggles of workers and peasants or they told of the recent or present heroic deeds of the revolution. They modelled both how to behave as a good revolutionary citizen and how to spot a bad one.
Seven or eight were produced beginning in 1964 or 1965 and early on a number were presented in a special festival in Shanghai. Later on Jiang Qing was at the centre of encouraging their production. These operas are again in vogue in today’s nostalgic mood in China after having fallen from grace at the end of the CR era. They were well made by talented artists.
Red Brigade of Women is a noted opera set in Hainan in the 1930s and so is of the first form. It depicts a brigade of women being moulded by the CCP. Nixon was apparently shown this opera on his 1972 visit to China. Its ballet form was quite western but this was acceptable to the Chinese as it was associated firstly with Russia, at least a recent revolutionary ally. The form was also adapted with movements from the popular and traditional Chinese opera form. The women and their leaders go on to fight the reactionary GMD and landlords.
The Port is of the form depicting more recent (PRC era) events. Workers at the port are preparing to send a gift of food to their poor brothers in Africa while a manager at the port conspires to divert the shipment to the West so that he can sell it and line his own pockets. Spies and other enemies of the people are also depicted. A struggle naturally ensues. This is more a traditional style Chinese opera than the more balletic Red Brigade of Women.
Cadres actually travelled out into the field, collected folk songs and changed their words following the above pattern. Even the new national anthem was an adapted folk tune.
The revolutionary films especially were used in the training of the revolutionary successors being from a relatively modern form and so presumably most appealing to the young of all of the art forms.
A major work in the film genre was a song and dance spectacular filmed in the Great Hall of the People called the East is Red (Dong Fang Hong). It was first intended to be shown in 1959 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the formation of the PRC. It is a revolutionary history lesson in interpretive song and dance. Zhou was involved in its writing and it commences with a lavish song and dance routine in praise of Mao. The imagery evokes a multitude of sunflowers (the dancers) bending in the direction of their sun (Mao). What then follows is the history lesson taking the audience from the times of oppressed dock workers under Japanese and European occupations with the evil flags of the Japanese, Americans and English draped on the ships in the harbour through all the revolutionary events but especially through the Long March. We see scenes of Jing gang Shan, a mountain in the Jiangxi Soviet, and Long March scenes including scenes of the famous Battle of the Bridge. Interestingly, it has a Western orchestral score throughout. It is the purest melodrama.
Another major film of the era was called Lei Feng and told the story of the eponymous ‘hero’ that I’ve referred to in an earlier post. The movie shows that (among other wonderful things about him) even on his one day off (on Sunday) Lei helped mothers with their babies and workmen to build houses (and all anonymously). And even late at night he was always apparently to be found reading the words of Chairman Mao.
Those works give a flavour of both variety of the proletarian culture of the era and also some of the sense of sameness.
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