凌耿 The Making Of a Red Guard

Gowest

ON June 1, 1966, the Cultural Revolution reached our high school in Amoy, a port city in the South Chinese coastal province of Fukien. Actually, it had been vis ibly approaching in May, when in tense criticism mounted in the news papers against the literature, plays and movies called “poisonous weeds.” As the outside disturbances pene trated our classrooms, our teachers lost their pep and appeared uneasy. Many of them were worshipers of the “poisonous weeds.” They became very cautious and no longer told lit tle personal anecdotes to their stu dents.

The author of this article is a 19﹜ear﹐ld student who, from the age of 16, took part in China's momentous “Cultural Revolution,” becoming a leader of a major Red Guard faction in Fukien Province. In July, 1968, he fled the mainland by swim ming to one of the off﹕hore islands near Quemoy. The rea sons for this act are complex: He saw no future after the Red Guards were downgraded; he realized that they had been used; he became disillusioned with the reality of the mainland, and an older brother to whom he was extraordinarily devoted had de flee.

The student's story is one of a number compiled as part of a research project in the political psychology of Communist China under the direction of Dr. Ivan London of Brooklyn College. Over several years, Dr. London, his wife, Miriam, who is his re search associate, and Chinese colleagues have interviewed about 250 Chinese Communist refugees. They talked with the student for close to 100 hours in Taiwan, where he is now a high school senior hoping to enter college to study physics.

This article was prepared by Mrs. London and Dr. Ta﹍ing Lee, another research associate of Dr. London as well as an as sistant professor of history at Southern Connecticut State Col lege. To protect members of the family remaining in China, the student's name has been omitted and the names of all others re ferred to have been changed.

Mainland youths of my generation, living in times of difficulty and trial, have cultivated a sensitivity on polit ical matters. Looking at our teachers, we realized that they must be re calling terrible experiences in the cruel “anti