Blood Red Sunset: A Memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (review)

Reviews 501 Ma Bo. Blood Red Sunset: A Memoir ofthe Chinese Cultural Revolution. Translated by Howard Goldblatt. Viking Press, 1995. 367 pp. Hardcover $24.95, isbn 0-670-84181-1. Paperback $12.95, 1SBN 0-14-015942-8. Blood Red Sunsethy Ma Bo is another new personal account ofthe Cultural Revolution , from 1966 to 1976, one of the most disastrous periods in modern Chinese history, in which hundreds of thousands ofpeople became victims ofMao Zedong 's revolutionary program. Now, numerous books about the Cultural Revolution based on personal experiences are available in China, and there are a dozen ofthem in English. We learn through these works the astonishing story ofhow innocent young people became victims of communist propaganda, and how they suffered through this most tragic human drama. Like thousands ofhigh school graduates, Ma Bo went to the plains of Inner Mongolia, where he spent eight years, to receive "reeducation" from poor shepherds. Harsh life on the prairie was not the only thing that awaited Ma and many otiier young men who were forced to live there. They also became victims ofmanipulation and harassment from the company commanders and directors of the Inner Mongolian Production Corps. Ma was arrested as a "counterrevolutionary" and kept in custody for years. His touching revelation ofwhat life was like during this period provides his readers with a glimpse into the inner world ofthis generation of Chinese youth. However, as a contemporary ofMa Bo who also suffered personal trauma during the Cultural Revolution, I came away from this book pondering how it was that this prolonged human tragedy could have happened in China. Mao and his communist regime bear the ultimate responsibility for the suffering that Ma Bo and many others experienced. But is anyone else to blame? When Ma Bo mourns the loss ofhis dog (chapter 3) and complains ofunfair treatment during his custody, how does he feel about Gonggele, a former herdowner, labeled a "bad guy" during the Cultural Revolution, whom Ma himselfhad earlier cruelly beaten because Gonggele had attempted to protecthis own dog?Did Ma ever feel remorse about bursting into Gonggele's house and forcing everyone in the household out of their home justbecause Gonggele was a former herdowner? IfMa suffered unfairly and feels resentful about the treatment he received, then how about Gonggele and his family, who had been mistreated by Ma and his fellow Red Guards? I respect Ma's courage to describe as realistically as possible the things thathe did, whether theywere good or bad. Do I ask too much from Mawhen I want to see some sign of© 1996 by University regret from him, however slight, over his own mistreatment ofothers? ofHawai'iPressCertainly Ma and many other Chinese were victims ofthe Cultural Revolution . But the question remains: without vehement participation by hundreds of thousands, could such a "revolution" ever have happened? Unfortunately, most 502 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 2, Fall 1996 authors ofbooks about the Cultural Revolution deliberately or innocentiy ignore this difficult question, either because of the personal discomfort that such self-exploration may arouse, or because such questions do not seem to occur to them as they recount their experiences. Whatever the reason, it would be a shame if I and many of my contemporaries did not have the courage to admit diat we also have to share a part of the blame to the extent that we participated, voluntarily or involuntarily , in the Cultural Revolution, regardless of die fact that we were victims ofthe propaganda oftiiat time. Howard Goldblatt's translation is admirable. To make the work accessible to Western readers, Goldblatt abandons word-for-word translation, rendering Ma's prose in smooth colloquial English. Nonetheless, readers unfamiliar with die Cultural Revolution may find certain terms and expressions puzzling. Notes explaining these terms would have been helpful. Jin Qiu University of California at Berkeley fin Qiu is a postdoctoralfellow specializing in studies ofthe Cultural Revolution. mi Barbara Stoler Miller, editor. Masterworks ofAsian Literature in Comparative Perspective. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994. 583 pp. Hardcover $65.00, isbn 1-56324-257-5. Paperback $22.50, isbn 1-56324-258-3. There is a growing interest in teaching Asian classics in colleges and...