The Communist Takeover of Hangzhou

6. The Trial of Strength

6 The Trial of Strength ‘‘To serve the people, the best cigarettes on sale.’’1 This was an advertisement in a grocery store window in Hangzhou. To link everything with revolutionary slogans, such as ‘‘to serve the people ,’’ was the fashion since the Communist takeover. To no one’s surprise, Communist discourse had a great impact on the urban dwellers. At the same time, some commercial concepts penetrated the Communists. The southbound cadres who had joined the ccp to devote themselves to the revolution were now talking about ‘‘repayments,’’ ‘‘benefits,’’ and ‘‘bargains.’’2 The economic situation in 1951 was remarkable. According to a report by the provincial government, industrial output had increased by 40.7 percent and the volume of commerce by 42.31 percent that year.3 However, every time China’s economy made progress, Mao Zedong sensed a political crisis. Mao feared that the growth of industry and commerce would increase the influence of the urban bourgeoisie and make the bourgeois way of life more tempting.4 This would also increase the risk that ccp members would be corrupted by the bourgeoisie and give up their tradition of plain living and hard struggle. Mao saw a love of pleasure and a distaste for hard work among the ccp cadres. It seemed to him that this meant war between the ccp and the urban bourgeoisie. Who would be the winner? How could the ccp maintain complete control over business and industry? Was it possible to make the urban bourgeoisie wholeheartedly accept the new regime and dare not resist the ccp’s social transformation? This would be a real trial of strength. The Changing Cadres The years since 1949 had seen considerable changes in Hangzhou, as well as among the southbound cadres. The two changes were different. The former had been rapid, visible, and mostly institutionalized by the ccp in light of its revolutionary ideals. The latter were slow, subtle, unconscious, and complicated—changes that hit the southbound cadres in the process of the city’s transformation. Let’s take tea as an example. Drinking tea was a major part of the daily life of urban dwellers. Male adults usually hurried to teahouses as early as dawn; it was known as ‘‘catching the early market .’’ After having tea, people began doing business. Then every afternoon they had a long break to have ‘‘noon tea’’ to chat, gossip, and exchange market information.5 In the early days of the takeover , the southbound cadres went to the teahouses to spread the Party’s policy, but they could hardly draw the attention of the tea drinkers. The cadres believed that the ‘‘unhealthy’’ tea culture of drinking and doing nothing and the lax bureaucratic working style must be changed. ‘‘If I am thirsty, I drink water,’’ a southbound cadre said. ‘‘Why tea?’’6 However, Mao Zedong liked tea. He not only drank tea, but he also ate soaked tea leaves.7 He went to visit the famous teaproducing village of Meijiawu in the suburbs of Hangzhou, showing great interest in tea production and the life of the tea farmers. Zhou Enlai also visited Meijiawu and wrote about what he saw to his wife, Deng Yingchao (who loved drinking tea and was good at making it): ‘‘Unless you have a concept of the whole process of tea production, including planting tea trees, picking tea leaves, and roasting them, you cannot be a ‘queen of tea’ but just a ‘tea pot.’’’8 The old urban elite of Hangzhou talked about the best water, the best temperature, and the best season for making tea, while Mao and Zhou added a concern for tea production and tea farmers. That implied they saw tea not as a luxury for the upper classes but a business for working people. The southbound cadres gradually understood that they had to support the tea industry, The Trial of Strength 155 which brought the city great profits from both the domestic and global markets. As noted above, the Communist government invited urban businessmen and non-Party friends to come to tea parties, and before long, this practice was picked up by cadres to entertain their private guests since tea was cheap, tea making was easy, and tea drinking was regarded as a positive and healthy lifestyle by Mao and Zhou. The local tea in Hangzhou was not very strong but delicate. Once one tasted it, one would certainly enjoy...