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Maple (1978)

Author Information
Writer: Zheng Yi (1949 - )
Writer's Country: China
Original Language: Chinese
Genre: Fiction
Event: Chinese History

Danfeng used to be a Youth League cadre and one of the school's most avid readers of Chairman Mao's Quotations. When the Cultural Revolution came and Lin Biao published his "Preface to the Second Edition," Danfeng not only committed it all to memory, but - at a schoolwide meeting to exchange experiences in studying Chairman Mao's Quotations--actually recited, one by one, every quotation in the little red book and explained how she "repeatedly studied and repeatedly used" them. To illustrate the Chairman's principle of "study first what is urgently needed: erect a pole and immediately see the shadow" [i.e., get instant results], she abruptly stood up, walked in front of the speaker's table, and, under the glaring spotlight, cast her shadow over the lectern. This had drawn appreciative laughter from the audience. When Danfeng realized how ramrod-straight she was standing on the stage, she couldn't help laughing: "Actually, I'm not a pole, you know!" As the entire hall rocked with laughter, Danfeng's ebullient smile and the principle of "erect a pole and see the shadow" were vividly planted together in everyone's mind.

Another time, the students called a meeting to launch a campaign to criticize the school leadership for obstructing the great mass movement to study Chairman Mao's Quotations. Someone would read a page number and make the leaders recite a few quotations. It was hilarious. Neither the Party Secretary, the principal, nor the Dean of Students was any good at it, and all made fools of themselves. Principal Zhang grew indignant and complained that nobody could pass by these rules. Danfeng stood up and walked to the stage. She shoved her book of quotations into Principal Zhang's hand and said, "Come on, any section you want!" Principal Zhang was dumbstruck. Then everybody took turns calling out page numbers, about a dozen in all, and discovered that Danfeng could rattle off the obscure quotes as effortlessly as the common ones. Even the chairman of the meeting was dumbstruck. He thumbed through the Quotations at some length, then announced his choice--page 271, paragraph two. After everybody flipped through their books, a hush fell over the room. Danfeng thought for a moment before replying.

"The book of quotations has only 270 pages, so there is no page 271, much less a paragraph two." Thunderous applause obliterated the end of her sentence. In the row where all the school authorities sat, one head after another bowed.

-- Translated by Douglas Spelman. Originally published in Wenhuibao (Shanghai), February 11, 1979.

Credit: Excerpted from "Maple" by Zheng Yi, from the book Stubborn Weeds: Popular and Controversial Literature After the Cultural Revolution. Edited by Perry Link. Copyright © 1983 Indiana University Press. All Rights Reserved. Reprint courtesy Indiana University Press.