Lei Feng's
Immortal Spirit
Beijing Journal: At a Trying
Time, China Revives Mao's Model Man
The New York Times
April 16, 1998; Section A, p. 4
ERIK ECKHOLM
Whenever Communist leaders get worried about the
morale of the people, they breathe new life into Lei Feng.
Lei Feng is the soldier of unsurpassed altruism who died in an accident
in 1962 in his early 20's and has been held up as the ultimate "model
worker" ever since.
Now, officials are exhorting people to emulate him as they suffer the
hardships created by the dismantling of Communist industries and cherished
welfare programs.
In what often seems like a throwback to another era, the party's Propaganda
Department still works tirelessly, if to much less effect than in the
past, to shape what the Chinese people read, watch and think.
Lei Feng was beatified by Mao Zedong, who in 1963 coined the phrase, "Learn
From Comrade Lei Feng." This was not long after the economic calamities
of the Great Leap Forward and a famine in which tens of millions died,
a time when citizens needed extra inspiration to keep struggling for a
socialist paradise.
Generations of schoolchildren have studied the young hero's life and on
every March 5, the anniversary of Mao's statement, soldiers and students
and assorted groups of workers trundle into the streets to do good turns
like repairing bicycle tires or, this year, cleaning Beijing's new metal
street dividers.
The heaviest promotions of Lei Feng have come in waves. One big push came
after 1989, when the party tried to bolster a public shaken by the crackdown
on student-led demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Another well-planned
Lei Feng effort appears to be under way now, with articles extolling his
qualities appearing constantly in the official press, a major museum exhibit
touring the country and numerous other events carried out in his name.
In part, the new push reflects the general desire of the Government to
fight the downsides of market freedom, like money-worship, corruption,
pornography and other forms of "spiritual pollution." But in
recent months, as the depth of the economic threat has become apparent,
spurring fears of unrest, the appeals to Lei Feng have become more urgent.
A recent article from the New China News Agency, printed in papers around
the country, said there was "something in Lei Feng's spirit that
can help solve some of the most pressing problems in modern China, like
the reform of state-owned enterprises, which has led to massive layoffs
of redundant workers."
Another widely printed article said the Chinese people "hope that
Lei Feng's spirit of sacrifice and dedication can keep people adversely
affected by reforms and restructuring in a good mood and help avoid social
contradictions."
Every Chinese knows Lei Feng's story: how he was orphaned and raised by
the Communist Party, how word spread of his kindness even before his death.
This was a young man who, on receiving four sweet bean cakes at the New
Year's holiday, thought only of injured miners at the hospital and gave
away all four.
Everyone knows about the rainy day when Lei Feng stepped out of the truck
driven by a fellow soldier, Qiao Anshan, only to have the truck slip and
knock down a telephone pole that struck and killed him.
Many can recite passages from the diary that was "discovered"
after Lei Feng's death, with entries revealing pure nobility like, "A
person's life is limited, but to serve the people is unlimited."
(Oct. 20, 1961.)
This year the Government mounted the largest exhibit of Lei Feng memorabilia
ever, starting a national tour in March at the Museum of the Chinese Revolution
on Tiananmen Square. The exhibit includes photographs, pages from the
diary and a pair of socks Lei Feng repeatedly darned, among other artifacts.
During the recent National People's Congress, the official media said,
lawmakers agreed that Lei Feng "has once again become one of the
most admired heroes in the Chinese people's hearts."
This was not entirely evident at the opening of the exhibit. While sight
seers crowded the show next door celebrating the centennial of the birth
of the late Zhou Enlai, a beloved Prime Minister, Lei Feng's brought in
only a handful. This, even though the opening featured Mr. Qiao himself,
the driver on that fateful day who has lived an exemplary life of atonement
ever since. (His own inspiring story was told in a feature film last year,
"Days Without Lei Feng," produced under the direction of the
Propaganda Department.)
In an interview Mr. Qiao, now a retired driver, explained how he had carried
on the spirit of his late comrade. Once, he said, a colleague had a terrible
disease and needed blood. The hospital told Mr. Qiao each person could
donate only one liter.
"But I insisted on giving three liters," he proudly said. "Then
I used the $7 they paid me to buy food and gifts for my co-workers."
In private conversations with Chinese, reactions to Lei Feng range from
a sincere "He was a very good person" to amused indifference.
Not a few people say they believe that Lei Feng was made up by the party.
But even those skeptics agree that they would like to see more considerate
behavior among strangers, something of a rarity here. One woman said that
when her friends see a foreigner do something like give a seat on the
subway to a pregnant woman, they say, "There goes a foreign Lei Feng."
Many Chinese are astonished to learn that most Americans know nothing
of the famous Lei Feng; newspapers here even reported recently that his
life was studied by cadets at West Point.
Lei Feng is the purest example of the "model worker." Each year
hundreds of people around the country are officially labeled good examples,
carrying on the Lei Feng spirit. One of the most promoted living models
is Li Suli, a Beijing bus conductor, who is said to show up at work early
to clean the windows and is unfailingly helpful to passengers.
Mao-era propaganda and the new "market socialism" seem to blend
with surprising ease.
Spaced along Chaowai Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Beijing, are 50 lighted
signs with pictures of Communist heroes, including Lei Feng and Ms. Li.
The reverse side of each sign is a large advertisements for Goldlion men's
clothing, a major Hong Kong apparel line that is now, it seems, a commercial
sponsor of party propaganda.
This has offended some of the true believers. "You don't know if
they are using Goldlion to advertise the heroes, or the heroes to advertise
Goldlion," complained a writer in the newspaper Southern Weekend.
Last month, party officials allowed private companies for the first time
to nominate their employees as model workers. Until now, the New China
News Agency noted, only workers in state-owned enterprises or collectives
were eligible for this honor. But today the spirit of Lei Feng, like Marxism
itself, is being redefined to fit the needs of a new era.
© 1998 The New York Times Company
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