Will Brothers

Due 4/15/09

In Son of the Revolution the peasants were not the vanguard of the
revolution
Turn it in: password SORpaper Class id: 2693444 Assignment title: SOR
Class: Todd world history

For much of history, Chinese peasants have not been at the forefront of Chinese
politics because of their isolation and attachment to the land. This first changed during
the communist uprising against the government of Chang Kai-shek (1928-1937) when the
peasants helped the communists in their guerilla war because they believed their lives
would be better without land lords. When the Communist party finally came to power in
1949 Mao depicted the peasants as the vanguard of the revolution. However, during the
course of Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro’s Son of the Revolution (1958-1981) the
peasants show that they were not actually at the forefront of the revolution because they
held onto their ancestral ways, were isolated from the rest of China which caused them to
be poorly informed about revolution, and because they reformed much slower then the
rest of China, often because they had no fundamental reason to reform.
The peasants held onto old superstitions and values because they were removed
geographically, educationally, socially, and because they saw no fundamental reason to
change their ancestral ways which went against communist party directives. The
peasant’s holding onto old values is evident even when Liang Heng first visits the country
side during the Chang Kai-Shek invasion scare. The villagers believe in ghosts despite
even though the children from the city had already been told “there were no such things
as ghosts” (25). This shows how the peasants had not adjusted their values like those in
urban populations. During the same visit, when Liang Heng asks about the Buddhas
Waipo says that “the peasants like to keep old traditions” even though the “army asked
the people to stop believing in superstitions” (23). The continued belief in old
superstitions is seen during the Liang families’ mandatory trip to the country when a
woman does not see a doctor and states that “the only person who can help me is a witch
doctor” (194). This clearly shows the lack of faith towards the modernized China in
peasant populations. While Liang Heng was on the train with Pockmark Liu and the pigs,
Pockmark Liu says that his wife “picked up a lot of the local superstitions and one of
them killed her” (157). This shows that superstitions went against the Cultural
Revolution and the Government and that they could cause other problems for a single
person or a whole family (175). Clearly, the peasants belief in superstition went against
party policy and shows that they were not at the forefront of the revolution.
During the time Son of the Revolution is set (1958-1981) the country side was
extremely distanced from the rest of China which caused them to be poorly informed
about the revolution. The lack of connection to urban China is seen when Liang Heng
goes to the country side to escape the city and despite still being quite young, it was “only
natural that they treat me not as a child, but as an honored guest” because “the people
there had never met anyone from the capital” (95). The lack of understanding about the
revolution in the country side is also shown when Liang Heng points out that they could
not use their black paint because using it “for such a serious purpose would be
counterrevolutionary” (98). Liang Shan’s encounters with the peasants also show the
lack of information about the revolution in the country side because before he arrived
Will Brothers
Due 4/15/09
they knew very little about the communist party, they did not even know three of Mao’s
essays even though “everyone in the whole country was supposed to memorize these”
(175). Another prime example of the poor information in the country side is when Liang
Heng has to explain who Chiang Kai-shek was because “the peasants knew nothing about
him” (24). If the peasants didn’t even know who the revolution was against then how
could they be at its forefront? Clearly, the isolation of the countryside caused the
peasants to be poorly informed about the revolution which kept them from being at its
forefront.
The country side also reformed much slower then the rest of China which
prevented them from being at the forefront of the revolution. The slow reformation of the
country side is seen when Liang Heng first goes to the country side with Waipo and asks
about the Buddhas even though “The army had asked the people to stop believing in
superstitions” (23). The fact that the peasants still have Buddhas shows that they not only
are reforming slower then the rest of China, but that they are also holding onto
superstitions against the wishes of the communist party. Liang Heng’s father’s role as a
teacher also shows how the peasants were much slower to reform then the rest of China
because even father’s limited knowledge of the revolution was much larger then any of
the knowledge they had (182 ff). The possession of livestock animals by peasants shows
how they held onto capitalist principles when much of the rest of China had reformed
(187 ff). However, the peasants needed to hold onto capitalist principles to maintain their
livelihood, and this further shows how the peasants were detached from the rest of
revolutionary China.

Work Cited
Liang, Heng, and Judith Shapiro. Son of the Revolution. New York: Vintage, 1984