ChinaReconstructsVOL. XXIV NO. 7

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The Road Taken byYoung School Graduates

JULY 1975

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VOL. XXIV NO. 7 JULY 1975

PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN ENGLISH. FRENCH, SPANISH,ARABIC AND RUSSIAN BY THE CHINA WELFARE

INSTITUTE (SOONG CHING LING. CHAIRMAN)

CONTENTS

The Road for China's School Graduates 2

'We'll Take Good Care of Them' Nieh Chun-lin 9

Now 1 Feel at Home in the Forest Ho Li-chun 11

China Releases All War Criminals by Special Amnesty Chi Wen 14

Peasants Experiment in Scientific Farming Yueh Hsi and Hua Nung 17

What Do We Mean by 'The Eight-Point Charter for Agriculture'? 21

China's First Laser Range Finder; Device for Thermonuclear Experiments 22

China's Shipbuilding Industry Develops in the Course of the Two-Line Struggle Jen Chi-tung 24

Across the Land: Scientists Survey Mt. Jolmo Lungma Region 28

From the Revolutionary Past: In the Chingkong Mountains Revolutionary Base Area 30

The Struggle Between the Confucian and Legalist Schools Toward the End of the WarringStates Period and the Founding of the Chin Dynasty Chung Cheh 32

Language CornerLesson 7: Waiting by a Stump for a Hare 36

New Life for the Kazakh People Yuan Kuang-tsai 38Cultural Notes: Peking Theatrical Troupes Tour the Country 44Sports: Tsangchow Takes to Wushu in a Big Way Chang Kuang-chun 47

COVER PICTURES:

Front: City middle school graduates now at the Chunfeng commune in Chuchow, Hunanprovince, make night observations of termites. They have already had some success withcontrol. (See p. 2)Back: A mobile school for the children of a pastoral brigade of the Red Star communein a Kazakh area of Sinkiang. (See story on p. 38)Inside front: Members of the mobile ulan muchir cultural troupe of the Otog Banner,Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on their way to perform for commune members.Inside back: Workers at the Fengmon Power Plant in Kirin province now do their owngenerator repairs.

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: The Chinese People Warmly Congratulate the Great Victories of theCambodian and the Vietnamese Peoples

Editorial Office: Wai Wen Building, Peking (37), China. Cable: "CHIRECON" Peking. GeneralDistributor: GUOZl SHUDIAN, P.O. Box 399, Peking, China.

The Road for

China's School GraMany readers are concerned about the situation oj our young school graduates who have

gone to work and live in the countryside. In accordance with the demands and questions of ourreaders, one of our staff reporters visited a deputy secretary of the municipal Communist Partycommittee in Chuchow, Hunan province, and also asked a poor peasant and a young person whohas gone to the countryside for their opmions.

— Editor

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CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

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Liu Jui-hsiang (left), deputy secretary of the brigade's Partybranch, and others from the city learn how to prune tea bushes.

Interview with Wu Chan-kuei, Deputy Secretary o£ theChuchow Municipal Communist Party Committee

Q. Would you discuss the situation with the middle-school graduates who have gone to work andsettle in the rural areas and itssignificance?

A. Young people from the citygoing to live in the countryside isone of the new socialist practices.When Chairman Mao issued the

call in December 1968, "It is highlynecessary for young people witheducation to go to the countrysideto be re-educated by the poor andlower-middle peasants,"* manyyoung people enthusiastically sentin applications in which they declared their determination to be

come peasants of a new type withsocialist consciousness and culture.

Since the cultural revolution, inChuchow as in the rest of the coun

try, going to the countryside ongraduation has become the thing,a powerful revolutionary tide. So

• This is a political term denoting classstatus and not present economic status.

JULY 1915

far 10,000 middle school graduatesfrom our area have left the cityand settled in the rural areas on

the city's outskirts and in surrounding Chuchow county.

All this is part of our country'sefforts to train up a new generation which will carry on the rev

olutionary cause of the proletariat.And by providing a new force forsocialist construction in the ruralareas, it has a profound and far-reaching significance in relation toreducing the difference betweenworkers and peasants, betweentown and country and betweenmental and manual labor.

As you know, it took the Chinesepeople more than a hundred yearsof struggle until finally, led by theCommunist Party and Chairman

Mao, they overthrew the reactionary rule of imperialism, feudalismand bureaucrat capitalism. Thusthey achieved victory in the new-democratic revolution and ushered

in the new historical period of socialist revolution and the dictator

ship of the proletariat. An evenmore arduous task is to consolidatethis new political power and seethat socialist China advances ac

cording to a Marxist-Leninist linewithout deviating into revisionismand backsliding into capitalism, in

other words to achieve communism

in the end. It requires a protractedstruggle over many generations.

Revolutionaries cannot grow upin a hothouse. They must developin the turbulent waves of revolu

tionary struggle. They must go toplaces where they face hardships.The countryside is such a placewhere people can be tempered andtransformed. In the countryside,where the great majority of ourpopulation live, young people willfind plenty of opportunity to temper themselves in the three greatrevolutionary movements — classstruggle, the struggle for production and scientific experimentation.

There their "teachers" will be

the poor and lower-middle peasants, the most reliable allies of theworking class. They have deephatred for the old society andstrong feeling for the new, for socialism, for the collective and forlabor. They have a tradition ofhard struggle and plain living, anda lot of revolutionary experience.For their revolutionary growth theyoung people need contact with allof these.

The young people have alreadyfound that they can learn some

thing that can never be learned inbooks from the three great revo-

lutionary movements in the countryside. In these they have opportunities such as they had neverhad to temper themselves and findthat they can do things they hadnever dreamed they could do.

"The countryside is indeed a university," they say. In it, guided bythe Party and the poor and lower-middle peasants, they labor, study,steel and transform themselves andtake part in the struggle to build anew countryside.

Agriculture is the foundation ofour national economy but ouragricultural production is still nothigh. A vast army of young people with socialist consciousness andcultural and scientific knowledgeare needed to help raise productionand rapidly transform the countryside. Seventy percent of the ruralareas in Chuchow county and thecity's outskirts are hilly. Watertakes up another 10 percent of theareas, leaving only 20 percent forfarmland. If we are to match theachievements of Tachai, the modelagricultural brigade in Shansi province, we must make 130,000 hectares of our barren hills productive. Since 1964 the Chuchowmunicipal Party committee has ledthe communes in transforming thedenuded hills through orchards,tea plantations and afforestation.The young people have done wellat this work.

Q. How is the process of going tothe countryside handled?

A. Party organizations at all levels view young people's going tothe countryside as a very important matter. There are special offices for this work at every levelfrom the municipal Party committee down to the Party committeesin the basic organizations. Adeputy secretary in each committeeis assigned to be personally responsible for this work.

A number of different forms areused throughout China. Someyoung people go to work in statefarms, others join existing commune production teams to do farming. Sometimes new teams composed entirely of young people areformed under a commune. OurChuchow young people go bygroups, usually numbering about30, to settle on crop and forest

farms and tea plantations run bythe communes or their brigades.

In Chuchow we have a specialfeature — this is done throughlinks between city factories andcommunes in the countryside. Inour city, a former market townwhich developed into a new industrial center with a large workerpopulation only since liberation,middle schools are set up undereach large industrial plant for thechildren of its workers. Since 1958,to facilitate industry's support foragriculture, many factories haveestablished links with nearby rural

communes. Now the young peoplefrom factory middle schools aregoing to live in these same communes. As of today, 8,000 graduates from hundreds of middleschools are living in 276 youngpeople's collective settlementswhich are part of brigade or commune production units.

Joint efforts by the workers andcommune members to train andeducate the young people havestrengthened the relationship between them. They often say, "Theyoung people are like a bond joining us together." Groups of com-

Chu Chuan-fu, model group counsellor, at work during the autumn harvest.

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Workers repair machinery in the commune with which their factory is linked.

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iLA dance created and performed by the youngpeople about new happenings in the countryside.

mune members visit the factoriesand workers' homes; parents andfactory leaders learn somethingabout the countryside in the courseof visiting the young people. Thefactories send personnel to helprepair farm machinery and tools,train technicians and set up toolrepair shops. The communes arethus able to supply the city withmore grain, vegetables, meat andfruit than before.

Q. Does anyone look after thewelfare of the young people afterthey get to the countryside?

A. This is done jointly by outstanding poor or lower-middlepeasants elected by their communesor brigades and by group counsellors who are chosen from the fac

tory and government organizationsin the city. These people teach thenewcomers production skills, keepan eye on their everyday life andoversee their education in the class

struggle between the proletariatand the bourgeoisie and the struggles between the socialist and capitalist roads and between the Marx

ist-Leninist and revisionist lines.The municipal Party committee'sgroup in charge of the work withmiddle school graduates in thecountryside holds a meeting oncea year at which the counsellors andpoor and lower-middle peasantrepresentatives may give theiropinions.

JULY 1975

Q. We hear that the group counsellors from Chuchow are outstand

ing at this job. Would you comment on that?

A. Group counsellors from thecity are usually outstanding workers in Chuchow factories or government organizations. They arenominated by the parents of theyoung people and approved bytheir places of work. About a thirdof these group counsellors are veteran workers. Cooperating closelywith those in charge of this workfrom the communes, they urge andguide the young people to learnfrom the poor and lower-middlepeasants, and serve as a liaison between town and country, that isbetween the poor and lower-middle peasants and the young peoplein the countryside and the parentsand factory leadership.

An example is Chu Chuan-fu, aworker at the Hung Hsiang ChiangMachinery Plant who is now groupcounsellor at the Paikuan brigadefarm of the Paikuan commune. Hewas chosen by parents at the plantafter three discussions. He looks

out to see that the material needs

of the young people are taken careof and himself sets an example byhis own participation in physicallabor. He pays great attention tothe political growth of the youngpeople. He often gives talks intheir political classes and leadsthem to relate their political study

to the reform of their own world

outlooks.

Some young people were afraidof getting dirty when they firstcame to the countryside. Theywere very careful when carryingmanure to the fields so that none

got on their clothes, and after applying organic fertilizer with theirhands, washed them again andagain, still afraid they were notclean enough, all the while thinking themselves cleaner than thepeasants. Chu Chuan-fu askedthem to study what Chairman Maosaid in his Talks at the Yenan

Forum on Literature and Art.

Slowly they began to grasp themeaning of his words: ". . . in thelast analysis, the workers andpeasants were the cleanest peopleand, even though their hands weresoiled and their feet smeared with

cow dung, they were really cleanerthan the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals". They began torealize that the peasants' spirit oflaboring all year long in mud andwater, working wholeheartedly forsocialist construction, was something to emulate. Now the youngpeople have begun to think differently and rush forward when thereis manure to be carried and applied. They also make efforts tobe friends with the poor and lower-middle peasants and often helpcarry water and split firewood forfamilies after field work is over.

Chu tries to utilize ordinary incidents to cultivate in the youngpeople the thoughts and feelings ofthe laboring people. Once whilea nearby production team had itsrice all laid out on the threshingfloor to sun there was a sudden

cloudburst. The young people ranfor cover while the commune mem

bers rushed to the threshing floorto save the grain. Afterwards ChuChuan-fu asked the young peopleto discuss the matter.

"The fact that we ran in opposite directions," some observed,"shows that we don't think and

feel the same way as the poor andlower-middle peasants. Their firstthought was to save the collectiveproperty, but we were only concerned about ourselves." The samething happened not long afterwardbut this time the young peopledashed out to save the rice as soon

as they heard thunder. They had

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Education in the revolutionary tradition: an old poor peasant tellsabout revolutionary activity Chairman Mao carried on from this site.

A discussion of their studies on the theoryof the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Housing for the young people huilt hy commune members and workers from the city, with their vegetable garden in front.

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Ho Li~chun (right) and others do scientific research with guidance from a poor peasant

it all swept into piles and coveredbefore the rain came. "These

young people are concerned aboutthe same things we are," the commune members said joyfully."They'll carry on all right afterus."

Chu Chuan-fu has been groupcounsellor for more than two years,

long over the usual one-year term.He has remained on the farm at the

request of the parents and theyoung people.

Q. How are their work and livingconditions arranged? Does the stategive them any material help?

A. Ordinarily they work in farms,forests or tea plantations operatedby communes or their brigades.During busy planting and harvesttimes they are assigned to go tovarious production teams to work.

The state pays all the youngpeople's living expenses for thefirst year in the countryside. Beginning with the second year eachreceives his or her share in the

commune income distribution ac

cording to the number of workpoints earned just like other commune members. When they firstcome to the countryside, the government allocates a sum to the bri

gade or commime to cover the costof building living quarters, purchase of furniture, cooking utensils, tools, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions for the youngpeople. This fund also covers theirmedical expenses for the first year.They have four days off a monthwhich most use to visit their parents in the city.

Q. What kind of cultural life dothey have in the countryside?

A. Since the young people arestill growing up, they need studyas well as cultural and sports activities in their spare time. Tradeunions, committees of womenworkers and branches of the Com

munist Youth League in the city'sfactories have donated about

100,000 books and helped set uplibraries and evening political

8

schools in the places where theyoung people are located. Thesegroups have also helped them buildbasketball courts, carry on sportsactivities and set up amateurgroups which give performancesfor the commime members. The

city cultural bureau has organizedtheatrical festivals, and the sports

committee, sports meets for theyoung people in the rural areas.

A team from the municipal Partycommittee visits places where theyoung people are living once a yearto find out about their labor, studyand living conditions and solve anyproblems that may need their attention. At the new year and springfestival the committee dispatchesteams which hold special filmshowings for the young people andcommune members and bring giftsof books, sporting goods and equipment for cultural activities.

Q. What role are the young people playing in the countryside?What change have they undergonepersonally?

A. Through activity in the threegreat revolutionary movements,the young people have become afresh, vigorous, militant army forsocialist construction in the coun

tryside. Enthusiastic propagandistsfor Mao Tsetung Thought, theyfirmly follow the socialist road andcriticize and repudiate capitalisttendencies which crop up. Destroying the old and establishing thenew, they have become disseminators of new ideas, new culture,new customs and new habits in the

countryside.

During the movement to criticizeLin Piao and Confucius, many ofthe young people have joined thepoor and lower-middle peasants'political theory study groups. Froma Marxist-Leninist viewpoint theycriticize Lin Piao's utilization of

the ideas of Confucius and his follower Mencius and condemn hiscriminal plot to restore capitalismin China. Some of the young people have become instructors in theevening political schools.

With the commune members

they are reclaiming barren hills.Over the past two years areaswhere the young people are located have planted 8,000 hectaresof hills to fruit trees and Chinese

firs and done the work of tendingmore than 20,000 hectares bf youngforests. They have scientific experimentation groups in which theystudy the best methods of caringfor young sassafras bushes, cultivate the firs and graft orsinge andtangerine trees, as well as soil improvement and prevention of insect pests. Some notable resultshave already been achieved. ChienHsin-wu, a city school graduatenow at the Chunfeng commune'sforest farm, spent six months inintensive study of the habits oftermites and ways of eliminatingthem and came up with materialwhich will be of value to the en

tire area.

Through the centuries in Chinathere has been a tendency to lookdown on agriculture and the tillersof the soil. Always the thing wasto study, go to the city, become anofficial. It was thought there wasno future for people with educationto go back to the farm. Todaymost of China's school graduateshave overcome this old idea and

made a complete break with it.Having stood the test of the countryside, they are maturing rapidly.A profound change has taken placein their thoughts and feelings. Nowwith a firmer class stand, they aredeveloping a genuine love forphysical labor and the workingpeople. They have high revolutionary ideals, which now includethe aim of devoting their wholelives to building up the new socialist countryside. Many of theyoung people have been elected toleading groups of their communesor brigades. Some have becometeachers, "barefoot doctors" ortractor drivers in the communes.A younger generation of an entirely new type is vigorouslygrowing up in China's vastcountryside.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

'WE'LL TAKE

GOOD CARE

OF THEM'by NIEH CHUN-LIN, member of the Huchien brigade,Kantien People's Commune,Chuchow county, Hunanprovince

WE commune members werehappy to learn in spring 1974

that workers under the Chuchowrailway administration were goingto send their children to join ourbrigade. Despite the fact that itwas in the middle of spring ricetransplanting, we spent a wholeweek getting rooms, beds, grainand farm tools ready for them.

Our brigade Communist Partybranch held a special meeting todiscuss how we would handle theirideological education, and I wasput in charge of this work. Although I myself have never hadany schooling, I felt I must try mybest because this was an importantmatter — part of guaranteeing thatour political power will neverchange color and we laboring people will never again suffer as wedid in the past.

The brigade was bustling withactivity the day the young peoplearrived. There were twenty ofthem, but with parents and relatives the group came to almost ahundred. After welcoming themat the railway station we showedthem the houses where the youngpeople would live and the orchardwhere they would work. The olderfolk seemed very pleased. Theysaid they thought they would havenothing to worry about concerningthe future of their children in this

place. "We'll take good care ofthem," we said.

CHAIRMAN MAO says, "Classstruggle is the main subject

young people must learn." From

JULY 1975

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Nieh Chun-lin (third right) with middle schoolgraduates who have settled in his brigade.

the very first day we tried to follow this teaching. We paid specialattention to the individual needs of

the young people.

One day I visited their livingquarters and found some foodthrown on the ground. I laterlearned that someone living therehad done this because they hadfound a few grains of sand in therice and the vegetables were notcooked to their taste. Much grieved, I scooped the rice back into abowl.

That evening the Party branchcalled the young people togetherfor a talk. Showing them the bowlof food, I and three other poorpeasants talked about our hard lifein the old days when we had to begfor something to eat.

"In the old society," I said, "wepoor people often had to go fordays without rice to eat. Fourmembers of my family died ofstarvation within three months.

My mother tried to borrow somerice from the landlord. He gaveher a shove that sent her sprawlingon the ground outside the doorwith blood streaming from herhead. Now some people havethrown rice away just because ithad some sand in it. They don't

realize the good life they havetoday."

Yu Kuei-chien, one of the youngpeople, stood up. "I threw awaythe rice," he said, "but now Irealize that to throw food away isto forget the past. My father, aworker, also led a very hard lifein the old society. It was wrongof me to throw food away."

The whole group got an education from that incident. As he

went along the roads, whenever hecame across clusters of rice seed

lings that had dropped off thebasket in transport, Chen Ping-huibegan picking them up. "One littlecluster will grow a lot of rice," hesaid. "We mustn't waste any."

MADE efforts to see that the

** young people were active inthe local class struggle, which isgood tempering.

Last October the safe used by

the accountant of the brigade'ssideline products processing factory suddenly disappeared. In itwere cash, bank books and threeyears' account books for the factory. The brigade appointed meto organize an investigation teamand we asked Tao Yi-cheng, leader

Yuan Li-chih, who has just been accepted into the Communist Party.

Learning a form of traditionalphysical culture popular in the area.

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'Grandma, see how healthy sister has grown in the countryside!'

Tending a mandarin orange grove set out on reclaimed land

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of the young people's group, to beon it.

With the help of clues given bythe masses, we found the box within five hours, under a pile of firewood in the home of a landlord

element. The brigade called ameeting to struggle against him atwhich people exposed a scheme tosabotage the collective economyand throw suspicion on the cadres.

"Though he pretends to behonest," the young people saidafter the meeting, "actually theclass enemy is not reconciled to hisdefeat and still dreams of restoration. Chairman Mao teaches usnever to forget the class struggle.From now on we must keep thisfirmly in mind."

HEN they first came to the" countryside the young people

were not accustomed to hard

physical labor. We encouragedthem to temper themselves and acquire a love for labor.

The busiest time is from the endof July to the middle of August.We have to work fast to get theearly rice cut and threshed and thefields plowed and planted withseedlings of late rice — all in a 20-day period. The weather is hotand we are out working more thanten hours a day. Before the youngpeople went to the various production teams where they would work,we called them together and encouraged them to steel themselves

The author on the way to work.

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JULY 1975

conscientiously through hard workand to learn from the poor andlower-middle peasants. We gaveeach of them a brand-new sickle.Every team assigned an experienced peasant to teach thetechniques of cutting rice, pullingseedlings from the seedbed andtransplanting them.

The poor and lower-middlepeasants treat the young peoplelike their own children, calling thedoctor for them if they are ill,brewing herbal medicines andcooking special foods for them.Commune members often stop bythe place where the young peoplelive to help them carry water andimprove their cooking. During thebusy season six members of thebrigade Party branch took turnstouring the teams daily to see thateverything was all right withthem.

C INGE the Chuchow railwayadministration made contact

with our brigade this worker-peasant relationship has beengrowing stronger. Leading cadresfrom the railway and parents ofthe young people often visit ourbrigade and eagerly follow theprogress of our farm production.We commune members sometimesgo to the city with Lao Ling, theworker who is counsellor for theyoung people in our brigade, tovisit the parents of the young people and tell them how their children are getting along. In fact, all

the workers, when they see us,invite us to their homes just as ifwe were members of the family.

The railway workers show greatInterest in our rural construction.

During spring rice transplantingthey came out on their day off tohelp us transport chemical fertilizer. During the summer harvestthey came again and helped us setup electric threshers, sometimesworking far into the night withouta rest.

I feel that a lot of good thingscan come of our relationship withthe railway workers. With theseyoung people with education nowpart of our brigade and the support of the working class, our ruralarea will change faster than ever.

Learning about thecultivation of rapeseed.

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NOW I FEEL AT HOME|N TlljF by HO LI-CHUN, Chang-

ling Forest Farm worker

at the Huanglung Peo-

r 11 H p ^ I pie's Commune, Chuchow• county, Hunan province

T*M a trade union cadre's son.

Two years ago, after graduating from senior middle school, with13 of my schoolmates I was assigned to work at the ChanglingForest Farm. On our way therewe stopped off and climbed to theheights of the Changling range to

take a look at the scenery. It wasmagnificent, like a huge park. Theslopes were covered with Chinesefir and sassafras and bright redazaleas. At the first opportunityafter we arrived we plunged intothe forest to look around and didn'tcome back till dark. What a great

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life this will be, I thought, livingand working with the poor andlower-middle peasants, pruningtrees and managing nurseries withthem!

When we got down to real workit wasn't at all like I'd imagined.Our first job was loosening theearth a foot deep around the treesin a plot of firs. The ground wasvery hard and often we had to uproot stumps. The fourteen of usyoung people, working with all ourstrength, did about as much inone day as one commune member.We got blistered hands and soremuscles. In the mountains a lot of

things have to be transported byshoulder pole. We took turnsfetching water from the hollowand our shoulders got red andswollen. The forest no longerseemed like a park to me. My onlythought was, when are we evergoing to finish all this digging?And what kind of a future is

there in this, climbing up and downmountains every day?

One day as I was standing beforeour door musing on these things,Liu Ying-tuan, head of the farm'spoor peasants' association, cameover and patted me on the shoulderwith his big calloused hand. "Tiresyou out, doesn't it? Don't worry,you'll get used to it. Start withyour buckets only partly full andadd a little more water bit by bit.Fetching water for everybody isalso part of our work for therevolution."

Liu came to the farm in

1967. He'd been carrying waterevery day in all kinds of weatherfor eight years and here I'd beenat it only a few days and didn'twant to do it anymore. I felt myface flush.

I realized that I had this attitude

because I grew up in the city andhad never done much labor. Also,as the youngest in my family I'dbeen rather pampered by my parents. From then on I decided to

steel myself with a will. WheneverLiu Ying-tuan went down to bringthings up from the county townI'd go with him. It's four kilome

12

ters from our farm and you haveto go over five slopes. On the wayback whenever the slope seemedtoo long or steep, the sight of hisbig firm steps up ahead of megave me the strength to continue.

'C'ROM Liu Kuo-ming, the farm'sdirector, we learned the his

tory of this part of the mountainsand how the farm got started.Once the place had been coveredwith forests. During the War ofResistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) the Japanese cutdown the big trees for lumber andthen set fire to the mountain. It

became a burned-over waste. In

1964 the commune dispatched LiuKuo-ming and 40 other membersto reclaim the mountain. Theycarried on their backs the thingsthey needed — bedrolls, spades,sacks of grain and a packet of salt.They set up their living quartersin a ruined teahouse. The stone

slabs which had served as tables

were their beds by night. Theycleared away the stumps and dugholes in which they planted saplings. Then the big job was carrying water for them. Eventuallythe Changling range was coveredwith a new forest. This farm be

came known throughout the country for its afforestation work.

We young people were verymoved by this description of thepoor and lower-middle peasants'pioneering efforts. Determined tobe like them and to give our bestto make the farm produce timberas soon as possible, we attacked

our tasks with new vigor.

The poor and lower-middle peasants were great about helping usat every step so that we wouldmaster the technical end of our job.Firs have very sharp needles andwhen they are close together youcan get all red and scratched in no

time. At first I didn't even want

to go into such places. The com

mune members, though, alwaysplunged right into the thickestspots so we started doing the sameand soon got used to it. After aboutfour months we began to feel athome in the life and in our jobs.

The sight of the growing saplingsfilled us with pride.

At the spring transplanting andthe season for early rice harvestand late rice transplanting, wework with the commune's grain-growing teams. Each time hasbeen a profound education for me.By the time I went to do thatwork last summer I thought thatafter a year I could more or lesspass any test.

One day a truck carrying ammonia water from the Chuchow

Nitrogenous Fertilizer Plsint gotstuck in the mud some distance

away from the storage point andwe had to transport the contentsthe rest of the way with bucketsand shoulder poles. The smell wasoverwhelming and the liquid madeour skin itch wherever we came

in contact with it. The commune

members went right ahead, and Idid the same, though rather unwillingly. When it got dark theteam leader urged me to stop forthe day, so I put down my bucketsand went off. When I came to the

storage point at daybreak the nextmorning several commune mem

bers were already there. In fact,they had worked all night.

Soon the last of the ammoniawater was unloaded and I thoughtthat now they would get somesleep. Instead of going home theywent straight to the fields to continue with the rice harvest. Thisspirit of selfless hard work left adeep impression on me. I resolvedto be more strict with myself andtried in every way to do as the poorand lower-middle peasants did.

TO SEE that our thinking andwork is guided by proletarian

ideals, Wang Hsi-wen, the workerwho is counsellor for our group ofeducated youth, organized studies

of the works of Marx, Engels, Leninand Stalin and the. writings ofChairman Mao. He also arrangesactivities to give us more opportunities to learn from the poor andlower-middle peasants. Once heinvited Li Chi-kuei, deputy leaderof Shuikou brigade, to tell us something about his life.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

Li had been a poor peasant andhad suffered bitterly in the old society. He lost an arm fighting withthe Chinese People's Volunteersduring the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. "Theenemy can blow away my arm butthey can't destroy my will to workfor the revolution," Li said, and thishas been borne out in his actions.

After returning home he learnedto do a lot of the farm work with

just one hand and could keep upwith the strongest, even at plowing and carrying water. He is alsoresponsible for organizing production for the whole brigade. Hisstory opened more doors in ourminds. "We're young and strong,"we said, "if we develop a revolutionary will as firm as Li's there'sno difficulty we cannot conquer."

A lot of us, including myself,had thought that all the countryside needed was people who couldhoe and shovel and that there was

not much use for education. WangHsi-wen noted this and often

pointed out how necessary scienceand culture were to building a socialist countryside. He brought upa number of the forest farm's production problems and asked us tohelp find solutions. Working onthem made us realize how little we

had learned in school. We started

to study the science of forestry inearnest.

Some authorities in the past hadsaid that it was impossible to growforests in south China's hill re

gions, and even if you did planttrees, they would not grow intogood timber. The poor and lower-middle peasants had proven thatthe area could be afforested. Now

we set out to discover ways tomake the trees grow more quicklyinto good timber.

In 1973 the farm formed a re

search group consisting of commune members and we young people from the city. I was appointedvice-leader. We decided our first

task would be to make the trees

grow faster. At one time some ofthe fir trees began looking rathersickly. The needles turned yellow

.TUI.Y 197.5

1

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Caring for the trees.

and the branches started to wither

and die. We chose a poor tree andand a healthy one and dug deeparound them to inspect their roots.We found that the soil around the

poor tree was thin, hard and filledwith stones, but that around thehealthy one was rich and loose.

The soil here is rather acid, so wedug trenches around ten poor treesand applied lime to neutralize theacidity. We also worked in a mixture of manure and compost.Within a year the yellowing treeshad turned green and begun togrow again.

We then applied this lime andfertilizer mixture to all the firs,adding pond silt to further enrichthe soil. These trees, which for

merly had grown an average ofonly 40 centimeters a year, nowgain over a meter each year.

When they heard about our results the Chinese Academy ofAgricultural and Forestry Sciencejoined our efforts. Last May fiveof its people came to our farm to

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help in our experiments. We areworking together on eight topics.The wide open spaces of the countryside do indeed offer boundlessopportunities for young people witheducation to develop their knowledge and put it to use.

July 1, 1974 is a day I will neverforget — the day I was acceptedinto the Chinese Communist Party.I've learned a lot in the past twoyears of study and labor. I havecome to realize that the idea that

there is no future in agricultureresulted from the poisonous influence of the Confucian idea

"study well and you can becomean official" spread by class enemies. Because of it, my head wasfull of ideas on how to pursue personal fame and gain. The revolutionary ideal of the proletariat isto build socialism and finally toachieve communism. Labor on the

farm — every whack of the hoe,every thrust of the spade — is partof the struggle to realize this ideal.This thought always gives me newstrength.

CHINA RELEASES ALL WAR

CRIMINALS BY SPECIAL AMNESTY

A SPECIAL amnesty to the lastof the war criminals still in

custody was granted last March 17by the Standing Committee of theFourth National People's Congress.This measure was taken on instruc

tions from Chairman Mao and theCentral Committee of the ChineseCommunist Party and in accordance with a proposal submittedby Premier Chou En-lai.

Of the 293 persons released, 219were officers of the Kuomintangarmed forces, 21 were Kuomintangparty and government officials, 50were Chiang Kai-shek secretagents, two were officials of thepuppet "Manchukuo" government,and one served the puppet"Inner Mongolian AutonomousGovernment".

Personal effects are re

turned to the released.

New Lease on Life

The Congress decision was announced to the war criminals onMarch 19 in meetings at the variousdetention centers. Representativesof the Supreme People's Court readout the names and gave each person a notice of special amnestybearing the seal of the SupremePeople's Court of the People's Republic of China. Many broke intotears. Shouts of "Long live thegreat Chinese Communist Party!"and "Long live the great leaderChairman Mao!" filled the meet

ing halls. Supreme People's Courtrepresentatives made special tripsto hospitals to give the notices ofspecial amnesty to those whocould not attend the meetingsbecause of illness.

Each person released received aset of Selected Works oj MaoTsetung, 100 yuan expense money,winter and summer clothing,woolen blankets, quilts, bed sheets,pillows and pillow covers, caps,shoes, socks, travelling bags, belts,soap and other necessary articles.Watches and other personal effectswere returned to them.

Huang Wei, former lieutenantgeneral and commander of theKuomintang 12th Army, said at themeeting, "1 am infinitely encouraged, elated and grateful. 1 resolveto continue moving over to thepeople's side, making a new manof myself and doing my part tobuild socialism and liberateTaiwan."

At discussions after the meetings,the released persons spoke aboutwhat they had gained from remolding their thinking.

Wen Chiang, lieutenant generaland deputy chief-of-staff of theadvanced command of the Kuomintang "Bandit Suppression"

CHI WEN

Headquarters at Hsuchow and chiefof the northern zone of the Bureauof Investigation and Statistics ofthe Kuomintang Military Council,*said, "We cannot atone for thecrimes we committed against thepeople, even with a thousanddeaths. But Chairman Mao's policyof reforming war criminals hassaved us. We were not only treatedwith leniency and allowed to livebut were given the chance tochange our ways and make newmen of ourselves. We receivedpolitical education, medical careand attention to our everydayneeds. All this reflects the Communist Party's lofty ideal ofliberating all of mankind."

Yin Chung-yueh, a major generalwho commanded the Kuomintang118th Division, said, "I developedcataracts and lost my eyesight.After four operations I regainedmy sight. Chairman Mao's policyof reforming war criminals showedme the bright truth even when 1was down in the abyss of evil."

Chuang Tsun-fu was a lieutenantgeneral and commander-in-chief ofthe Kuomintang General Pacification Headquarters in the Honan-Hupeh-Anhwei Border Area.With tear-filled eyes he said"Chairman Mao and the Communist Party treated us with revolutionary humanitarianism, andno matter how great our crimeswere, our families were able to liveand work in peace. The People'sGovernment located my family forme. My wife is in good health, retired and enjoying full labor benefits. My two sons are working.Even though 1 was a war criminal,1 am not only being released buthave been given citizens' rights. 1

•One of the Kuomintang's huge secretservice agencies.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

Party and state leaders Yeh Chien-ying, Hua Kuo-fcng and Wu Teh; Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shcn Yen-ping; andPresident of the Supreme People's Court Chiang Hua receive the recipients of the amnesty.

will never forget the kindness ofChairman Mao and the Communist

Party."

Official Reception

On March 23 Party and stateleaders Yeh Chien-ying, Hua Kuo-feng and Wu Teh; Shen Yen-ping,Vice-Chairman of the National

Committee of the Chinese People'sPolitical Consultative Conference;'and Chiang Hua, President of theSupreme People's Court, receivedthe recipients of the amnesty inPeking.

At the reception, Vice-ChairmanYeh Chien-ying pointed out thatthe release of the remaining warcriminals by special amnesty was avictory for Chairman Mao's policyof reforming war criminals. According to Chairman Mao's instructions, all those released willenjoy the rights of citizens, begiven suitable jobs and receive freemedical care. Those unable to

work will be provided for by thestate. Those who wish to return to

Taiwan will be provided with faresand assistance, and those who wishto come back after going there willbe welcomed by the government.

In a word of encouragementVice-Chairman Yeh said, "Throughstudy and labor you have all madeprogress. This is fine. You shouldcontinue making a big effort tostudy and remold your world outlook, follow Chairman Mao and theCommunist Party along the socialist road and do something goodfor the people and the motherland."

Family Reunions

Huang Wei's wife Tsai Jo-shu,60, had been a staff member of theShanghai City Library and is nowretired. She flew to Peking onMarch 20 to meet him. They havefour children. Two sons, both

JULY 1975

university graduates, are working.The oldest daughter, Huang Min-nan, teaches at Peking's TsinghuaUniversity and the second daughter, a senior middle school graduate, is working in the countryside like other school graduates.

Huang Min-nan and her husbandWu Yu-chih brought their ten-year-old son for a family reunion.The son-in-law told Huang Wei,"I studied radio electronics at

Tsinghua University and stayed onto teach after graduation. Thenthere was a call to support industry. Now I'm an engineer atthe Tungfanghung Medical Equipment Plant here in Peking."

When his father-in-law asked

him what he thought of the greatgoals for developing China'seconomy which Premier ChouEn-lai outlined in his report ongovernment work at the FourthNational People's Congress, Wureplied with confidence, "We'rejust getting ready to make ourplans. But the workers havealready started a new campaign topush both revolution and production." This brought a happy nodfrom his father-in-law.

Yo Wen-hao, second son of YoChu-yuan, a former chief of theHonan Station of the KuomintangMilitary Council's Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, nowteaches physiology at ShantungMedical College. "I never thoughta war criminal like my father couldbe reformed into a new man," he

told reporters. "When my motherheard of his release, she thankedthe Communist Party and Chairman Mao from the bottom of her

heart."

"The Communist Party does notdiscriminate against me at all," hesaid.

Right after liberation Yo Wen-hao was enrolled in the ChinaMedical College, a school foundedin the days of the Communist-ledEighth Route Army. His tuitionand expenses were taken care of bythe state. Since he began teachinghe has visited medical colleges inPeking, Shanghai, Taiyuan, InnerMongolia, Kwangchow and Nanking. He attended the national conference on the compilation of medical textbooks held in Changshaand took part in writing Physio-chemistry, a nationally used textbook published last year by theHunan People's Publishing House.

Hu Ching-an, a former lieutenantgeneral and commissioner at theClassified Information Bureau of

the Kuomintang Ministry of Defense, told his daughter Hu Pao-chen, "I will never forget March19, 1975. I'm going to make it mybirthday because it marks thebeginning of my new life."

Hu Pao-chen and her sister Hu

Pao-lin are members of the Coal

Miners' Cultural Troupe. She toldreporters, "The Party and the People's Government have given usevery care in the past twentyyears. We owe everything to theParty. My sister likes choreographyand arranged the dances for 'BattleSong of the South China Sea' andother numbers."

Hu Ching-an's son Hu Nan-kai,a graduate of the South-CentralInstitute of Fine Arts, is now working in Anhwei province. He wasa member of the group whichcreated the wrought-iron work,"Greeting Pines", which hangs inthe Anhwei Room of the Great

Hall of the People.

Old Friends Meet

In Peking the released personsmet old friends and schoolmates

Hu Ching-an (center)with his family members.

m

Huang Wei (second from left in front)and other released persons in the SummerPalace accompanied by Tu Yu-ming(fourth from left in front), member ofthe National Committee of the Chinese

People's Political Consultative Conference,his wife Tsao Hsiu-ching (third from leftin front) and others.

and talked about their experienceand what each had learned in

studies over the past two decades.

Tsai Hsing-san, formerly a majorgeneral and chief of the East Kiang-si Youth Service Brigade underthe Kuomintang Youth NationalSalvation Corps, was greeted by his

old friend Chia Yi-pin, formeracting chief of the Cadre Candidates Bureau in the KuomintangMinistry of Defense, who hadcrossed over to the Communist

Party.

"At that time I saw that the

Kuomintang reactionaries werecollapsing," Chia said. "Thepolicies proclaimed by the Communist Party seemed right andgood to me, so I led my men andcrossed over to the people andstarted on a bright new road. Nowyou have also begun a new life.I congratulate you. The Communist Party and the People'sGovernment have placed greattrust in me. I am a member of

the National Committee of the Peo

ple's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the

Standing Committee of its Shanghai committee. At the beginningof this year I was elected a deputyto the Fourth National People'sCongress, so I have the responsibility of discussing state affairswith representatives of the peopleof all nationalities."

Shen Tsui, released by specialpardon in 1961, was formerly amajor general and chief of theYunnan Station of the Classified

Information Bureau of the Kuo

mintang Ministry of Defense. Heis now on the Committee for the

Collection and Compilation of Historical Materials under the Na

tional Committee of the People'sPolitical Consultative Conference.

Chatting with those he knewamong the released people, he gavethem the latest news of friends whohad been released earlier.

Ten of Ihe released persons left Peking by airon April 13 on their way to Taiwan via Hong Kong.

i.-: . uI ^

"Tung Yi-san (formerly a deputychief of the Telecommunications

Section of the Kuomintang MilitaryCouncil's Bureau of Investigationand Statistics) is on the same committee as I. His wife is a middle

school teacher. Kuo PIsu (formerlya major general and head of theAdministration Office of the Kuo

mintang Military Council's Bureauof Investigation and Statistics)works in the secretariat of the

People's Political Consultative Conference's Shanghai committee.With the help of the People's Government he found his long-lostdaughter left in Shanghai beforeliberation. He was deeply movedby it."

Visits and Study

The released persons visitedPeking factories, communes,schools, army units, historical sitesand scenic spots. They also attended theater performances. While incustody they had gone on organizedtrips to visit other parts of thecountry.

On March 31 they visited a unitof the People's Liberation Armyoutside Peking. Most of them hadserved in the Kuomintang armedforces, so were especially interestedin the people's army of the newChina.

The unit's political commissar,Chen Hsien-ta, gave them a briefaccount of the unit's history. "Thisunit took part in the anti-encirclement battles in the old Central

Soviet Area, the anti-Japanesewar, the liberation war, and thecampaign to resist U.S. aggressionand aid Korea. During the liberation war, responding to ChairmanMao's call to 'overthrow ChiangKai-shek and liberate all China',we fought in central Kiangsu province, at Laiwu and Mengliangkuin Shantung province, in the Huai-Hai campaign, and in the crossingof the Yangtze. Our unit wiped outor captured over 70,000 Kuomintang troops."

Three released persons had beencaptured by this very PLA unit.They were Wang Hsien, lieutenantgeneral and commander of theKuomintang Self-defense Army inthe Honan-Hupeh-Anhwei Border

(Continued on p. 46)

CHINA ULCONSmuCTS

Peasants Experiment jrtScientific FariiMng

YUEH HSI andhua nung

spraying insecticide.

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Members of a brigade agro-group study a new variety of rice.

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JULY 1975

iA K

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A LL over China peasants aremaking scientific experiments

on their own. Huajung county inthe Tungting Lake area of Hunanprovince is a typical example. Thisis traditional rice country.

People often say that a singleseed opened the door to scientificfarming in the county. In 1965several young people of a production team in the Five Stars production brigade of Hucheng communeformed a group for experiments.Conservatives said, "We've grownrice for generations withoutscience." Class enemies went

further. "Muddy-legged peasantswork with science? Like toads

dreaming of eating swans' meat!"

But the brigade Party branchbacked their idea, and the poor andlower-middle peasants said, "In theold days we wouldn't think ofscience because the landlords

owned the land we worked. Biggerharvests only meant heavier taxes.Besides, who had time for sciencewhen we were starving? Todaywe're our own masters and science

will help us get bigger harvests."

That year the young peoplecrossbred strains and got eightgood seeds which they carefullyplanted the following spring. Unfortunately chickens got in theseedbed and ate seven of them.

Ignoring the taunts of the classenemies, they coddled the remaining seed and finally developed animproved strain that yielded 30percent more rice.

Their success brought morepeople into scientific farming. By1969 the brigade was harvesting 9tons of rice per hectare, as againstthe 3.8 tons of 1964. The countyParty committee outlined thebrigade's methods and passed themon to the other brigades and communes. Soon there was a network

of cooperating experimental groupsall the way down to the productionteam level. Muddy-legged peasantsbecame the base of the county'smass movement to experiment in

scientific farming.

The Peasant Base

The peasants' enthusiasm forscientific farming grew during thecultural revolution. It acceleratedwhen the movement to criticizeLin Piao and Confucius began.When such Confucian ideas as "the

higher orders are wise and thelower orders stupid" came underfire, the peasants' confidence intheir ability to master sciencegrew.

Each of Huajung county's morethan 400 production brigades nowhas its own agricultural experimental group. Nearly all teamsalso have them. These introduce,

IS

breed, select and purify seed strainsand popularize advanced methodsof cultivation. Each team assignsmembers to seed-breeding, cropprotection, fertilizer, field management and the use and repair offarm machinery. The county's20,000 peasant agro-scientistsspearhead the movement to farm

scientifically, centering it aroundthe Eight-Point Charter for Agriculture (see p. 21). This year,under their direction, 80,000 peopleare cultivating 7,300 hectares ofexperimental plots. Groups ofyoung people, women, militiamembers, leaders, schoolchildrenand even old people now nm suchplots.

There are still people who thinkpeasants aren't educated enough towork with science. • Peasant Yin

Ching-chih of the Hsinchienbrigade, with only four years ofschooling, is an example provingthem wrong. He is a Party memberand head of the brigade's agro-group. He studied on his own and

struggled through essential biological theory. After 1969 his agro-group crossbred from more than a

hundred parent strains of rice seed,finally selecting five hopeful varieties. Two varieties of early riceproved very suitable for local conditions.

Jiist before sowing early rice in1970, other brigades asked for thesenew varieties, but there wasn'tenough to satisfy the demand.Hsinchien brigade's Party secretaryHo Kuang-hsing, a national modelrice grower, proposed changingtheir original plan of raising theimproved seedlings in big clusterson 20 hectares to growing them on66 hectares in small clusters. This

would speed up multiplication andyield more to supply otherbrigades.

Most of the brigade membersthought it a good idea, but a fewpointed out that raising the newvarieties in small clusters on 66hectares meant a reduction of 750

kg. per hectare, a total loss of 50tons of rice for the brigade.

"But if we consider the largerinterest of the collective," HoKuang-hsing suggested, "it wouldfigure this way. Transplanting 66hectares in small clusters will giveenough seed for 1,300 hectares inother brigades. The new varietyshould give an increase of 375 kg.per hectare — in other words an

increase of 500 tons in the com

mune, as against only 50 tons losthere."

Impressed, everyone supportedthe plan. That year Hsinchiensupplied 320 tons of the improvedvarieties to other brigades. Sincethen it has provided 6,000 tons toother brigades. "We make scientific experiments in agriculture toproduce more grain for the country," Ho Kuang-hsing said.

The Right Path

Huajung county has an agricultural science institute with 22 agro-stations in the communes. Its

method of working is a three-waycooperation of leaders, technicalpersonnel and peasants.

Before the cultural revolutionthe institute had a small staff ofspecialists and a few dozen workers. Experiments were done behind closed doors. In fact, a signat the entrance of the institute'sexperimental farm read: "Important scientific experimental site.

No admittance."

In 1964 the institute producedan elite strain of rice with almosttwice the yield of the kind thencommonly grown in the area. Butthe seeds were put away, the datafiled and that was the end of it.The seeds were not remembereduntil 1970, when the mass movement for scientific experiments wasgrowing rapidly. Then they werebrought out and used on largeareas. Eyes opened by large increases in harvests, the institutestaff began going out to communes,brigades and teams to find outwhat their fields needed and to

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

dA Chiagkang commune agro-station technician explains a new pest-controlling method to peasants.

exchange experience with peasant-technicians. They also invited ex

perienced peasants to the institute

to talk on both production and thepolitical thinking behind it.

The institute's experimental plotsare now used to find solutions to

the problems in the fields. It hasfound answers for getting highyields of cotton. It has experi

mented with intercropping with awide variety of plants: tea, orange,pear and peach trees, watermelons,oil crops and vegetables. It introduced a fine breed of pigs andcrossbred them with local pigs toproduce a better breed.

The institute's work now at

tracts a great many visitors fromall parts of the county. Of its 127projects in farming, forestry, stockraising and fishery in the last fouryears, 34 have been popularized inthe local communes.

For example, it had been a problem to know just how long thepaddies should be sunned beforeharvesting to reduce useless tiller

JULY 1975

ing and cut down the number of

empty heads of grain. Director

Chang Lu-pang and the staff of theinstitute went around the com

munes and brigades to collect the

peasants' experience, sorted it outand summed it up in four lines:"Sun the paddies until just beforethe mud turns white, until thin

cracks begin to show, until there

are white roots all over the plots,

until plants begin to turn yellow."This quickly became the guide tosunning paddies throughout thecounty.

Chang Lu-pang is an old in

tellectual who went to university

before liberation. He has been

working in agricultural science at

Huajung county ever since liberation. Influenced by Liu Shao-chi's

revisionist line before the cultural

revolution began, he had little con

tact with the masses and actual

production, and thus few practicalresults came from his work. The

cultural revolution educated and

tempered China's technical people.

Like others, Chang went among themasses to learn from them and was

able to make new contributions.

Yang Kai-yen is a technician atthe Chingkang commune agro-station. He and several peasant-technicians were determined to getrid of leaf rollers which menaced

the rice. They stayed in the fieldsfor 17 days and nights and learned

the pest's life cycle, including itswintering place. They were ableto propose effective methods of

control and prevention.

To combat a certain plant disease,the agro-station's technicians visited 30 experienced peasants, poredover several dozen books and ex

perimented with 40 different preparations for fighting the disease.Working in the fields the yearround, they learned all about thedisease and found better methods

of treatment and prevention.

Good Results

The Shengfeng commune runsan agricultural school in line with

the policy of making educationserve proletarian politics and combining it with work in production.The teachers are peasants in thecommune and they compile theirown teaching materials. Classesare usually held in the fields andcourses are opened to meet needsin production. The period of studyvaries.

In the past several years theschool has trained 600 technical

personnel specializing in rice, cotton and ten other lines. The

graduates return to their brigadeand team agro-groups. The countyParty committee set up such aschool on the county level andcalled on the 22 communes to do

the same. In two years theseschools trained another 3,000technicians.

In 1970 the county institute began experimenting with 2.5 kg. ofa low-stalk strain of early rice.The following year the yield perunit area was 20 percent higherthan the ordinary strains and theripening period 7 to 10 daysshorter. At once requests for theseed poured in. As soon as that

. year's late rice was in, the institutestaff took the improved seed downto Hainan Island where the weather

is warm the year round and they

With county research institute staff members,an aero-team makes field observations.

A 'I

could quickly multiply the seed.They brought back 5 tons. Thiswas distributed to the agro-groupsin the county for multiplication.By autumn 1972 there were 1,500tons for the county.

Today the county supplies itselfin improved strains in rice, cottonand hemp and has some to give toothers.

For a long time Huajung countywas troubled with the rotting ofearly rice seedlings, which delayedtransplanting and cut down thedouble-cropping areas. Late rice inturn was often subjected to coldsnaps in the autumn. Some saidnothing could be done except torear the seedlings later and growonly one crop of rice. The countyParty committee called on all theagro-groups to study the problem.The groups found that rottingcould be prevented by nursingthe seedlings in hothouses andtransplanting them with the - soilattached. These measures made it

possible to transplant earlier. Sowing and ripening of late rice werealso moved up.

The underground water level inHuajung county has always beenhigh because many lakes andrivers are higher than fields. Theresulting sticky soil and low ground

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temperature retarded crops. Until1969 some 13,000 hectares of lowfields were locked in water duringthe winter. This made only onecrop of rice possible per year.

Experimenting with better use ofthe land, agro-groups tried growing green manure crops on thesefields and found that the plants onhigher ground grew well. Thecounty Party committee mobilizedthe peasants to lower the waterlevel by digging ditches around thefields, piling the earth on low placesand levelling up the fields. Tworice crops and one green manurecrop a year are now grown on thesefields. Some communes have

begun to experiment with two ricecrops and one of winter wheat ayear.

Huajung county has 1,300technicians dealing only with theprevention of insects and plantdiseases. Hung Wan-yu, who returned from middle school to take

up farming, became a crop protector for his brigade in 1971. Heknew nothing about pests. Butwith a will and a desire to helpdevelop agriculture, he studied pestcontrol and talked with experiencedpeasants. In 1972 he began working on his own. In the hottest daysand nights, when pests are mostactive, he stayed in the fields andobserved. Based on his report thecommune organized shock attacksto control the pests.

Huajung county, historically acalamity-ridden low-yield area, hasbeen selling large amounts of commodity grain to the state for thepast several years.

CORRECTIONS

In the article "Edgar Snow's

Seal and Bracelet" which ap

peared in the May 1975 issue

of China Reconstructs, the date

for the student movement men

tioned in column 2 should read:

December 9, 1935.

In the April 1975 issue, p. 17,col. 2. par. 2, line 7, for 1951,read 1949.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

What Do We Mean by.,,

THE EIGHT-POINT CHARTER

FOR AGRICCETCRE

TN THE AUTUMN of 1958, afterChina's agriculture had scored

marked increases during the greatleap forward, Chairman Mao madea summary of the peasants' experience in raising yields and theresults of scientific studies. Putforward as the Eight-Point Charterfor Agriculture, it became theguide for getting future productionincreases. The eight points are:

Soil: Deep-plowing and soil improvement, over-all survey, planning and rational utilization ofland.

Fertilizer: Rational applicationof fertilizer, with the kind andquantity according to the type ofcrop, nature and condition of thesoil and needs at the different

stages of crop growth.

Water conservation: Construc

tion of projects for irrigation anddrainage, and rational utilization ofwater.

Seed selection: The use of seedfrom high-quality strains.

Close planting: The maximumnumber of plants that can be grownper unit area through close-planting and intercropping and stillobtain adequate nutrition, sunlightand air.

Plant protection: Prevention andtreatment of plant diseases andelimination of weeds, insect pestsand harmful birds and animals.

Reform of tools: Reform of farmtools and the use of machinery toraise labor productivity.

Field management: Timely cultivation, irrigation and applicationof fertilizer and meticulous care ofthe crops throughout the growingperiod.

'pHE EIGHT POINTS are thecardinal principles for scien

tific farming in China. There is adialectical relationship among them

JULY 1975

and they reflect the objective lawsfor agricultural production. Experience shows that while each ofthe eight points has its own role inincreasing production, they areclosely interrelated and act both asa booster and check on each other.

The maximum effect is achieved

only when the eight points aretaken as a whole and the measures

are applied in close coordination inline with local conditions.

Excellent results have beenachieved over the 17 years inwhich China's peasants and agricultural scientists, adhering toChairman Mao's revolutionary line,have been carrying out the charter.This progress has been particularlynotable since the proletarian cultural revolution began in 1966.Continual mass movements to

transform mountains, control riversand improve the soil have increasedthe ability to resist natural disasters, made a general improvement in conditions for agriculturalproduction and constructed manyfields which regularly give highyields.

A N outstanding example is theTachai brigade in Shansi prov

ince. Self-reliantly through hardstruggle, its members terracedtheir slopes and turned gullies intolevel fields to ensure high yieldsdespite drought or heavy rain.Though the brigade's average grainyield has gone up from 100 jin permu to over 1,000, the members arecontinuing to make improvementsand forge ahead. Tachai has become an example for the wholecountry.

Much has been done to improvethe saline and alkaline fields and

sandy wastes of the north, and thered soil and cold marshlands in thesouth. Many rivers which used toflood large areas of farmland havebeen brought under control and arebetter utilized.

The Haiho River in north Chinawas a notorious flood menace.Agriculture along its banks washeld back by the saline and alkalinesoil, suffering severely in dryspells. Twelve years of hard work,and scientific reconstruction by thepeople of the provinces of Hopeiand Shantung and the municipalities of Peking and Tientsin haveturned this menace into a boon.Along with doing away with waterlogging and transforming the soil,they have sunk wells for irrigation.Agriculture in the area is fastcatching up with that in other partsof the country.

The Eight-Point Charter hasbeen a stimulus to experimentationin agricultural science throughoutthe country. Commune groups forthis purpose, consisting of peasants,cadres and technicians, are producing good results. Superior ricestrains they have bred and popularized are now used in 80 percent of the rice paddies of southChina.

In the north, good strains ofwheat and hybrid sorghum and corn,are being sown in more and moreareas with markedly higher yields.Three crops a year are becomingcommon practice in south China, asare two in the north. Intercroppingis being taken up throughout thecountry. Kwangtung provincepeasant scientists' experiments tobreed good seed, improve the soiland reform tools have facilitated

adoption of the three-crop systemover large areas. Some places areeven growing four a year.

The socialist collective economyof the people's communes, andtheir ability to mobilize mass movements, have made it possible tocarry out the Eight-Point Charterin a big way. China has had excellent harvests for 13 years in arow.

21

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

China's First Laser Range FinderA precision phase laser range

finder, using entirely China-made components, has been designed and built by the Seismolog-ical Instruments Plant of the Wu

han brigade of the National Seis-mological Bureau. This fills aformer blank in China's precisionrange-finding technology..

The range finder, a high-precision surveying instrument, hasbeen used for over a yearin Hupeh, Honan and Shantung provinces. Joint appraisal by over 40 units showedthat it meets design specificationsin all major respects and performswell. Smaller, lighter and as accurate as similar foreign instruments, its use simplifies calculations. Providing a new instrumentfor China's geod.etic survey, the accurate, continuous data the rangefinder provides on displacementalong faults and other changes inthe earth's crust can be used tomonitor and predict earthquakes.This instrument can play a positiverole in national economic and defense construction, seismology andother fields.

In the past, precision range-finding for China's geodetic surveywas generally done by making baseline measurements, an exhausting,inefficient method unsuited to

mountainous and other complextopography. Research and development for a precision laser rangefinder was begun at the Seismolog-ical Instruments Plant before thecultural revolution. But the projectwas affected by Liu Shao-chi'sand Lin Piao's revisionist lineof going slow, relying on specialists and worshipping everything foreign. In the cultural revolution, workers, cadres and technicians recalled the long two-linestruggle all through China's socialist revolution and construction.

They clearly saw that revisionistinfluence had prevented China'ssurveying instruments industryfrom keeping pace with the n^edsof socialist construction. The statewas spending large amounts offoreign exchange each year to import equipment, and many difficulties were created by foreignmonopolies.

After studying Chairman Mao'spolicy of independence and self-

reliance and his teaching, "Do awaywith all fetishes and superstitionsand emancipate the mind", theydecided to take their own road in

developing science and technologyand to strive to overtake and sur

pass advanced world levels. Theyrenewed their efforts to developlaser range finders. By 1972 an experimental prototype had beencompleted in cooperation withother units. The Wuhan plant thenimproved the design to make itlighter and more stable.

A major factor in speeding therange finder's successful production was the introduction of manytechnical innovations during a revolutionary emulation movementinitiated by the plant's workersand staff. Two "three-in-one combinations" — one of workers, cadres and technicians, another ofmembers of research, productionand user units — propelled thework forward. Close cooperationbetween units and mobilization of

all forces for a "people's war" inresearch, further shortened thetime required for development.

Device fer Thermenuclear ExperimentsONE of the most advanced items

in humsmity's search for newsources of energy is research oncontrolled thermonuclear reactions.

A hydrogen bomb explosion is athermonuclear reaction. Such reac

tions release considerable quantities of energy: that released by onekilogram of deuterium-tritiumthermonuclear fuel is equivalentto the energy from 10,000 tons ofcoal.

The problem is controlling thereaction so that it proceeds slowly.

22

A small TOKAMAK apparatus forexperiments with controlled thermonuclear reactions was recentlybuilt by the physics and electricalengineering institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in cooperation with Peking University.Used to produce toroidal dischargesin a strong quasi-stable magneticfield, it has been aligned and hasalready performed many experiments. Building a reactor for thispurpose is not easy. The reactionrequires heating the fuel to a temperature of about 100,000,000°C.

Long before it reaches this temperature the fuel is completely ionized, becoming a mixture of positively and negatively chargedparticles known as a plasma. Thisplasma must be maintained at appropriate density long enough toprovide sufficient opportunities forreaction to occur. Such temperatures and densities beyond oureveryday imagination are difficultto obtain.

The TOKAMAK is one of manyways of achieving a thermonuclear

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

Sy-y- ....

An outdoor test of the range finder.

reaction that have been tried byChina's working class and herscientists with varying degrees ofsuccess. Inside the ring-shapedTOKAMAK the plasma is contained within a strong magneticfield. A large loop current is produced in it through electromagnetic induction. The current heats

the plasma.

The TOKAMAK is a complicatedpiece of equipment for general usedemanding a high degree of precision. Research and developmentinvolved many new techniques.China's young scientific workers,with leadership from the ChineseCommunist Party, took the road ofindependence and self-reliance asurged by Chairman Mao. Theyworked hard, learning as theywent, and completed their difficulttask in less than two years withrelatively little investment.

In the course of developing theTOKAMAK workers and scientists

acted in the revolutionary spirit ofadvancing when conditions wereright and creating conditions foradvance when none existed. Theycleaned out a warehouse and moved

in several hundred large capacitorsto begin a makeshift laboratory.The building had a basement, andthey created a second story on topof a big steel door suspended flatin midair. Their workbencheswere made from broken steelframes found in a scrap heap.

JULY 1915

The precision laser range fndcr developed bS Wuhan Seismologlcal Instrument Plant.

Their drive to catch up with andsurpass advanced world levels wasgiven further stimulus by theircriticism of Lin Piao and Confucius.They needed a ventilation hood ^remove the poisonous producwhile cleaning the vacuum chainber with hot hydrofluoric acid,^ buthey didn't have one. bittercold winter day they moved thelarge, heavy chamber outside anlet the wind carry away i^^e fumeswhile they did the job.

Ten major components make upthe TOKAMAK. The workers andscientists designed and made eightof these as well as half of the othertwo. By working hard they completed three current-regulatethyristor power supplies for charging the capacitors six months aheaof schedule. Performance and quaity were good.

The institute lacked the equipment to process the large, unusual-shaped copper shell, pooling thenideas, the young scientists decideto make it out of copper bars.Under the direction of veteranworkers, they bent over a hundrebars into the required shapes anwelded them together. The shelwas assembled in two weeks. Theyalso solved some problems of processing and technology ^ly makinga micro-plasma welding gun and aplasma cutting torch.

Many factories, research institutes and institutions of higherlearning cooperated in the researchand development of China's firstTOKAMAK.

Answers to LANGUAGE

CORNER Exercises

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China's Shipbuilding IndustryDevelops in the Course of theTwo-Line Struggle

O O JEN CHI-TUNG

'T^HOUSANDS of people wavingred flags and beating gongs

and drums lined a Shanghai dockon September 30, 1974, to welcome the 10,000-tQn ocean-goingfreighter Fengqing back from itsmaiden voyage. Chinese designed,built and equipped, the vesselcovered 32,000 nautical miles in150 days, sailing the waters ofthe Pacific, Indian and Atlanticoceans, rounding the Cape of GoodHope twice and passing throughequatorial waters four times.

On November 6, 1974, peopleagain gathered at the dock to welcome the Fengguang, another Chinese-made 10,000-tonner, backfrom a long voyage.

Anyone familiar with the history of China's shipbuilding industry will know that the cheeringwas for much more than the safe

return of the two ships.

With a continental coastline that

stretches for thousands of kilo

meters, and a web of inland waterways, China has a long shipbuildinghistory. As far back as the thirdcentury seven-mast vessels weresailing her coast. In the 13thcentury she was building shipscapable of carrying over 700 tons.In the 15th century the Chinesenavigator Cheng Ho made sevenvoyages with large fleets along theAsian and African coasts. His

largest vessel was over 143 metersin length and 60 m. in width.

China's shipbuilding, however,began to fall behind in the laterfeudal dynasties. Feudalism plusimperialist aggression, which began in the 19th century, stuntedthe growth of modern industry.Under the rule of the Kuomintangreactionaries, imperialist shipsdominated China's territorial waters. Shipbuilding, becoming a classic example of a colonial or semi-

f

An 18-mctor lathe made by workers at the Hutung Shipyard processesthe assembled crankshaft for a 12,000-h.p. diesel engine in one step.

colonial industry, consisted of afew poorly equipped yards whichmade only small barges and otherwooden boats and repaired foreignships. All materials and equipment, even the bolts, were imported.

After liberation, in the course ofsocialist construction, ChairmanMao pointed out the direction for

developing industry: "Rely mainlyon our own efforts while makingexternal assistance subsidiary,break down blind faith, go in forindustry, agriculture and technicaland cultural revolutions independently, do away with slavishness,bury dogmatism, learn from thegood experience of other countriesconscientiously and be sure tostudy their bad experience too, so

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

t- .••- •

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A 10,000-ton ship being built on 3,000-ton ways at the Shanghai Shipyard.

as to draw lessons from it. Thisis our line."

Guided by this line, the Chinesepeople constructed a shipbuildingindustry, first renovating and enlarging existing repair yards, thenconstructing new yards in majorshipping and fishing centers. Since1966 the cultural revolution hasspeeded up development. Moretonnage has been built in the eightyears since the cultural revolutionbegan than in the 17 precedingyears, including dozens of ships inthe 10,000-ton class. Total 1974tonnage was over six times thatfor 1965, and greater than thatproduced in old China during nearly a century. A dozen times asmany ships in the 10,000-ton classwere built.

In addition to ordinary freighters, fishing boats, passenger shipsand large tugs and other vesselsfor port use, China now produces 10,000-ton-class ocean-goingfreighters and tankers, large dredgers, floating cranes and piledrivers, icebreakers and vessels foroil prospecting and oceanography.

JULY 1975

Small local yards make largenumbers of boats for short-haul

shipping and agricultural use, andare producing concrete boats.

A

Advancing Through Struggle

China's shipbuilding developedin the face of an intense struggleover whether to make her own

ships or buy them abroad — inessence a matter of either main

taining independence and relyingon her own efforts or blindlyworshipping things foreign andpinning her hopes on foreigncapitalists. The workers point outthat this was a struggle betweenthe Marxist-Leninist line and the

revisionist line.

Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao, having no faith in the strength of themasses, did not believe it was possible to develop an independentshipbuilding industry in a countrywith a relatively weak industrialbase. They advocated the ideathat it was better to buy shipsthan build them and still betterto charter them.

Criticism of this line led to a

leap forward. The workers pointedout that now they were masters ofthe country and that they had thestrength to develop the shipbuilding industry no matter how poorthe foundation was. Building herown ships might seem slow andthe hard way for China at first,but it was actually faster, betterand cheaper in the long run. Moreimportant, it was the only way toput shipbuilding on a firm, independent foundation. They feltthey could overcome whateverdifficulties they met by workingwith a will.

In 1958 Shanghai shipbuildersbegan the design and constructionof China's first 10,000-ton ship.The workers proposed making the10,000-horsepower marine dieselengine themselves but Liu Shao-chi's revisionist line blocked progress at several junctures. Somepeople urged purchasing the engineabroad, or at least purchasing technical data for making one. Twospecialists were brought from aforeign country, took a look around

and said, "With your equipmentyou couldn't make such an engineeven if you bought our data. Better just buy the engine from us."

The workers at Shanghai's Hu-tung Shipyard would by no meansagree. They were determined toadvance in the face of difficulties.They set out to design and buildone anyway.

At that time crankshafts of

forged steel were used in mostcountries and only the most technically advanced were experimenting with cast steel ones. Since theHutung yard didn't have a largeforging press, the workers decided to try for a cast steel shaft.They finally succeeded. State testsshowed that quality was good.

Struggle is a long process andoften the same battle must be'fought over and over again. In1970 the Red Flag Shipyard in Ta-lien decided to make a 10,000-h.p.engine of their own design. Adherents of Lin Piao's revisionist

line objected, saying it wasn't thejob of a shipyard to build engines. They counted on getting animported engine but it would takea long time to arrive. It looked asif the hull of the tanker Daqing 47would be left floating without anengine. Pooling their wisdom andstrength, the shipbuilders wentahead and finished their engine.Within the year the tanker set outfor points elsewhere. Today moreand more yards are making 10,000-h.p. engines.

Breaking New Paths

The size of a ship has been traditionally limited by the size of thebuilding ways, but China's shipbuilders have broken with this rule.

More than one yard has built10,000-ton ships on building waysintended for smaller vessels —

7,000-ton ways at Shanghai'sChiangnan yard, 5,000-ton ways atTientsin's Hsinkang yard and3,000-ton ways at another Shanghaiyard. Tientsin's Hsinho Shipyardeven built a 500-ton floating craneon a mud beach.

When it was proposed that theShanghai yard build 10,000-tonships on its 3,000-ton ways, a host

discuss aWorkers at the Red Flag construction,technical innovation in

j. What ifof questions were raised-the shoring collapsed? , ^ extrasolve the problems of ^ soacelength and additionalneeded? How to lift

pieces with no big crai^ muchto launch a big ship do'V^^ ^too-narrow sliding ways?

The workers felt theyX difficul-age to overcome these ^

ties. They made load tests w ichproved the building eouldhold up. They lengthened the waysby 25 meters and refloated a sunken ship to provide additionalwork space. They put up twoauxiliary sliding ways outside theoriginal ones. They are now working on their eighth 10,000-ton shipon these expanded building ways.

A 500-ton floating crane wasurgently needed for the extractionof undersea oil. The Hsinho Shipyard, located above the shiplockwhere the Haiho River enters thesea, was deemed a likely yard tobuild it, except that the cranewould be larger than the lock and

length and additional wm-t

there would be no way to get it outto sea. The workers suggestedbuilding it on the beach. They dugaway the mud, filled in stone andsand and laid keelblocks and

sliding ways. On these improvisedways the hull was built.

The main boom of the crane is

taller than a 20-story building andweighs 280 tons. Their mere 100-ton crane was unable to set it in

place. Mu Jui-tang, a veteranworker, and his mates came upwith an idea. Mu had a reputationfor ideas. When he was doingbridge repairs just after the liberation he had raised the end of abridge damaged by Kuomintangtroops by running a water-filledbarge beneath it. As the water wasgradually pumped out the buoyancy of the barge jacked up thebridge step by step.

This time Mu and the craneoperators made use of the floatingcrane's own ten winches and, withthe help of a second 100-ton float-

CIIINA UFCONSTRUCTS

Iffi',.

These women electric welders are models at work and

in the movement to criticize Lin Piao and Confucius.

islands some 48 nautical milesaway. By shifting the scanningcenter, objects beyond 50 nauticalmiles could also be clearly seen.This was the first time we used theradar on this trip, and results showthat it is fully up to standard forocean voyages.

July 22: The Black Sea. Thechannel leading to the pier at theport where we were to dock was asnarrow as an alley. The pilotlooked rather apprehensive as hestepped onto our ship — would webe able to make it? He ordered ushard to port, forward in first. Ourcrew responded in less than threeseconds and the ship slipped rightdown the middle of the "alley".With a hard to starboard and a reverse in third, in seven secondsthe ship was safely up against thepier. "You've got a good ship," the

pilot said with a smile, "and agood crew."

August 29: At the Cape of GoodHope we ran into giant waves andeighth-force winds. . . . All machinery and instruments functionednormally. We gave her full throttle and completed our secondrounding of the Cape in fine form.

New Technical Force

In the course of China's shipbuilding progress the workershave moved from using sledgehammers to using machinery, andhave mastered much new technology. For example, at the Red Flagyard in Talien, by making use ofthermal expansion they did thejob of shaping hull plates — usually requiring a large forging press— with nothing more than a welding torch and a water hose. Butnew equipment has also been added, notably building ways for10,000-ton vessels and 100-tongantry cranes in many yards.

In every yard workers, cadresand technicians participate together in the work of the research

and design office. Research organizations for ship design anduniversity schools of shipbuildinghave been set up by the government. Every year the shipyardssend workers to study in them.China now has a growing force ofpeople conversant in the scienceand technology of modern shipbuilding.

ing crane, devised a way to erectthe giant boom.

Test of Quality

The freighter Fengqing providesyet another story. As the ship wasbeing readied by the Chiangnanyard for a loaded trial run aroundthe beginning of 1974 a few people began raising doubts. Cylinderliner No. 1 should be changed. Theradar and four other major itemsshould be changed for importedones. These appeared to be technical arguments but it was reallya battle between proletarian andbourgeois thinking, between following the Marxist-Leninist lineand the revisionist line. It wasn't

that domestic ships were no goodor domestic engines unreliable.The matter was simply that thesepeople blindly worshipped foreignthings and didn't have faith inChinese-made equipment. Someworkers put up a big-characterposter that met the problem headon. "China's ocean shipping willdevelop on a firm foundation onlywhen we build our own ships andengines," they said.

In the end the Fengqing sailedwith its original Chinese-madeequipment. The cheers greetingits return and later that of the

Fengguang were ovations for theability of the Chinese people toproduce high-quality equipment.This is testified to by excerptsfrom the Fengqing's log.

May 8: According to our calculations there would be some islandsabout 50 nautical miles ahead. We

switched on the radar and sure

enough there were tiny pinpointsof light on the screen, indicating

Welcoming the Fengqing back from its maiden voyage.

'N»..

JULY 1975

ACROSS =

lists S

Ml. Joimo Lungma R

TeammemberswithTibetansinthelocality.

ANOTHERsurveyoftheregionaroundMt.JolmoLungma,the-world'shighestpeak,locatedontheChina-Nepal

border,wascompletedlastyear.Thesurveyisconsideredofimportancebecauseofthemountain'sgreatinfluenceonhumanlifeandthenaturalenvironment.ParticipatinginthestudywerepersonnelfrominstitutesoftheChineseAcademyofSciences,thePekingZoo,andthePekingMuseumofNaturalHistory.

Theteamhadmuchhelpfromthelocalpeopleinaccomplishingtheirdifficulttask.Thenewdatatheyobtainedwillprovidereliablescientificinformationforexploitingthenaturalresourcesofthearea.

Thegroupinvestigatingthegeologicalroleofglacierspitchescampat5,700metersonthecentralRongbukglacier.

I-i

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•*imSiu

JULY1975

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Inanicecave.

From the Revolutionary Past

In the

Chlngkang MountainsRevolutionary

Base Area

fM '.:

^VER 40 years ago, ChairmanMao led the Workers' and

Peasants' Red Army into theChingkang Mountains on the border of Kiangsi and Hunan provinces and set up China's first ruralrevolutionary base area. Surrounded by the reactionary Kuomintangregime, life and struggle in themountains was extremely hard.Constant military attacks and atight economic blockade causedgreat shortages of daily necessities.But led by Chairman Mao, theunited army and people relied ontheir own efforts and overcame

countless difficulties to win victory. Relics from this base areaare a reminder of those days andan education in the revolutionarytradition of arduous struggle.

Because of the scarcity of supplies, the Red Army practiced

rigid economy, including economyin oil for lamps. Some tea oil wasproduced in the hills and some oilwas captured when raids weremade on local tyrants, but this wasfar from enough. To stretch thesupply, regulations were issued forthe use of oil for lighting. Officersat company level and above wereallowed to use three wicks at one

time while working at night. Thoseon night duty at company headquarters were allowed to keep aone-wick lamp burning. These regulations were strictly observed bythe whole Red Army, and as soonas taps sounded all other lampswere extinguished. An oil lampused by the Red Army in theChingkang Mountains, now on display in the Museum of the ChineseRevolution, is shown in Fig. 1.

TJTITH frequent battles, the num-" ber of wounded in the base

area increased. There was no hospital or medical equipment, andlittle medicine, the only source ofsupply being what could be captured from the enemy. A hospitalwas built deep in the mountainsout of wood and bamboo cut byarmy medical workers. They gathered medicinal herbs and learned

from the local people how to usethem. They also studied whateverworks they could find on traditional medicine. The herbs were firstpounded in a mortar and theneither applied directly to thewound or boiled to make a broth

taken orally. A mortar and someof the medical books used at that

time are shown here (Fig. 2). Itwas with such simple equipmentand devoted medical care that

many of the wounded were nursedback to health and able to return

to the fighting front.

of the biggest supply prob-lems in the base area was

that of salt. Being caught smuggling it through the blockade linesoften meant death. Furthermore,the market price of what gotthrough was very high. A silverdollar bought only 250 grams,whereas 50 kilograms of unhulledrice could be obtained for the same

amount of money.

The Red Army captured somesalt in a raid on local tyrants in

Yunghsin in spring 1928. But this'army was a people's army and theywere ready to go without saltthemselves rather than have the

local people suffer. So they distributed salt among the poor peasants. When Li Shang-fa in Tzu-ping received a crock of salt, hiswhole family was so moved thatthey stored it untouched, eventhough they hadn't a grain of saltfor their own use.

After the Red Army shiftedfrom the Chingkang Mountains tosouthern Kiangsi and western Fu-kien, the Kuomintang army returned, killing, burning and lootingas it came. Confident of the final

victory of the revolution and that

Fig. 3.

III I *r !!i

JULY 1975

A Glance at China's Economy(In English)

'JpHIS brief survey of new China's economic growth coversdevelopments In agriculture, Industry, transport, finance,

foreign trade and improvement In the people's livelihood. Itcontains concrete examples of the tremendous achievementsmade since the founding of the new China in 1949 and particularly since the beginning of the Great Proletarian CulturalRevolution In 1966. It traces the militant course traversed by

the working class and other laboring people of China underthe leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and ChairmanMao In building the poor and backward old China Into asocialist country with the beginnings of prosperity throughadhering to the principle of maintaining Independence andkeeping the Initiative in their own hands and relying on theirown efforts. The book reflects the Chinese people's revolutionary spirit of working hard for the prosperity of the country.

This richly Illustrated booklet provides a better understanding of China's developing economy and the Chinese people'smilitant spirit In conquering nature.

58 pages 13 X 18.5 cm. paperback

Published by FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS, Peking. ChinaDistributed by GUOZI SHUDIAN (China Publications Center),

Peking, China

Order from your local dealer or write direct to MAIL ORDERDEPT., GUOZI SHUDIAN, P.O. Box 399. Peking. China

the Red Army would come back,Li Shang-fa hid the crock of salton a tree stump surrounded bythick undergrowth deep in themountains. Several years passed.Li Shang-fa worried that the crockwould be discovered, so he broughtit back from its original hidingplace and buried it. Li Shang-fa'sfamily still had no salt, but theydepended on saltpeter they madethemselves, bitter and astringentto the taste. When he thought ofthe hidden crock in those dark

days, Li Shang-fa's heart was filledwith warmth.

In 1949 the Chingkang Mountainswere liberated and the people'sarmy returned. Overjoyed, LiShang-fa carefully dug up thecrock, buried for twenty years.

The salt had solidified into a singleblock. This crock of salt (Fig. 3)is now in the Chingkang MountainsRevolutionary Museum, to whichLi Shang-fa presented it. Historical evidence of the unity of mindand of the kith-and-kin ties that

existed between army and people,it is living material for educatingthe younger generation in the revolutionary tradition.

Criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius

The $truj|j|le Between the (onfutjgn gml Nfllitt Mlownrd the End o| the Worrinji Period nnd theFoundino oI the (hin Dynosty

This is the third in a series of

articles on the struggle betweenthe Confucian and Legalist schoolsin Chinese history. The first twoappeared in the March and Mayissues of China Reconstructs.

— Editor

Toward the end of the WarringStates period (475-221 B.C.)

the ducal states struck at the res

toration forces of the slaveowners

through various reforms and consolidated feudal rule. This resulted

in great economic and politicaladvances.

But the existence of the inde

pendent regimes of feudal princes,a leftover of the practice of conferring fiefs under the slavesystem, impeded further consolidation and development of the feudalsystem. The wars carried on bysome of the states to maintain their

regimes disrupted production. Eachstate had its own laws, currency,weights and measures, and formof written language. All thisseriously hindered economic andcultural exchange and development.

Since reforms toward abolishingthe slave system varied in strengthin the different states, remnantforces of the slaveowning class insome states were still strong andready at any time to restore theold system. Constant clashes amongthe many independent states couldonly aid restoration activities.This situation had to be ended anda unified feudal state with centralized power had to be establishedif the remnants of the slave systemwere to be cleared away and thefeudal system consolidated anddeveloped. It was the inevitabletrend of history.

5^Decoraiion on a bronze mi,,VVarrini? States period unearlh'"">p ..ku in lluihsicn county, gj Ch

province.

Of the seven strong^states — Chin, Chi, Yen, ducalChao and Wei — Chin, Han,from the reforms of •j.^hefitingLegalist Shang Yang greatB.C.), was more advance^ 390-338ically, politically and milu ^^onom-so had the strength to ^^Hy andunification. Historical '̂ '̂ mpletewere ripe for feudal upij^hditions

The central issue of tf^^struggle in this situ^^., Politicalwhether to establish wasfeudal state with centralj^ Unifiedor to maintain the powerregimes. In essence it w^^^Pendentof whether to carry th^ ^ blatterments of the feudal sy^^cPieve-ward or go backwardthe slave system. A shavr. restore

P struggle

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Bronze jar of the Warrinp States periodunearthed at Chiakochuan village nearTangshan, Hopei province.

A.. *r

was waged between the Confuciansand Legalists around this question.

The Confucians represented thedemands of the remnant forces of

the slaveowners. They travelledabout, presenting their views to therulers of the ducal states, sowingdissension and inciting one againstanother, doing everything theycould to maintain the separateregimes and oppose unification,hoping to stage a comeback for theslave system in the resultingdisorder.

The Legalists represented the interests of the rising landlord class.They refuted the Confucian ideasof restoration and retrogression andcomprehensively summed up thefeudal reforms of the earlierLegalists. They worked energetically for the establishment of aunified feudal state with centraliz

ed power.

Hsun Kuang

Hsun Kuang (c. 313-238 B.C.), anative of the State of Chao, wasan outstanding representative ofthe rising landlord class advocatingfeudal unification. He lectured in

the State of Chi with wide social

impact. He also served as magistrate in the State of Chu. Takingover the ideas of the earlier

Legalists, he made a comprehensive and systematic criticism of theConfucian ideas of retrogressionrepresented at the time by Mencius(390-305 B.C.). He was for developing the feudal system and establishing a unified feudal state withcentralized power. His contributions to laying the theoreticalfoundations of the Legalist schoolof thought were important.

Hsun Kuang believed that unification of the states was a com

mon wish of the people. To attainit, it was necessary to concentratepower in the hands of a monarchwho should make all laws and

policies. He also believed thatrevolutionary violence was necessary. "The army is to prohibitbrutality and suppress evil," hesaid. He journeyed to the State ofChin to investigate the politicaland economic achievements made

since Shang Yang began his reforms. Declaring Chin to be thebest governed among the states, hesaid that it had approached the

JULY 1975

>• '

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• -

Remains of war chariots found in a tomb in the State of Wei, the WarringStates period, unearthed at Liuliko of Huihsien county, Honan province.

"ultimate of good rule", i.e. theideal of the rule of law under the

landlord class. He hoped that Chinwould unify the country and haveits laws observed everywhere.

Hsun Kuang criticized theConfucian concept of history asoriented backward. Mencius hadadvocated "following the exampleof ancient kings". Hsun Kuanglabelled this a misconception out oftune with the times and designedto disrupt the existing politicalsystem. In sharp contrast headvocated "following the exampleof later kings", by whom he meantthe feudal rulers of the time. He

was actually asking the ducal statesto follow the example of the Stateof Chin, to study history and judgethe merits and shortcomings of pastpolitical systems with a view to improving the present state of affairs.He maintained that systems andpolicies should be made accordingto existing reality.

Hsun Kuang was for the "ruleof law" as against the Confucian-Mencian idea of the "rule of rites".

He held that "law is the beginningof good rule". While Mencius hadbeen trying to restore the nine-square land system, the method ofproduction under the slave system,Hsun Kuang was for "dividing theland for cultivation", a methodof production under the feudalsystem, Mencius and his followerstried to restore the institution of

hereditary official posts and emoluments basic to the rule of slaveown-ing aristocrats. Hsun Kuang wasfor "no reward for those who had

not done deeds of merit". He in

sisted that rewards should be givenaccording to contributions made tothe feudal system. This would consolidate the political rule of thefeudal landlord class.

Hsun Kuang attacked the idealistConfucian-Mencian idea of fatalism, or "Heaven decrees". Confucius and Mencius both maintained that the rule of slaveowners

was decreed by "Heaven above",making "Heaven" into somethingwith personality and will powerable to "reward the good andpunish the evil". Man should"abide by the will of Heaven". Inactual practice, the idea wasdesigned to make people obey thereactionary rule of the slaveown-ing class.

Hsun Kuang countered suchfatalism with a materialist view.

Heaven was a material existence,i.e. the natural world. Heaven had

no will, the natural world had itsown laws of development which didnot change according to good ruleor social disorder and did not in

terfere with the affairs of men,therefore there was no such thingas "Heaven decrees".

Hsun Kuang went further andadvocated "controlling Heaven andmaking use of it". He believedthat man, instead of feeling helplessbefore nature, could and shouldwork to control it and make it

serve man. To him, whether society was orderly or disorderly,rich or poor, and how it changedand developed, were all determined

IhshT

A set of 13 musical chimes hanging from a 242-cm. frame dating from the Warring Slates period, unearthed at Hsiny^"® Honan.

by man's effort. Hsun Kuang's"Man's will, not Heaven, decides"freed people from the spiritualshackle of the idea that "Heavendecrees" and encouraged them tostruggle for the overthrow of theslave system and development ofthe feudal system. This idea, a reflection of the vigor and aspirations'of the landlord class as a risingforce, played a positive role insocial advance.

Of course it should be pointed outthat Hsun Kuang believed thatonly "superior men", the landlordclass, were able to "govern theworld". He did not and could not

see that the working people werethe basic force in transforming society and nature. Therefore hisidea of "Man's will, not Heaven,decides" had great limitations.

While Mencius advocated "man

is good by nature", Hsun Kuangheld that "man is evil by nature",that good was a result of efforts toremold oneself. Here both Hsun

Kuang and Mencius talked aboutthe nature of man in the abstract,without connection to, the class to

which he belonged. As such, bothideas were those of idealist aprio-rism. But under the given historical conditions Hsun Kuang wasusing his idea to oppose the Confucian idea that the slaveowningaristocrats were born "sages". Hisreasoning that it was right to dealwith the slaveowning class withviolence provided the theoreticalbasis for the "rule of law" of therising landlord class. In this sensehis idea was progressive.

Han Fei

Han Fei (c. 280-233 B.C.), bornin the State of Han, was a pupilof Hsun Kuang. He was greatly

dissatisfied with the corrupt politics and conservative forces that

held power in his native state.Determined to bring a change, hehad presented his ideas of reformto the ruler of Han many times butthey were not accepted. He turnedto writing to expound his thinking and political views. He made asystematic study of the Legalistthinking that had appeared sincethe beginning of the Spring andAutumn period, and the theory andpractice of feudal reforms in thevarious states. He also made a

comprehensive criticism of Confucian thinking. On the basis ofthese studies he developed a fairlycomplete system of Legalist thinking, including the theory, programand policies for establishing aunified feudal state with centralized power.

Suiting the needs of the times,Han Fei stressed the importanceof centralized power. He believedthat a unified feudal state withcentralized power was the basicguarantee to developing and consolidating the feudal system anddestroying the restoration forces.Summing up the theory andpractice of the rule of law of theearlier Legalists, he formulated aset of theories and methods formaintaining centralized power.This was a combination of law(decrees and policies embodyingthe will of the rising landlordclass), methods (ways and meansof appointing and relieving, examining and testing, rewardingand punishing officials at everylevel), and authority (supremepower of the monarch). All threewere indispensable, but the basicrequirement was law. Han Feistressed "taking law as the base"because law embodied the political

line of the Legalists, while methodand authority were indispensableonly in that they guaranteed theenforcement of law-

Han Fei was agaiust division ofpower. He held that the powerto formulate official decrees shouldbe in the hands of the central government, the monarch, that aslong as the monarch held this basicpower, it provided a unified basisfor enforcing decrees in localplaces. Otherwise the remnantforces of the slaveowning aristocrats could exploit a situationwhere different decrees existedand create disorder to sabotage theregime of the landlord class andbring about restoration.

Han Fei had also summed up thestruggle between restoration andcounter-restoration in the course ofestablishing a feudal system sincethe beginning of the Spring andAutumn period. Strongly againstthe "rule by virtue" and "benevolent rule" advocated by Confucius and Mencius, he held thatin a period of "titanic conflicts"such as the Warring States period,when the different forces wereengaged in a life-and-deathstruggle, unification of the countryby the landlord class could only bedone by strengthening the dictatorship of that class.

Like Hsun Kuang, Han Fei wasagainst the Confucian idea ofretrogression. He pointed out thatby spreading the idea of "followingthe example of ancient kings" theConfucians were actually trying todisrupt the existing rule. Historywas always moving forward, timeswere always changing and so waseverything in society, thereforesystems and measures should alsochange constantly. "The teachings

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

of ancient kings should beabolished."

In his Five Pests Han Fei listed

five kinds of people as doing themost to corrupt society and weakenthe country: 1. Confucian scholars;2. professional assassins; 3. politicians who travelled about persuading ducal states to go againstunification; 4. idlers who lived offpowerful and influential houses toescape duties of farming and military service; and 5. rich merchantswho disrupted agriculture. Worstof the pests were the Confucianscholars who preached "the waysof ancient kings".

Han Fei carried forward the

Legalist thinking that attachedgreat importance to farming andmilitary service. Only by developing farm production could a country become rich and strong, and arich and strong country could onlybe protected by powerful militaryforces. Therefore he encouragedfarming and building up militarystrength in order to carry out warsof unification that would consol

idate and develop the feudalsystem.

Han Fei's writings were widelycirculated even while he was still

in the State of Han. The ruler of

the State of Chin, Ying Cheng (259-210 B.C., later the Emperor ChinShih Huang), was greatly impressed by them. "My life wouldbe worthwhile if 1 could meet this

man and talk with him," he said.Later Han Fei did come to Chin but

died soon afterward. AlthoughYing Cheng did not have a chanceto make him an important official,his teachings and political ideaswere widely promoted in Chin.

Chin Shih Huang

Ying Cheng was an outstandingstatesman of the rising landlordclass who first unified the wholeof China. Going with the historicaltrend, he honored the Legalists andopposed Confucians. On the basisof reforms made by Shang Yanghe adopted the theories of Han Feiand other Legalists and carried outa political and ideological line thatserved to consolidate and developthe feudal system and finallyunified China.

The process of feudal unificationwas long and filled with class

JULY 1975

struggle. From the time DukeHsiao (381-338 B.C.) of Chin appointed Shang Yang to make reforms to the unification achieved

by Ying Cheng, struggles betweenthe Confucians and Legalists neverstopped. One of the fiercest wasthat between Ying Cheng on theone hand and Lu Pu-wei and Lao

Ai on the other.

Lu Pu-wei was a big handicraftmerchant - slayeowner. Throughpolitical opportunism he rose to beprime minister of the State of Chin.Ying Cheng was only 13 when heascended the throne and powercontinued in the hands of Lu Pu-

wei. In the hope of restoration Lupushed a reactionary political linewhich protected the remnant forcesof the slaveowners. He had a personal following of 3,000 Confucianscholars and owned 10,000 slaves.With his backing the eunuch LaoAi also wielded great power andinfluence and was much in the con

fidence of the dowager queen. LaoAi had 1,000 personal followers andseveral thousand slaves. These two

big slaveowners worked in collusion and posed a formidable forcefor restoration.

At Lu Pu-wei's instruction Con

fucian scholars compiled the LuShih Chun Chiu (Lu's Almanac), abook professing to take in the ideasof different schools of thought butis actually a collection of Confucian writings disseminating theidea of retrogression. It attackedLegalist theory and policies predominant in Chin, and tried to replace them with Confucian thinking. These efforts for restorationthreatened the newly-establishedfeudal system in Chin.

In 238 B.C. Ying Cheng, now 21,came of age and took over administration of the state. Lu Pu-weiand Lao Ai saw the handwritingon the wall. With Lu giving support behind the scenes, Lao Ailaunched an armed coup in thehope of killing Ying Cheng andusurping the throne. But YingCheng outmaneuvered them, suppressed the coup and executed LaoAi. The following year he dismissed Lu Pu-wei from his postand two years later Lu committedsuicide.

After smashing the coup YingCheng appointed Legalists to im

portant posts. Li Szu (?-208 B.C.),a native of the State of Chu and a

pupil of Hsun Kuang, was appointed supreme court justice and laterprime minister. Wei Liao (datesunknown), a native of the State ofWei, was appointed supreme military commander. The victory ofthe counter-restoration strugglestopped the attempts to elevateConfucian thinking, hit hard at therestoration forces and consolidated

the ruling position of the Legalistline.

In 230 B.C. Ying Cheng beganhis wars for unification. On the

proposal of Li Szu and Wei Liaohe adopted the strategy of "keeping friendly relations with distantstates while attacking the nearerones" and "destroying the enemyforces one by one". In ten years heconquered Han, Chao, Yen, Wei,Chu and Chi, completed theunification of China and establish

ed the Chin dynasty, the firstunified feudal dynasty with centralized power. In 221 B.C. he gavehimself the title Chin Shih Huang,or first emperor of Chin. TheWarring States period came to anend.

Bru.sh, brush case and bamboo slips withwriting from the Warring States periodunearthed at Changsha, Hunan province.

t ^^Hft?. p. -

I# I'

i

f=p :sc m LANGUAGE CO R N E R ZHONGMNYUEKE

Lesson 7

t #- # k

Shou Zhu Dai Tu

Waiting by a Stamp for a Hare

BtM, t — feGu shfliou, y5u yi ge ren.

(In) ancient times, (there) was a man.

si-^ ,zh^ngzai chu di,

(was) hoeing field,

pSogudlai, qiaqiSo

broke

k^jian yi zhi

saw a

zhu^gzai yi ge shuzhuangslmg,

run toward (him), right knock (against) a tree stump on,

zhu&ngdu^ bdzi si le. Zh^e r£n liki

(its) neck (and) died. This man immediately

ie.pkogu5qu,

ran over.

»Ly-s o

gaoxing.

happy.

Yi tian,

One day

tiizi

hare

ta

he

tur&n

suddenly

tiizi jiknqilal, xlnli feich&ng

(the) hare picked up, (his) heart in extremely

ft ife: •}$«']Ta xidng: **W6 yaoshi mlitian ddu n^ng ji&ndao

He thought, "I if every day all could pick (up)

- X "Sit"yi zhI tiizi, btii shi bi zhbng di g^ng hfio ma?"

a hare, wouldn't (it) be than farming field better?"

ft ^ ftoYushi, ta rengdi^o chutou, bu zai zhdng di.

So he threw away (his) hoe, not again farm (the) field.

^ i'l -M£itian dou d&o shuzhuang p&ngbian qu dingzhe. Yi

Every day all (he) tp stump side went (and) waited. One

^ ii-i: T, ^ it-t T, ft f T Hf-tian gudqu le, li^ng tian gudqu le, ta dangle h&i

day passed, two days passed, he

k 'iLil tch&ng shijian, kishi z^i yg m^i ydu di^r

long time, but again still no second

^ ik ¥io fel&i zhuang shb. Ta de di

waited very

xyj >

zhl tuzi

hare

ddu

came (to) knock (against) tree. His field (became) all

36

^ Tyiu J o

huang le.

wild.

itft ^Hdulii,

Later,

Txiaohua chu&nkai le.

joke circulated.

A

zhdjian shi bdi d^jia

this matter by everybody

•Mm.dangzud

as (a)

Translation

In ancient times there was a man who while hoeing in the field oneday saw a hare suddenly come running toward him. The hare raninto a stump, broke its neck and died. The man immediately ranover and picked it up, overjoyed. He thought, "If I could pick upa hare every day, wouldn't it be better than farming?" So he threwaway hishoe and didn't farm any more. Every day he waited besidethestump. One day passed, two days passed. He waited for a longtime but no hare ever ran into the stump again. His field was neglected. The story later circulated as a joke among the people.

Notes

1. This tale was used by Han Fei (c. 280-233B.C.), an outstanding Legalist during the late WarringStates period, to ridicule the Confucians who stupidlystuck to the old routine.

The character zhu >13^ used in the title refers tothe part of the tree trunk closest to the root. The

usual measure word for trees is ke ^ as in yi ke shu—but occasionally ;fjk is used as the measure word.

2. Verbs. In Chinese the verb does not show

change with tense or person. It is the same for

action in the past, present or future, and the samewhether the subject is one or several persons. For

example: Dmfu mei tian g« ta chi y^o

^"115 (The doctor gives him medicine every day).Zuotian w6 gw Xiao Zhou yi hgn shu ^

— (I gave Xiao Zhou a book yesterday). Qingni mingtian ^ wo yi zhang dianyingpiao

(Please give me a film ticket tomor

row). The verb ^ does not change; the time ofthe action is indicated by a time word.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

3. The progressive tense is formed by placing

zhengzai (or zheng jt or zai before the verb.Ta zheng chu di (He is hoeing).

These words are placed before an adverb or

adverbial phrase when one precedes the verb. Tazhengzm yong jin de chu di Jl) (He ishoeing the field energetically).

4. Continuing actions indicated by placing zhe^ after the verb. Nage r^n zai shuzhuang panghiandengzhe dier zhi tuzi it

T" (That man is waiting for a second hare by thetree stump). ^ is also used when the action is over

but the result of the action continues. Ta yizhi hua (He is holding a flower). A

verb followed by ^ is sometimes used as an adverb,telling the manner of an action. For example, Ta

qizhe zixmgche qii dianying le

%fj T (Riding a bicycle he went to the film). Asthe progressive tense often indicates continuing action,^ can also follow such a verb. N^xie him zheng

tiaozhe wu (Those children are

dancing).

5. Negatives hu and m^lyou Both

indicate the negative but are used differently.

Bu ^ is used in the following ways:

a. The negative form of shi A (to be) is hu shiTa hu shi Zh5nggu6 ren (He is

not a Chinese).

b. To negate an adjective. Zhezhong y^nse huhaokan (This color is not goodlooking).

c. To negate a usual action in the past or thepresent. Ta congqi^n W he jiu (He

never used to drink). Ta ^cianzai W ch^ng d^o w6zheli lai (He does not often

come here now).

d. To negate a future action. Xiiixmgqi w5men1^ z^i gongchang Idoddng, z^ gongshe Moddng

(Next week we willnot work in a factory but in a commune).

e. To negate an auxiliary verb. Tianqi tai nuan-

huo le, bu n^ng liu hing le T, T(The weather is too warm, we can't go skating).

f. To negate a potential complement. Zhegezhanlan nelrong hen fengfu, yi xiaoshi kan bu w4n

9 —(The exhibitionhas so much in it that in an hour we cannot see it all).

g. To indicate negation of a desire or mentalstate. Wo rang ta qu kan dianying, ta bu qu

JULY 1975

(I let him go to see films but he willnot go). Wo ^ r^nshi ta, zhidao ta jiao i^^nmemingzi it •!& ""]^ (I don't

recognize her and don't know her name).

Meiyou is used in the following ways:

a. Meiyou is the negation of you Womeiyou Zhongwen bao (I do not havenewspapers in Chinese).

b. The negation of a specific past action. Forexample. Ganged! wo ni^i(ydu) qii yinh^ng, wo qushangdianle ( t) (Justnow I didn't go to the bank, but to the store).

Exercises

I. Fill in the blanks with or

A.

B, A4k9 4k

B, iaito kisL (dagai probably)^ (piao ticket)o

A.

B.. (xiandai jingjii modern Pekingopera) ";li (Dujuanshan Azalea

Mountain)o 1. ?

B, 4k

A, t.

II. Translate the following sentences into Chinese

and use the word ^:

1. He is wearing a new pair of leather shoes.2. We are walking to the park.

3. They are talking.

III. Read the following tale:

(M^odun Contradiction)

^ (m^o spear) (dunshield)o (kua brag)

'*4k 6^1^ (jiangii strong) -ife- (hulun nomatter) f|-(zha stick) it (tou through)

(fengli

sharp) U T, ^ "

%? ^(ju sentence)-i^^}LTiLT^!l{:^To

Note: The above tale was also written by Han

Fei. Originally two words, "spear" and "shield",when combined they mean "contradiction" in modern

Chinese.

(Answers on p. 23 )

37

NEW LIFE FOR THE

KAZAKH PEOPLE

—a visit to a Sinhiang commune

rpOR CENTURIES the Kazakhpeople were nomads wander

ing over the Kunis grasslands ofSinkiang constantly looking fornew pastures for their herds. Today for the first time they havesettled down in permanent homes.The changes this has brought aboutin their life can be seen in the Red

Star People's Commune in the HiKazakh Autonomous Prefecture.

The highway to the communefrom Ining, capital of the area, cutsstraight across the grasslands.South of it cattle and sheep grazeon endless pastures. North of ittractors work in fertile fields fed

by irrigation canals. The travellercatches glimpses of new villagesshaded by tall poplars.

Settling Down

Commune member Anluwarbik,a hired hand for herdowners for 30

years in the old society, has seen

YUAN KUANG-TSAl

the changes in the life of the Kazakh people. Under the rule of theherdowners, the Kunis grasslandswere a forlorn place. The herdsmenand their animals were constantlyon the move. Blizzards or disease

killed many animals. Without permanent homes neither crop growing nor cultural development waspossible. To obtain food and dailynecessities the herdsmen had to

barter animals, skins and wool ina market 50 kilometers away where"a handful of grain for a sheepskin" was the common form of

exchange.

With liberation came Communist

Party leadership. The Kazakhscarried out democratic reforms

which overthrew the feudal systemand destroyed the economic foundation of the herdowners' exploitation and oppression. Now mastersof their own lives, they began totake steps to change their backward

All 4,000 families in the commune have moved into new houses.

j'ti

nomadic economy. But as individual herdsmen they could not bothlook after their herds and raisecrops. To initiate group herdingand the improvement of livestockbreeds was also difficult.

The establishment of people'scommunes in 1958 gave them thestrength they needed to change thegrasslands. With collective ownership the commune could now planproduction and construction on alarge scale, make use of largerfunds and a bigger work force,and introduce advanced herdingmeasures.

This provided the conditions forthe Kazakh people to settle down.Anluwarbik, one of the most activein collective work, was the first tosuggest building permanent homeson the grasslands. He built a houseof mud and stone, plain but solid,marking the Kazakhs' first steptoward permanent settlement. ThePeople's Government commendedhis pioneering spirit and called onthe others to do the same.

The Communist Party committeeof the Red Star commune drew upan over-all plan, rationally locatingvillages, grazing grounds, farmlandand irrigation canals. To date ithas built more than 900 houses for

its 4,000 herding and farming families and put up 900 livestocksheds for all its animals, as well asbreeding stations, shearing stations,sheep dips and veterinary centers.

The addition of crop farmingbrought the grasslands to life. Eachcommune member now cultivateson the average a third of a hectareand raises five animals. The com

mune grows enough to feed its18,000 people, puts aside grain for90,000 animals, and sells around

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

letting out for morning grazing.

"•'tr

A herding brigade's velerinarlesmake laboratory tests on horses.

J¥

t!L.

iL-rcT*^ *i : J»'4.

.5S.

- • ^(i a

rl-1 \'\

The small commvnc-buiU hydroelectric station.

8,000 tons a year to the state. Thereare two stud farms. Its nine production brigades engage in bothfarming and animal husbandry.Kazakh members, who are good atstock raising, work in herdingteams. Han, Hui and Uighur members are good cultivators and theygrow crops. Animal husbandryprovides livestock products andmanure for crop growing, whilecrop growing provides grain andfodder for the livestock.

The expansion of crop farminghas helped the herdsmen stabilizelivestock raising against stormyweather. The commune's 6,000hectares of farmland not only growfood grain but fodder. Winterhousing for herdsmen and sheltersfor animals have been built and

now animals graze in the openwhen snow is light and are sheltered in enclosures when there isa heavy snow.

Since the herdsmen settled down,there have been several big blizzards which would have been disastrous in the old days. Mostof the animals, however, camethrough safely. The number ofanimals has risen steadily. Lastyear it was 80 percent more than

in 1958 when the commune wasestablished and 2.6 times the number at liberation.

Permanent settlement also madeit possible to introduce scientificherding and the improvement ofbreeds. Before settling down theyield of wool from the local sheepwas very low and of poor qualitvWith state help the communebought some fine-fleeced Sinkianrams and crossed them with theAnother good harvest.

local breed. Today, half the com-mune's 60,000 sheep are of an improved variety. Every year thecommune supplies the state with anumber of fine-fleeced stud sheepand more than 30 tons of fine wool.

Flourishing Life

Aranitobi, on the upper KunisRiver, site of the commune headquarters, was the first permanentcommunity on the grasslands. It isnow a town of over 1,000 households, with the facilities of a modern city. A power station on theriver supplies electricity to thepeople's homes and to the town'sfarm tool plant, flour mill andtractor repair station. The department store is well stocked. Herds

men riding through town on horseback remind one that this is apastoral area.

To help the Kazakh people settledown, the state linked the Kunisgrasslands with the Ining-Urumchihighway. Over this came 40 trucks,tractors and combine harvesters;80 mowing, shearing, sowing andoil-pressing machines; and somediesel engines, which the communebought to mechanize both cultivation and stock work.

Steady development of collectivelife has greatly improved livingstandards. Wandek, who slaved forherdowners the year round in theold society, is an example. Heowned neither sheep nor shelter.Today he lives in a new three-roomhouse set in a yard of luxurianttrees. The living-room floor is

f

Commune cadres chat with herdsmen.

covered with two Hotien rugs.Bright quilts with satin covers areneatly stacked in the bedroom.Wandek proudly entertains hisguests with milk tea, butter andflat cakes.

"We have a saying among theKazakh herdsmen," Wandek said." 'When a skylark lays its eggs onthe back of a sheep, it is a sign ofgood luck.' This meant plenty offood and clothing. But in the olddays this was just a dream. It onlycame true when the golden phoenix — the people's commune —came to our grasslands."

There are now six people in hisfamily. After settling down, Wandek learned field work. He and hisson, a junior middle school graduate, work in a farm brigade. Asthe collective economy develops,their life has also been improving.Last year the family ate as muchmeat as they had eaten in the threeyears before they settled down.

Unity among Nationalities

Most of the Red Star commune's

18,000 people are Kazakhs, butthere are nine other nationalities,including Uighurs, Hans and Huis.Eleven of the commune Party committee's 13 members are of minor

ity nationalities, the other twobeing Han. The local leaders' political level is high and they have

JULY 1975

i

The improved fine-fleeced Sheep raised by the commune.

played an important role in building a socialist pastoral area.

Ushuyinbi, a Kazakh and deputy secretary of the communeParty committee, is one of these.He had not been a leader long whenhe had to face the attempts of certain people to break up the movement among the herdsmen to learnfrom Tachai, the model farmingbrigade in Shansi province. "Learning from Tachai is for farmers,not herdsmen," these people said.Ushuyinbi went from house tohouse explaining. "The importanceof Tachai," he said, "is the revolutionary spirit that Chairman Maoadvocates. In herding or field cultivation, we can only free ourselvesfrom poverty by taking the Tachairoad and applying the Tachai people's spirit of hard work."

He and the leaders in charge ofstock raising surveyed all the commune's hills and grazing groundsand then worked out a plan to increase the number of livestock. The

Horahaly pasture was a goodsummer grazing ground but tooinaccessible for large herds toreach. He and 50 others built asix-km. herding trail throughthe mountains, including the putting up of three bridges. Ushuyin-bi's example helped bring a rapidexpansion of the movement tolearn from Tachai to the grasslands.

rhere are many stories in themmune of how the people of

er ! u 3 '̂ work togeth-^ to build up their homeland. Afarming team of the first bri

gade had always been short of»ands and unable to work on water

P'̂ ojects. This left half their fields^ithout irrigation and their yields

The brigade's Party branchdecided to send some workers fromother teams to reinforce them,^ans, Huis and Uighurs promptly'̂̂ lunteered and 30 experienced

warmers and their families moved^^to the poorer team.

A multi-national shock groupWas organized and began basic im-Pi^ovement of the team's 140 hectares of arable land. They built afive-km. road so the brigade's tractors could come in to plow. Kazakhmembers, familiar with local watersources, discovered a spring in theTienshan Mountains at 2,000meters. Han members, experiencedin building irrigation works, surveyed for a canal. Working together, everyone took part in thedigging.

The Kazakhs pass on their stockraising experience, while the Hanmembers teach scientific farming.United hard work has sent production up year after year. Since 1972the team has been self-sufficient ingrain and sold 150 tons to the stateevery year.

US

The evening political school of the No. 2 farming brigade.

In a commune orchard. Middle-school students.

Sunning medicinal herbs at the commune's veterinary station.

».jld

t B

Water brought in from the Tienshan Mountains. The commune broadcast relay station.

Kazakh herdsman Turtokorchia with bis Ulghur guests at home.

7 ^

A performance of Azalea Mountain by the China Peking Opera Troupe in Yenan. Shensi province.

Cultural Notes Peking Theatrical TroupesTour the Country

T AST MARCH several theatrical

troupes and a musical groupwhich perform revolutionarymodel works in Peking began atour covering many large citiesand including the Taching andTakang oil fields. It was theirsecond large-scale tour since 1972.

Model works created in earlier

years, such as The Red Lantern,Red Detachment of Women, theShachiapang symphonic music andthe Yellow River Piano Concerto

were offered. But newer works

created in the last two years — thePeking operas Fighting on thePlains and Azalea Mountain, andtwo dance dramas, Ode to Yimengand Children of the Grasslands —were also performed. The responseof audiences — thousands of workers, peasants and soldiers — wasenthusiastic. The tour made the

revolutionary model works evenmore popular, educating and inspiring the people in their strugglefor socialism.

The performance of AzaleaMountain by the Peking OperaTroupe of Peking in Shaoshan,Chairman Mao's native village in

Hunan province, was in a perfectsetting. The azaleas were in fullbloom and it was a lovely springday. Twenty thousand peoplegathered on the grounds of a school

watched intently. It was a happyaudience of every age, many dressed in holiday attire.

The opera tells how CommunistParty leadership, by following

Kao Yu-chien, a member of the Peking theatrical group which performsthe Peking opera Fighting on the Plains, coaches actresses of the Chuangopera and Peking opera troupes of the Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

Chairman Mao's principles inbuilding up a revolutionary army,changed a spontaneous and looselyknit group of peasant rebels offorty years ago into a consciouslyrevolutionary force. The Partypolitical worker is well portrayedand the opera vividly expresses theMarxist-Leninist truth that the

Party must command the gun.While creating the opera, membersof the troupe came to Shaoshanseveral times to learn more about

the early revolutionary activitiesof Chairman Mao and the strugglebetween the proletarian and bourgeois lines of that time. Now theyhad come again to present theirfinished work. The warm link be

tween performers and audiencewas clear from the tremendous

applause.

WHILE in Amoy in Fukienprovince, the Central Phil

harmonic Society visited offshoreislands on the southeast coastaldefense front to perform theShachiapang symphonic music andother revolutionary works forarmymen and civilians. The symphony's nine well-integrated partsextol the people's army led by theParty, the victory over the Japanese through the leadership ofChairman Mao and his thinkingon people's war.

Moved by the performance, amilitiawoman of the Frontlines

commune wrote in an article: "In

the soaring song and sweepingmusic sounding like surging waveswe seemed to see the many proletarian revolutionaries and scenes

of heroic battles. When the music

became vigorous we were reminded of our struggle against nature,levelling hills, transporting stonesand building dykes. When itchanged to a deep and flowingtempo it evoked thoughts of standing guard or patrolling at night.And when the rhythm became fastand happy we seemed to see scenesof bumper harvests, victories andadvance."

A coastal defense soldier wrote,"The stirring melodies, the passionate singing, the rich and vividmusical images of Shachiapangwarmly express the army's lovefor the people and the people'ssupport of the army — the armyand the people united as onefamily. The more we listen to it,the more we love it and the more

we learn from it. Now I reallyunderstand what Chairman Mao

meant when he said, 'If the armyand the people are united as one,who in the world can matchthem?'"

The members of the Pekingtroupes did much during the tour

Members of the Peking Opera Troupe of Peking picktea with commune members in Chekiang province.

Mt.--

i'

JULY 1975

to make the model works more

popular. In each city they talkedwith local artists about their ex

perience in creating them. Theyattended local opera adaptations ofthe model revolutionary operas,discussed how to improve this kindof adaptation and helped to correct and rehearse them.

TN CHANGSHA in Hunan prov--*• ince members of the PekingOpera Troupe of Peking talkedwith local theater workers on their

experience in creating, directing,acting and staging Azalea Mountain. They worked with them toimprove a local Hunan form of theopera. The members of the Pekingand Hunan opera troupes heldmany discussions, carefully studying stagecraft, uncovering problems and suggesting improvements. The visitors from Pekinghelped remake the scenery forscenes five and eight, redo part ofthe scenery for scene three andreinstall the stage lighting.

In Sian in Shensi province,members of the China PekingOpera Troupe viewed scenes fromThe Red Detachment of Womenand Red Lantern in chinchiang, aform of opera popular in Shensi,then got together with the localdirectors, actors and actresses forfull rehearsals. They helped themanalyze the thoughts and feelingsof the characters more deeply andthen demonstrated the gesturesand movements that would best

convey these.

Red Detachment of Women describes a women's armed force in

the period before liberation and itsstruggle under the leadership ofChairman Mao and the Partyto help overthrow imperialism,feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism which were holding the Chinese people down. It tells how aslave girl, Wu Ching-hua, is helped by Hung Chang-ching, the Partyrepresentative of a Red Army company, to break away from a viciouslandlord and grow into a true revolutionary fighter.

To help the actress who plays WuChing-hua in the Shensi versionportray the character better, the

t

(Continued from p. 16)

Area, Fan Hsin, deputy commanderof the same unit, and Ma Chun-tzu,chief of the headquarters' generalstaff of the same unit. In 1949

when the Chinese People's Liberation Army was about to cross theYangtze, Kuomintang armed forcesin the Honan-Hupeh-Anhwei Border Area put up a last-ditch fight,but the FLA quickly routed themand captured many of the troops.Chen Hsien-ta was then a battalion

political instructor and had escorted the captives to the rear.

The three former Kuomintangofficers walked up to CommissarChen Hsien-ta to chat with him.

Chen said, "At that time we strictly

rk

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A concert of revolutionary symphonic music performed by the rPhilharmooic Society at '"May 1st" Square in Foochow, Fukien n-

urovince.

s4

followed Chairman Mao's policy oftreating captives kindly, which wasone of the points in the Three MainRules of Discipline and EightPoints for Attention. We did not

kill you or humiliate you but sentyou to the rear for reform andstudy."

"Yes," said Fan Hsin, "WangHsien and I were too weak to ride

a horse. You persuaded the peopleto carry us on stretchers. It wasraining and you all walked in themud. I remember the scene vividlyeven today."

"We are the people's army andwe follow the policies of ChairmanMao and the Communist Party,"Chen Hsien-ta said. "Now Chair-

Peking actress who plays the samerole demonstrated many times onstage. When the heroine is floggedby the landlord and his henchmen,she pointed out the direction of thelash, where it hits the body andwhat the girl's emotions are, showing how to convey these emotionsthrough facial expressions andbody movements. When the Partyrepresentative gives Wu Ching-huatwo silver coins to pay for her tripto the revolutionary base, the Peking actress analyzed the thoughtsand feelings of the slave girl andshowed how to bring them outmore accurately with subtle movements.

The actress who plays the slavegirl in the Shensi opera versionsaid, "The comrades of the ChinaPeking Opera Troupe helped merealize that my failure to fullyexpress Wu Ching-hua's hatred toward the class enemy was notmerely lack of skill. It was because I didn't have as deep classconsciousness as the heroine. I

didn't understand either her

thoughts and feelings or the significance of the story deeply enough.I must work harder to remold myworld outlook and foster revolu

tionary thinking and feeling. Wemust learn to be really like theheroine ourselves if we want to

portray her well on the stage."

man Mao and the Party have instructed that all war criminals be

released. We support the decision.We welcome you to come and visit

The released persons concludedtheir visits in Peking at the end ofMarch and left for various placesto take up work and a new life.The ten who applied to return toTaiwan — Wang Ping-yueh, ChenShih-chang, Wang Yun-pei, ChouYang-hao, Tsai Hsing-san, TuanKeh-wen, Chang Hai-shang, YangNan-tsun, Chang Tieh-shih andChao Yi-hsueh — were given travelling expenses and re-entry permits so they can come back at anytime they wish. They left Pekingon April 13.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

SPORTS

Tsangcho.Wushu in

CHANG KUANG-CHUN

'C'ARLY every morning residents•L' of Tsangchow, near the PohaiSea in Hopei province, flock to thePeople's Park in the center of thecity. They go there to do wushu,a traditional form of exercise. Ar

riving by bicycle or on foot areworkers, shop assistants, government cadres, doctors, students, retired workers and Red Army veterans. Among them are children

•s

Early morning in the People's Park in Tsangchow.

Coaching a swordplay movement.

of seven or eight years, and oldsters in their 70s or 80s. In groupsof from three to ten they gatherunder the trees, beside the pondor in front of one of the pavilions.Some do shadow boxing whileothers fence with swords, spears orother weapons — all in the wushustyle.

As the hour for work approachesthey go off in various directions.The whole year round, rain or

JULY 1975

shine, summer or winter, the samescene is re-enacted. This takesplace in at least a hundred otherplaces in different parts of the citywith altogether several thousandsof enthusiasts.

On the city's outskirts and insurrounding rural areas, wushu isequally popular. Each of the 32communes in Tsanghsien countyhas its own representative team.In some communes every brigadehas wushu classes, and after darkin some brigades classes go on inthree or four brightly lightedtraining grounds. City and countycontests are held each year andduring holiday festivals workersand peasants get together to giveluushu demonstrations and learnnew movements from each other.

Past and Present

Although Tsangchow is now abustling railway center on the

Tientsin-Pukow line, it was formerly a desolate place with few inhabitants. It is said that as long as1,500 years ago the local peopletook up wushu to defend themselves from persecution by thereactionary ruling class. Moreover,because it was an isolated spot, itbecame an area to which exileswere sent by the authorities, andmany of these exiles taught thelocal people new wushu movements.

In old China the reactionaryruling class, afraid that wushuwould be used as a weapon by thepeople, wilfully persecuted manyexperts in the art. One of them,known as "Wang the Thousand-pound Lifter", one day saw a runaway horse and cart galloping toward him down the street. He tried

to check the horse but missed his

hold. He grabbed the back of thecart and, wrenching it with all his

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A demonstration of swordplay.

overturned both cart andhorse. For this feat his fame quickly spread among the people but thereactionary Ching dynasty bureaucrats branded him a "bandit boxer"and forced him to flee the area.

After liberation wushu gainednew popularity and Wang becameone of its chief exponents.couraged by the People's Government, he took an active part in thestudy and revision of traditionalwushu movements and wrote abook on the subject. The positionand prestige accorded wushu innew China is completely differentfrom what it was in the olddays.

Rearrangement and ImprovementFollowing Chairman Mao's call,

"Promote physical culture andbuild up the people^s health", amovement to learn wushu spreadrapidly in the Tsangchow prefecture. Physical culture committees at all levels in the areahave named wushu one of the mainsports to be popularized. They often arrange for old wushu expertsto exchange experience or sendthem to learn new movements fromprofessionals in other parts of thecountry.

In line with Chairman Mao'spolicy of making the past servethe present and weeding through

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the old to bring forth the new, they^fe gradually rearranging and refining this ancient art. Rejectingthe dross, they have eliminatedrigid movements that are injurious;assimilating the essence, they combine the fine points from differentforms and boldly create new ones.They aim to integrate strengthwith plasticity, create gestures thatare firm yet flexible, movementsthat are smooth and extended and

forms that are graceful. Whileaiming to build up the people'shealth, they retain the characteristic wushu features of both attack

and defense in dealing with theenemy.

In the past there were manyschools of wushu, and none wouldallow its most advantageous movements to be known to any otherschool. This gave rise to great antagonism among some schools. Today, people learn the art tostrengthen their physique for thecommon purpose of building socialism and defending the country, sorivalry between the differentschools has given way to a newspirit of unity among wushu sportsmen. With the support and encouragement of the CommunistParty and the People's Government, amateur training classes foryoung people have been opened inthe Tsangchow prefecture, and

wushu is included as part of thephysical training program in manyschools. Old and respected professional experts volunteer as coachesin the various centers and whole

heartedly try to pass on their skiUto the younger generation.

In the past, influenced by theConfucian idea that "man is

superior and woman is inferior",few women learned wushu. Today,

among enthusiasts in Tsangchow,women constitute one-third of the

total. On some training grounds,60 percent of the participants arewomen.

Improving Physique

In Tsangchow's People's Park anoldish man was practicing shadowboxing under some trees. He wasYin Tsung-chi, a sales clerk whohad been doing these exercisesdaily for more than 20 years. Hetook to wushu after liberation when

he was in poor health and often fellill due to the hardships he had suffered in the old society. Aftertaking up shadow boxing hishealth improved so much that nowat 54 he can work as hard as anyof the younger people in his shop.Talking of his experience he says,"Wushu trains the whole body.Constant practice makes one'slimbs supple and improves one'sspirit. Now I can do a full day'swork without feeling tired and Ihave unlimited energy."

Mu Ming-kai, a young worker ata Tsangchow plant making partsfor the chemical fertilizer industry,was in poor health when he startedwork in 1967. He couldn't do heavyjobs or climb to any great height.He felt this limited the contribu

tion he could make to the buildingof socialism. The leaders at the

plant and his co-workers invariablygave him only light work and hefelt ashamed of his weakness. He

asked veteran worker Chi Feng-hsiang to teach him wushu. Withseveral years of training, his healthhas improved. He is always in theforefront when there is heavywork to do, he climbs to greatheights without he.sitation andconsistently works well.

CHINA RECONSTRUCTS

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