Cartoons During (and about) the Cultural Revolution

[Randy W]

. . . from the Global Times. One of the comments said

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It is refreshing to see such an honest article from the Global Times touching upon that truly awful stage of Chinese History, the cultural revolution.

Cartoonist team remembers suffering during Cultural Revolution

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Even though she's almost 76, Li Qing'ai can still vividly remember the day more than 40 years ago, when she was captured by her neighbors and locked in a cell for torture.

She still carries scars from her suffering during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) all over her body, from her breasts to her legs. But she doesn't have much hate, she says. She and her husband Chen Yuli, based in Qiuxian county, Hebei Province, are trying to portray everything they went through by drawing comics.

. . .

In 1968, the waves of madness sweeping the country during the Cultural Revolution overtook Qiuxian. A "Revolution Committee" from the local village, made up of workers, farmers and student representatives, accused thousands of people of being secret Kuomintang agents, repeating a pattern common throughout the country. Within a year, 3,835 people were accused of being Kuomintang members and tortured, and 734 died.

Even though Chen and Li's earlier comics focused on propaganda, during the Cultural Revolution they were condemned simply because they could draw. The neighbors got to Li first, because she came from a family of relatively well-off farmers. They slandered Li and Chen to be in the Kuomintang and forced them to admit their "crimes" through torture.

When Li was locked in the cell, she only had her 1-year-old son with her, who was also said to be a Kuomintang member.

. . .

More than 400 means of torture were used by the committee, such as pouring boiling water over their victims' heads, burning their nipples, or forcing them to kneel on bricks. Methods of torture were often copied between "revolutionary" groups during the Cultural Revolution.

Even though they were released six months later, they faced discrimination until the Cultural Revolution ended. In the village, the neighbors all called them names, even the children.

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Zeng]

1968 quite a year! Vietnam and the Tet Offensive, China's "cultural" revolution, Antiwar protest in the USA, taunting of soliders when they came back from Nam, one was accusing them of being baby killers; one solider was asked how many babies he killed, his reply was only as many as He could eat! A good answer to the question. Communism was certainly on the move during that time.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Zeng (see edit history)

[Mick]

1968 quite a year! Vietnam and the Tet Offensive, China's "cultural" revolution, Antiwar protest in the USA, taunting of soliders when they came back from Nam, one was accusing them of being baby killers; one solider was asked how many babies he killed, his reply was only as many as He could eat! A good answer to the question. Communism was certainly on the move during that time.

 

A crazy time, indeed. Also included the assasinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.