2008年7月23日作者: 伊甸园丁 时间: 2008-9-10 09:11 Mini-review of: Look Backward, O'God: an anthology of lost youth by Overseas Chinese Zhiqings, edited by Fan Cao et al., 2008. KF Publishing Company Group, USA.
In 1968, at the peak of the Cultural Revolution in China, Mao and his associates suddenly realized that the millions of Red Guards they had mobilized imposed a serious challenge to the regime both politically and economically. Faced with this mob of energetic youth with unbridled enthusiasm, Mao launched a full-scale Zhiqing movement，that is, sending ‘educated youths down to the countryside and up to the mountains’ in order to shift the burden of this unemployed segment of urban population to the rural area. This political campaign lasted over 10 years, involved more than 16 million young people, and affected virtually every household of urban dwellers. This was the “Lost Generation” of China. Majority of them now is struggling at the bottom of the modern Chinese society, for they are aging rapidly, lack the kind of education and skills to be employable in an IT age economy, and have to shoulder the burden of supporting their octogenarian parents and for some, even unsuccessful and thus still dependent children.
The contributors to this anthology consist of 27 overseas Chinese who were all such Zhiqings at that time, and are among the lucky few who left China after its reopening to the outside world. All of them have now settled in the West with successful careers in their chosen professions. On the 40th anniversary of the “Zhiqing” movement, they recalled those formidable years of their lives with bittersweet sentiment, ghastly memories, and yes, sometimes tad nostalgia. However, this collection is drastically different from many other similar works in the contributors’ unique experience and different perspective. The authors are well educated in the West, and they can look back with critical minds, added dimensions, and fewer biases.
This anthology consists of 31 pieces in the forms of autobiographical and eyewitness accounts as well as “fictions” with real people in mind. There are some old photos as well. Undoubtedly, this collection will not only flash back the long-gone nightmares but also remind us of the chilling impact upon the people who live under a dictatorship. We should all treasure the kind of freedom we enjoy everyday and not take it for granted.
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