Lei Feng

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Lei Feng

Lei Feng, Chinese propaganda poster by Qiu Wei (丘玮). The caption reads: Follow Lei Feng's example; Love the Party, Love Socialism, Love the People.
Born 18 December 1940(1940-12-18)
Died 15 August 1962(1962-08-15) (aged 21)
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lei.
Lei Feng
Simplified Chinese 雷锋

Lei Feng (18 December 1940 – 15 August 1962) was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army in the People's Republic of China. After his death, Lei was characterised as a selfless and modest person who was devoted to the Communist Party, Chairman Mao Zedong, and the people of China. In 1963, he became the subject of a nationwide, posthumous propaganda campaign "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng" (向雷锋同志学习)[1]. Lei was portrayed as a model citizen, and the masses were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao. After Mao's death, Lei Feng remained a cultural icon representing earnestness and service; his name entered daily speech and his imagery appeared on t-shirts and memorabilia.[2]

The depictions of Lei Feng's life were almost certainly the contrivance of the Communist Party,[3][4] a fact that has made him a target of derision and a source of cynicism among segments of the Chinese population.[5]

Contents

[edit] Life

Born in Wangcheng, Hunan (near the town of Leifeng, Changsha, Hunan, named in his honour), Lei was orphaned at an early age and raised under the wings of the Communist Party. He became a member in the Communist youth corps when he was young and joined a transportation unit of the People's Liberation Army at the age of twenty. According to his official biography, Lei died in 1962 at the age of 21 (22 by East Asian age reckoning, by which a newborn is one year old at birth), when a telephone pole, struck by an army truck, hit him while he was directing the truck in backing up.[6]

[edit] Lei Feng as propaganda

Lei Feng was not widely known until after his death. In 1963, Lei Feng's Diary was first presented to the public by Lin Biao in the first of many "Learn from Lei Feng" propaganda campaigns.[7] The diary, likely written by party propagandists, was full of accounts of Lei's admiration for Mao Zedong, his selfless deeds, and his desire to foment revolutionary spirit.[4] Lin's use of Lei's diary was part of a larger effort to improve Mao's image, which had suffered after the Great Leap Forward.[8] Many Western scholars believe that the diary was forged by Party propagandists under Lin's direction.[7][4]

The diary contains about 200,000 words describing selfless thoughts with enthusiastic comments on Mao and the inspiring nature of the Party.[9] The campaign began at a time when the Chinese economy was recovering from the Great Leap Forward campaign. During 1964 the Lei Feng campaign shifted gradually from doing good deeds to a cult of Mao.

[edit] Lei Feng as an icon

When Lei Feng died in the line of duty, he was only 22, but his short life gives concentrated expression to the noble ideals of a new people, nurtured with the communist spirit, and also to the noble moral integrity and values of the Chinese people in the new period. These are firm faith in communist ideals, political warmheartedness for the party and the socialist cause, the revolutionary will to work arduously for self-improvement, the moral quality and self-cultivation of showing fraternal unity and taking pleasure in assisting others, the heroic spirit of being ready to take up cudgels for a just cause without caring for one's safety, the attitude of seeking advancement and studying hard, and the genuine spirit of matching words with deeds and enthusiastically carrying out one's duties.

— Editorial, People's Daily 5 March 1993[10]'

Chinese leaders have praised Lei Feng as the personification of altruism. Leaders who have written about Lei Feng include Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, and Jiang Zemin. His cultural importance is still reproduced and reinforced by the media and cultural apparatus of the Chinese party-state, including emphasizing the importance of moral character during Mao's era. Lei Feng's prominence in school textbooks has since declined, although he remains part of the national curriculum. The term "活雷锋/Huó Léi Fēng" (literally "living Lei Feng") has become a noun (or adjective) for anyone who is seen as selfless, or anyone who goes out of their way to help others.

[edit] Lei Feng as celebrity

The CCP's construction of Lei Feng as a celebrity soldier is unique to the PRC and differs from the more typical creation of military heroes by governments during times of war. In the PRC, Lei Feng was part of continuing public promotion of soldiers as exemplary models, and evidence of the People's Liberation Army's role as social and political support to the Communist Government.[11]

Lei Feng (1940–62) is the paramount 'heroic model serviceman' in the PRC and his influence on later icons cannot be underestimated: he is the benchmark of all subsequent 'soldier celebrities. Lei Feng's fame, stretching from 1960s through to the present, derives from his ordinary everyday acts of service to society and the CCP. Introduced posthumously to the Chinese people in 1963, Lei Feng has survived the myriad political twists and turns of the subsequent several decades'

— Edwards, L. Military Celebrity in China, 2010[11]

[edit] Controversy

Details of Lei Feng's life, as presented in the propaganda campaign, strained the credulity of the audience. While someone named Lei Feng may have existed, scholars believe the person depicted in the campaign was almost certainly a fabrication.[3][7][4] Some observers noted, for instance, that the campaign presented a collection of twelve photographs of Lei Feng performing good deeds. The photographs were of exceptionally high professional quality, and depicted Lei—supposedly an obscure and unknown young man—engaging in mundane tasks.[3] In a 1977 essay, Susan Sontag noted that these photographs of Lei Feng's good deeds "depict scenes in which, clearly, no photograher could have been present."[12]

The impossible details of Lei Feng's life—perhaps apparent to Chinese audiences well before Western observers caught on—led him to become a subject of derision among young Chinese.[3] As John Fraser recalled, "Any Chinese I ever spoke to outside of official occasions always snorted about Lei Feng."[3] To some extend, the revelation that Lei Feng never existed (at least as depicted by the party) is a source of cynicism among Chinese citizens. In a 2012 interview with the New York Review of Books, for instance, Chinese dissident blogger Ran Yunfei remarked on the moral and educational implications of the Lei Feng campaigns: "After a while the students learn that Lei Feng is a fake. He existed but all the stories are made up. It’s destructive—it destroys everything you’ve been taught. You feel that nothing is real. How can they teach virtues? It’s impossible."[13]

[edit] Cultural importance

Lei Feng's Tomb
Inside the Lei Feng Museum

Lei Feng is an icon who continues to resonate in mainland China. 5 March has become the official "Learn from Lei Feng Day" (Chinese: 学雷锋日; pinyin: Xué Léi Fēng Rì). This day involves various community and school events where people go to clean up parks, schools, and other community locations. Local news on that day usually has footage from these events.[14]

Lei Feng is especially honoured in Changsha, Hunan, and in Fushun, Liaoning. The Lei Feng Memorial Hall (in his birthplace, now named for him, Leifeng) and Lei Feng statue are located in Changsha. The local hospital carries his name. There is also a Lei Feng Memorial Hall, with a museum, in Fushun. Lei Feng's military unit was based in Fushun, and it was here where he met his death. His tomb is located on the memorial grounds. To commemorate Lei Feng, the city of Fushun named several landmarks in honor of him. There is a Lei Feng Road, a Lei Feng Elementary School, a Lei Feng Middle School and a Leifeng bank office.

Lei Feng's story continues to be referenced in popular culture. A popular song by Jilin singer Xue Cun (雪村) is called "All Northeasterners are Living Lei Fengs" (东北人都是活雷锋; Dōngběi Rén Dōu Shì Huó Léi Fēng)[15] A 1995 release[citation needed], originally notable only for its use of Northeastern Mandarin, it shot to nationwide fame when it was combined with kitsch animations on the Internet in 2001.[16][citation needed] In March 2006, a Chinese organization released a game titled Learn From Lei Feng Online in which the player has to do good deeds, fight spies, and collect parts of Mao Zedong's collection. If the player wins, he or she gets to meet Chairman Mao in the game.[17]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Chinese word , when translated literally, can mean "to learn" or "to study"; however, given this context, it means something like "to follow". Therefore, the slogan/phrase 向雷锋同志学习 means something more like "Follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng."
  2. ^ Yan Yunxiang:THE INDIVIDUAL AND TRANSFORMATION OF BRIDEWEALTH IN RURAL NORTH CHINA. Department of Anthropology, University of California.
  3. ^ a b c d e John Fraser, "The Chinese: portrait of a people", (William Collins & Sons, 1980) | quote: "Lei Feng is an invention of the propaganda department. Perhaps there was someone once, even with the same name, who actually existed and did good deeds...But the Lei Feng all Chinese people know stretches credulity to special dimensions."
  4. ^ a b c d Nicholas John Cull et al, "Propaganda and mass persuasion: a historical encyclopedia," (ABC-CLIO, 2003), ISBN-10: 1576078205. | quote: "Lei Feng, a soldier whose diary was alleged to have been found posthumously, was touted by the party as a model citizen; his diary—almost certainly concocted by party propagandists—is filled with praise of Mao and accounts of Lei Feng's efforts to inspire revolutionary zeal among his comrades"
  5. ^ Fraser, p 100. | Quote: "Lei Feng...is also a laughingstock among many Chinese youths, for the simplest of reasons:he never existed, at least not in the form served up by the Party"
  6. ^ Chinese Treasure Spirit of Lei Feng
  7. ^ a b c Tanner, Harold Miles. China: A History. Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company. 2009. ISBN 978-0-87220-915-2. p.522. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  8. ^ Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999. ISBN 0-393-97351-4. p.566
  9. ^ Mao's personality cult: Radio Free Europe, 1964
  10. ^ "Living Revolution: Lei Feng Readings". Morning Sun: A film and website about Cultural Revolution. Long Bow Group, Inc.. c2003. http://www.morningsun.org/living/heroes/leifeng_readings.html. Retrieved 13 September 2007. 
  11. ^ a b Military Celebrity in China
  12. ^ Sontag, Susan (2001). "The Image World". On Photography. Picador. p. 175. ISBN 978-0312420093. 
  13. ^ Ian Johnson, Learning How to Argue: An Interview with Ran Yunfei, New York Review of Books, 2 March 2012.
  14. ^ Joel Martinson: Lei Feng heritage for the whole world
  15. ^ Lusby gives "Dongbei Ren Dang Huo Lei Feng", which would almost certainly transliterate to 東北人当活雷锋. As of September 2007, this had two Google hits compared to 128,000 for 東北人都是活雷鋒.
  16. ^ Jo Lusby (4 December 2006). "A Man for the Northeast: Sudden pop star Xue Cun and his meteoric (animated) rise to fame". City Weekend. 
  17. ^ Xinhua: Lei Feng becomes online game hero

[edit] Further reading

  • Edwards, L. (2010) ‘Military Celebrity in China: The Evolution of 'Heroic and Model Servicemen' in Jeffreys, Elaine. & Edwards, Louise (eds.), Celebrity in China, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong pp. 21–44. ISBN 9622090885

[edit] External links

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