Chapter 61 Smashing Confucius destroyed ancestors 1966

Journalist: “By October you met again continuously to criticize Liu Shaoqi?”

Journalist: “In October, you held consecutive meetings to criticize Liu Shaoqi, right?”

Mao: “Yes, from October 9th to 28th, 1966, the Central Work Conference was held in Beijing. The main theme was to criticize the capitalist reactionary line, the revisionist line, which was the new label I gave to Liu Shaoqi’s work team. The conference aimed to address the mistakes made by Zhou Enlai and Tao Zhu in August and September. The work team was withdrawn, but the old machinery and organizations couldn’t remain unchanged. Chen Boda, following my instructions, wrote a two-month summary of the movement titled ‘The Two Lines in the Cultural Revolution,’ targeting the capitalist-roaders.

On October 16th, Chen Boda gave a report, but some people didn’t understand it. Jiang Weiqing from Jiangsu said that both sides were revolutionary masses and should be supported. Zhang Chunqiao said, ‘You’re being conciliatory.’ The First Secretary of Tianjin, Wan Xiaotang, was pressured by the Red Guards and died of a heart attack. Kang Sheng criticized Tianjin, accusing them of using a dead person to suppress the living and openly opposing Chairman Mao. Leaders from various regions, such as Liu Lantao in the Northwest, Li Jingquan in the Southwest, Ouyang Qin in the Northeast, Wei Guoqing in Guangxi, and Ye Fei in Fujian, were all criticized, elevated to ideological struggles, and tensions were high.”

Journalist: “You forced Liu Shaoqi to review again?”

Mao: “Yes. October 23, 1966, Liu Shaoqi Deng Xiaoping to make a check. Liu Shaoqi on September 14, wrote a review to me, saying: I made me as a typical error, the party is good for the people. I approved basically good. 23 he then added into more than 10,000 words check. Deng Xiaoping said in his review: ‘The chairman ran and hit the right spot, hitting me to the core, Lin Biao is a model for learning.’

October 25, 1966, I spoke: engage in a line, two lines, out of many independent kingdoms, too trusting of others. The fire of the Cultural Revolution was lit by me. I deliberately said: change is it, who wants to beat you? I let the meeting once again send my big-character poster, ‘Run to beat the command. After the meeting Ye Jianying recited a poem: ‘When did the series of cannon hit? The official strikes know how much, the Herculean sands of the old mighty, topping the Red Guards a few rushes.’

Journalist: “Ye Jianying asked you when the series of cannons hit?”

Mao: “Yes. The Red Guards were ordered to break the Four Olds, (old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits). On August 23, 1966, the Red Guards of the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, ascended the Buddha Fragrance Pavilion in the Summer Palace and smashed the statue of Sakyamuni, thus beginning more than 6,800 monuments in Beijing, more than 4,900 of which were damaged to varying degrees.

From November 9 to December 7, 1966, Tan Houlan of the Northern Normal University was ordered to lead more than 200 Red Guards to Qufu, Shandong Province, where they joined hands with the local rebel faction and held a 10,000-person meeting to rebel against Confucius, destroying more than 6,000 pieces of cultural relics, smashing more than 1,000 stone monuments of the past generations, and burning more than 1,000 copies of rare ancient books. They also wrote to me to report that: the grave of Confucius was leveled, the big plaque of the World Teacher was taken down, the temple monument was smashed, and the temple idol was destroyed.”

Journalist: “Did you authorize the Red Guards to smash Confucius?”

Mao: “Yes, I did, through the Central Cultural Revolution. Many famous people’s tombs throughout the country, Yan Di Mausoleum, Genghis Khan’s tomb, Zhuge Liang’s tomb, Yue Fei’s tomb, etc., were destroyed. The White Horse Temple of the Han Dynasty in Luoyang was destroyed, 500 Luohan were beheaded at the Wulong Temple in Leshan, Sichuan, and Buddhist statues were smashed at the temple in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi, and monks and nuns were criticized and 290 were forced to return to their hometowns.

The Red Guards were ordered to turn in the cultural relics they had copied and first let the central leaders pick them. Jiang Qing picked a French pocket watch, set with nearly 100 pearls and gems, with four gold chains, and paid only 7 yuan. Kang Sheng paid 10 yuan to take away many paintings and calligraphy from the Han Dynasty and Song Dynasty. After Kang Sheng’s death, an inventory of about a thousand pieces of cultural relics was taken. Lin Biao, Chen Boda, Jiang Qing, etc., all plundered precious calligraphy and painting relics. I also plundered thousands of ancient books into my bookshelf.”

Journalist: “Is that how you plundered cultural relics and ancient books?”