Mao Zedong’s intense indoctrination of class struggle poisoned many souls. Under totalitarian rule, fear drove a son to report his own mother, and the mother was executed. In 1970, in Guzhen County, Anhui, a mother said she wanted to redress the case of Liu Shaoqi. With the support of his father, her son reported her. She was quickly arrested and killed. This mother was named Fang Zhongmou. For nearly fifty years in heaven, she had remained indignant, her injustice unresolved.

Recently, in the underworld, she heard that the Jade Emperor was going to publicly try Mao Zedong and had opened the gates to accept petitions from wronged souls in order to understand Mao’s crimes. She therefore went straight to the Heavenly Palace to see the Jade Emperor.

The Jade Emperor looked at the woman, who appeared to be an honest mother in her forties, likely another who had come seeking justice, and asked, “What is your name? What grievance do you have?”

Fang said, “My name is Fang Zhongmou. Poisoned by Mao Zedong’s class struggle doctrine, I was reported by my own son and executed. It was a grave injustice.”

Hearing her name, which did not sound like a woman’s, the Jade Emperor asked curiously, “Why did your father give you a man’s name?”

Fang replied, “My father originally named me ‘Zhongmo,’ meaning that I should faithfully inherit the ‘model’ of our ancestors. But during land reform, my father was wrongly labeled a landlord and then falsely accused of being a spy. He was executed. In order to show loyalty to the Party and draw a clear line from my father, I changed my name to ‘Zhongmou.’ In fact, my family were just ordinary farmers with six mu of land.”

The Jade Emperor said, “I see. Then what did your son report you for that led to your execution?”

Fang said, “On the night of February 13, 1970, our family was debating the Cultural Revolution. I said, ‘I want to redress Liu Shaoqi’s case! The bourgeois reactionary line was created by Mao Zedong. He switched the beams and pillars and pinned it on Liu Shaoqi.’ I questioned: ‘Why was the Soviet Union once friendly with us, but now, except for Albania, so many Marxist parties are called revisionist? The real revisionist is none other than Mao Zedong himself.’ I also said: ‘Why does Mao Zedong promote a personality cult? His portraits are everywhere.’

“I wrote down: ‘For the needs of the revolution, Mao Zedong should immediately be removed from all his posts and told to step aside’; ‘For the needs of the revolution, Liu Shaoqi should immediately be restored to all his posts’; ‘Liu Shaoqi and Peng Dehuai must be liberated’; ‘Li Baohua and Deng Xiaoping must be immediately released and allowed to resume their work.’ I firmly declared: ‘Heads may fall, blood may flow, but the will of the revolution cannot be lost!’ That night, I tore down and burned the portrait of Mao Zedong on the wall and shouted: ‘Long live the Communist Party!’”

The Jade Emperor said, “Your family debate was intense. What did your son do to you?”

Fang replied, “My husband, Zhang Yuesheng, and my son, Zhang Hongbing, were terrified and immediately denounced and struggled against me. My husband said: ‘I firmly draw a clear line between you and me. Write down all the poison you just spread.’ I quickly filled a sheet of paper. He took it and left the house, saying he would report me. My son wrote a denunciation letter and slipped it, together with his Red Guard armband, through the crack of the military representative’s door. At the end of the letter it read: ‘Down with the current counterrevolutionary Fang Zhongmou! Execute Fang Zhongmou!’

“After receiving the report, the military representative came to our home and kicked me to the ground. Then they bound me up like a rice dumpling, tied tightly, and took me away for detention.”

The Jade Emperor asked, “So you were arrested like that. Were you tortured?”

Fang said, “I was interrogated many times. I held fast to my beliefs and did not yield. I denounced Jiang Qing as a venomous beauty and said I would go to Beijing to settle accounts with her for her monstrous crimes. Jiang Qing climbed upward by stepping on others’ shoulders, harming countless cadres and Red Guards. I continued to criticize Mao Zedong for dragging the wheels of history backward twenty-one years—I wanted to turn them around.”

The Jade Emperor said, “Your denunciations of Mao were like a crusade—very fierce indeed. And then you were executed?”

Fang said, “I realized they would kill me. Sure enough, less than two months later, on April 11, 1970, I was executed. I was forty-four years old and left behind five children.”

The Jade Emperor said, “I am astonished at your keen insight into Liu Shaoqi, Peng Dehuai, Mao Zedong, and Jiang Qing, and at how deeply you saw things. Was this related to your experiences?”

Fang replied, “I was born in 1926. I studied and worked in the countryside from a young age and had a junior middle school education. During land reform, my father was wrongly killed, and I bore the stigma of being a child of the ‘black five categories,’ which deeply wounded me. I painfully drew a clear line from him.

“In February 1949, I joined the army and served as a medic, nurse, and head nurse. I was consistently progressive and active in my work. Twice I was named a model worker, received a third-class merit citation, attended heroic model conferences, and received medals and awards. In November 1950, I was demobilized and assigned to Su County Hospital in Anhui as deputy head of nursing. In March 1956, I attended the Anhui Provincial Conference of Activists in Socialist Construction. In July 1965, I was transferred to Guzhen County Hospital in Anhui as deputy director of the outpatient department.”

The Jade Emperor said, “From your experiences, you were always an active and progressive member. There seems to have been nothing wrong. What led you to oppose Mao?”

Fang replied, “My husband was head of the Guzhen County Health Section and Party branch secretary. When the Cultural Revolution began, he was labeled a capitalist-roader. He was made to wear a tall dunce cap, hang a black placard around his neck, paraded through the streets, struggled against, and beaten until he urinated blood. I was dragged onto the stage to be struggled against with him.

“My eldest daughter died of illness during the great networking movement. I was physically and mentally devastated and developed high blood pressure and heart disease. During the ‘cleansing of class ranks,’ I was again labeled a ‘suspected spy’ and ‘landlord element,’ isolated for investigation, struggled against, and forced into supervised labor. A series of these experiences prompted deep reflection and led me to doubt and resent Mao’s Cultural Revolution.”

The Jade Emperor said, “I understand. Being struggled against, isolated, and forced into labor during the Cultural Revolution led you to reflect. What you say makes sense. After the Cultural Revolution, were you rehabilitated?”

Fang said, “After my death, Guzhen County even held an exhibition about ‘placing righteousness above family.’ It was not until 1980 that I was rehabilitated and my grave repaired.”

The Jade Emperor asked, “Then what is the remaining issue?”

Fang replied, “The issue is that my son is now sixty years old. For forty years he has borne the heavy burden of ‘placing righteousness above family.’ He often dreams of me and weeps bitterly. Society harshly condemns him, saying he ‘offered a red heart to the Party and a bullet to his mother.’ He feels ashamed and full of remorse. I forgive him. He is my own flesh and blood. He was young and ignorant. He was not like this before. His original name was Zhang Tiefu. After listening to Mao during the Cultural Revolution, he changed his own name to Zhang Hongbing. Mao was the instigator; my son was only an accomplice. Mao was the mastermind, a cunning old fox. My son was under seventeen at the time, a minor, innocent in youth. The mastermind never confessed, yet the accomplice has borne the guilt for a lifetime. I pity my child.”

The Jade Emperor said, “He placed righteousness above family, yet you show deep maternal love. It is truly moving.”

Fang said, “In that frenzied era when Mao incited the Red Guards to rebel, sons became madmen, demons were brainwashed, humans turned into demons, wives were destroyed, mothers were killed—an annihilation of humanity intolerable to heaven and earth. But my son says that without proving loyalty, he could not survive. He was terribly deceived and will regret it for life. His wolf’s heart has at least turned back into a human heart.

“What I resent is that Mao’s giant portrait still hangs over Tiananmen, and he still lies upon the hundred-yuan banknote, refusing to come down. Liu Shaoqi was rehabilitated on paper, but Mao remains on the stage. Mao was the chief culprit behind the Cultural Revolution persecutions and has never confessed. His successors continue to cover up his crimes. How can I be calm? How can I rest in peace? That is why tonight I have come to ask you to reckon with Mao’s crimes.”

The Jade Emperor said, “I understand your meaning. Your materials are very good. I will use them in the public trial of Mao.”

Fang Zhongmou then rose and took her leave.

NEXT: 100. Ding Zuxiao (1946–1970) and Li Qishun (1947–1970)