They were born at the start of Communist China. 70 years later, their country is unrecognizable
Literally, Jianguo means to "build a country."
"The
name seems tacky to me, but there were plenty of people called Jianguo
at the time," Ma told CNN. "It was about growth, and individuals growing
alongside the nation."
Tuesday
marks 70 years since Communist Party leader Mao Zedong announced the
founding of the People's Republic of China on Beijing's Tiananmen Gate
on October 1, 1949.
The date
marked the beginning of one of the most tumultuous periods in modern
Chinese history, which would take China from a weak and impoverished
nation to one of the most powerful in the world.
Chinese
citizens who are turning 70 with the Communist State on Tuesday have
witnessed famine, political chaos, rapid economic change and now
unprecedented wealth.
CNN spoke to
three of them ahead of the Communist Party's big day -- businessman and
comic book enthusiast Ma Jianguo, farmer Wu Shiying and former
state-owned enterprise employee Xiao Jianwen. All were born in 1949.
The
three men may have all lived through the same events, shaped by the
same political decisions in the one-party state. But despite their
shared experiences, their views on the past differ markedly --
especially regarding the country's controversial founder, Chairman Mao
Zedong.
"Mao Zedong's era was a
great era," farmer Wu said. "Although Mao's later life caused some chaos
to China, his contribution is undeniable."
But
Ma, on the other hand, said when he thought of Mao, he thought only of
the Great Famine and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
The
Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong declaring the birth of the
People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 1949.
Red dawn
The
Chinese people were bloodied and bruised when Mao announced the
People's Republic of China in 1949. The country had been in a
near-perpetual state of conflict for more than 20 years, starting with
the outbreak of civil war between the nationalists and the communists in
1927 and later, in 1937 with the Japanese.
The
promise of peace and stability was therefore widely embraced. But new
campaigns launched by the fledgling Communist government almost
immediately led to more bloodshed. As the Communist Party undertook
reform to return land to poor farmers, an estimated 2 million "landlords" were executed across the country.
But for Xiao Jianwen, his memories of the early days of the People's Republic are almost idyllic.
From
a relatively wealthy family, labeled "petty bourgeoisie" by the
Communist Party, Xiao's house was in the Chinese capital's Dongcheng
district, just a few blocks from Tiananmen Square.
He grew up in a big courtyard of about 14 families in a Beijing hutong, traditional alleyways that had formed part of the city center for centuries.
"We
were just like a big family. The doors were always open and you could
enter without invitation. Our children played together like brothers and
sisters," Xiao said, reminiscing about long afternoons of ping pong and
Chinese chess.
4-year-old Xiao Jianwen and his elder sister standing with a neighborhood girl in Tiananmen Square in 1953.
Xiao
even remembers some of the earliest National Day parades on October 1,
smaller versions of the mass celebration which has shut down Beijing for
weeks in 2019.
"The parade went
near our hutong to Chang'an Avenue. I remember it was a really big
scene, and I felt happy when people touched my head and looked at me,"
he said.
On the opposite side of
the capital, Ma and his family lived in a very different area. He was
part of the minority Hui community and was raised in Niujie, an
ethnically diverse neighborhood in the city's southwest.
Ma
grew up without both his parents -- his father died of tuberculosis and
his mother left to remarry. But still, the businessman remembers
finding joy in his childhood.
"The
absence of my parents allowed me to be naughty, and the schools in the
past were less strict and assigned less homework. A bunch of kids from
the hutong went to school together and hung out after school, playing
marbles," he said.
But above their
heads, the Communist Party was planning a new campaign which would
plunge the country into one of its worst famines in history and change
all of their lives.
Dark times
By
the late 1950s, Mao starting making plans to radically change his
still-new regime with an aim of catching up quickly with the world's
industrialized nations. This collection of radical policies broadly
became known as the Great Leap Forward.
In a speech to Soviet leaders in 1957, Mao claimed in 15 years that "we may have caught up with or overtaken Great Britain."
But the results would be devastating. China was plunged into a mass famine which would eventually kill an estimated tens of millions of Chinese people.
In
1958, the Chinese government tried to rapidly advance the country's
industrial and agricultural production by eliminating private farms and
creating huge collectives.
But instead, the radical and swift changes caused grain output to plummet.
Still
living in his Beijing neighborhood of Niujie at the time, Ma remembers
making a game of going to look for food with his classmates every day
after school.
"We went to take
edible wild herbs from the farmland. There were all sorts of different
edible wild herbs ... Life was tough during that period of time, but we
didn't feel that way when we were young," he said.
Even
families from wealthier backgrounds weren't immune. In the center of
the capital, Xiao watched as both of his grandparents died -- deaths he
believes were related to the famine.
His
previously comfortable family mostly survived on bean curd residue, a
byproduct which was usually fed to pigs, and he remembers his clothes
became increasingly ragged.
Chinese refugees queuing for a meal in Hong Kong in May 1962, after fleeing mass famine on the mainland.
"We ate in a big canteen in the neighborhood. In the three-year period, there wasn't enough grain, let alone meat," he said.
"(The
government) told the people that the famine was attributed to the debts
to the Soviet Union, as well as natural disasters. So people accepted
it and decided to go through this difficulty with our nation."
Wu
grew up in a poor, rural village near Shiyan City in Hubei province. He
came from eight generations of farmers and witnessed the effects of the
Great Leap Forward first hand.
He
said he can still remember the recipes shared in his village during the
famine, which often used leaves and sprouts instead of the usual
staples. In some parts of the country, people ate grass and bark to survive.
"The Chinese Communist Party didn't want to starve people. But lots of people still died of starvation," he said.
Eventually
the industrial and agricultural policies were stopped and Mao quietly
had his grip on the levers of power loosened by his fellow Communist
Party leaders. But afraid of losing his sway, Mao soon embarked on one
of his most radical policies yet -- the Cultural Revolution.
Beijing coupons for daily necessities from between 1962 and 1972, provided to Xiao.
Personality cult
By
building a fanatical personality cult around him and his ideas, Mao
planned to cling to power. But the result was a country thrown into
chaos as rival bands of young Mao supporters, known as Red Guards, tore
China apart with their leader's blessing.
The
Cultural Revolution began in 1966 when all three men were just 17 years
old. Wu said he gladly joined the Red Guards as he believed they were
performing a patriotic service to the people and the country.
Meanwhile
in Beijing, Xiao said he initially took part in the movement, painting
posters and joining rallies, but slowly he noticed the old communities
begin to break down under the mass movement.
The
Red Guards, high school and university students, brandishing the copies
of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" in Beijing in 1966.
He
even saw his own father interrogated every day, wrongly accused of
being a Japanese translator. "Everything started to change and become
chaotic after the Cultural Revolution," he said.
Ma
was more obsessed with protecting his precious "lianhuanhua" comic
books from roving bands of Red Guards. Part of their mission was to
destroy the "Four Olds," basically anything from before the Communist
victory, and Ma's treasured comic books fell into that category.
"The most significant impression I had from the Cultural Revolution was the destruction of books," he said.
Xiao
(bottom right) and his fellow workers at the Beijing Construction
Materials Factory in 1969, during the Cultural Revolution.
A Mao quote is printed on the side: "We must give full play to the
leadership role of workers during the Cultural Revolution."
Ma
ultimately handed over hundreds of the now-valuable comics for
destruction, fearing retribution against his family. However, he hid
some of his most precious collections under his bed in a plastic bag,
despite knowing that if they were discovered they'd be burned or torn
apart and he'd be punished.
Mao's
death in 1976 ended the Cultural Revolution. It was so destructive and
divisive that it has become one of the few controversial elements of
Mao's rule that are officially labeled his mistakes.
Despite
the horror of those years, Wu said some good came of it. "The Cultural
Revolution was certainly needed, and Mao used it to raise the next
generation of leaders," he said.
"This movement fostered and educated President Xi Jinping."
Xiao
gathered with other people on Tiananmen Square for Mao's memorial
meeting in 1976. The banner on Tiananmen Square reads "Memorial meeting
for the great leader and mentor Mao Zedong."
Rich and happy
There
was a brief power struggle after Mao's death which ultimately led to
the rise of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978. His vision would
move China to embrace market reforms and capitalism, under the title of
"socialism with Chinese characteristics."
Thanks
in part to Deng's reforms, China rose quickly from the trauma of the
Cultural Revolution to be the world's second-largest economy in the
space of four decades.
Ma took
advantage of the changes with relish. Realizing that the comic books
he'd so carefully saved during the Cultural Revolution were actually
quite valuable in the post-Mao era, he began to sell them.
He
is now a self-made businessman with a successful comic book store in
downtown Beijing. Ma said that among all the leaders in China, he
believes Deng was "the wisest and the most brilliant one."
"The
experiences I had with (Mao) were the great famine and the Cultural
Revolution, and none of my family's life had improved. Deng released the
potential of individuals," he said.
Passers-by
keep their distance from Ronald McDonald as he sits outside the first
McDonalds restaurant to be opened in Beijing on April 20, 1992.
All
three men remember being astonished by the quick changes that came
about in China. It started with small changes, like allowing farmers to
keep and sell their excess produce, but progressed to skyscrapers, stock
markets and unprecedented wealth.
Now
living in a new apartment in Beijing, Xiao saw life around him rapidly
change as people could suddenly afford consumer goods that had seemed
like luxuries before.
"In the
1990s, when life started to get better, the goal was those few main home
appliances -- fridge, color TV, washing machine and air conditioner.
With those, life started to get modernized. Later, people took it to
another level -- buying apartments and cars. I bought an apartment and a
car too. Then, life was really better," he said.
For
Xiao, the greatest joy came when he was finally able to take the
restarted "gaokao" university entrance exam, which had been stalled,
along with his education, by the Cultural Revolution.
Although
"gaokao" is now the infamous exam that terrifies hundreds of thousands
of Chinese students ever year, for Xiao it was a chance at a new life.
"Who is not willing to change the destiny? All of us knew that going to university will change our fates," he said.
Fireworks
explode over the National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest",
during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Although
he was aged in his 30s, Xiao passed the exam and graduated with an
economics degree from the Beijing Institute of Economics. He found a
well-paid job at the state-run National Offshore Oil Group, where he
worked until he retired.
All three
men had children in China's post-Mao era and say their children's
concerns are very different from theirs at the same age. "He lives from
paycheck to paycheck. The emphasis is on living in the moment," Xiao
said of his son.
Looking back, Xiao
said that his former classmates and friends from school were all
divided on Mao's legacy for China, much like the rest of the country.
He
said Mao made mistakes -- but former leader's contribution to China far
outstripped any flaws. "Mao's business was not simple," Xiao said.
Bright future?
Still
living a modest life on his farm in Hubei, Wu has long since retired
from the fields. His children and grandchildren live in the city,
although they come back to visit when they can.
Living
through 70 years of change hasn't shaken Wu's faith in Mao or the
Communist Party. He speaks glowingly of President Xi and his
administration, and the work they're doing across the country.
"All my family members up to eight generations were illiterate, and I was the first one who can read and write," he said.
Thanks to China's growing economic wealth, Wu can now travel abroad to embrace his love of amateur astronomy.
"Many
people couldn't observe a total solar eclipse for their whole life, but
I've seen it nine times from prime locations, so I'm a happy person,"
he said.
Young
astronomical fans and friends visiting Wu Shiping in 2018 to see the
equatorial telescope which the former farmer just purchased for himself.
Ma
Jianguo can't retire, he's too busy with his comic book store. Rather
than "building the nation," he is far more concerned about preserving
Chinese traditional culture, especially "lianhuanhua" comics, for the
next generation.
"I have so many
'lianhuanhua' at my house, but my son grew up with cartoons from Japan
and Korea, and he was deeply influenced by them," he said.
The
lessons of the past 70 years weigh heavily on him and he is reluctant
to discuss modern-day politics, saying only that he hoped Xi continues
his push to preserve traditional Chinese culture. "I think the very
existence of a country depends on its culture," he added.
Ma sitting in his "lianhuanhua" comic book store in Beijing in September, surrounded by his life's work.
Years
after his family was declared "petty bourgeoisie," Xiao is once again
living a moderately affluent life in Beijing, retired from his job in a
state-owned company and spending time with his children.
In many ways, his family has come full circle in the People's Republic of China.
Xiao
is now living comfortably in Beijing, his children's futures provided
for, and sees no reason to complain about the Communist Party or its
leaders. In fact, for Xiao, any move towards an election-based political
system would possibly lead to a breakdown of unity and the splintering
of the country.
"Suddenly
over 100, over 1,000 political parties will emerge, and people will
vote for the party that pays them the most," Xiao said.
"China will be in chaos if real democracy is implemented."
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