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The Killing Wind
 The Killing Wind
A Chinese County’s Descent into Madness
during the Cultural Revolution

B Y TA N H E C H E N G

T R A N S L AT E D B Y S TA C Y M O S H E R
and
GUO JIAN

1
 1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© Tan Hecheng 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tan, Hecheng, 1949 – author. | Mosher, Stacy, translator. | Guo, Jian, translator.
Title: The killing wind: a Chinese county’s descent into madness during the cultural revolution /
by Tan Hecheng; translated by Stacy Mosher and Guo Jian.
Other titles: Xue de shen hua. English | Chinese county’s descent into madness
during the cultural revolution
Description: New York, NY: Oxford University Press, [2017]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016016713 (print) | LCCN 2016031266 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190622527 (hardcover: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190622534 (E-book) |
ISBN 9780190622541 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: China—History—Cultural Revolution, 1966–1976. | Political violence—China—Dao
Xian—History. | Dao Xian (China)—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC DS778.7.T35513 2017 (print) | LCC DS778.7 (ebook) | DDC 951.2/15—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016016713

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
 CONTENTS

Map—Daoxian at the Time of the Task Force Investigation   xi

Foreword: Blood Awakening   xiii
Preface: Deconstructing the Mythos of Mao Zedong’s Peasant Revolution   xvii
Translator’s Note   xxi
Chronology of the Cultural Revolution Killings in Daoxian   xxiii

Introduction   1

PART ONE THE ORIGIN OF THE MA SSACRE

1. The River of Death   5

2. My Destiny with Daoxian   15

3. Daoxian on the Eve of the Massacre   26

THE AUGUST 5 COUNTY SEIZE-​AND-​PUSH MEETING   32
THE AUGUST 8 GUN-​SNATCHING INCIDENT   34

4. The Random Killings Begin   40

FIRST BLOOD AT THE XIABA PRODUCTION BRIGADE   40
XIQUE ZHENGJIA SPARKS OFF THE MASSACRE   46

PART T WO A SSEMBLING THE MACHINERY OF SL AUGHTER

5. The Killing Wind Spreads through Administrative Lines   59

v
vi Contents

6. Qingtang District and the Rise of the Peasant Supreme Courts   69

IN THE HOMETOWN OF THE PHILOSOPHER   69
THE RISE OF THE PEASANT SUPREME COURTS   72
A COMMUNE COMMUNIST PARTY SECRETARY’S STORY   77

7. The Red Alliance Role in the Killing Wind   81

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE YINGJIANG FRONTLINE COMMAND POST   81
THE AUGUST 21 YINGJIANG REPORTING MEETING   84
THE YINGJIANG POLITICAL AND LEGAL WORK CONFERENCE   91

PART THREE CHETOU AND SHANGGUAN

DISTRICTS—​M URDER A S SPECTACLE

8. Chetou District’s Model Killings   99

THE REAL STORY OF CHETOU DISTRICT’S “LANDLORD AND RICH-​PEASANT
INSURRECTION”   99
BLOOD-​SOAKED MEIHUA    102
AN ADVANCED COMMUNE ENCOUNTERS A NEW CHALLENGE   110

9. Shangguan District—​in the Eye of the Storm   113

SHANGGUAN COMMUNE’S ON-​THE-​SPOT KILLING RALLIES   113
KILLING TURNCOATS AS WELL AS LANDLORDS   118

10. Other Communes in Shangguan District   123

DONGMEN COMMUNE: GRAFFITI ON A COTTAGE WALL   123
THE KILLINGS AT WANJIAZHUANG COMMUNE   126
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF FUTANG COMMUNE   130

PART FOUR GONGBA DISTRICT, THE COUNT Y ’S TOP KILLER

11. A Dubious Honor   139

ONE DAY IN YANHETANG 148

12. The Killings at Daoxian’s Deadliest Commune   154

INTERVIEW WITH THE BUTCHER OF GONGBA COMMUNE 166
 Contents vii

13. Some Who Got Away   171

14. Death before Marriage   188

PART FIVE QINGXI DISTRICT’S PAFD COMMANDER

15. High-​Level Participation in Qingxi District   201

THE GREAT LEAP BRIGADE’S KILLING SPUTNIK 205

KILLINGS APPROVED BY THE COUNTY ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT

HEAD 208

16. When the Pebble Rises from the Water   211

PART SIX XIANGLINPU DISTRICT’S MILITIA PUSH

17. The Shangdu Militia Headquarters   219

THE PRESSURE TO STAY IN THE LEAD 224

18. Even Heaven Wept   226

19. Two Classic Cases   235

20. The Banality of Evil   243

“THE TOUGH JOB IS LEFT TO ME” 243

A BRIGADE SECRETARY’S STORY 248

WHATEVER THE COMMUNIST PARTY SAYS 251

PART SEVEN DE ADLY POLITICS

21. A Little Education Is a Dangerous Thing   261

THE LEGEND OF WIDOW’S BRIDGE 261

IF YOU LOVED THE COMMUNIST PARTY, WOULD THE PARTY KILL YOU? 266

22. The Price of Truth   274

THE DESTRUCTION OF TWO RIGHTIST FAMILIES 277

DEATH OF A “LITTLE PENG DEHUAI” 281

viii Contents

23. The Scapegoated Landlord Class   289

PART EIGHT THE KILLER S

24. Beyond the Pale 301

THE “BIG RICE POT” 301

BETWEEN HUMANS AND BEASTS 308

25. Brainwashed    314

THE COMMUNIST PARTY SECRETARY WHO KILLED A POOR-​PEASANT
ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN 314
DUTY BEFORE FAMILY 316

THE IRON MAIDEN OF DAOXIAN 317

PART NINE THE OUTLIER S

26. The Anomalous Xianzijiao District   323

QIAOTOU COMMUNE’S MASS-​KILLING RALLY 328

THE LAST VICTIM 331

27. The Zhenggangtou Phenomenon   334

28. The Miracle of Life   338

29. The Story of an Execution Ground Survivor   346

PART TEN THE CR ACKDOWN

30. The 6950 Unit Arrives in Daoxian   357

THE HARD TASK OF HALTING THE KILLING 364

31. No Regrets    375

AN INTERVIEW WITH REVOLUTIONARY ALLIANCE LEADER LIU XIANGXI 375
AN INTERVIEW WITH RED ALLIANCE LEADER HE XIA 381
 Contents ix

32. The Petitioners    392

MASTER PETITIONER LI NIANDE 394

A MANSION AND A FAMILY’S FATE 396

RISE OF A MASTER PETITIONER 398

33. Change of Plans   402

A DRINKING MISHAP 406

34. Killings in the Counties and Cities Surrounding Daoxian   415

PART ELEVEN THE END OF THE KILLING WIND

35. Huang Yida and the Fall of the Red Alliance   423

MIDNIGHT RUN TO THE PROVINCIAL CAPITAL 423
HUA GUOFENG’S DIRECTIVE 428

THE SEPTEMBER 23 TRAGEDY 432

THE EXPOSURE STUDY SESSIONS 436

36. Reversals    440

IN PRISON 445

HEAVEN’S UNFATHOMABLE WILL 449

Afterword: Living for Truth 453

Appendix I: Basic Statistics on the Victims of the Daoxian Cultural
Revolution Killings 465
Appendix II: Official Culpability in Daoxian’s Killing Wind 469
Notes 475
Index 489
 MAP

Beijing

Shanghai
Hunan
Province

Guangzhou

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

GUANGXI

Shuangpai County
Xianzijiao

Shouyan
Chetou

Qingxi

Daojiang
Qingtang Ningyuan County

Gongba

Xianglinpu

Simaqiao
Jiangyong County

Jianghua Yao
Autonomous
County
Changsha

Daoxian

Hunan Province

Daoxian at the time of the Task Force investigation

xi
 FOREWORD
B L O O D A WA K E N I N G

I’ve never written a foreword or the like for anyone else’s book, primarily because
I lack the requisite fame and heft; I’m merely an ordinary reader and journalist.
Nevertheless, when Tan Hecheng’s work of historical journalism was set before
me, I decided to break with precedent and write this foreword in recognition
of a fellow speaker and seeker of truth. I know very well what it is to undertake
this kind of journalistic inquiry in mainland China, and the risk and political
pressure it entails. It is the tragedy of our age that those expressing common
sense and truth are regarded as outliers or hailed as “especially courageous,” and
that any intention to seek and tell the truth requires preparing for all sorts of
contingencies.
The first draft of this book was written in 1986, when a work assignment gave
Tan Hecheng access to a large quantity of classified documents relating to the
mass killings in Hunan’s Dao County (Daoxian) and surrounding counties and
cities in 1967, about 15 months into the Cultural Revolution. In compiling these
records, Tan took a heavy cross upon himself, and his life entered a new trajectory.
The author subsequently made repeated visits to Daoxian to interview sources
in order to verify, correct, and supplement his first draft. The current draft, com-
pleted in 2007 on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the massacre, represents in
some respects a qualitative leap from the original version. Over the past 20-​odd
years, the author has made every effort to publish the facts of this horrific event
in hopes of stirring reflection among China’s people. Let me say in passing that
most of the information currently circulating in China and abroad regarding this
massacre is the result of Tan’s reporting and is only the tip of the iceberg; a much
more detailed and in-​depth exploration is presented in this book.
This work of historical journalism uses authentic documents and evidence to
let the facts speak for themselves. Although Tan Hecheng has no formal training

xiii
xiv Bl ood Awak ening

in social sciences, his research methods fully conform to the basic requirements
of modern socio-​scientific research. He collected nearly 400 documents total-
ing millions of words and interviewed nearly every key individual who agreed
to speak with him. This cushion of information has allowed him to assemble
a clear-​cut and almost seamless narrative. He used this large quantity of valu-
able primary sources and his own experiences during the Cultural Revolution
to assemble this secret history, taking the reader back to the 1960s to consider
how a nation with such a long civilization and history descended into madness
and barbarity.
In the Daoxian massacre, more than 9,000 innocent people lost their lives
in horrific violence that the author categorizes into ten main killing methods,
blood chilling even in the abstract. Even more dreadful, however, is the slaughter
of conscience and humanity. My profession has brought me in frequent contact
with humanity’s weaknesses and society’s black holes, but even I was shocked
by what I read here. Some details are almost unbearable to read, all the more so
as they issue unfiltered from the direct participants. The author has ripped away
the carefully placed bandage from this running sore in our people’s history and
has dissected its cancerous core to probe the essence of the “Great Revolution.”
How and why the Daoxian massacre occurred is a theme explored throughout
this book. The roots are deep, but their tendrils are evident everywhere. The
bulk of historical material shows that the Daoxian massacre was not an extreme
or chance occurrence triggered by a spontaneous incident or by any individual
or group. Many killings of varying degrees of similarity occurred throughout
China during the Cultural Revolution. In the capital city of Beijing alone, during
the “Red August” of 1966, Red Guard militants killed 1,772 people, a full year
earlier than the Daoxian killings, and under similarly horrific circumstances. Our
generation should not leave it to posterity to expose these incidents, or dupe fu-
ture generations by obliterating all memory of them.
Mr. Zhu Houze1 once told me: “A nation that loses its memory is a nation
of fools; a party that forgets history can only be a fatuous party; a regime that
intentionally obliterates historical memory is an extremely dubious regime; a
country that deliberately and thoroughly imposes amnesia is one that instills
dread in the human heart.” By triggering memory, this book serves as a touch-
stone, and its fate in China will explicitly reveal the condition of our country
and our people.
This book is all the richer in its implications for the complex ecosystem that
emerges from its many survivor testimonies. The book richly details the actions
and circumstances not only of the victims but also of the killers, as well as others
who were implicated in the incident. This multifaceted portrayal provides read-
ers with a comprehensive understanding of the tragedy, and future researchers
with invaluable material.
 Bl ood Awak ening xv

The fundamental cause of this horrific incident was China’s system.

“Feudalism” has long been the accepted term for China’s political system over
the millennia. In fact, since the reign of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang,
China has not been feudal but rather autocratic, or, under Mao Zedong,
totalitarian. Totalitarianism is characterized by powerful centralized rule that
imposes coercion and repression to control and direct all aspects of people’s
lives. Totalitarianism imprisons an entire society within a state apparatus that
monopolizes the economy, politics, truth, and information with a dominance
that penetrates every aspect of life.
Under this totalitarian system, a portion of the people (perhaps 5 percent or
more of China’s population) were labeled as members of a political underclass
(landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, Rightists, capi-
talists, and their family members). Year in and year out, day after day, the media
tools of the state apparatus demonized this political underclass until they were
considered worthy of death. Lacking any means of resistance, members of the
political underclass became targets of class struggle, and any political campaign
turned them into fish on the chopping block, as expendable as grass or insects.
Those who were not members of the political underclass were victims, in their
own way, of the state monopoly over economics, politics, truth, and informa-
tion. They knew only what the regime allowed them to know, and they believed
what the regime allowed them to believe. Politically ignorant, they existed in
poverty and fear and lashed out in whatever direction the regime pointed. The
Daoxian tragedy was a slaughter perpetrated by the politically ignorant on the
politically downtrodden and was driven by political power.
Up to now, histories of the Cultural Revolution published in mainland
China have focused largely on victims who were officials and on the evils of the
rebel faction. Some accounts also mention intellectuals who were victims, but
without pointing out that the instigators of this persecution were officials. This
book exposes another side of the Cultural Revolution that may be even more
important, which is the victimization of ordinary people. This aspect allows us
to excavate deeper layers of the Cultural Revolution.
Before the Cultural Revolution, bureaucratic cliques dominated China, and
bureaucrats enjoyed special privileges based on rank. Workers and peasants enjoyed
nominally higher political status but had no genuine participation in policy-
making, and they were stripped of anything beyond a guarantee of basic liveli-
hood. Deeply dissatisfied with this bureaucratic system, the public responded
quickly to appeals to “smash” the “state apparatus.” Mao himself was dissatis-
fied with this system and wanted to change it. The reasons for his dissatisfaction
were many: populism, utopianism, a loathing of any bureaucratism besides his
own, and perhaps a fear of losing power. Hoping to “smash” this system, and
“through great chaos to attain a great order,” Mao called on the people to revolt
xvi Bl ood Awak ening

against the bureaucrats. Given the deification of Mao in years of personality cult
campaigns, and the popular loathing of bureaucrats, Mao’s appeal immediately
raised a tsunami of antibureaucratism. Bureaucrats were attacked (deservedly
or not), the bureaucratic system disintegrated, and society devolved into chaos.
Mao provided nothing to replace the bureaucratic system, and China could not
be allowed to continue in a state of total disorder over the long term, so Mao
was forced to compromise by gradually restoring the bureaucracy. Bureaucrats
who regained power avenged themselves on those who had responded to the
call for rebellion, by mounting campaigns aimed at ordinary people. During the
Cultural Revolution, political power was in a state of flux, with one group of
bureaucrats in power today and a different group in power the next day, and ordi-
nary people on the wrong side at any given time became the victims.
The 10 years of the Cultural Revolution were followed by 30 years of reform
and opening, but the bureaucratic system remains unchanged. China is still
ruled by bureaucrats, with those below submissive and loyal to those above. The
difference is that present-​day bureaucrats control even more assets, the privi-
leges they enjoy are much greater, and they wield their power to enlarge their
interests even further. Before the Cultural Revolution, bureaucrats concealed
their personal interests behind idealistic banners, but today’s bureaucrats see
no need to camouflage their brazen amassing of wealth. Thirty years of reform
have enlarged China’s economic “cake,” but bureaucrats have seized the largest
and tastiest portions for themselves, while tossing a few scraps to the ordinary
people who have borne the costs of reform and who still have no role in policy-
making. The power-​market economy2 resulting from 30 years of reform is a de-
parture from pre-​reform totalitarianism but is still a long way from a democratic
system. Under this system, lust for power joins with lust for riches in an unholy
alliance that precludes social justice and harmony.
Bloodshed can shock and awaken. Those who were awakened pushed for-
ward reform and opening, which allowed the political underclass to achieve
equality, and the politically ignorant have also gained awareness. The efforts of
these newly liberated and politically aware people will someday transform the
bureaucrat-​led power-​market economy into a constitutional democracy of the
people, by the people, and for the people.
This is the real value of reclaiming historical memory.
Yang Jisheng
 P R E FA C E
DECONSTRUCTING THE MY THOS
O F M AO Z E D O N G’S P E A S A N T R E VO LU T I O N

As someone engaged in research on massacres that occurred during China’s

Cultural Revolution, I am happy to write a preface for Tan Hecheng’s book, not
only because it is an outstanding record that reinforces the Chinese people’s col-
lective memory of the Cultural Revolution, but even more so because it provides
a powerful deconstruction of Mao Zedong’s mythos of peasant revolution.
Mao’s peasant movement is undoubtedly a quintessential element of the
mythos of the Chinese Communist Revolution. In his early years, Mao advo-
cated the Hunan peasant revolution of the Northern Expedition era and directed
training for the Guangzhou peasant movement, and he later took special delight
in claiming that it was his understanding of peasant issues that ultimately led to
his victory over Chiang Kai-​shek. The first political campaign after the founding
of the People’s Republic was the Land Reform movement, which set the first
cornerstone for the new China. Although victory does not always go to the just,
history has almost always been written by the victors. That is why the injustice
and inhumanity of Mao’s peasant movement mythos has seldom received the
challenge it deserves from the academic or even the dissident community.
At first glance, it would appear that Tan’s firsthand investigative record of
what occurred in Hunan’s Dao County (Daoxian) and its environs from August
to October 1967 has nothing to do with Mao’s peasant movement. It is hardly
a coincidence, however, that this tragic incident occurred in Hunan, and that
many of its organizers and perpetrators declared that they were imitating the
peasant revolution that Mao led in that province a half century earlier, and
referred to their actions as a “second Land Reform.” Tan Hecheng’s massive
record of blood and tears thus presents the reader with a very simple and con-
vincing inverse logic: if the spillover from Mao’s peasant movement could cause

xvii
xviii Deconstr uc ting the My thos o f Mao Z ed ong ’s Peas ant R e voluti on

such catastrophic lawlessness and terror in peacetime a half century later, dur-
ing the Cultural Revolution, how could it claim even the most basic humanity
and justice in its original manifestation during wartime and then as “violent land
reform” at the dawn of the People’s Republic?
One of the pillars of the revolutionary mythos that Tan Hecheng decon-
structs is that of the legitimacy of struggle against the “class enemy” (landlords,
rich peasants, and their offspring) and the justice of their physical extermina-
tion. The Daoxian massacre resulted in 9,093 deaths by unnatural causes, and
around 90 percent of the victims were landlords and rich peasants or their off-
spring. According to a “conservative estimate” that the American scholar Yang
Su arrived at on the basis of figures published in 3,000 county gazetteers, some
750,000 to 1.5 million people died of unnatural causes through the phenom-
enon of “collective killings” that became pervasive in the Chinese countryside
during the Cultural Revolution, and the majority of these victims were “black
elements” and their offspring. Although the killers of Daoxian used all sorts of
pretexts, claiming that “landlords and rich peasants were joining the rebel fac-
tion to prepare for an insurrection” with the intention of “killing poor and lower-​
middle peasants,” the facts have proven that this was a complete fabrication and
falsehood.
Tan Hecheng’s investigation shows us that “black elements” and their off-
spring were an underclass suffering horrendous social bias who had become
so disempowered under the long-​term dictatorship of the proletariat that even
as they faced their deaths, they didn’t dare ask the simple question, “Why do
you want to kill me?” Furthermore, “the ages of victims ranged from 78 years to
ten days old.” There is no justification, whether in international law, in China’s
own laws, or even in the superficial policies of the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), for killing unarmed and peaceful citizens, not to mention women, the
elderly, and children. For a long time, there was a popular saying in China’s
official and even academic circles that “everyone made mistakes” during the
Cultural Revolution. After reading Tan Hecheng’s record, however, the reader
will quickly realize that there was a social grouping of at least hundreds of thou-
sands of people—​the black elements—​who never did anything wrong during
the Cultural Revolution; they were victims, pure and simple. In my view, the
fault that can be found with them is that in facing this cataclysmic slaughter, they
never rose up in resistance to protect the lives and rights of themselves and their
families.
The second pillar of the revolutionary mythos that Tan Hecheng deconstructs
is the sacredness of class struggle. His investigation shows that many of the “poor
and lower-​middle peasant” killers had previous histories of hooliganism, graft,
pillage, rape, and acts of sadism, and that they acted not out of some glorious
revolutionary ideal but out of naked lust, rapacity, and evil. Furthermore, around
 Deconstr uc ting the My thos o f Mao Zed ong ’s Peas ant R e voluti on xix

11 percent of the victims were themselves “poor and lower-​middle peasants”

who had previously offended their killers in political campaigns or through
some kind of financial dispute.
It is worth mentioning that according to the internal documents revealed by
Tan, this terrifying incident involved about half of all of Daoxian’s cadres and
CCP members. For a party and regime that have always extolled their “commu-
nist ethics,” this intense irony lays bare the bloodthirsty nature of the revolution-
ary mythos.
Incidents such as the Daoxian massacre have often been depicted as “spon-
taneous movements” by the masses that spun out of control. Yet, Tan’s in-​depth
investigation provides ironclad evidence that there were hardly any instances
of spontaneous killing among the “poor and lower-​middle peasants.” Rather, in
every case there is evidence of instigation by cadres and People’s Armed Forces
officers. Furthermore, most of those who directly participated in the killings
were militiamen whose brutality was rewarded with extra allowances and work
points from their production teams. Clearly, the Daoxian massacre and the many
other notorious slaughters of the Cultural Revolution were results and extension
of the actions of the Chinese Communist state machinery.
Given that the organizers and perpetrators saw themselves as engaging in a
“second Land Reform,” the author felt compelled to carry out even more in-​depth
investigation and comparison, which helps the reader perceive the violence in
Daoxian as a continuation and development of the earlier Land Reform move-
ment. As during this movement, killing orders were issued at rallies by “people’s
courts” and were carried out through savage means by ordinary people. Some
killers openly referenced the “Land Reform experience” by demanding that
their victims hand over “movable assets” allegedly hidden away during the first
Land Reform movement, and dividing the spoils pillaged from victims’ homes.
Tan Hecheng’s investigation goes even further back to investigate how vic-
tims came to be designated “landlords” or “rich peasants” during the first Land
Reform movement. He finds that these people were not the kind of tyrannical
landlords depicted in revolutionary operas, but that they were hard-​working,
law-​abiding people whose assets technically qualified them as members of the
rural middle class. I believe that after reading Tan’s book, every reader with a
sense of conscience will understand the injustice and inhumanity of the Chinese
Communist revolution and will recognize the innately bloodthirsty quality of
Mao’s revolutionary mythos.
Regrettably, mainland China still has many people loyal to Mao and his
revolution, and Tan’s investigation tells us that some of these Maoists were
the killers in the Daoxian massacre. In May 1984—​eight years after Mao’s
death—​China’s new leadership decided to send a task force to Daoxian to
investigate this shocking incident. “As soon as the Task Force arrived, it was
xx Deconstr uc ting the My thos o f Mao Z ed ong ’s Peas ant R e voluti on

surrounded by opposing voices. … Some said, ‘Chairman Mao is dead, and

the landlord’s restitution corps has arrived!’ Some said, ‘What are you doing
and why are you speaking for the landlords and rich peasants?’ Some went
hungry and sleepless as they wailed, ‘Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao! Come
back and save us!’ Some even poisoned or hanged themselves in protest.”
This abnormal phenomenon presents the reader with a simple and compel-
ling logic: if mainland China does not thoroughly denounce Mao Zedong’s
revolutionary theory and deconstruct the mythos of his peasant movement,
China could someday experience another Cultural Revolution and further
tragedy on the scale of the Daoxian massacre.
We must be deeply grateful for the courage of Tan Hecheng. Although living
in mainland China in an environment bereft of freedom of expression, he has
provided the world with this outstanding record of historical truth and a monu-
mental subversion of the revolutionary mythos.
Song Yongyi
(librarian and professor at John F. Kennedy
Memorial Library of California State University)
 T R A N S L AT O R’ S N O T E

This English translation is roughly two-​thirds the length of Tan Hecheng’s mon-
umental Chinese original. In carrying out the editing work (with Mr. Tan’s per-
mission and with invaluable input from cotranslator Guo Jian), I focused on
preserving the richness of the original content while paring away extraneous
material to improve flow and clarity for non-​Chinese readers. This entailed
removing duplicative narratives, cutting out names of less significant individu-
als, excerpting documents rather than reproducing them in full, and summariz-
ing some blocks of text in tables. I also carried out some reordering of the text
with the needs of an English readership in mind. I take full responsibility for any
infelicities resulting from this process.
The chief objective of the editing was to highlight Tan Hecheng’s explora-
tion of how atrocities such as the Daoxian massacre occur, and his search for
the switch that turns ordinary people into bloodthirsty murderers. Tan Hecheng
is not the first or last writer to investigate this theme, but his nuanced descrip-
tion of the processes and individuals involved should contribute significantly
to our understanding of mass killings, not only in China but also elsewhere in
the world.
I would like to thank the Open Society Foundations for essential support of
this translation.
Stacy Mosher

xxi
 C H R O N O L O G Y O F T H E C U LT U R A L
R E VO LU T I O N K I L L I N G S I N D AOX I A N

Date Deaths in Event

Daoxian

1966
May 16 The Cultural Revolution is formally launched in Beijing.
August 16 The “Sixteen Articles” stipulate that the purpose of the
Cultural Revolution is to purge “capitalist roaders” from
the CCP.
September 100,000 “Rightists” and other political targets are
detained in Hunan Province.
Late October Massive rebel faction mass organization Xiang River Storm
is established in Changsha, Hunan Province.
1967
January Shanghai’s existing CCP establishment is overthrown in
the “January Storm,” which spreads throughout China.
First half Splits develop among Hunan’s rebel factions, with
of 1967 different groups gaining the favor of the central authorities
at different times.
Late summer In Daoxian, the Red Alliance and Revolutionary Alliance
become antagonistic factions.
July 18 A mass rally is organized in Beijing to criticize President
Liu Shaoqi.

xxiii
xxiv Chronol og y o f the Cult ural R evolution K il ling s in Daox ian

Date Deaths in Event

Daoxian
August 2–​5 Daoxian Leading Group to Seize Revolution and Push
Production calls an urgent meeting of district seize-​
and-​push groups to present the “new situation in class
struggle.”
August 5 Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and Tao Zhu are denounced
at a mass rally at Tiananmen Square; People’s Daily
publishes Mao’s essay “Bombard the Headquarters.”
August 8 Gun-​snatching incident at the county PAFD armory by
the Revolutionary Alliance.
August 9 Red Alliance stalwarts decide to withdraw from the
county CCP committee compound to Yingjiang
Commune.
August 11 District PAFD heads and Red Alliance heads hold a
battle-​readiness meeting in Qingtang Commune and
decide to organize militia to attack the Revolutionary
Alliance headquarters.
County seize-​and-​push group holds a telephone
conference urging districts and communes to strengthen
dictatorship over class enemies and organize militias.
Aug 13 1 First victim: Zhu Mian, in the Xiaba brigade of Shouyan
District’s Jiujia Commune.
Armed conflict between the Red Alliance and
Revolutionary Alliance in Daojiang results in two deaths
in the county seat.
Aug 15 7 The killing campaign begins in Yangjia Commune and
Shouyan Commune.
Meeting of PAFD cadres at the Red Alliance
headquarters in Yingjiang to discuss how to prevent the
Revolutionary Alliance from establishing contacts in the
countryside.
Late at night, county CCP deputy secretary Huang Yida
and others head for Changsha to alert the provincial
authorities to rising tensions in the county and to request
intervention.
 Chronol og y o f the Cult ural R evolution K il ling s in Daox ian xxv

Date Deaths in Event

Daoxian
Aug 16 3 Killings begin in Lingling County.
Aug 17 15 Qingtang District holds a killing-​mobilization meeting,
and killings begin in that district and Qiaotou District.
Killings begin in Jiangyong County.
Aug 18 17 The Red Alliance formally establishes its frontline
command post in Yingjiang.
Killings begin in Ningyuan County.
Aug 19 20 Lingling Military Subdistrict joint investigation group
arrives to investigate killings.
Killings begin in Gongba District.
Aug 20 23 Killings begin in Chetou (Meihua) District.
Aug 21 30 Leaders of the Lingling Military Subdistrict and Daoxian
PAFD make an inspection visit to Yingjiang.
Killings begin in Hongyan (Xianzijiao) District.
Beginning of first major upsurge in killings throughout
Daoxian.
Aug 22 87 Killing rally in Shangguan Commune launches killings in
Shangguan District.
Aug 23 205 Ganziyuan Commune’s “Supreme People’s Court of
the Poor and Lower-​Middle Peasants” is formally
established, launching the killings in Qingxi District.
Qiaotou Commune holds a mass killing rally.
Killings begin at the Xiaoshui Forestry Management
Bureau in Shuangpai County.
Aug 24 135 Shangguan Commune holds a killing rally.
Killings begin in Xianglinpu District.
Aug 25 350 Gongba Commune’s Yanhetang brigade kills off all of its
black elements.
xxvi Chronol og y o f the Cult ural R evolution K il ling s in Daox ian

Date Deaths in Event

Daoxian
Aug 26 Lingling Military Subdistrict joint investigation group
leaves Daoxian.
The 47th Army transmits the Lingling Military
Subdistrict’s “Cable on the Social Situation” to the
districts and communes.
After many delays, Huang Yida and others gain access
to the provincial leaders and tell them of the killings in
Daoxian.
Aug 26–​28 638 The Red Alliance calls a “political and legal work
conference” in Yingjiang to transmit the 47th Army’s
Cable on the Social Situation.
New upsurge in killings begins.
The provincial leadership sends cables to the Central
Cultural Revolution Small Group, Lingling Military
Subdistrict, and Daoxian PAFD to take measures to halt
the killings.
Aug 27 590 PAFD leaders in Xianglinpu District launch a three-​day
“clean up” during which 569 people are killed.
Aug 28 501 The 47th Army and Hunan Province Cultural Revolution
Committee Preparatory Group send a cable to the
Lingling Military Subdistrict and Daoxian PAFD
headquarters ordering an end to the killings.
Aug 29 452 Troops from the 47th Army’s 6950 Unit are stationed in
Daoxian to end factional battles and to stop the killings.
Youxiang Commune’s Yuejin brigade releases its “killing
satellite.”
Aug 30 273 Major battle between the Red Alliance and Revolutionary
Alliance.
Aug 31 176 Killings begin in Jianghua County.
Sept 1 155
Sept 2 142
Sept 3 88
Sept 4 91 Killings begin in Qiyang County.
 Chronol og y o f the Cult ural R evolution K il ling s in Daox ian xxvii

Date Deaths in Event

Daoxian
Sept 5 156 The Lingling Military Subregion transmits the cable from
the 47th Army and provincial revolutionary committee
preparatory group prohibiting further killings.
Sept 6 75
Sept 7 36
Sept 8 47 Killings begin in Xintian County.
Sept 9 72 The Red Alliance and Revolutionary Alliance sign the
September 9th Agreement.
Sept 10 25 Killings begin in Lanshan County.
Sept 11 13
Sept 12 12
Sept 13 5 Huang Yida and others arrive in Changsha from Daoxian.
Sept 14 5
Sept 15 22
Sept 16 9
Sept 17 2
Sept 18 2
Sept 19 1
Sept 20 3
Sept 21 11
Sept 22 1
Sept 23 1 Huang Yida and others arrive in Daoxian.
Major battle between the Red Alliance and Revolutionary
Alliance.
Sept 26 2
Sept 27 0 The 47th Army and provincial revolutionary committee
preparatory group issue an urgent notice prohibiting
further killings.
Sept 30 7
Oct 1 0 Aircraft drop leaflets throughout Hunan Province printed
with the urgent notice prohibiting further killings.
xxviii Chronol og y o f the Cult ural R evolution K il ling s in Daox ian

Date Deaths in Event

Daoxian
Oct 2 0 Further airdrops of leaflets.
Oct 10 1
Oct 15 1
Oct 17 1 The last victim: He Yuxiang of Qiaotou Commune’s
Shangba brigade.
Total 4,509
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