Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Personal Letters Between Lu Qingsheng and Jiang Zhenyuan 1961 1986 1St Edition Letian Zhang Yunxiang Yan Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
Personal Letters Between Lu Qingsheng and Jiang Zhenyuan 1961 1986 1St Edition Letian Zhang Yunxiang Yan Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
Personal Letters Between Lu Qingsheng and Jiang Zhenyuan 1961 1986 1St Edition Letian Zhang Yunxiang Yan Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
https://ebookmeta.com/product/piezotronics-and-piezo-
phototronics-2nd-edition-zhong-lin-wang-yan-zhang-weiguo-hu/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/piezotronics-and-piezo-
phototronics-applications-to-third-generation-semiconductors-
microtechnology-and-mems-zhong-lin-wang-yan-zhang-weiguo-hu/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/practical-career-advice-for-
engineers-personal-letters-from-an-experienced-engineer-to-
students-and-new-engineers-1st-edition-radovan-zdero/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/henry-adams-in-washington-linking-
the-personal-and-public-lives-of-america-s-man-of-letters-ormond-
seavey/
Atomically Dispersed Metallic Materials for
Electrochemical Energy Technologies 1st Edition Wei Yan
Xifei Li Shuhui Sun Xueliang Sun Jiujun Zhang Eds
https://ebookmeta.com/product/atomically-dispersed-metallic-
materials-for-electrochemical-energy-technologies-1st-edition-
wei-yan-xifei-li-shuhui-sun-xueliang-sun-jiujun-zhang-eds/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/skyhunter-1st-edition-marie-lu/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/machine-learning-fundamentals-1st-
edition-hui-jiang/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/applied-medical-statistics-jingmei-
jiang/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/topological-insulator-and-related-
topics-1st-edition-lu-li-editor/
Personal Letters between Lu Qingsheng and Jiang Zhenyuan, 1961–1986
Chronicles of Contemporary Chinese
Social Life
Series Editors
Associate Editor
VOLUME 2
Edited by
Zhang Letian
Yunxiang Yan
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover image: Original letter from Lu Qingsheng to Jiang Zhenyuan on November 22, 1961. Courtesy of
Zhang Letian.
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 2451-9545
isbn 978-90-04-36363-2 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-36364-9 (e-book)
Introduction xxv
Editors’ Note x xxix
!"%$()
"#&( Y - ã $ § ")&
"#&( Y # ã "$ § ")&
"#&" Y & ã '- § ")%
"#&' Y - ã & § ")#
"#&' Y % ã )( § ")#
"#&' Y # ã ') § "-(
"#&' Y "( ã '% § "-"
"#&) Y ) ã "& § "-'
"#&) Y - ã % § "-)
"#&) Y & ã )( § "--
"#&) Y % ã "% § "--
"#&) Y "" ã ' § "-*
"#&) Y "" ã - § "-*
"#&) Y "" ã ") § "-$
"#&) Y+ "-&
"#&- Y * ã '% § "-%
ix
!"&$()
"#%( Y ) ã '* § "%)
"#%( Y - ã '% § "%-
"#%( Y % ã )" § "%-
"#%( Y # ã "% §&"' "%*
"#%( Y # ã "% §&'' "%$
"#%" Y ' ã ') § "%%
"#%" Y ) ã ) § "%#
x
!"%$()
"#&' Y % ã '- § '&$
"#&' Y¢ '&$
"#&# Y # ã ") § '&&
!"&$()
"#%" Y & ã "% § '&#
(4* ! 56-"
Letters between Mr. Lu and Ms. Jiang and Members of Their Families
!"#$()
"#$" Y " ã '* § '%)
"#$" Y % ã ") § '%)
"#$" Y "( ã '' § '%-
"#$" Y "( ã )( § '%*
"#$" Y "" ã "# §&"' '%*
"#$" Y "" ã "# §&'' '%&
"#$" Y "" ã '* § '%%
"#$" Y "" ã '# § '%#
"#$" Y "' ã "% § '#(
"#$" Y "' ã '# §+ '#(
"#$' Y " ã ") § '#"
"#$' Y " ã "* § '#'
"#$' Y ' ã " § '#)
"#$' Y ' ã ' § '#-
"#$' Y ' ã * § '#-
"#$' Y ' ã '* § '#*
"#$' Y - ã ' § '#$
"#$' Y - ã '' § '#&
xiii
!"%$()
"#&( Y ' ã '* § -**
"#&( Y - ã "% § -*$
"#&( Y $ ã "# § -*$
"#&( Y & ã "- § -*&
"#&( Y "( ã - § -*%
"#&( Y "" ã ) § -*%
"#&( Y "" ã ') § -*#
"#&( Y "' ã "$ § -*#
"#&" Y " ã ' § -$(
"#&" Y ' ã "" § -$"
"#&" Y ) ã "% § -$"
"#&" Y - ã "" § -$'
"#&" Y - ã "& § -$)
"#&" Y * ã - § -$-
"#&" Y "' ã '% § -$*
"#&' Y ) ã - § -$*
"#&' Y & ã '' § -$$
"#&) Y ' ã "- § -$&
"#&) Y ' ã '* § -$%
xviii
!"&$()
"#%( Y " ã ' § *-*
"#%( Y " ã "( § *-*
"#%( Y " ã ") § *-$
"#%( Y " ã "- § *-&
"#%( Y ' ã " § *-&
"#%( Y ) ã "" § *-%
"#%( Y & ã "" § *-#
"#%( Y % ã ) § *-#
"#%( Y # ã ' § **(
"#%( Y # ã "* § **"
"#%( Y # ã )( § **'
"#%( Y "" ã '* § **)
"#%( Y "' ã $ § **-
"#%" Y " ã "" § **-
"#%" Y ' ã "" § ***
"#%" Y ' ã '* § ***
"#%" Y ) ã "' § **$
"#%" Y - ã "' § **&
"#%" Y - ã '' § **&
"#%" Y * ã % § **%
"#%" Y & ã '' § **%
"#%" Y # ã & § **#
"#%" Y "' ã "" § *$(
"#%" Y "' ã "$ § *$(
"#%' Y " ã % § *$"
"#%' Y " ã '" § *$'
"#%' Y " ã '- § *$'
"#%' Y ' ã - § *$'
"#%' Y ' ã # §&"' *$)
"#%' Y ' ã # §&'' *$-
"#%' Y ) ã % § *$-
"#%' Y $ ã * § *$*
"#%' Y $ ã '" § *$*
"#%' Y % ã * § *$$
"#%' Y % ã "% § *$&
"#%' Y % ã "# §&"' *$&
xxii
(7* ! 89-"
Letters between Mr. Lu/Ms. Jiang and Their Daughters
!"%$()
"#&- Y ) ã - § *&&
"#&- Y ) ã )" § *&&
"#&- Y $ ã "# § *&%
"#&$ Y - ã - §&"' *&%
"#&$ Y - ã - §&'' *&#
"#&$ Y - ã '% § *&#
"#&$ Y * ã * § *%(
"#&$ Y * ã '* § *%(
"#&$ Y $ ã '- § *%"
"#&$ Y & ã ") § *%'
"#&$ Y & ã "% § *%'
"#&$ Y "( ã "% § *%)
"#&& Y # ã - § *%)
"#&% Y ) ã "- § *%-
!"&$()
"#%( Y ' ã '# § *%*
"#%( Y ) ã '* § *%$
"#%" Y "( ã '* § *%&
"#%" Y "' ã # § *%&
"#%" Y "' ã '* § *%%
"#%' Y ) ã "$ §&"' *%%
"#%' Y ) ã "$ §&'' *%#
"#%' Y & ã "% § *#(
"#%) Y ) ã '( § *#(
"#%) Y - ã '( § *#"
"#%) Y * ã "' § *#'
"#%) Y $ ã # § *#'
xxiii
This collection of personal letters presents an un- as accurately as possible. Thereafter, the editor
usually valuable set of data for studies of social life cross-checked the content of the letters to ensure
in contemporary China. The collection contains a the reliability of their authorship. In order to make
total of 774 letters, most of which were written by this collection user-friendly and yet present the
a couple, Mr. Lu and Ms. Jiang, who lived apart for letters in their original condition, the editor and
more than fifteen years between 1961 and 1986 and the publisher chose to classify the letters by au-
who relied mainly on letter-writing to communi- thor, and to publish each author in chronological
cate with each other. The first letter was written by order. The names of the authors have been altered
Lu on June 22, 1961, to Jiang, who was his girlfriend to protect their privacy.
at the time, and the last letter in the collection was In the following pages, we first provide a brief
also written by Lu to Jiang, then his wife, dated June introduction to Lu and Jiang, and the basic social
27, 1986. In most cases, it was Lu who initiated com- conditions of the time. In the second section, we
munication and it was Jiang who responded. We offer a preliminary reading of the letters, focus-
thus refer to the collection as the Lu-Jiang letters. ing on the authors’ states of mind, and we explore
Among the letters published in this collection, the making and unmaking of socialist subjectivity
215 letters were written by Lu to Jiang and sixty-five during and immediately after the Maoist era. We
letters were written by Jiang to her husband Lu. conclude this introductory essay with a discus-
The remaining letters consist of correspondence sion of the scholarly value of private letters for the
between the couple and their respective siblings study of social life in late-twentieth century China
(381 letters), their two daughters, and other rela- and we contextualize the Lu-Jiang letters in the
tives (113 letters). At first glance it seems that Lu impressive collection of data on social life that has
wrote much more than his wife, but this may have been amassed by the Center for Data and Research
been because Jiang did a better job of preserving on Contemporary Social Life (cdrcsl), the Devel-
their private letters than Lu. Together, the Lu-Jiang opment Institute at Fudan University.
letters reveal the couple’s state of mind at the
height of Maoist socialism and in the early years
of the post-Mao reform era, a highly subjective pe- Social Life in the Lu-Jiang Letters
riod of history about which we still have relatively
little knowledge. Lu was born in 1936 to a poor family in the city
To maintain the authenticity and richness of of Wuhan, Hubei Province, and he was admitted
these letters, the editors and the publisher decided to university in Beijing in 1957. The poverty of his
to publish them, unaltered, in Chinese. However, childhood and his parents’ working class label
substantial editing work was necessary because the gave him political cachet in college. He joined the
letters were originally sold as wastepaper and were Communist Party of China (cpc) at a young age
not archived in a systematic way. The letters were and he was appointed party secretary of the cpc
not always clearly dated and, in some cases, the branch of his college class. It was during his last
authors neglected to sign their names. The editors’ year in college that Lu began to date Jiang, who
first task was to ascertain the date of each letter was one of his classmates.
through a close reading of all the relevant materi- Jiang was born in 1937 to a small merchant fam-
als in order to establish their chronological order ily in Changsha, Hunan Province. Her father had
xxvi Yan and Zhang
accumulated some wealth working as a young “Four Clean-ups” Campaign in the Datong region
hired laborer for many years, and he had pur- of Shanxi Province, allowing him only one short
chased some farmland and a shop prior to 1949 in break of several weeks in Beijing in early 1965. In-
order to provide for his family’s financial security. cidentally, before Lu went on leave, his wife was
He was subsequently denounced as a capitalist assigned to a temporary position in Liaoning Prov-
during the campaign to nationalize industry and ince after a prior assignment in Gansu Province.
commerce in the early 1950s. As class labels were They had thus lost the chance for a brief reunion
generally inherited through the male line, Jiang’s in Beijing.
class designation was that of the exploiting class- To cope with the difficulties of living apart, the
es, a political stigma that remained with her until couple sent their daughter to live with Jiang’s par-
the 1980s, even though the class label system was ents and then later with Lu’s parents. Both sets
officially abolished in 1979.1 of grandparents took turns raising the child. As
Lu began to write letters to Jiang after he was revealed by the letters in this two and a half year
assigned to work as an intern in the city of Nan- period, the couple rarely saw each other. On one
chang in his senior year of college. They continued occasion, when Jiang was on her way to a new work
to exchange letters whenever Lu was away, either site, Lu had rushed to the train station to meet her
working in Shanghai or in the mines in Jiangxi for a total of fifty-five minutes. They had written
Province, between October 1961 and March 1962. several letters to plan this short meeting, and even
A reunion during their last three months of col- more letters after the encounter to reflect on their
lege reinforced their relationship, as reflected in brief reunion.
their letters during that period. They were both Due to his impeccable political credentials and
assigned to work for the Ministry of Metallurgical poor family background, Lu rode out the politi-
Industry in Beijing after graduating in June 1962: cal tides of the Cultural Revolution, first climbing
he in the Division of Nonferrous Metals, and she to a leading Red Guard position, which he held
in a research institute affiliated with the ministry. from 1966 to 1967, and then remaining deeply
They married in September 1962, and Jiang gave involved in politics in the Nonferrous Metals
birth to their first daughter in 1963 and their sec- Division of the Ministry of Metallurgical Indus-
ond daughter in 1972. try, including as the leader of the campaign to
Shortly after the birth of their first daughter, the Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius between 1972 and
couple had to live apart again and, in the following 1973. However, Lu’s political achievements during
two and a half years, they continued to communi- the Cultural Revolution turned out to be political-
cate by writing letters. In November 1963, Lu was ly disastrous in the post-Mao reform era. He was
assigned to work as a junior technician in a mer- identified as an opportunist who closely followed
cury mine in Guizhou Province and, from early the political line of the Gang of Four in order to at-
1964 to June 1966, he was selected to be a mem- tack senior leaders, to derail normal operations in
ber of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, and to seek
work team responsible for organizing the local political power to fulfill his own personal ambi-
tions. This turn of events completely changed his
fate. As a former leader of revolutionary rebels
1 For detailed analysis of the class label system see Richard
he was suddenly labeled a counter-revolutionary
C. Kraus, “Class Conflict and the Vocabulary of Social
outcast who became the target of struggle meet-
Analysis in China,” The China Quarterly 69 (1977); Jonathan
Unger, “The Class System in Rural China: A Case Study,” in ings. At a mass rally in late 1977, he was formally
Class and Social Stratification in Post-Revolution China, ed. denounced as an enemy of the people and he was
James Lee Watson (Cambridge: Cambridge University expelled from Beijing to work in a tin mine in Hunan
Press, 1984). Province. As a result of his political banishment,
Introduction xxvii
the couple was once again separated and forced Second, the letters vividly reveal the everyday
to resume their letter-writing. Whether Lu was life of a married couple, detailing particularities
eventually able to return to Beijing remains un- such as how they managed the household econ-
clear, but in the last letter of the Lu-Jiang letters omy, how they raised their children, how they
dated June 27, 1986, he was accused of infidelity interacted with their in-laws, their strategies and
by Jiang, who threatened him with a permanent practices for coping with financial hardships, and
separation. so forth. The third thematic area is the unfolding
The letters clearly show that Lu was a highly of social changes and historical events as seen
motivated and ambitious person until his fall through the eyes of Lu and Jiang, including their
from grace in 1977. Even in his first letters to Ji- observations and reflections on socio-political
ang, he discussed his endless plans to study hard, events in their respective work units and in society
work more effectively, and make political alli- at large, as well as their personal goals and their
ances with leaders and colleagues. He was proud participation in various political campaigns.
to be a party member and a student leader ap- It is tempting to use these three themes to clas-
pointed by the party organization in college, and sify the content of the letters into the following
he urged Jiang to make her own political progress categories: personal and intimate, economic and
by following his example. With a sense of po- social, and political and ideological. Yet there are
litical inferiority due to her family origins, Jiang many subjects discussed in these letters that do
responded positively over the course of the first fif- not fall into any of these categories. More impor-
teen years of their correspondence, reporting with tantly, in many cases the personal, economic, and
sincerity her reflections on her efforts to purify her political are intermingled with their personal life
thought, make advances in her work, and partici- experiences. To a lesser extent, the same remains
pate in various political campaigns and forms of true with respect to the letters to and from their
public life. When discussing their personal ambi- siblings and other relatives. In short, the content
tions and strategies to get ahead, the couple ex- of the Lu-Jiang letters is as rich and complicated
changed news about the political and social events as the flow of life itself, and the degree of sincer-
of their respective circles, and discussed what they ity and honesty is greater than that in many other
knew about the impact of government policies and kinds of historical data because the authors are
state-sponsored campaigns and the effect it would not writing for public consumption. It is not only
have on everyday life. In this sense they were, for this reason that we regard these letters as ex-
through their personal letters, unconsciously re- tremely valuable, but also because they are a kind
cording a history of the times. of unintentional oral history recorded in real time
At least three thematic areas are clearly iden- by the social actors.
tifiable in the Lu-Jiang letters of the three periods Scholars from different perspectives may have
in which they were living apart. The first is the different readings of these historical records. What
nature of their relationship, which began with a impressed us most after our initial reading are the
short passionate romance during their first separa- vivid illustrations of how socialist subjectivity was
tion of 1961 to 1962 that quickly evolved into a tur- constructed in the Maoist era and then decon-
bulent conjugal life in the second period of 1964 structed in the post-Mao reform era. Before we
to 66, and then, by the third period of separation explore this topic further, we should note that con-
from 1977 onward, the relationship had degener- scious discussions related to the topic of socialist
ated into the marital monotony to which they had subjectivity constitute about twenty percent of
become accustomed. Despite the unhappy turn of the entire content of the letters between 1961 and
events in Jiang’s political career, Lu and Jiang con- 1977. As will be shown below, the Lu-Jiang letters
tinued to write. are often quite political and ideological, but they
xxviii Yan and Zhang
are also devoted to more mundane and routine a political positionality or an identity marker.
matters. Yet, to a great extent, this twenty percent Rather, it is a dynamic process of becoming, dur-
reflects their feelings, thinking, and reflections ing which the acting and thinking subject or the
about the new socialist subjectivity in the making, social actor is consistently and constantly reflect-
one of the most important and unique features of ing upon and remaking the inner moral self as a
China’s past under Maoism. This is the focus in our way of interacting with other people and the so-
following readings of the letters. ciety as a whole. Understood as such a dynamic
and open-ended process, the sociological concept
of subjectivity comes close to the notion of zuoren
The Making and Unmaking of Socialist (做人) in Chinese culture. The literal translation
Subjectivity of zuoren is “to make oneself a person,” or “to be-
come a human.” The semantic and social impli-
Aware of the complexity and vastness of contem- cations of this notion, especially in the discourse
porary scholarship on subjectivity, we neverthe- on Confucian humanism are simply too rich to
less use a rather conventional and broad definition be reviewed here.3 It is sufficient to note that the
of subjectivity in this introduction—subjectivity Chinese person is not born as a full person who
viewed as the social actor’s mental processes of is entitled to a set of natural rights. Instead, the
feeling, thinking, reflecting, and making sense in Chinese individual gradually earns social recogni-
a conscious way of interactions with the external tion of his or her humanity through a process of
political-social-cultural environment.2 Although self-cultivation and the fulfillment of obligations
it is fundamentally individual and it varies from in which everything one does and says contributes
one social actor to another, the individual’s men- to the formation of a moral person. The process
tal processes of subjectivity-making are subject is therefore highly individualistic, habitual, and
to external constraints, that is, the social condi- implicit. However, the achievement of humanity,
tions in a given society. Hence, subjectivity as a or how moral a person one has become, depends
mental process exists at the collective level as primarily on the relationship with, and the evalu-
well. The strong or weak uniformity of these ex- ation by, one’s family, kin, community, and society
ternal social conditions and the strong or weak at large. At any given moment in Chinese history
conformity of individuals to the social conditions there is always a set of standards that determines
at a particular historical juncture may determine what constitutes a good person, standards which
the solidarity or fragmentation of the subjectivity Chinese individuals strive to achieve and by which
of a social group or a given society as a whole. In others are evaluated both formally and informally,
terms of history, we clearly see a trend in which including through gossip. In this sense, zuoren is
the agency of the individual social actor becomes a highly social, goal-oriented, and explicit process.
stronger and increasingly recognizable while the An important dimension of socialist transfor-
uniformity of the external social conditions de- mation under Maoism was the construction of the
cline, as shown in the classic works of Marx, Dur- new socialist person (shehui zhuyi xinren 社会主
kheim, and Weber. 义新人). The core of this project was to change the
We should keep in mind that subjectivity is way Chinese individuals thought of themselves
by no means a fixed structure of being, such as and their relationship with the family, group,
and the party-state—known as “thought reform”
2 For an inspiring review and reflections on the notion of
subjectivity in social theories see Sherry Ortner, “Sub 3 See Wei-ming Tu, Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative
jectivity and Cultural Critique,” Anthropological Theory Transformation (Albany: State University of New York
5, no. 1 (2005). Press, 1985).
Introduction xxix
(sixiang gaizao 思想改造). As noted by Yinghong advanced as he had stated; Lu had written her a
Cheng, the Chinese case, as part of the interna- letter asking her to be an eyewitness of his devo-
tional spread of the communist ideology in the tion to the communist cause around the time of
twentieth century, was subject to the ambitious his political downfall. Yet even the performing
and comprehensive goals of the movement, that self, as it is revealed to the other party, is a part
is, “to remold the mind, psychology, and even the of the process constituting inter-subjective flow,
character of individuals by means of various party and therefore a part of the process of subjectivity-
and state policies designed for a ‘new man’ and, making. This was particularly relevant during the
through this ‘new man,’ to make history and perpet- Maoist era, as is shown below.
uate the revolution.”4 Study sessions, group discus- When Lu and Jiang entered college in the fall of
sions, written self-reflections and self-criticisms, 1957, the anti-Rightist campaign was well under-
and diaries and letters, were the major techniques way and, arguably, it soon became the most bru-
in the highly-organized, state-sponsored national tal and effective attempt to reform the thoughts
campaign of subjectivity-remaking.5 of China’s best and brightest. Lu and Jiang lived
Indeed, in the Lu-Jiang letters we find the dy- through the most intense period of socialist trans-
namic and multi-faceted process of subjectivity- formation, from the Great Leap Forward to the So-
making, in which oneself is ‘made’ into a proper cialist Education Campaign (in their letters there
person, first under Maoism and then during the is no mention at all of the 1959 to 1961 famine), and
post-Mao reform era. This was essentially a case they attempted to transform themselves into the
of the making and the unmaking of socialist sub- new generation of college graduates who would
jectivity. Given the private and informal nature simultaneously have both correct thoughts (being
of the letters between husband and wife, Lu and red) and useful knowledge (being expert). There
Jiang were likely to have been more open about are clear yet fragmented clues about this thought-
revealing their true selves in their correspondence reform process in their love letters between 1961
than would have been the case in their state- and 1962 in which they document their reflections
ments and behavior in either the public sphere and achievements in making themselves into new
or in personal encounters with other individuals, socialist persons and encourage one another to
including their own family members (there are make even greater progress. More direct evidence
occasions where Lu and Jiang caution each other of their efforts to become well-qualified socialist
not to say something to their respective colleagues persons is found in the letters written after they
or family members). Nevertheless, we are also ful- married, when they began to work at the Ministry
ly aware that there is still room in such personal of Metallurgical Industry. Lu, in his capacity as a
correspondence for concealment and untruthful cpc member and a cadre in charge of political ide-
presentations of the self.6 For instance on one occa- ology, obviously took the lead in this long process
sion, Jiang wondered whether Lu was as politically of building socialist subjectivity in his family, yet
Jiang also made great efforts to stand out and make
4 Yinghong Cheng, Creating the “New Man”: From her own contribution to the process. This inter-
Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Realities (Honolulu: subjective flow of self-cultivation toward socialist
University of Hawaii Press, 2009), 1. subjectivity can be examined in the following four
5 Ibid.; Martin King Whyte, Small Groups and Political
respects:
Rituals in China (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1974).
6 For an insightful exploration of this issue, see David A. 1 Thought Reform and Political Progress
Gerber, “Acts of Deceiving and Withholding in Immigrant Both Lu and Jiang were committed to the re-
Letters: Personal Identity and Self-Presentation in Personal making of the moral self into a socialist subject,
Correspondence,” Journal of Social History 39, no. 2 (2005). that is, to become politically progressive and
xxx Yan and Zhang
professionally advanced. The study of political felt quite guilty for not being sufficiently progres-
documents, Mao’s writings, and newspaper edi- sive, as evidenced by the fact that she was not re-
torials featured prominently in their mutually- cruited to join the party.
encouraging correspondence throughout the 1960s. In their letters, the couple proactively engaged
In most cases, it was Lu who initiated conversation in criticism and self-criticism—a commonly used
about political studies or urged his wife to keep up cpc ideological tool during this period. Interest-
with the new political documents. For example, in ingly, they each resorted to a different style: Jiang
his letter of July 14, 1961, Lu asked his wife: constantly criticized her husband for being too
self-righteous, over-confident, and arrogant, but
What are you doing in your political studies now? she engaged in her own self-criticism for being
Did you study Liu Shaoqi’s report at the fortieth too weak in character, backward in her political
anniversary celebration of the Communist Party? thought, and naïve in the way she dealt with inter-
You should organize your friends to study it so you personal relationships. In a 1966 letter, Jiang wrote
can learn more about our party’s history and do- about the radical attacks on traditional culture at
mestic affairs. Comrade Khrushchev’s speech is a the beginning of the Cultural Revolution and she
good article about the international situation; we admitted to Lu:
should all study it.7
I don’t think I can keep pace with this new devel-
Over time, Jiang appeared to develop a greater opment, probably due to my old age. I still lack
sense of political consciousness, so much so that revolutionary thought and action. Although I have
in a letter of May 30, 1964, she even criticized her tremendous respect and love for the party and
husband: Chairman Mao, I have not been proactive in my
actions.9
You did not bring the Selected Works of Mao Ze-
dong with you? I feel sorry for you and have no In contrast, Lu only engaged in self-criticism when
idea what you will study. I cannot mail the books he reflected upon his improper treatment of his
to you because my order has not yet arrived. You wife, including one incident of domestic violence.
must have Mao’s works with you and you must But he never ceased to criticize Jiang and others
study hard.8 for shortcomings in their political thought and
ideological progress.10
Party membership was an essential measure of Socialist subjectivity was not only embodied
one’s political achievements and progress. In this in their discourse and reflections but also in their
respect, Lu enjoyed the moral high ground because political actions. In this respect, Lu took the lead and
he had been a veteran party member since college influenced his wife for fifteen years until his politi-
and had broken up with his former girlfriend be- cal disgrace in 1977. In a 1966 letter for example, Lu
cause she was not enthusiastic enough to partici- was so eager to encourage his wife to make political
pate in thought reform or join the party (more on progress that he pressed her to release more infor-
this below). In practically every letter Lu wrote to mation about the developments of the Cultural
his wife in the 1960s, he encouraged her to become Revolution at her work unit and presented to her
a party member, and Jiang seemed to completely what he regarded as an exemplary act for her to
accept her husband’s encouragement, though she follow:
You said you have already joined the Great Cul- 2 Work as Salvation
tural Revolution. What did you mean and what Under Maoism, work was politically-charged and
are the issues at stake? … Under the direct training regarded as one of the most important ways to re-
of the party, I understand the current political veal one’s love for Chairman Mao and one’s commit-
struggle better than you do. Thus my judgment ment to the communist cause. This was not unlike
on some issues is better than yours. This does not Weber’s ideas about the Protestant ethic of work-
mean my level is higher than yours; instead, it is ing hard to demonstrate God’s glory and overcom-
due to the power of the party organization. I hope ing inner anxieties caused by the brutal yet holy
you do not mind. … Here in the Ministry, eight pre-destination of each individual.13 The Lu-Jiang
more people were exposed and targeted [during letters demonstrate that, despite the superficial
struggle meetings]. … I caught and exposed Wang, atheist rhetoric, the underlying drive to devote
and I wrote the first big-character poster [criticiz- oneself to the great cause of the communist rev-
ing Wang].11 olution was not unlike a religious fervor. As Lu
wrote to his wife, he believed that working for the
Acting somewhat out of character, Jiang was just cpc was the top priority in one’s life:
as enthusiastic and active as her husband when
the Cultural Revolution began, something they I am planning what kind of work I should do,
both treasured as impressive progress due to Ji- how I should carry out my work, and so forth. Not
ang’s relative passivity in previous political cam- very specific, but I am determined to place work
paigns. She was fully supportive of Lu’s political and study as my first priority, and to work very
move to launch a political attack on his leaders hard and to do my very best to study the Selected
and encouraged him to do even more: Works of Mao Zedong. I plan to write a self-review
of my sixteen months of work in the countryside.
You said you had some radical feelings toward the The title will be: “How to be a Good Communist
Great Cultural Revolution. Right is right, wrong Party Member,” but I am not sure when I can fin-
is wrong. I do not understand what the radical ish it.14
feelings are [that you are talking about]. Acting
in accordance with the thoughts of Chairman Like the Puritans, the socialist subjects constantly
Mao and absolutely not doing anything from worried about not being good enough to serve the
the perspective of personal interest. You should party-state, and anxieties based on such worries
set these standards for yourself and bring down were transformed into motivations and aspira-
those bourgeois power-holders. Revolutionaries tions. As Jiang put it:
should always hold high the great red flag of Mao
Zedong Thought to build our socialism better and On the one hand, we must engage in experimental
better.12 scientific work and, on the other hand, we must
devote ourselves to political campaigns: we should
These letters confirm what is already well known, only sleep for six to seven hours each night. But I
that the making of socialist subjectivity reached do not feel very tired. A political campaign is like
its peak in the early years of the Cultural Revo- a battlefield; if we do not engage in this battle,
lution, but they also provide details about the our party and our country will be in danger. Once
emotional responses and moral reasoning of the
social actors in real time. 13 See Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (New York: Scribner,
11 Part 1, 109. 1958).
12 Jiang’s letter of August 17, 1966, in Part 2, 269. 14 Part 1, 107.
xxxii Yan and Zhang
I started to think in this way, I proactively began suggested that he end the relationship because of
to participate in work and political struggle. But the mismatch between the two and the potential
I have a lot of shortcomings, which were exposed damage that the girl’s ‘backwardness’ would have
during the campaign and taught me a lesson. This on Lu’s political future. Feeling it would be difficult
was truly a transformation of my subjective world for him to end the relationship, Lu requested that
while transforming the objective world!15 his leader use the party organization to further in-
vestigate his girlfriend’s background, and the lead-
It is therefore no surprise that throughout the er agreed. In a letter the leader told Lu:
1960s and the 1970s achievements in work, espe-
cially achievements that garnered official recogni- She is a bit different regarding political issues
tion from one’s leaders, constituted a major topic [read: an indicator of her backwardness], but she
in these personal letters in an effort to build the made some progress after the anti-Rightist cam-
ideal conjugal relationship. Even the mother-child paign. She was evaluated as average in terms of
bond was regarded as secondary, albeit causing her political achievements. … Since you two are
the social actors to experience conflicting emo- already in a relationship, the party organization
tional and moral feelings. In a letter of January 19, has no objection [if you marry her], but you must
1965, Jiang wrote: make great efforts to help her.17
I have missed our child very much during the past Reading between the lines, Lu understood the lead-
few weeks. … I could not even read books in the er’s message and decided to end the relationship.
evening. … I must overcome these personal weak- The criteria for spousal selection very often re-
nesses and spend all of my time and energy on flects the ideal person in a given society at a given
work and study.16 historical moment. Under Maoist socialism, the
heavy emphasis on being politically progressive
3 The Politicization of Personal Life in considering a marriage prospect, coupled with
The couple’s correspondence also deals with dis- the active involvement of the grass-roots party or-
cussions about love, marriage, and family life. In ganization in these matters, demonstrate that by
these letters there are some intriguing clues about the early 1960s the making of socialist subjectivity
the making of socialist subjectivity. The role of played an important role in both the private and
the party organization in guiding marriage, and the public sphere.
even interfering in spousal choice, is particularly Jiang accepted Lu’s explanation of his failed
noteworthy. first relationship but she began to worry as to
In a long letter dated June 27 to 28, 1961, Lu pro- whether she was good enough to be the future
posed marriage to Jiang. After a lengthy expression wife of a party member. As a result, she engaged in
of his passionate love for her, Lu wrote another self-criticism for not working hard enough, for be-
round of confessions about his former girlfriend ing insufficiently enthusiastic and not articulating
(obviously due to a request from Jiang in a previ- enough during political meetings in her work unit,
ous letter). In his confessions, Lu mentions that he and for not being recruited as a party member.
had consulted his leaders about the fitness of his By the Cultural Revolution, however, she had
former girlfriend as a marriage partner because the made considerable progress, as we have seen
girl was not politically advanced. One of his leaders above, and was proactively participating in the
15 Part 2, 260.
16 Part 2, 248. 17 Part 1, 5.
Introduction xxxiii
radical political campaign. She had, by this time, his patriarchal bias, and his failure to be a proper
become increasingly vocal in her criticisms of her party member. Their discussions moved flawlessly
husband: from politically-charged discourse on revolution-
ary love, marriage, and the family, to age-old do-
Since you knew you had problems in your values, mestic issues of filial piety, the maintenance of
why did you not do a better job to reeducate your- good relations with family members and friends,
self? … Do you regard the project of proletarian obligations of reciprocity, and family finances.
revolution as a top priority or are you still falling Both Lu and Jiang seemed to be unaware of
prey to the “supremacy of love?” … The problems the disjuncture between the two spheres as they
in your personal life are not small problems and competed to elaborate on the disputes in their
they should not be viewed in isolation. I hope you married life in terms of the dominant communist
will seriously consider these questions and during ideology.
this soul-searching Cultural Revolution campaign
I hope you will constantly work to transform your 4 Revolutionizing Others
subjective world while fighting against your reac- Finally, it is worth noting that the couple were also
tionary old thoughts and the old world.18 concerned with the political progressiveness of
their siblings and other family members, and they
The mix of the personal and the political, as a cen- often reached out to help others in the making of
tral feature of socialist subjectivity, is well illustrat- socialist subjectivity or, in some cases, when oth-
ed in this letter, as in many others of the Lu-Jiang ers reached out to them. In her letter of February
collection. 25, 1965, Jiang told her husband:
We should also examine the promotion of gen-
der equality as part of the couple’s socialist subjec- Luohui [Jiang’s younger sister] needs the A-
tivity because a significant number of the letters edition of the Selected Works of Mao Zedong
from the 1960s focused on a single event of domes- [jiazhongben 甲种本]. Please send it to her as soon
tic violence. Shortly after Jiang gave birth to their as you receive this letter. I care very much about
first daughter, the couple quarreled over whether her thought, and have written several letters to
Jiang was sufficiently filial toward her mother-in- her and shared with her my limited ideas. You
law. Lu was outraged and he slapped Jiang across have seen her previous letters; you should write
the face and knocked her to the ground. Over to her when you have time. I always hope that my
the next two and a half years, Jiang frequently younger sisters will grow better in terms of their
demanded that Lu apologize and explain why he political thought, their political studies, and life in
had hit her and why a wife-beating man was quali- general.19
fied to be a party member or a cadre. She would of-
ten move from this incident of domestic violence Lu and Jiang were by no means alone in taking
to other wrongdoings committed by her husband, on the responsibility to convert others to socialist
including his lack of respect for her parents. The subjectivity. Jiang’s elder sister, Shucong, appeared
list of complaints grew as their correspondence to be more committed to the cause and had done
and their relationship continued. more than Lu and Jiang combined. In a long letter
In a highly politicalized yet still passionate way, to Lu, she shared her observations on all her sib-
Lu attributed his male chauvinism and his acts of lings and described in detail her efforts and strat-
violence to the vestigial influence of feudalism, egies to help her family members make progress
both politically and professionally. She also told Lu made in contemporary Chinese society, had a
how she resisted her father’s traditional feudalis- greater impact.
tic thought and how hard she was trying to have To a certain extent, the unmaking of socialist
her father refuse the government compensation subjectivity also involved individual agency. This
for his shop that had been forcibly nationalized is more evident in Lu’s letters than in those by Ji-
in the 1950s. The solid foundation for this can- ang. As if he were appealing to the party organiza-
did exchange of ideas about converting others to tion, in his letters to his wife he repeatedly denied
socialist subjectivity, as the elder sister put it, was his political ambitions and proactive activities
based on the fact that Shucong and Lu were both during the Cultural Revolution. He listed numer-
cpc members and were responsible for helping ous facts to demonstrate that he was merely a fol-
the other family members join the party and be- lower of the instructions from his leaders and the
come politically progressive.20 Socialist subjectiv- political line of the Central Committee of the cpc.
ity, and its unique style of self-presentation and He wrote that he had no choice but to act in ac-
persuasion, as is reflected in the Lu-Jiang letters, cordance with the dominant political goals of the
are also inter-subjective, which helps to link the time. This attitude contrasts sharply with the pride
life of the mind to the much larger social context. in his political progressiveness and his excitement
about new opportunities for political advance-
ment during the Cultural Revolution evidenced in
The Unmaking of Socialist Subjectivity his early letters.
One of the possible explanations for this self-
Lu and Jiang’s highly motivated efforts to make denial is Lu’s fear of losing his wife and family, an
socialist subjectivity, and its unique style of self- outcome that had befallen many families in previ-
presentation, began to wane in 1977 after Lu’s ous political campaigns. Fortunately, Jiang was not
political disgrace and his expulsion from Beijing particularly influenced by the changing political
to a remote tin mine. The couple’s political con- winds, at least in terms of her private life, and she
sciousness of the previous era was undone by the assured her husband that she would not abandon
introduction of a new and completely different him because of his political setbacks. Yet some-
inter-subjective flow to their narrative and in their what contradicting her reassurances was the very
reflections. Beginning in 1978, their letters became angry letter she wrote to announce her decision to
dominated by discussions of pragmatic matters, separate from him because of his infidelity.
such as how to make money, how to establish busi- Another possible explanation is that Lu was
ness connections, how to use their professional sincere in his ideological proclamations, and his
knowledge to improve family finances, and how self-denial after 1977 was merely part of an effort
to help their second daughter pass her college en- to reconstitute his subjectivity in response to the
trance exams. By 1981 Lu had given up any hope social conditions of the post-Mao reform era. In-
that his case would be rehabilitated by his former deed, he quickly adapted to the market-oriented
work unit and he no longer cared about his politi- economic reforms, learning English and keeping
cal standing. Socialist subjectivity seems to have abreast of new developments in his profession,
disappeared from their lives without much resis- even engaging in commercial activities on the side.
tance as the market economy, and its associated As we have noted, subjectivity is much more than
subjectivity which is still in the process of being a static position in the socio-political hierarchy
or a self-claimed identity at a given point in time.
20 Jiang’s elder sister’s letter of December 9, 1965 in Part 3, Subjectivity is an ongoing process during which
403–405. the individual as a thinking subject constantly
Introduction xxxv
feels, thinks, and reflects so that he or she can re- particularly important point of view. An example
orient his or her actions accordingly. The Lu-Jiang of the former is Maria Tamboukou’s study of Rosa
letters show that the unmaking of socialist subjec- Luxemburg’s letters, and the latter is best illustrat-
tivity took place simultaneously with the making ed by a study of Mohandas Gandhi’s final battle
of a new subjectivity. with the South African government in late 1913 and
early 1914 through an analysis of the personal let-
The Scholarly Value of Private Letters and the ters of Betty Molteno, who was the daughter of the
cdrcsl Database first prime minister of the Cape Colony in South
Personal letters have long been used as a valu- Africa.24
able source of data for historical studies, such as Personal letters have also been a source of data
research on the Jewish experience in the Holo- for social scientists and they have also been used
caust based on private letters from labor camps, as an educational tool for professional training.
concentration camps, and ghettos.21 Personal let- For example, medical students have been asked
ters sent by immigrants to relatives and friends to write letters to their former patients. These
who remained in their home countries were also letters were never mailed; instead they were used
one of the major sources of data in studies on by researchers to study the letter writers’ emo-
the early stages of international migration.22 Yet tional, psychological, ethical, and professional
such sources are subject to the accidental dis- responses to their patients.25 In another case, Ko-
covery of letters, which are often fragmented and rean men were asked to write letters to their chil-
non-systematic in their organization. In some dren as part of a training program at a gender boot
cases, social historians have had to rely on ex- camp in the United States with the aim of culti-
tremely limited numbers of letters in their read- vating more expressive behavior in Korean immi-
ings of personal and family histories, such as in grant fathers.26
Esther Saraga’s study of letters between two In recent studies of Chinese society, one par-
German-Jewish refugees over the period spanning ticularly well-known use of personal letters has
May to September 1938, and in Sheridan’s analy- been made by sociologists examining the life and
sis of three letters written by different members work of female migrant workers at a former toy
of one family during the 1956 revolution in Hun- factory in Shenzhen. Hundreds of personal let-
gary.23 In general, case studies of letters from one ters were left by eighty-five female workers who
person tend to focus on those who have played died during a tragic fire at the factory on Novem-
an important role in history or who have had a ber 19, 1993 (two male workers died in the fire as
well). Chinese sociologist Tan Shen explores the Fudan University without input or influence from
various discursive topics in the letters that reveal, the actual authors of the letters.
among other things, the female migrant workers’ Beginning in 2008 the cdrcsl has focused on
life aspirations, their reflections on their experi- salvaging and collecting original data about the
ences, and their complaints about social injustic- everyday experiences of ordinary people, includ-
es.27 Australian sociologist Anita Chan has focused ing material found in private letters, personal dia-
on the culture of survival, drawing her research ries, accounting books, work journals by cadres,
from seventy-plus letters written by the family folk contracts and other forms of documentation
members of the female victims.28 regarding private transactions, individual peti-
These letters belong to more than eighty corre- tions, and so forth. Nearly all of the original data
spondence authors that, taken together, produce a collected by the cdrcsl, of which personal letters
knot of mutual incoherence. Their value depends constitute a majority, were purchased at a waste-
on the ability and efforts of scholars to put the paper market. By the end of 2016, the collection
pieces together. had amassed an astonishing 350,000 items. What
It is rare and extremely valuable to have access is published in the present book is merely a small
to private letters between two or several individu- portion of the current collection.
als over a substantial period of time. The most fa- Due to limited resources and the near-absence
mous example is perhaps the published collection of private telephones from the 1950s to the 1980s,
of personal letters between the famous writer Lu writing letters were the principal means, if not the
Xun and his wife Xu Guangping—Letters between only means, of communicating with family mem-
Two Places (Liang Di Shu). There is quite a sizable bers, friends, and colleagues in Maoist China, and
literature on these letters, with a noteworthy study it was common practice for letter receivers to save
by Bonnie McDougall in which she explores the them. Consequently, when personal letters were
concept of privacy in Republican China through sold as wastepaper in markets, they were usually
the intimate lives of the two writers.29 It should offered in bulk. Their value was measured quite
be noted, however, that the content of Letters literally by the weight of the paper. The cdrcsl
between Two Places was selected and edited by the seized this wonderful opportunity but only se-
authors themselves for public consumption with a lected personal letters of correspondence over a
well-designed and coherent theme to recast their significant period of time that could stand alone
personal images, which is quite different from as independent collections, such as the Lu-Jiang
the Lu-Jiang letters, which were initially sold as letters. There are several dozen similar sets of
wastepaper. They were salvaged by the cdrcsl at personal letters between husbands and wives,
love letters between college students, communi-
27 Shen Tan, “Dagongmei De Neibu Huati 打 工 妹 的 内 cations among business partners, personal letters
部话题: 对深圳原致丽玩具厂百余封书信的 between siblings, open letters to radio stations and
分 析 ,” [The Inner Issues among Female Migrant newspapers, and some stand-alone yet equally in-
Workers.] Shehuixue yanjiu 社 会 学 研 究 [Sociological teresting collections. In one small collection con-
Studies], no. 6 (1998). taining several dozen letters, a Shanghai girl shares
28 Anita Chan, Chen Village: The Recent History of a with her friends her initial experiences of life in
Peasant Community in Mao’s China, ed. Richard Madsen
Hong Kong after immigrating there in the early
and Jonathan Unger (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1984).
1980s.
29 Bonnie S. McDougall, trans., Love-Letters and Privacy in Needless to say, the personal letters collected
Modern China: The Intimate Lives of Lu Xun and Xu by the cdrcsl, such as the Lu-Jiang letters, are
Guangping (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). a gold mine of information for those who study
Introduction xxxvii
Sheridan, Vera. “Letters of Love and Loss in a Time of Unger, Jonathan. “The Class System in Rural China:
Revolution.” The History of the Family 19, no. 2 (2014): A Case Study.” In Class and Social Stratification in
260–71. Post-Revolution China, edited by James Lee Watson,
Tamboukou, Maria. “Imagining and Living the Revolu- 121–41. Cambridge, uk: Cambridge University Press,
tion: An Arendtian Reading of Rosa Luxemburg’s 1984.
Letters and Writings.” Feminist Review, no. 106 (2014): Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capi-
27–42. talism. Translated by Parsons, Talcott. New York:
Tan, Shen. “Dagongmei De Neibu Huati 打 工 妹 的 内 部 话 Scribner, 1958.
题 : 对 深 圳 原 致 丽 玩 具 厂 百 余 封 书 信 的 分 析 .” Whyte, Martin King. Small Groups and Political Rituals
Shehuixue yanjiu 社 会 学 研 究 [Sociological Stud- in China. Berkeley: University of California Press,
ies], no. 6 (1998): 65–75. 1974.
Tu, Wei-ming. Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative
Transformation. Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1985.
! " # $
!)*+,-"""s./0+123# 456789:;<=>"""?@)ABCDEF$
GHIAJKLM%NOEF+P/$ QFRSTUVWXY &"#$"""#%& Y ' $ Z[\]^
_$`abcd12;<=>AefghijAkl+mnop(
qrs.QFRST%Z[tu$vEw=xyz{|}$ _~(
Srxk$Q:ks+~$s.6_~)
9% s.Z[ QF ¡¢$ £¤xks¥¦$ §¨ ©ª$ «¬Y®¯°
_~$±=²³( 6x´)
&"' =³( s./µ±=²³$¶1?@)% BCDEF+P/= ·³$ HIAJKL
M%NOEF+P/= ·³(
&'' ¸¹º»( ./ P/¼½/QF º»¸¹$@)¾CD+P/$= @)
¾CD&"#$( Yd' %@)¾CD&"#&( Yd' %@)¾CD&"#%( Yd' (
&)' QF+¿À( ./1w=/Á+§¨^_ÂÃÄ$ÅÆÇabÈÉ$Ê6
QËÌ./ÍEF+ÎPZ[¼ÏijÐÁg)+QF¯°8ÑÒ$ ÓÔ./g)+
QF$¹ÕÖ×ØÙ$ ÚÛ9À+QFÜÝÞS$Ê./1ß * +, à$áâQF
ÑÒ$¿ÀÆQF( *"#$* Y & ã+, ä(
V%kyZ[åæç$èwéê$ëÊÏìízä$Êî~Q£¤ï´î~)
&"' èwéêðª( xʦ7QëÊ»ñ©âæðª$ òó»ñôí% »ñº»ä$
ì©%õ©%öô©ä( ÷:øðª$ÊùÏúûxü+ýÚ£¤2Jþÿ©
!¸¹"#$$èw%9(
&'' ìíz%&'zäðª( k1ëÊÏìíz%õzðª$ ksx(x)$Ê
6Qß8:שâ)
! ìz%*z¬- !. Êz+,-( ®$G- .. /0123=>/4- 5. 6T(
" &'z¬ +! ,'7( ®$889: +; ,& ks1<=>¬?óñ$ @
ABC$DEF$6GH1I«¬?óñ©â' (
# JÃz¬!dK$=6¿L+¬ - !. Ê!+©â( ®$ xk * gM+, $ ú *
gM!- N. , (
$ OkäPQXw=$RSTU( ®$* 22J, ú * 2J, (
&)' ¶Hðª(
! ks1Ï>¬8DVWX$ Ê6Q:w= ~+¯°8Ö×àY$ :r
xxxix
! " # $ %
!!!!"#$%&'
xl
!"#$%&'()
*+,-.
Letters by Mr. Lu to His Wife
Ms. Jiang
!"#$ ! %&'() !"#$*+ !
!"#! ! # " $$ #
!"#$%&'(!
)*+,#-",./0123456# 78,9:;<=>?@#AB#CD"EFG
HI6JKLM"NOP,:QRS"TUVWXY# EZ,[)\]^#"_)`abc,$
,def)g2"hij9:UVW.k=>lm#no\pq#rs#tu"vwxy
\XY#$ )zh{|)6^,2}\~E.kJMW#i$ xUV8,9
:#% "& OK,"NOP,JXY$ h,8#." W
#:M"?g6,:#"M#s_#tu")TtA," N)Tt
¡¢£¤",¢6)#% "& #¥¦$ 8E§,¨©ª«8.k¬#®¯L°6$ h
,±)8.<#tu",#% ²³: & ¨©l´¢¬µ¶" ,·)¸¹6ºV8,9:#»
¼M½$
´8,#:QO¾S",`¿µÀÁÂ.Ã"Ä)ÅÆ$ h,jÇÈÉÊ#NO\=Ë
#ÌÍ#tu",[gÎÏÐZ!
'!( ÑÒ,f)g2!% ,ÓÔO`ÕÖ)×)`ØÙÚ`sÛ×#ÜM$& ,Ý:
")$ §,»¼'Û)À+,#ÐZaÞ",ßàµ×$ E\áâ#$
'"( ,ÄÞ)! ãqäåæ+,.Zt " ,¿ßàç`g¢£4$ )zh)9:#
èéêë,$ ,.,9:#Ýì[íêë)$ )zî[" `ÜMïÁÂyP,±)
8JMðñò#$
'#( ã,ó.Zôí! ,|,Tf)ïõö",÷ø[2zUù)úû"N
,f)g2#,2}#.Ã\¾¨ü#"Oýµþÿ,f2}!"#]^$ E¿µyP)
J`Ýì"`2,#-"ýa)êë,",\µ$f)^%ÁÂ#"EO\,aÞ)äå&+
,.Zt #Å$
'$( ,ÄÞ)'(.+,)-$ )zh-*,\+:")#$ ),-+6,
% "& #C",O\./#$ N\!"#'(")Î0|,12#ö"Ú\3´6,12#
4±Üì#tu")¿§56,",\`y7)#$ Î08,#!"°ÝEkÜM3
!"8) 9* ,È.:;<=#>:",y+,²?ª@#AB$
hx8EZð)OzhC-".:;<=#.Ã\zh»D><EF#GHLÏ##
,|,\E×##
I)q#
&J$
!"#$
%&'
KL
!
ÄÅÆ,À¢¾S
&+++,ã!"#q'(!
)qM# h)N,EO-#tu",[).,-PQRS#TÈ6$ E\È,j
8U!tV#ã.WÛX#ìY6" ,ZI)[¢\]" ^_)g#"% `,j8a
b§"ñ§cd#ef·<y, g- hi#&
jj)")TP,k¢Wl"8,Zm#no"p6)#)-"1",qrØÙ$
'tÄ)ÅÆ"s>,:M#tu"P,`¢`]vÏå²w#t +)À-6$ Ä)C-
,",`\.MJxy#% z"{ð|X} & $ Î08,2}#!"°2 % 2~ & " 8ý\
s>8!"#G`\e#$ 8ä,²?#!"°,`y\²} $ ,
yaÞ²?"²?f!"#^]^}!"$ hx8,E.Z#tu",]^
2Ì% ²-& \.kZ$ §,J8,²?#!"°zh.k@a##$
1:'(#½°¢")#±°¢¶$ !"#'("Ä)C-
,",yE#",9:ìÛ²?#Z" f²?#±fEFìe2
~$
Ä) :",`yE' qäå¡v6.Z¢£t ( ¤¥D6TȱUY#$
¦§i-g2!% "Mý\®¯!"#¨©ª, «- °#.¬ª®©$& x7\pq#"N
7ý\i!¯°±²#!"9#.G$ hx7\@a#.G$ .^]^67
#i"ýy"M#®¯°¢³±¶ .. )g\´/ ,[,µñyE#$ ¶·7\
ÛX#$
ðGg¢¾"Î0s>,#lmµ¶#¸¹" `µ)6^#ö" ,j§¿§º
ói#
áâóó,j»¼E#½)TÈM¾i# ´8,j¿À6Á.ÂÃ#ÄmTÈ$ Å2E
ÂÃTÈ"6^6`ÆìÇ#ÈÉ"ÊË\»¼Ì#'("qrÍ:+,jÎÏÐ"vjE
G#ìÇ-Ѿ±²"+,j!Ò$ 8EÂÃUY6ÓÔ#tÕÖ×"P,j
Ø6^6Ù÷ÚÓÔÛy|XÜ»M¾0ÓÔ#ÖÝ-Þßà0áUâã#3äåæ)
ç±4»¼k$ Uèéêëìí-rî,j8.<" >ïðìíO-r)4ñò$ ,j
JUYóô¾q$ 8!"G",j8øõö.e8»¼Ì<÷6" ÷øù`"
"
!"#$ ! %&'() !"#$*+ !
Uèaq$ ,júCû¢¾q$ t ¾É6"¨Ôñ¾üý´8µ!"8.<#t $
äÒPQ,jÁþÂÃ#TÈ6"»¼Å·±PQ×ÿ!TÈ6$ E.ÂÃý
úÒ"t ¾R$
M# ´8,-"#$%6"`,ó^&ð)i# s>t #tu,[¨ü.Zó"t
¤"§\¿§ïÁÂ#$
2},2'E\Üì"N\,jL TÝ^# % "M & " ,j¤ö8([ð#)
*"8+CW",±,ñ¬íË°¢³±¶ .. !"± % "M & #^#IX8
,jL \¬í¢-¿.#$ fi#b*±,#s_ ' ¢±/òÝ^#"M#pq±®
¯( "82}#!"°"0tñe.k12#3" W,±4X,#:$ ,#Ek9:
56 xP,je.»#7}"N78e , 9 - P,#i8tl´¢¬µ±
:;6$ EP,f,<#'(±' 2$ ,¾q-*±³@Íi$
2},9:#Ek12\¾ÆiÐ=#"8'>#'U°ý?@AB,ï2.CDE
#FG' E,-\ '% H#Ü6( ",-*,"f,ï2,²?#34ÜM .. {>Ëvi
·¾ÆÐ=2Ý^#M¾$ N,#»¼(["<#EF\6^#$ N\f,#I&#û]"`
.\JKL±M&æ'(ñýf,-i#J^±$
JKL'(#N#\E.kÅ·!% Ox)j§Peq6" ´8)zh," QRi
Ô\`f#..& v#gí\S¤ö¥DW,#T#$ ,.©kU,#±^fU,
jL #.Ã$ ,E:"`V,jä\¶Ý^#ÜW.:'#ÔX#YZ"N,
O`áâ-^[,jL #tu$ \N,Ek[í#\" ,¢fUi#b*aÞ,
E$
M&æ'(#ÛJ\!% ,j`¿µ»[".:;<=î.ÖÝð`¿]#iÜW"
M",j`^a.ý_``Ú`_``#i ..& ,Iv!% Î0,a6,"8=bð
´/& vg!% )\a,"NE`\úû¨Ü"Î0"MÝ^YZ"Ç)¿6cO
ý¿µde$&
ÎðT`.K#J^OP,qr12"§© &( HØ,~f-)TÈt" ,aÞE
F,×.iÜfg$ M&æ'(ht'Û6" ¿036.Ohi,Uè±,j!TÈ
ü¦$ )M&æ'(Eêë,!% ,øi8þkP`t:ÖÝ" þklC" 8Ö
Ýð°k..Ox)jdeq6"EFðúûÛJ"N)aqq,..&
s>§ðECÅ"-rP,qr12±9:JYm"N,8e , 9- \kU,"`2
8E§P"Ìn !%'% HPQ",eJ,jL "M#YZ6"op#q¥rÇe´
ì..¿À,j#tu\rx#¿s6$
8EkM¾Ï",[234ÈÉ$ Ä)C-"h,[,zh¢Ý^#½±"M#t
u",e)±,tu<)6$ E\ &( H# # bPQ#" Nht,#ûu±([ð#vS
' hxýl´8E.G( P,qrYm! ,w:<#xb",yo)`6^,"¤yP,
=z.. 8Eku¾Ï" ,#ë¶{|6,# % }[ & .. hx" 8DE#" NO\¾4#t
~",xb²?",¢,]E" ,±Å)# % ' & T»Gçtu$
't8EkM¾Ï,' ht( ±)N#*y .. .Wh?@A,ó2.Wö
§",ãg!% _)' ñ?( -r),EF$& 't,a,-+)"g% a$%&),E
Fi#& ..hx,`Ð=,\¶f)ï6" Ns>,:M\12#" §,8E§Ob
#
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Cook Room.—The cook room should be provided with vats of
various types, usually of iron plate on account of
ease in cleaning. A later type is provided with a hood, the apparatus
looks like a piano box, a lifting cover being provided which permits it
to be raised and lowered at will. Permanent ventilating spouts are
attached to the top to dispose of the steam—something that must be
contended with in the cook room. The vats are usually arranged in
pairs and are accessible from three sides.
In some large institutions cook tanks are set in the floor and the
sausage cage submerged with the sausage hanging thereon. This is
not advisable as there is sure to be a discoloration from the cages.
Sausage upon removal from the cook tanks should be drenched
with cold water, preferably sprayed on from the top. This washes the
sausage and cools it, preparatory to hanging in the sales or packing
department.
Smoking Temperatures.—The smoking of sausage is a very
important factor, and in the different formulas given in the
instructions for handling, reference has been made to the “Smoking
Schedule.” This schedule has been carefully compiled and the time
and temperatures given should be closely followed in order to get the
best results.
Per cent
of
Kind of Sausage. Shrinkage.
Long Bologna 8¹⁄₂ to 11
Large Bologna 7¹⁄₄ to 10
Round Bologna 8¹⁄₂ to 11
Bag Bologna 6 to 9
Bologna in weasands 6 to 9
Knoblauch 10 to 11
Leona, long 10 to 13
Leona, large 10 to 12
Regular Frankfurts 11 to 13¹⁄₂
Vienna Frankfurts 19 to 22
High grade Frankfurts 18 to 20
Regular pork 2 to 4
Little pig pork 2 to 4
High grade breakfast 1¹⁄₂ to 3
Blood 31 to 36
Liver 12 to 14
Tongue 38 to 40
Polish 12 to 14
Head cheese 39 to 42
Luncheon beef 47 to 50
Boneless pigs feet 22 to 25
Minced ham 6 to 9
Berlin ham 22 to 27
Cooked pressed ham 15 to 17
16 pounds salt,
4 pounds sugar,
1¹⁄₂ pounds saltpetre,
2 quarts old ham pickle, which must be sweet and in good condition.
Pork and beef trimmings should be fresh, and if they have been
packed in barrels for transport the blood should be allowed to drain
off before being packed in the preservative. They should not be
washed in pickle before being used, but should be handled dry. The
two quarts of old ham pickle mentioned in the above formula should
be sprinkled through as uniformly as possible when pounding the
trimmings down into the tierce.
If packing fresh beef and pork hearts, head meat, beef and pork
cheek meat, giblet and weasand meat, they should be thoroughly
washed in a mild pickle so as to remove the blood and slime before
packing in the tierce. Head, cheek, and giblet meat should not be put
into ice water when cut off on the killing floor, but should be promptly
removed to a cooler where the temperature is 33° to 36° F., and
spread or hung up on racks to refrigerate.
Care must be taken not to allow these meats to accumulate in any
bulk while warm. Hearts and large pieces should be split to reduce
their size and make accessible to the curing ingredient. In the
packing of these meats the pickle used with dry trimming is omitted.
Packing.—After the trimmings are properly prepared they are to
be mixed with the curing ingredients. This is best
accomplished by the use of a tumbler churn, weighing a given
amount of the trimmings and placing with the allotted proportion of
curing materials into the churn.
When mixed with the preservative, the trimmings should be put in
a tierce, in layers, and pounded down as tightly as possible with a
maul, and the operation continued until the tierce is as full as
possible, allowing for the head to be put on. Before heading up
spread a cheese cloth or thin cotton cloth over the top to protect the
trimmings from the head. The tierce when headed up is removed to
cold storage, where the temperature must be kept as near 38° F. as
possible from thirty to forty-five days, when the trimmings are ready
for use. If it is desired to keep the product sixty days, after it has
been in the temperature above mentioned for thirty to forty-five days,
remove to a lower temperature, 32° to 34° F.; and for more than sixty
days to a temperature of 20° F.
Casings and Spices.—All classes of beef casings, namely,
rounds, bungs, middles and weasands, as well as hog bungs, hog
casings and sheep casings are used in the Sausage Department.
There is perhaps more chicanery used in Sausage Room supplies
than in any other one department, consequently care in purchase of
these supplies is worthy of attention. In sheep casings it is a matter
of grading as to width, pieces and yardage per bundle; in hog
casings, a matter of salt per pound purchased, and grading as to
width and pieces; in rounds and middles one of holes, pieces and
measurement per set.
Spices should so far as possible be bought in the natural state and
mixed on the premises. Pure Food laws pretty well take care of the
purity of the spice in most states.
Sausage Cereals.—This is a very important factor in the
manufacture of sausage. The province of “fillers” is to absorb water,
preventing shrinkage, and while this is advisable to an extent, if
overdone, it detracts from the quality of the product. The main base
ingredients for fillers are rice flour, corn flour and potato flour. There
are many sausage fillers on the market but the foregoing ingredients
are most frequently used.
Potato flour or starch is not used to any extent today,
manufacturers finding that there is a great deal of trouble attached to
the manufacture of sausage containing these ingredients, on
account of the liability to sour and spoil. Corn flour is the best filler
that can be used, being less liable to ferment, while it absorbs the
water quickly. While fillers are used to a great extent, the sausage
manufacturer should remember that the quality of sausage is
deteriorated proportionately to the amount of water that is worked in.
Hence fillers should be used with discretion, and manufacturers who
aim to make a name for their goods, are frugal with fillers.
Sausage Formulas.—The following methods are tried and used
for the manufacture of various kinds of sausage. Sausage makers
vary procedure according to stocks on hand. However, for uniformity,
it is best to conform to a standard so far as possible.
Pork Sausage.—This is produced in various grades, from a fancy
breakfast quality to a substance whose chief claim to the name is the
form. A good pork sausage can be made as follows:
100 lb. pork trimmings, preferably shoulder trimmings, about one-third fat.
3 pounds salt.
8 ounces pepper.
3 ounces sage.
¹⁄₄ ounce ginger.
¹⁄₂ ounce mace.
FORMULA A.
75 pounds pork trimmings,
25 pounds tripe,
8 pounds water,
3 pounds salt,
4 ounces sage,
10 ounces white pepper,
3 ounces saltpetre,
10 pounds corn flour.
FORMULA B.
90 pounds regular pork trimmings,
10 pounds tripe,
6 pounds corn flour,
10 pounds water,
2 pounds, 8 ounces salt,
4 ounces sage,
10 ounces white pepper,
3 ounces sugar,
1 pound, 8 ounces color water.
The preceding formulas are for sausage meat, often sold loose or
without stuffing, also for sausage stuffed in hog casings. Stuff in
medium or narrow hog casings. “Tripe” is the source of refuge to
produce cheap pork sausage.
Bologna Style.—This is one of the most common and generally
used type of sausage manufactured. It is in demand in nearly every
locality. In the manufacture of Bologna, ingredients are used which
are not in themselves palatable, but are nutritious. The seasoning
makes it palatable.
The formulas which are given below, if they are accurately
followed and fresh and wholesome material carefully prepared is
used, will make a sausage which is very acceptable to the consumer.
This is the product that is usually made from the tougher meats such
as cheeks and hearts. For a good bologna use:
25 pounds beef trimmings,
50 pounds pork cheeks,
7 pounds corn flour,
1¹⁄₈ pounds pepper,
4 ounces coriander,
70 pounds pork trimmings,
30 pounds beef cheeks,
5 pounds salt,
2 ounces allspice,
4 ounces saltpetre,
25 pounds water.
The following formulas are for less costly products and provide a
means for disposing of some by-products:
FORMULA NO. 1.
57 pounds regular pork trimmings,
65 pounds beef cheek meat,
15 pounds cooked tripe,
25 pounds pork kidneys,
20 pounds dry salt or pickled pork trimmings,
9 pounds corn flour,
45 pounds water,
1 pound, 4 ounces white pepper,
3 pounds salt,
2 pounds color water,
4 ounces saltpetre,
3 ounces allspice,
3 ounces mace,
3 ounces coriander,
1¹⁄₂ ounces cloves.
FORMULA NO. 2.
90 pounds lean pork cheek meat,
60 pounds regular pork trimmings,
9 pounds corn flour,
60 pounds water,
5 pounds salt,
2 pounds, 7 ounces color water,
12 ounces sugar,
3 ounces saltpetre,
1 pound black pepper,
2 ounces mace.
Stuff in beef rounds and tie with twine every five inches. Knuckle
meat may be ground through a moderately fine plate. Balance of
pork should be chopped in a “Buffalo Silent Cutter.” Corn flour and
seasoning should be added to the knuckle meat after it is put into the
Buffalo chopper and the machine has made two or three revolutions.
SECOND METHOD.
50 pounds pork cheeks,
10 pounds tripe,
40 pounds standard pork trimmings,
5 pounds salt,
3 ounces mace,
9 ounces sugar,
3 ounces garlic,
35 pounds pork trimmings (lean),
15 pounds D. T. or S. P. trimmings,
9 pounds corn flour,
¹⁄₈ ounce pepper,
4 ounces coriander,
3 ounces saltpetre,
30 pounds water.
Grind the beef cheek meat through a ⁷⁄₆₄th plate, add corn flour
and seasoning, work in as much water as possible and then add the
pork trimmings. This is a very coarse chopped sausage and the pork
trimmings should be chopped about as fine as small dice. Beef is the
binder of this sausage, and must be handled according to
instructions. The meat, after it is chopped, can be handled the same
as Bologna and Frankfurt meat by putting in a cooler for a few hours
before stuffing. After the sausage is stuffed, it can also be handled
as Bologna and Frankfurts, if desired, before smoking.
This sausage should be smoked carefully and strictly in
accordance with the smoking schedule, as it is not cooked, this
being done practically in the smoke house, during the process of
smoking. After it is smoked it has a very wrinkled appearance, which
is essential for this article. In fact, it is not Polish sausage unless it
has this appearance.
The dicing of the meat other than the beef can be done with a
rocker. Note that a “silent cutter” is not used in this manufacture. The
sausage is stuffed in beef round casings.
Blood Sausage.—This sausage is made as follows:
Use pickled shoulder fat and skins, cook for one hour at a
temperature of 210° F. and run through fat cutting machine or cut
into size of small dice. Pass the beef blood through a fine sieve in
order to separate foreign matter. Cook pig skins for about two hours
at a temperature of 210° F. and grind through a ⁷⁄₆₄th plate. Mix the
shoulder fat, skins, blood and seasoning thoroughly together and
stuff in cap end bungs. Smoking and cooking as indicated in
schedules.
Tongue Sausage.—For Tongue Sausage the following formula is
given:
Use pickled shoulder fat, skin and cook for one hour at a
temperature of 210° F. and run through fat cutting machine or cut
into size of small dice. Use beef blood, passed through a fine sieve
in order to separate any foreign material. Cook hog skins for about
two hours at a temperature of 210° F. and grind through a ⁷⁄₆₄th inch
plate. Pickled sheep tongues are preferable to pickled hog tongues,
as they are smaller and make a better appearing sausage when cut.
The tongue should be cooked one and three-quarter hours at a
temperature of 210° F.
Before mixing the above ingredients, rinse the fat off the tongues
with hot water in order to remove as much grease as possible. Mix
the ingredients thoroughly with the seasoning by hand. When
stuffing put about four pieces of tongue to each bung. However, this
varies according to the size of the bungs used. Cap end bungs
should be used in all cases. Smoking and cooking to be done as
indicated in schedule.
Minced Ham.—The following formula for Minced Ham is given:
The cooked meats are chopped by hand with a knife until reduced
to the proper size, except the skins, which are ground through a
⁷⁄₆₄th-inch plate after being cooked. The mass usually is mixed by
hand and stuffed into cured hog paunches or beef bungs and cooked
as per cooking schedule appended hereto. After the sausage is
cooked, it is taken to a cooler and usually pressed by laying the
paunches or bungs side by side with a board between each layer
and a moderate weight on top of the last board. However, if properly
made this is unnecessary as the gelatine from the skins and the
water in which the meat has been cooked will bind the other
ingredients together sufficiently without much, if any, pressing.
Boneless Pigs Feet.—This product is prepared as follows: