Just over fifty years ago, China's Cultural Revolution began. The
movement was intended to bring about a return to revolutionary Maoist
beliefs and resulted in attacks on intellectuals and those believed to
be counter-revolutionaries, capitalists and rightists; a large-scale
purge in government posts; the appearance of a personality cult around
Mao Zedong; and an estimated death count of between one and three
million.
When Katherine Luo moved from Hong Kong to mainland China in 1955 to
study drama and opera, she hoped her ideals and patriotism might help to
build her country. Like many citizens, she loved the motherland and
admired its revolutionary leaders. After years of completely trusting
the regime, rationalizing its decisions and betrayals, and criticizing
herself for doubting the Party, she realized that no matter how much she
loved China, it would never love her back because she had the wrong
background--capitalist class origins and overseas connections.
The Unceasing Storm describes Luo's personal struggles--among other
things, she was expelled from university, forbidden to marry her first
love, and accused of being a spy--but it is also the memoir of a
generation, representative of similar incidents occurring all over
China. Luo's colleagues and famous artists were dogged by their
backgrounds--the unluckiest in the "to be executed, imprisoned or placed
under surveillance" category; family members and teachers were labelled
rightists; friends and war heroes were imprisoned; careers were ruined,
families separated, ordinary people lifted to power one morning and
destroyed overnight.
Some of those with stories to tell perished, of those who lived, many
prefer to forget, and others burned all written records to avoid being
incriminated. When the people involved in the revolution have all died,
it will be all too easy to forget or pretend it never happened. The
Unceasing Storm is one step towards creating a truthful record of
contemporary China.
