Monday, April 10, 2006
For Visitors, Graveyard Holds Memories of a Bloody Era - New York Times
The rusted front gate, locked for many years, opens into a walled cemetery that amounts to a time capsule from an era the Communist Party wants to forget. Revolutionary slogans, long since discredited, are etched onto huge, ornate tombstones, including the large concrete marker that Mr. Xi built for his mother when he was a teenager.
'It is my obligation to speak about this history,' said Mr. Xi, now 54. 'It is the Communist Party's crime. Of course, they don't want to talk about it. No one wants to talk about shameful things.'
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, a milestone that has met with official silence and only glancing attention in the state news media. Here in Chongqing, the industrial hub of central China, the obscure graveyard is one of the few reminders of the bloody fighting that erupted across the city between rival factions of Red Guards.
Last Wednesday, a steady flow of people passed through the graveyard for the traditional day of mourning known as Qingming, when families across China visit grave sites to honor the dead. For many families who lost relatives in the Cultural Revolution, the annual Qingming visit offers a rare public opportunity to confront the damage that was wrought.
'The Cultural Revolution brought tragedy to my family,' said Liu Li, 41, who visited his father's grave with several other family members. 'My son is now 17. When I've brought him here, I tell him of the tragedy.' ¶ 4/10/2006 06:17:00 AM
For Visitors, Graveyard Holds Memories of a Bloody Era - New York Times: "CHONGQING, China, April 7 ? One of the many unexpected things about the small graveyard here where Xi Qingsheng buried his mother during the mayhem of the Cultural Revolution is that it still exists.
The rusted front gate, locked for many years, opens into a walled cemetery that amounts to a time capsule from an era the Communist Party wants to forget. Revolutionary slogans, long since discredited, are etched onto huge, ornate tombstones, including the large concrete marker that Mr. Xi built for his mother when he was a teenager.
'It is my obligation to speak about this history,' said Mr. Xi, now 54. 'It is the Communist Party's crime. Of course, they don't want to talk about it. No one wants to talk about shameful things.'
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, a milestone that has met with official silence and only glancing attention in the state news media. Here in Chongqing, the industrial hub of central China, the obscure graveyard is one of the few reminders of the bloody fighting that erupted across the city between rival factions of Red Guards.
Last Wednesday, a steady flow of people passed through the graveyard for the traditional day of mourning known as Qingming, when families across China visit grave sites to honor the dead. For many families who lost relatives in the Cultural Revolution, the annual Qingming visit offers a rare public opportunity to confront the damage that was wrought.
'The Cultural Revolution brought tragedy to my family,' said Liu Li, 41, who visited his father's grave with several other family members. 'My son is now 17. When I've brought him here, I tell him of the tragedy.' ¶ 4/10/2006 06:17:00 AM
