Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Yang Jisheng

Quote by Yang Jisheng

“At Hongguang Commune, a roadside area of more than 2,000 mu was cleared of more than 180 dwellings. At least 12,000 homes were dismantled throughout the county. Unrelated families were obliged to share quarters, sometimes with domestic fowl. Cadres burst into homes without notice, tossed out belongings, and reduced a house to rubble in an instant. Commune members returning from deployment elsewhere wept upon finding their homes, wives, and children gone. Some families relocated seven times in a year. Cadres ransacked homes, often snatching desirable goods. Some commune members retaliated by hiding snakes in their rice jars.”

Quote by Yang Jisheng

Work

Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Yang Jisheng

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Yang Jisheng. more

You May Also Like

“This new idea that the movement has to be completely transparent to everyone as a principle, especially to people whom we don't trust, to me this is an unconscious influence from liberal culture. That no one should be held back from knowing everything that any part of the movement is up to? This is an idea that has come about from the current distortion of the left as part of the cultural zone of "play nice" middle-class reformism. As though bourgeois civil liberties mindsets developed in part by interaction with cops and courts should define how we in the struggle relate and work with each other. As though we aren't outlaws and rebels. This didn't exist in earlier eras when the movement was primarily made up of oppressed working people fighting to survive, guarded in their trust, and for good reasons. 'Necessity know no laws'.”

“Revolutionary Islam is linked to the Koran, to be sure, just as Stalinism and Maoism were linked to Das Kapital, but to explain the horrors of China's man-made famines or the Soviet gulag solely by invoking the writings of Karl Marx would be to miss the main point. Messianic violence can attach itself to any creed.”

“Mao Tsetung's grasp of the future, his vision of man's true role on earth, has given him a place as a world figure. His creative genius has come from his constant return to the people, resisting all attempts to elevate himself above them. Much has been said about the "personality cult"; I have seen true, genuine love and admiration from the ordinary people of China for Mao Tsetung. The personality cult evolved round him by city bureaucrats he has done his best to put down, withdrawing himself as a person, giving to the people all homage for the Revolution. It is in this spirit, not elevating Mao as a genius, but showing him as a man, in a constant search for truth, for reality, that this book has been written.”

“Bio je to još jedan sunčan dan, počinjalo je bablje ljeto, najljepše i najtragičnije oba godine, kada se svaki lijep dan čini posljednjim. Mogu ti posljednji dani potrajati sve do kraja listopada, 1970, sjećao se, produžili su se do petnaestog studenoga, ali time se ne mijenja dojam kako je svaki dan posljednji, i treba ga odživjeti sa sviješću o tome. Kada bi cijeloga života trajalo bablje ljeto, svi bi ljudi vjerovali u Boga.”

“Kiek blogybių atsiranda dėl prabangos, pavydo, godumo svaigalų ir kitų panašių dalykų? Vis dėlto jie yra priimtini, nes valstybė negali jų uždrausti įstatymais, kad ir kokie ydingi bebūtų; todėl privalu dar daugiau suteikti sprendimo laisvės, kuri apskritai yra tikra dorybė ir niekaip negali būti uždrausta įstatymais. Be to, iš jos nekyla tokių nepatogumų, kurių (kaip tuoj parodysiu) valstybės pareigūnai negalėtų išvengti; jau nekalbu, kad ji yra būtina mokslo ir menų tobulėjimui, nes jie gali būti sėkmingai vystomi tik tų, kurie turi laisvą ir nevaržomą sprendimą.”