On the morning of Oct. 18 in Beijing, in a darkened restaurant that had been ordered closed by the authorities, a memorial service was held for Ms. Lin Xiling, the woman popularly known as the “last rightist in China.” Lin had died on Sept. 21 in Paris, ending her 74 years of an extraordinary life.
“Rightist” in China refers to a group of over half a million Chinese students and scholars who had criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1957. They had initially been encouraged to speak out by the CCP’s leader, Mao Zedong, who had famously published the slogan “Letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.”
The invitation to freedom of expression was a trap that China’s scholars fell into. Mao later admitted that he wanted to expose those who were against the communist rule of China; or as he poetically expressed his idea, “to bring the snakes out of their holes.”
These people were labeled as “rightists” and sent to labor camps, tortured, starved, and killed. Among them, there were 22,115 who “committed suicide” and over 3,500 listed as “missing,” according to the CCP’s own report in 1958.
Lin was one of the five so-called “giant rightists,” as determined by Mao. Lin was then only 22 years old, a senior law student at the People’s University of China (known today as Renmin University of China). She was put into jail for 15 years as an “anti-revolutionary element.”
In 1979, after Mao’s death, the CCP decided the “rightists” had been either successfully rehabilitated through labor and thought transformation or had been the victims of a “necessary but overly generalized Anti-Rightist Movement.” Many of the convictions were revoked, with the exception of roughly 3,000 people nationwide.
Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China after Mao’s death, who led the Anti-Rightist Movement, decided that Lin and the other four giant rightists should not have their names cleared because they were truly attacking the CCP and refused to transform their thinking.
“Rightist” in China refers to a group of over half a million Chinese students and scholars who had criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1957. They had initially been encouraged to speak out by the CCP’s leader, Mao Zedong, who had famously published the slogan “Letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.”
The invitation to freedom of expression was a trap that China’s scholars fell into. Mao later admitted that he wanted to expose those who were against the communist rule of China; or as he poetically expressed his idea, “to bring the snakes out of their holes.”
These people were labeled as “rightists” and sent to labor camps, tortured, starved, and killed. Among them, there were 22,115 who “committed suicide” and over 3,500 listed as “missing,” according to the CCP’s own report in 1958.
Lin was one of the five so-called “giant rightists,” as determined by Mao. Lin was then only 22 years old, a senior law student at the People’s University of China (known today as Renmin University of China). She was put into jail for 15 years as an “anti-revolutionary element.”
In 1979, after Mao’s death, the CCP decided the “rightists” had been either successfully rehabilitated through labor and thought transformation or had been the victims of a “necessary but overly generalized Anti-Rightist Movement.” Many of the convictions were revoked, with the exception of roughly 3,000 people nationwide.
Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China after Mao’s death, who led the Anti-Rightist Movement, decided that Lin and the other four giant rightists should not have their names cleared because they were truly attacking the CCP and refused to transform their thinking.
