曾錚的圖片故事(5)Jennifer’s Photo Stories（5）

曾铮

Have We Learned the Lessons?

新時代的「紅衛兵」？

Jennifer Zeng

and her mother at Tiananmen Square in May, 1969.
曾錚兩歲半時與母親在天安門廣場的合影。

This photo was taken in May,1969, at Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, when I was two years old.
這張照片是我兩歲半時與母親在天安門廣場上照的。
During the early years of the “Great Cultural Revolution”, millions of crazily enthusiastic “red guards” swarmed into Beijing from all over the country to “defend” “Great Leader Chairman Mao” with their lives. They could not only travel for free; but were also offered free food on the train.
「無產階級文化大革命」初期，成百上千萬狂熱的「紅衛兵」從全國各地涌入北京，要用生命「捍衛」他們的「偉大領袖毛主席」。那時坐火車不要錢，在火車上吃飯也不要錢，有個紅衛兵袖章就管事。
Although she was not a “Red Guard”, as she had already married and become a mother by then, my mother somehow also took advantage of the free travel and took me to Tangshan, a city near Beijing, to visit a relative there.
So this photo was taken at the famous Tiananmen Square when we stopped at Beijing on our way. Millions of “Red Guards” had just made pilgrimages there and seen their “Great Leader Chairman Mao” in person.
雖然我母親那時已結婚生女，但生性活躍好動的她，也抓住了這個能免費坐火車的機會，帶我去北京附近的唐山走親戚。
所以這張照片就是路過北京時照的。數百萬的紅衛兵在不久前剛剛來過這裏「朝聖」，得到了「偉大領袖毛主席」的接見。
Does every one notice the badges of “Chairman Mao” my mother and I were wearing? My mother also held a famous and “sacred” “little red book” of “Chairman Mao’s Words” in her hand.
My mother told me that both the badges and the little red book were provided by the photographer who had a booth at the square and earned money by taking photos for people. We had to wear the badges and hold the red book if we wanted to take a photo.
大家注意到了嗎？照片中我和母親都戴著「毛主席」像章，我母親還手持一本寫滿「毛主席語錄」的「紅寶書」？母親說，「毛主席」像章和紅寶書都是擺照相攤的人要求我們戴上、拿著的，不然不給拍照。
Did you see my angry expression in the photo? My mother said I was very unhappy that day, although herself managed to put on a smile on her face.
母親說，那天我非常不開心，所以照片中的我，緊緊的皺著小眉頭。
And, not only that, when the photo was given to us, a pre-printed slogan saying ”Long Live Our Great and Esteemed Leader Chairman Mao” was already on it. There wasn’t any chance for anybody to say “no” to that slogan.
另外，大家看到照片旁邊的那句「敬祝偉大領袖毛主席萬壽無疆」的口號了嗎？這句口號是統一印在照片上的，不管你想要還是不想要。
I think perhaps the reason why I was angry on the day was that as a 2 year old innocent child, I knew Mao was a devil and didn’t want to wear his badge.
However, I heard that there were hot-headed red guards pinning the Mao badges into their flesh to show their loyalty to Mao.
我猜，這些就是兩歲半的我會那麼生氣地瞪著眼睛的原因吧！純潔孩子的眼睛，也許已經看到了另外空間中附在毛魔頭像背後的邪靈，所以才要恨恨地杏眼圓睜。
與此相反的是，狂熱的紅衛兵們，爲了表示對「毛主席」的忠誠，有的直接將「毛主席」的像章別進自己的肉裏。
When we look back at those crazy behaviors and crazy days during the “Great Cultural Revolution”, we might shake our heads and sign,”How could those ridiculous things ever have happened? How come so many people just lost their mind and blindly believed in whatever Chairman Mao was telling them?”
今天，當我們回顧「文化大革命」中那些瘋狂的舉動和瘋狂的歲月時，我們也許會搖著頭嘆息：「那麼荒謬的事情怎麼就會發生呢？那麼多人怎麼就那麼沒腦子，『毛主席』說什麼，他們就都相信了呢？」
Well, have we really learned the lessons? Probably not. Only today “Chairman Mao” is replaced with “the Rise of China”, “the Economic Development of China”, “Allowing Part of the Chinese People to Become Rich First”, “China’s Economic Power”, “We Must Love Our Motherland”, “Chinese People Are Doing Well”, "China Is Growing Faster than Most Other Countries", “China’s Prosperity and Stability”…, so on and so forth.
可是，我們真的從造成數百萬甚至上千萬人死亡的文革悲劇中吸取教訓了嗎？依我看，很可能沒有。只不過今天「偉大領袖毛主席」已經被其他名詞或概念所取代，比如：「中國的崛起」、「中國的經濟發展」、「讓一部分人先富起來」、「中國的經濟實力」、「愛國」、「中國人民已經過上好日子了」、「中國GDP增長率領先全球」、「祖國的繁榮與穩定」，等等，等等，不一而足……
While we may feel how ridiculous those “red guards” were, we are still being worked up so easily whenever that unseen hand of the Party directs us. So we smash Japanese cars, boycott Korean goods, protest outside the US Embassy in Beijing; and we hate and want to run away from Falun Gong as far as we can because the Party has told us that Falun Gong is evil and dangerous…
也許我們會覺得「紅衛兵」們很可笑。但當今天，在我們動不動就被「黨」那只看不見的手煽動起來去砸日本車、去抵制韓國貨、去美國駐北京大使館門口抗議，或一聽到「法輪功」三字心中就充滿仇恨，想跑得越遠越好的時候，我們是不是已經是新時代的「紅衛兵」了呢？
And the list goes on and on. That’s why I feel compelled to write up such a long “caption” to this photo of my mother and me during the “Great Cultural Revolution”.
也正出於這個原因，這張圖片的圖說，才不得不寫得這麼長。辛苦各位看官了。
Also, no matter how many times "Long Live Chairman Mao" was printed or shouted out loudly, Mao died in 1976. But his body is still inside the The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall at the Tiananmen Square for everybody to pay tribute and respect for until this day.
最後要補充的是，不管「敬祝偉大領袖毛主席萬壽無疆」被喊過、印過多少次，毛還是在1976年死去了。只不過，他的屍體仍然存放陳列在天安門廣場上的「毛主席紀念館」中，供世人參觀「瞻仰」。
For full version of Jennifer’s story, please click here:
曾錚的故事完整版請點這裏：
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferzeng97/posts/965320766901896:0

During the early years of the “Great Cultural Revolution”, millions of crazily enthusiastic “red guards” swarmed into Beijing from all over the country to “defend” their “Great Leader Chairman Mao” with their lives. They could not only travel for free; but were also offered free food on the train.
「無產階級文化大革命」初期，成百上千萬狂熱的「紅衛兵」曾經從全國各地涌入北京，要用生命「捍衛」他們的「偉大領袖毛主席」。