Son of the Revolution
Liana was born into a family where his father was a devote communist reporter and his mother who was accused of being part of a non-communist rightist group called the Hundred Flowers. The Hundred Flowers wanted to purify the communism that currently existed in China by finding faults in the existing communist regime. Lings mother did not criticize at first because her she had her job because of the Communist party and loved the party as a result. Mao Sedona, chairman of China, wanted to win the support of intellectuals so her leaders insisted he come up with three “out of duty’, she came up with three which drastically changed her life.
From then, the Hundred Flowers Movement changed to the Anti- Rightist Movement in an effort to extract people who did not believe in the communist way. Because their actions were against communism and a revolution was trying to be avoided, they sent anyone associated with the Hundred Flowers to a re-education camp to bring them back in favor of the communist party. Politics played such a large part in the Chinese society that people were tricked into criticizing the party and punished. Lings mother was separated from Liana and his family and sent to another part of China for her different political beliefs.
Not only was Liana separated from his mother for her non-communist ways, he was bullied and shunned in school because everyone thought he was non-communist like his mother. Human relationships are also affected with the actions of his father. Due her beliefs, she lost her rank in the police as well as a dramatic cut in her salary. Lings father had to divorce his wife because he wanted to save the rest of his family by being punished with her by association. It is apparent that politics had such an impact on citizens that the relationship between Lining’s father and mother could be so disgraceful that it led to a divorce.
It broke “ties among his family, essentially ruining his mother’s life and holding back the rest of the family in contributing to the Revolution”l. During the revolution when China closed all schools and Liana was unable to continue his education in college. But after the revolution, China reopened schools and Hen took his opportunity to continue his education. But upon his return to school, “he is shocked at the inability of students to rationalize freely. The school seemed to be almost exactly the same as when Liana had attended school so many years earlier.
Lings visit showed the power that the education system has on youth, and how easily shaped those individuals can be from such a young age”2. Liana describes the behavior of university students and how the war between political parties affected their ability to express themselves in fear of punishment. It is evident that throughout Liana Hangs upbringing, politics was involved in his life in a way that would tear his family apart as well as open his eyes about the insanity that unionism brought to him. His upbringing had made him believe that the world was out to get him.
He portrays his childhood in a way that depicts himself as the bad guy in society. “l had been the victim of political movements since the age of three, first through my mother, then through my father, and now through an absurd coincidence in my own affairs. Society hated me. It turned me into an outcast and a thief”3 Liana feels that due to the chain of unfortunate events that society hates him. He grew up in an era where there were many political parties that actively sought out to make their ideology a reality.
Due to the many conflicting ideas, Lings human relationships fell victim to the punishments that were not technically his own. The transformation that Liana Hen experienced from his childhood to his adulthood shows that politics affect human relationships. Through his series of events, it can be seen in his memoir The Son of the Revolution how his human relationships were affected such as the case with his mother who was banished and exiled from his family due to conflicting political beliefs.
It can also be seen how politics affects human legislations by the actions of his devote communist father who divorced his wife in order to save his family from the punishments that would be implemented upon his wife. Apart from the consequences of his family political affiliation, Liana noted the affects of a particular political reign it had on growing kids in the education system. The imprint the many political movements had on Liana caused him to realize how destroyed his life is and convinced him that the world was against him. Politics is such a powerful concept that it is constantly affecting our lives and the lives of our neighbors.
