Yiku sitian

Yiku sitian (Chinese: 忆苦思甜; pinyin: Yì kǔ sī tián), which literally translates to recalling (past) bitterness and reflecting on (present) sweetness, is a concept that took form as a political movement and social practice in China mainly during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s.^[1]^[2]

About

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) were introduced to suku (Chinese: 诉苦; pinyin: Sùkǔ) or 'speaking bitterness' as early as 1947 with the publication of a handbook in 1947 called "Speaking Bitterness and Seeking Vengeance" (Sùkǔ fùchóu).^[3] Following the communist take-over of China, residents in communities in Shanghai such as Fangua Lane started to have their first experiences with suku.^[4] This practice of suku influenced yiku sitian, aimed at legitimizing the regime at the time.^[4] In 1960, rather than speaking bitterness, the practice shifted to remembering or recalling bitterness.^[4] The concept was first used by the military in China when soldiers of the PLA would hear of violence and famine like difficulties back home. The soldiers were made to remember that the current situation they were in was better than the past, and that they should be grateful to the party.^[4] In 1961 all units of the PLA had similar yiku sitian campaigns.^[4] By the end of 1963, hundreds of bureau offices and thousands of work units in Shanghai had conducted yiku sitian campaigns.^[5] Basic necessities of life such as food and shelter, and simple concepts such as the improvement of an open sewer in a poor community found their way into these campaigns.^[6]

Yiku sitian became a standard part of thought education in the country with the aim of engraining it and associated concepts into the worldview of the people; bitterness should not have to be eaten for a second time.^[7] The younger generation, those not part of the bitter past, who did not have any personal experiences of the hardships of the past, were also given frequent instruction into yiku sitian.^[8]

Lei Feng was made a yiku sitian role model^[8]

What started out as propaganda, a distraction from an ongoing famine,^[9]^[10] became a state of extreme and continuous gratefulness to the CPC that the people of China were to be kept in.^[10] Role models were used by the state to promote its ideology. One of the most famous yiku sitian role models was Lei Feng.^[8] A neighborhood in Shanghai, Cucumber Lane, was used a model community for yiku sitian. To make the contrast between old and new obvious, old buildings were left standing to provide a stark contract with the new residential buildings in the area.^[11] Yiku sitian acts of public remembrance took the form of public oral narratives, writing articles in newspapers and essays written for school, topical songs and associated public meals.^[12]

Legacy

Following the death of Mao Zedong and rise of Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese state no longer considered yiku sitian as a means to its ends, rather that the revolutionary emotions created were an obstacle to economic growth.^[13] While the practice of yiku sitian died down, the concept of using suffering as a means to political ends continued. What was once a personal practice, became a state practice, the state remembered and recalled on your behalf.^[14] In 1983, it found its form in the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign, and later in Xi Jinping era anti-corruption campaigns.^[14]

References

^ Ge 2016, p. viii.
^ Ho 2010, p. 25-26.
^ Javed 2019, p. 259.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ho 2018, p. 74.
^ Ho 2018, p. 74-75.
^ Ho 2018, p. 76.
^ Ge 2016, p. 343-344.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ge 2016, p. 96.
^ Ge 2016, p. 2-3.
^ ^a ^b Ge 2016, p. 97.
^ Ho 2010, p. 34-35.
^ Ge 2016, p. 30, 88, 363.
^ Ho 2010, p. 27.
^ ^a ^b Javed 2019, p. 261.

Bibliography

Ho, Wing-chung (2010). Transition Study Of Postsocialist China, The: An Ethnographic Study Of A Model Community. World Scientific. pp. 25–27. ISBN 978-981-4464-83-3.
Ge, Xinmei (March 2016), "A Tale of "Ku" (Bitter) V.S. "Tian" (Sweet): Understanding China's "Yiku Sitian" Movement in the 1960s and 1970s from the Perspective of Cultural Discourse Analysis", Doctoral Dissertations, Doctoral Dissertations: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst, doi:10.7275/7904288.0
Ho, Denise Y. (2018). Curating Revolution: Politics on Display in Mao's China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108417952.
Javed, Jeffrey (2019), Sorace, Christian; Franceschini, Ivan; Loubere, Nicholas (eds.), "Speaking Bitterness", Afterlives of Chinese Communism, Political Concepts from Mao to Xi, ANU Press (Australian National University Press), pp. 257–262, ISBN 978-1-78873-476-9, JSTOR j.ctvk3gng9.45, retrieved 2021-09-16

v t e Cultural Revolution
Prelude	Anti-Rightist Campaign Great Chinese Famine Great Leap Forward Lushan Conference Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Taoyuan Experience
Major events	Down to the Countryside Movement Cleansing the Class Ranks 12-3 incident January Storm February Countercurrent Wuhan incident 9th Party Congress One Strike-Three Anti Campaign Project 571 Lin Biao incident 10th Party Congress Black Painting incident Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius Hangzhou incident 1975 Banqiao Dam failure Counterattack the Right-Deviationist Reversal-of-Verdicts Trend 1976 Nanjing incident 1976 Tiananmen Incident
Massacres	Red August Daxing Massacre Guangxi Massacre Inner Mongolia incident Guangdong Massacre Hunan Massacres Daoxian massacre Shaoyang County Massacre Yunnan Massacres Zhao Jianmin spy case Shadian incident Ruijin Massacre
Key figures	Mao Zedong Liu Shaoqi Zhou Enlai Lin Biao Deng Xiaoping Gang of Four (Jiang Qing Zhang Chunqiao Yao Wenyuan Wang Hongwen) Peng Dehuai Wu Han Peng Zhen Tao Zhu Chen Boda Wang Dongxing Xie Fuzhi Ji Dengkui Wang Li Qi Benyu Wu Faxian Qiu Huizuo Yang Chengwu Chen Zaidao Kang Sheng Mao Yuanxin Hua Guofeng Ye Jianying
Documents	Bombard the Headquarters Quotations from Chairman Mao Hai Rui Dismissed from Office May 16 Notification Six Articles of Public Security Sweep Away All Cow Demons and Snake Spirits On Class Origins
Concepts	Four Olds Newborn socialist things Struggle session Feudal fascism Big-character poster Cow demons and snake spirits Bloodline theory Continuous Revolution Theory Seizure of power Violent Struggle One Divides into Two Democracy Wall Eight model plays Loyalty dance Capitalist roader Yiku sitian Learn from Daqing in industry Learn from Dazhai in agriculture Stinking Old Ninth Five Black Categories Five Red Categories
Groups	Red Guards Conservative Faction Little Red Guards Rebel Faction Scarlet Guards Ultra-Left Faction Xiaoyao Faction May Sixteenth elements Five Man Group Cultural Revolution Group Central Case Examination Group Central Organization and Propaganda Leading Group Hunan Provincial Proletarian Revolutionary Great Alliance Committee Revolutionary committee in Heilongjiang in Shanghai 8341 Special Regiment Sent-down youth 61 Renegades Barefoot doctor Worker-Peasant-Soldier student May Seventh Cadre School Xiang River Storm and Thunder
Related topics	Maoism Mao Zedong's cult of personality Mango cult List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party Class struggle Sino-Soviet split Two Whatevers Morning Sun (film) 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee Boluan Fanzheng New Enlightenment Scar literature
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