Around Chinese New Year, a new book:
- The Bloody Red Land – a Collection of Interviews on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Land Reform was published outside of China. The author, Tan Song, a former professor at Chongqing Normal University, is now living in exile in Los Angeles. Tan was expelled from school in 2017 for conducting research on and publicizing the truth about the history of the CCP’s land reform. Over a period of 14 years, Tan interviewed over a hundred Sichuanese who had personally experienced the land reform that took place between 1950 and 1952. Radio Free Asia interviewed Tan on his new book.
The last question the reporter asked was, “What do you think is the main purpose of the CCP’s launch of land reform, what are the methods it used, and what kind of impact has it had on China today?”
Tan replied, “To put it simply, one purpose was to have the people of China, that the CCP just conquered, submit themselves to the rule of the party. The CCP handed out both favors and terror. The favors had to do with the land they gave. Where did the land come from? They did not have either. They would grab it from the landlords. A large number of farmers were thus grateful to this regime. At the same time, it made them scared. The land reform movement was a violent movement and a very bloody movement.”
“There was another purpose. The CCP needed money too much. The CCP took away the landlords’ assets, mainly gold, silver, and treasures. This solved a major financial problem and these were not distributed to the farmers.”
“At the same time, the land reform strengthened the CCP’s rule over the countryside. It established CCP branches in every remote mountain village.”
“The CCP also fulfilled the purpose of eliminating the carrier of the traditional Chinese culture in the countryside – the country gentlemen. The reason was that it needed the Marxist-Leninist culture to govern the countryside.”
What is the relationship between land reform and today’s China? Tan observed, “I think this is the best question and best research topic. In fact, the methods of land reform are basically the same as what it uses today. In the land reform, three methods were used: deception with lies, violent suppression, and buying off with material interest. These three methods are still in use today. There has been no change. The brutal methods in the land reform have been passed down. You can see this from the Cultural Revolution and the suppression of Falun Gong. These cruel and inferior methods are in the same vein and have not changed. Moreover, its nature of robbing the riches from the landlords and distributing their property has not changed at all.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, February 8, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/yl-02082019115356.html