On September 9th, I saw a WeChat post from someone:
"September 9th, the autumn wind blows again. Fifty years have passed, but the people haven't forgotten. Every time I look back on those glorious years, I feel the true weight of the words 'Serve the People.' Today, our country prospers—a golden age just as you wished. Deeply mourning and paying tribute to a giant—taking the kids for red education in late August."
Attached was a video of his two kids standing in Changsha in front of a giant bust of this cult master, reciting the poems of this mass murderer.
Never mind whether today's China can truly be called a "golden age." Just take a look behind that hypocritical chastity archway of "Serve the People"—erected by the ultimate political whore—at the gate of Zhongnanhai: how many ordinary citizens are actually allowed inside? Everyday leeks going to a local district government office just to offer free medical service get blocked at the gate and treated like thieves. In contrast, anyone can walk right in and out of Taipei City Hall, and anyone can visit the Presidential Office of the Republic of China (Taiwan) with a simple reservation.
No golden age in history has gagged its people tighter than today. Even if you shout love for the country and the Party, proclaiming absolute loyalty to the leader, you will still be swiftly pinned down and dragged away. Not to mention that in the eyes of this cult, everyone is a spy and an enemy; ordinary citizens face endless interrogation, harassment, and investigation just to go abroad. Look back at the golden age of the Tang Dynasty: whether you came from the Western Regions or the Eastern Isles of Japan, you could serve as an official in the imperial court based purely on merit, regardless of your origin—and that was over a thousand years ago.
1958 and 1966 aren't far away; our parents' generation was born back then. Let them go back to that era again and see if a single one of them is willing. Those tens of millions of unnatural deaths aren't top-secret information. As for that dashing, glamorous figure who once proudly bragged about "laying down judgment on our realm, full of youthful passion and audacity"—does he himself honestly not have a fucking clue what he did?
What kind of person can actually be called a giant? Do Hitler and Stalin count? Having massive impact and being great are two completely different things. If a thug poisons millions of families and drugs and rapes thousands of young girls—doing things unprecedented in history, never to be matched again—can you call him a giant?
When dealing with people like this today, no matter how many facts and logical arguments you lay out, they relentlessly chant "stay true to the original mission and never forget the founding commitment," unwaveringly following their cult master and coming to his defense. Yet, the moment the political landscape shifts and this red plague becomes a thing of the past, they’ll put on their human masks again, masquerading as "objective, rational, and impartial moderates," hypocritically condemning the very convictions they stand by so unwaveringly today.
Their so-called unwavering conviction today stems precisely from having no backbone. The devil cannot occupy a person's soul unless the person chooses to open the door and make the bargain.
Translator's Notes
[1] September 9th: September 9th marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong (September 9, 1976), making Li Saiyue's post a direct commemoration of Mao's death.
[2] "Laying down judgment on our realm...": This phrase (指點江山,揮斥方遒) is a direct quotation from Mao Zedong's famous 1925 poem "Changsha" (Qinyuanchun – Changsha), in which he boasted about his youthful ambitions to govern the nation. The essay intentionally uses Mao's own poetic rhetoric against him, creating an ironic link back to the children reciting his poetry in the opening paragraph.




