Read Online The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu - Free Book Online
Book: The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu
Read Free Book Online
Authors: Liao Yiwu
Ads: Link
people executed after being denounced at a “speak bitterness” session. So after Piggy told me what he'd done to those corpse walkers, fear took hold of me. Soon the village square was packed with gawking spectators. I could see people's heads moving in the slight drizzle. Loud drums and gongs drowned out the chatter of the crowd. Some who couldn't get in climbed up onto the roof of the grain collection station. Country folk seldom got to visit the city and had no access to entertainment all year long. Public denunciation meetings offered free drama for many onlookers. None of them wanted to miss it.
A makeshift stage had been set up next to the grain warehouse. The newly appointed county chief sat behind a long table in the middle wearing a gray suit like Mao's. Next to him were the head of the government Land Reform work team and three soldiers. About a dozen wooden chairs and stools were placed in the front row. They were reserved for the head of the village militia, the chairman of the newly formed Poor Peasant Revolutionary Committee, and several peasant activists. Soon the loud gongs and drums stopped. The county chief grabbed a microphone that occasionally blasted out piercing squeals. He moved his mouth closer: Let's first bring Zhang Kan, the evil landlord, Liu Chan, the notorious bandit leader, and their lackeys out on stage.
I felt somewhat relieved that the corpse walkers were not called. People standing near the stage shuffled around to make way for the criminals: More than ten people were pushed onto the stage. They were wearing tall dunce caps, their hands were tied to their backs, black cartoon boards hung in front of their chests with characters such as evil landlord Zhang Kan, et cetera. Then the county chief raised his right arm and shouted, “Down with the exploiting class and kill the evil landlords and the bandits!” As if on cue, people all raised their right arms and shouted in agreement. After the slogan shouting died down, some poor peasant activists stood up and began to tell dreadful stories about how badly they had been treated and exploited by those landlords before the Communists came. Their testimonies were followed by another round of slogan shouting. Then the soldiers escorted the pair of them and their lackeys out to an open field nearby, and the whole bunch was shot dead on the spot.
LIAO: What about the corpse walkers?
LUO: After the county chief announced the execution, people started getting restless and asked: I heard some corpse walkers were arrested last night. Where are they? The county chief wasn't about to let them down. About half an hour later, the corpse walkers were paraded onto the stage. People immediately pushed toward the front, trying to take a good look at these people who were supposed to possess legendary powers that could make a corpse walk. The gathering became quite chaotic and several kids were trampled in the crush. The soldiers on the stage stood up and jumped down into the crowd to help maintain order. They tried to push the crowd back from the stage. The county chief screamed on the microphone: Order, order, don't push. Chaos will create opportunities for our class enemies to stir up trouble.
But the people wouldn't back down. Who could blame them? The older brother and the
cheongsam
-wearing corpse had been tied together, back-to-back. The younger brother was forced to put on the black robe and carry the white lantern and the basket with fake paper money. The scary mask was tied to the back of his head. The older brother had a black sign hung around his neck that said “The Lackey of the Counterrevolutionary Corpse.” When a soldier pushed the elder brother's head down to show regret, the head of the corpse, tied to his back, appeared to look up. We could see her permed hair and makeup. It was quite a frightening but comical scene. People began to ooh and ahh. A woman in the audience screamed: She is an evil fox!
LIAO: Isn't it taboo to insult a
A makeshift stage had been set up next to the grain warehouse. The newly appointed county chief sat behind a long table in the middle wearing a gray suit like Mao's. Next to him were the head of the government Land Reform work team and three soldiers. About a dozen wooden chairs and stools were placed in the front row. They were reserved for the head of the village militia, the chairman of the newly formed Poor Peasant Revolutionary Committee, and several peasant activists. Soon the loud gongs and drums stopped. The county chief grabbed a microphone that occasionally blasted out piercing squeals. He moved his mouth closer: Let's first bring Zhang Kan, the evil landlord, Liu Chan, the notorious bandit leader, and their lackeys out on stage.
I felt somewhat relieved that the corpse walkers were not called. People standing near the stage shuffled around to make way for the criminals: More than ten people were pushed onto the stage. They were wearing tall dunce caps, their hands were tied to their backs, black cartoon boards hung in front of their chests with characters such as evil landlord Zhang Kan, et cetera. Then the county chief raised his right arm and shouted, “Down with the exploiting class and kill the evil landlords and the bandits!” As if on cue, people all raised their right arms and shouted in agreement. After the slogan shouting died down, some poor peasant activists stood up and began to tell dreadful stories about how badly they had been treated and exploited by those landlords before the Communists came. Their testimonies were followed by another round of slogan shouting. Then the soldiers escorted the pair of them and their lackeys out to an open field nearby, and the whole bunch was shot dead on the spot.
LIAO: What about the corpse walkers?
LUO: After the county chief announced the execution, people started getting restless and asked: I heard some corpse walkers were arrested last night. Where are they? The county chief wasn't about to let them down. About half an hour later, the corpse walkers were paraded onto the stage. People immediately pushed toward the front, trying to take a good look at these people who were supposed to possess legendary powers that could make a corpse walk. The gathering became quite chaotic and several kids were trampled in the crush. The soldiers on the stage stood up and jumped down into the crowd to help maintain order. They tried to push the crowd back from the stage. The county chief screamed on the microphone: Order, order, don't push. Chaos will create opportunities for our class enemies to stir up trouble.
But the people wouldn't back down. Who could blame them? The older brother and the
cheongsam
-wearing corpse had been tied together, back-to-back. The younger brother was forced to put on the black robe and carry the white lantern and the basket with fake paper money. The scary mask was tied to the back of his head. The older brother had a black sign hung around his neck that said “The Lackey of the Counterrevolutionary Corpse.” When a soldier pushed the elder brother's head down to show regret, the head of the corpse, tied to his back, appeared to look up. We could see her permed hair and makeup. It was quite a frightening but comical scene. People began to ooh and ahh. A woman in the audience screamed: She is an evil fox!
LIAO: Isn't it taboo to insult a
Similar Books
