Read Online The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends That Will Disrupt the World by Shaun Rein - Free Book Online
Authors: Shaun Rein
Tags: General, Business & Economics
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not memorable enough to capture the hearts of audiences. Known for her fiery temper, Lan Ping battled everyone around her, directors and fellow stars alike, jockeying for better parts and more money. She rarely got her way. Perhaps it was because she lacked talent, or maybe it was just because audiences could sense ice in her heart, but she never became famous until decades later.
Driven by clawing ambition and a willingness to step on others, Lan Ping scored her largest role as the fourth wife of Mao Zedong and the cornerstone of the Gang of Four. She changed her name to Jiang Qing, and began using violence to gain power and exact personal vendettas.
Jiang Qing hated Lili Li and her family personally. She blamed Lili Li and her husband Luo for preventing her rise to stardom. She also hated Lili Li because she came from a heavyweight political background that could limit her power.
Lili Li’s father, Qian Zhuangfei, was an early hero of the Chinese Communist Party, which he had joined in 1925. Unlike many of the early members, Qian came from a wealthy background and gave up a life of comfort to help the masses. He traced his lineage back to Zhang Tingyu, a powerful premier for several decades during the Qing Dynasty under Qing emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Qian also had been close friends with Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, whom Jiang Qing despised. Many predicted Qian would become the future prime minister because of his belief in Communism and broad-based support.
Qian became a double agent for the Communists during the bitter Chinese Civil War (1927–1949) between the Nationalists and Communists. Under Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party, he was in charge of rooting out Communists. Few thought someone with such a gilded background as Qian would turn to his back on riches to become Communist and help the masses.
After ruthlessly torturing a Communist Party member, Chiang Kai-shek discovered Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai’s hiding place. In order to warn the two prominent Communist leaders that they were about to be caught, Qian had to blow his cover. He became a personal target of Chiang Kai-shek and a hero of the Communist cause. Qian died during the Long March, a decisive but tortuous 8,000-mile trek the Communists undertook while being pursued and attacked by the Nationalists, before regrouping at Yan’an in Shaanxi province.
The Party proclaimed Qian a martyr for his sacrifice on the people’s behalf. Monuments have been erected around the country, and schoolchildren still learn about his exploits and sacrifice for the masses. The Chinese Communist Party recently named Qian one of the 50 most important party members in history, despite having been killed over a decade before the official founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Out of friendship and gratitude to Qian for saving his life, Zhou Enlai went out of his way to care for Qian’s daughter, Lili Li.
During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing sought to eradicate threats to her dominance and exact revenge for petty offenses. She attacked Lili Li’s family with a vengeance reserved for her most bitter enemies and rivals. As Lili Li continued to relate the pain her family had endured to create a better life for everyday Chinese, her eyes turned sad.
In the years before she passed away in 2005, Lili Li continued to tell me more about the evil that Jiang Qing perpetrated, and how it is the duty of a people blessed with so much to do what is right—even in the face of tyranny. She reinforced the importance of standing up to evil and sacrificing for the country. She had even told my wife, Jessica, when she went to America for graduate studies in finance at Boston College, that it was her duty to return to China to help reform the financial system and help make it strong. A life that did not help the country wasted all the sacrifices of previous generations.
What most surprised me about our
Driven by clawing ambition and a willingness to step on others, Lan Ping scored her largest role as the fourth wife of Mao Zedong and the cornerstone of the Gang of Four. She changed her name to Jiang Qing, and began using violence to gain power and exact personal vendettas.
Jiang Qing hated Lili Li and her family personally. She blamed Lili Li and her husband Luo for preventing her rise to stardom. She also hated Lili Li because she came from a heavyweight political background that could limit her power.
Lili Li’s father, Qian Zhuangfei, was an early hero of the Chinese Communist Party, which he had joined in 1925. Unlike many of the early members, Qian came from a wealthy background and gave up a life of comfort to help the masses. He traced his lineage back to Zhang Tingyu, a powerful premier for several decades during the Qing Dynasty under Qing emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Qian also had been close friends with Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, whom Jiang Qing despised. Many predicted Qian would become the future prime minister because of his belief in Communism and broad-based support.
Qian became a double agent for the Communists during the bitter Chinese Civil War (1927–1949) between the Nationalists and Communists. Under Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party, he was in charge of rooting out Communists. Few thought someone with such a gilded background as Qian would turn to his back on riches to become Communist and help the masses.
After ruthlessly torturing a Communist Party member, Chiang Kai-shek discovered Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai’s hiding place. In order to warn the two prominent Communist leaders that they were about to be caught, Qian had to blow his cover. He became a personal target of Chiang Kai-shek and a hero of the Communist cause. Qian died during the Long March, a decisive but tortuous 8,000-mile trek the Communists undertook while being pursued and attacked by the Nationalists, before regrouping at Yan’an in Shaanxi province.
The Party proclaimed Qian a martyr for his sacrifice on the people’s behalf. Monuments have been erected around the country, and schoolchildren still learn about his exploits and sacrifice for the masses. The Chinese Communist Party recently named Qian one of the 50 most important party members in history, despite having been killed over a decade before the official founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Out of friendship and gratitude to Qian for saving his life, Zhou Enlai went out of his way to care for Qian’s daughter, Lili Li.
During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing sought to eradicate threats to her dominance and exact revenge for petty offenses. She attacked Lili Li’s family with a vengeance reserved for her most bitter enemies and rivals. As Lili Li continued to relate the pain her family had endured to create a better life for everyday Chinese, her eyes turned sad.
In the years before she passed away in 2005, Lili Li continued to tell me more about the evil that Jiang Qing perpetrated, and how it is the duty of a people blessed with so much to do what is right—even in the face of tyranny. She reinforced the importance of standing up to evil and sacrificing for the country. She had even told my wife, Jessica, when she went to America for graduate studies in finance at Boston College, that it was her duty to return to China to help reform the financial system and help make it strong. A life that did not help the country wasted all the sacrifices of previous generations.
What most surprised me about our
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