This week was short, but on Wednesday, I chose the pdf that talks about Lei Feng, a soldier whose diary shows him as a true devotee to Mao and socialism, and he was held up as a model for all to follow. He was a communist man who others should follow because he was selfless, hardworking, obedient, and frugal. His entire story describes Mao’s expectations of the people. For example, he would keep a “treasure chest,” in which he kept screws, bits of wire, toothpaste tubes, rags, worn-out gloves, and other stuff he collected he put in it. When the summer uniforms were given, he only took one, and the officer in charge questioned him on the fact that he wouldn’t take both uniforms. He replied, “There’s still plenty of wear in this uniform I have on, if it’s patched and mended. The patched clothes I’m wearing now are a thousand times better than the rags I wore as a child. I’d rather hand back the other clothes to the state.” He was a very frugal man and did not want to waste anything that was given to him. He was also very good with his money, and he would spend his money on only necessary things. “Lei Feng lived extremely simply, never spending a cent more than necessary. Every month, after paying his Party dues and keeping a small sum to buy more of Chairman Mao’s writings or some daily necessities, he banked all the rest of his pay. His socks were darned and re-darned until little of the original material was left, yet still he did not like to throw them away. His basin and mug have lost nearly all their enamel, exposing large patches of the iron beneath, yet he refused to buy new ones. One of the men asked. “Why skimp yourself, Lei Feng? You’ve no family to Support.” Who says I have no fam ilyLei Feng retorted. There are hundreds of millions of people in my family— the big family of the motherland. Chairman Mao has called on every one of us to go all out and struggle hard to change our country s poverty and backwardness. Am I wrong to economize?” He was selfless; he would give every last cent if his country needed money. Lei Feng’s story is about a model communist man who would do anything for his country, no matter how extreme.
Bibliography
“Life and Death of Lei Feng, and Admirable ‘Fool’.” In The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. Third ed. Edited by Janet Chen et. al. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
Chineseposters.net. “Lei Feng.” Accessed April 10, 2023. https://chineseposters.net/themes/leifeng.
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