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Submit Your Reflection about "Surviving the Religion of Mao."

Thoughts from a Second Generation Chinese-American (September 16, 2007)
Even as a second generation Chinese-American born and raised in San Francisco, I could identify with Anchee's experience from mainland China under Mao. I felt my traditional, authoritarian upbringing from a mother from southern China was a form of living in China. I felt the same restrictions, lack of compassion on a much smaller scale, contrasted by the freedom I saw in the white world of school, neighbors, friends. The world I saw through my mother's eyes was so small compared to what I saw in school and from what I read in books.

Lillian Ford
Colorado Springs, CO (KUNC, 91.5 FM)

I Can Now Understand. (September 16, 2007)
I listen to your always intriguing program whenever I can. I found today's program and the memories and writings of the wise author to be very heartrending, riveting and deeply felt. I am so pleased that life afforded her the opportunity to become herself here in America. I have always been appalled at the capacity of cruelty by our species, not only to each other, but to animals also. The Chinese can be so very cruel to animals, bear bile farming and dog and cat eating et .al., but I think I can now understand how that lack of empathy came to be rooted in the nature of the people who were subjected to the 'brain-washing' of the tyrant Mao. This listener is so grateful for your program and for the spiritual insights you impart every week through your interviews of such special people. Thank you!

Elaine Livesey Fassel
Los Angeles, CA (KPPC, 89.3 FM)

Lovely Poem (September 25, 2005)
I enjoy your program. It is unique in its quiet thoughtfulness. Listening today to Anchee Min, I was especially taken by the poem she remembered from her mother about the mountain behind the flowing streams. Where could I find that poem? Thank you so much.

[Note: the passage from Empress Orchid containing the aforementioned poem can be found at the 46:47 mark in the program particulars section.]

Jean Anderson
Los Angeles, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

Surviving the Religion of America (September 25, 2005)
I've been listening to your program with great interest. You've covered quite a wide range of topics on faith and religion. In regard to this episode of "Surviving the Religion of Mao" and the interview with Anchee Min, I've reservations on portraying Mao as "religion." It's more of a cult following with Mao as the supreme cult leader. The only modern day equivalent of such cult figure is Kim Il Song and his son Kim Jong Il of North Korea. In fact both of them model after Mao.

Anchee Min as a best seller and a former Red Guard cleverly used her experiences in telling stories of the Cultural Revolution to the curious audiences in the West. By the way, her name Anchee is the Chinese equivalent of "angel." That explains her mother's closely hidden Christian faith in the tumultuous times. I haven't read any of her books but her quick fame in the West is matched by near silence in the Chinese language community. A quick Google search of her name in Chinese only came up with four entries. This is a queer publication phenomenon. Perhaps that is because of the paucity of Chinese authors of the "post-revolutionary" generation writing or publishing in English and the general curiosity of the audiences in the West.

There are a few misrepresentations in the interview which may be described as "lost in translation." For example, her quote of Mao's famous saying: challenge of man is the greatest joy. The word "challenge" should be understood in the context of "class struggle" in Marxism. Mao's saying should be more appropriately translated as: "There is infinite joy to struggle against the sky. There is infinite joy to struggle against the earth. And there is infinite joy to struggle amongst man." There were also factual misstatements in the interview. For example, Mao's oldest son was described as "killed by Americans." Mao's son was in fact accidentally killed in a bombing in the Korean War. Mao's [second] wife was "slaughtered" by KMT. Actually she was executed in the turmoil of fighting between KMT and the Communists. Slaughter wouldn't be the right word.

I applaud your interview with Anchee Min and the exploration of the religious minds in post-Mao era of the generation of Chinese who went through the Cultural Revolution. However, I'd like to point out that there is a greater under-publicized phenomenon of the underground Evangelical Christian Movement going on in China right now. The number is estimated to be 80 million Christians. Many of the "born-again Christians" have been arrested because of the great fear of the Communist regime in organized private gatherings or movement in general. Publicly and officially Christian religion is only allowed in authorized churches.

Another point you touched a little is the great void of faith and religion in current generations of Chinese mostly due to total destruction of religion in Mao's era. I read somewhere that there is fast growth in Chinese churches in the U.S. after the opening of China in the 1980s. There is also revival of traditional worships in mainland China. Religiousness is perhaps an innate human nature. Keep up the good work.

Mark Huang
Rockville, MD (WETA, 90.9 FM)

Surviving the Religion of America (September 25, 2005)
I was struck by the parallel between Mao's use of fear during the Vietnam War and the Bush administration's use of fear during the "War on Terrorism."

Examples:

"We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Condoleezza Rice, September 2002.

"Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country." President Bush, March 6, White House news conference.

"He [Saddam Hussein] could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own." President Bush, State of the Union address, January 2003.

Peter Hansen
Iowa City, IA (WSUI, 910 AM)

The Seeds of Healing (January 2, 2005)
Every Sunday morning, I make it a point to listen to the program of Speaking of Faith to help me prepare for my daily meditation. Listening to the interviews already is a way of meditation but today's interview with Anchee Min was the best and most powerful I have ever listened to. I am an Asian (Filipina) and connected very deeply with the thoughts of Anchee Min. Very powerful!

The beauty of going deep into herself to touch her very own humanity and find the seeds of healing therein. Humanity = spirituality! I was also moved by the story about her mother whom she discovered to be a Christian! Everything just moved me to tears. Congratulations and continue this beautiful work.

Loretto Mapa
Philadelphia, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Reminding Ourselves to Be Good (January 2, 2005)
What impressed me most was Anchee Min's reflection that people deeply want to "be good," to do the right thing — and how that deep yearning can be manipulated to destructive ends, even to the destruction of loved ones. It is very important that we hear this and are vigilant about how this could happen in our own lives. I was fascinated by the whole interview and can't wait to read her memoir. This program is becoming an important touchstone of my week; I am very grateful for the many insights I am gaining by being a regular listener. Thank you!

Bess Chosak
North Haven, CT (WPKT, 90.5 FM)

Moved by Min's Lyricism (January 1, 2005)
My heart was touched by Anchee Min's voice, syntax, lyricism and care. Her life has brought her to a place of compassion and understanding and it was healing for me to hear her this afternoon. The music in the program, the choice of excerpts, her responses, the interviewer's questions — brought me joy. Thank you. For her to know how it felt to be enslaved mentally and freed to be who she is, and to be able to express it so touchingly is beautiful: "You are the river, I am the mountain standing behind you." She expresses the power of American freedom beyond political declension — from a creative and heartfelt song.

Jon Tupper
Highland Mills, NY (WNYC, 820 AM)

Setting the Tone (January 5, 2005)
I usually change the station when your show comes on, but last week's program was exceptional. Thank you for shedding light on this mystery of Mao and the Chinese people. Anchee Min explained it so well and Krista is a very sensitive, empathetic, and intelligent interviewer. And I loved the use of the music to set the mood. Well done!

Paul Austin
Salt Lake City, UT (KUER, 90.1 FM)

Anchee Min & Faith in Mao (January 4, 2005)
I consistently find your programs and discussions quite interesting. Having been to China a few times and having had long conversations with Chinese people about the pre- and post-Mao times, including their experiences of the Cultural Revolution, I found this past week's program with Anchee Min especially so. Thus I am suggesting a few perspectives which you may find it interesting to ponder.

Two basic concerns emerge. First, Maoism is not qualitatively that different from other monotheistic religions, only quantitatively so. All are based generally on the sublimation of the present to some sort of halcyon future, i.e., the "Communist" state or "Heaven." Ideology always requires a denial of human reality and is thus prone to vicious and destructive, if not genocidal impulses: "You're born sinful and you're all going to burn in hell if you don't agree with me," for example. This is one of the reasons why Buddhists, who seem to generally be significantly more humane and accepting of our natural holiness than those who think we are "made in the image of God" seem to be, have practices and not ideologies and holy texts to fight over. I suggest a reading of the philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre's Marxism and Christianity as a thoughtful reflection on this subject.

Second, when you and most Americans speak of one's faith it generally requires that one have an institutional religious affinity. This is in fact most ironic and amusing. As has been said of Christianity and the proclivity to equate churchgoing with the United States' status as a Christian nation, "going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car." Whatever a Christian is. (I suggest the "Jesse Baptist" test: Jesse Helms and Jesse Jackson are both Baptists. What's a Baptist believe?) It can be easily argued that faith and monotheism are in fact mutually exclusive. If every question results finally in the same answer, i.e., "God's Will", what is there really to wonder about? Further, the Greek/French political enthusiast Cornelius Castoriadis even suggests that thinking and monotheism are mutually exclusive. If one believes in an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God then that must be a conclusion with which one must contend. Speaking of faith in a more prosaic fashion the Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary went as far as to say that "If the Lord is my Shepherd, what does that make me? Baaaaaaaaa." This is an excellent example of what the organizational theorist Jeffrey Pfeffer describes as the inherently attributional nature of all leadership.

In times like these we would do well to learn from the lessons of radical ideological history, as Anchee Min suggests. Conceptually there is little difference between the camps she describes in China and what the Bush administration is doing in Guantanamo, in Abu Gharib and in other such places around the world. As well as the demonizing of over 2,000,000 people in U.S. prisons—most of whom are there for drug-related offenses.

It's time to think carefully. As an amusing but thought-provoking conclusion, drawing an analogy with organized religion to Cher's comment that "Marriage is a fine institution, but who wants to be institutionalized" seems in order.

John Hasselberg
Minneapolis, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)

Great Appreciation and Thankfulness for Her Mother's Faith (January 3, 2005)
I am an American who dated a daughter of an air force general of Mao's for five years. Listening to Anchee Min reminded me of the profound suffering of the Chinese people and the effects of the Cultural Revolution on the children of Chinese at all levels of the society.

There was no security at any level. Even Mao's generals were subject to humiliation, torture, and house arrest from Madame Mao. Their children were also subjected to denunciation and being sent to the country to work on farms. My friend was sent to an air force hospital to work as a nurse aide to prevent her going to the countryside. No one was immune. Anchee is a true blessing! She is so frank and open about her experience. It is wonderful to listen to her.

John Bierma
Leland, MS (WMAO, 90.9 FM)

Red Azalea (January 2, 2005)
I find your program often, perhaps to appeal to a religious audience that is looking for such levels of analysis, reduces complex moments in history to simplistic explanations. The recent episode on the Maoist period as "religion" is but one example. Wow the analogy has certain relevance surely, it hardly captures the complexity of Chinese history and relies on a simplistic one that is especially popular with and ironically shared by Chinese exiles and today's Chinese Communist Party cadres.

However, is there not more to the history of that period than these two groups might wish to have us explore? There are historians such as Maurice Meisner, among others, who have done very careful analyses of the origins of the Cultural Revolution that show that many of those battles remain as much a part of the fabric of Chinese society in ways that a "religious" explanation can't begin to unravel. The battles that occurred in China during that period were as much informed by class-based forms of subordination that to this day have not been remotely resolved by opening the Chinese economy to the wonders of free capitalist markets.

In that important sense their complexity (and attendant forms of tragedy surely) speak in a relevant fashion to today's China, though in ways that Chinese exiles such as the author of Red Azalea, Ms. Min, and China's ruling elite today wish to not explore in any critical fashion. Their resolution for the crisis of inequality facing today's China is as simplistic (and ill informed) as their rendition of Chinese history—"bring more unregulated markets to China." It is in this sense that I find many of the philosophical ruminations of Ms. Min to be based on a propagandistic sense of anti-communism that misses the complexity of history and prefers superficial narratives that rely on black-and-white, easy-to-grasp metaphors that Americans with little sense of history off their shores can cling to comfortably.

Stephen Philion
Minneapolis, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)

A Person Alive in Her Emotions (June 26, 2004)
What I especially liked about Anchee Min was her ability to speak intelligently, with deep emotion, about the terrible sufferings under Mao, without venting anger or bitterness. She conveyed a wonderful quality of simplicity in her speech and thought, revealing to us the gentle, strong, and feeling woman that she is.

Bob Salmon
Cranford, NJ (WNYC, 820 AM)

Waiting for My Daughter (June 21, 2004)
As a Chinese born in 1970's, I feel fortunate that I did not have to live through the Cultural Revolution. But I feel my experience of moving to the United States from China is the same as Anchee Min: I feel more about my Chinese identity in the United States than the time when I was in China.

I lived in Japan for 5 years; I felt I was turning more and more like a Japanese there; but here in the U.S. I feel I am encouraged to pursue my culture and roots. I think this is the very true American value that have attracted us to here. I pray this will still be true for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Sometimes, when I look at my three-year-old daughter, who claims that she is a Chinese American, with her big green-eyes open, I am just as proud as I can be. Thanks NPR for this wonderful program. And thanks to Anchee Min for sharing her story with us.

Jing Yang
Marietta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Waiting for My Daughter (June 21, 2004)
I met Anchee Min on her book tour for Empress Orchid — the meeting was particularly special as it was hosted by/for families who have adopted children (mostly daughters) from China. Anchee Min especially wanted children to attend — and as a waiting parent, this instantly warmed my heart.

While the program expanded my understanding of Anchee Min's life experiences, additionally my organic-level understanding of what it means to be Chinese also grew. And on a personal level, the program allowed me an opportunity to consider the depth and breadth of my own faith.

Thanks for providing another stepping stone on the faith journey.

Christine Romboletti
Washington DC (WETA, 90.9 FM)

A Moving Program (June 20, 2004)
I happened to be driving in to work early this morning and heard a piece of the interview with Anchee Min. It was a very moving program. I had not heard of this program before but will now listen on Sunday mornings. Thank you.

Ingrid Halling
Flint, MI (WUOM, 90.9 FM)