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New Roads #2
Silage Choppers and Snake Spirits: The Lives and Struggles of Two Americans in Modern China
473 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 24, 2022
This book was a loooong, but definitely a good read! It took me a few months after temporarily shelving the book early this year before getting my hands on it again last week. Admittedly, there were a lot of details that I already forgot when I picked up where I left off, but there was something that Joan Hinton said that kind of reflects on her (and Sid's and their children's and friends') entire experience in China---from the time it was still reeling from the aftermath of the world war to the civil war between the communists and the nationalist Kuomintang, to Chairman Mao's ascension to state power and China's thrust to socialism, to the Sino-Soviet split, the Cultural Revolution, the death of Mao, the rise of Deng Xiaoping and the capitalist roaders, and all of the contradictions present in the process of establishing socialism in one of the most successful states to have been identified with it in our lifetime---that resonated in me:
"The Cultural Revolution failed because of the ability of the capitalist roaders to whip up factionalism among the people. And in fact the people are so easily whipped into factionalism. It's the petit bourgeois ideology, which is so strong in all of us; our Achilles' heel. We can't join together to fight the main enemy, because of our own petit bourgeois tendency to become factional. To me, if we can't get over this, it's the one thing that's gonna keep ordinary people from ever being able to develop socialism..."
Joan and Sid's lifelong commitment to socialism, even in the midst of political upheavals that had a great impact not only on the socialist ideological line and the dynamics of socialist production, but also on Joan & Sid's personal lives (and their fellow foreigners who helped China transition to socialism from the beginning), their firm belief and strong faith in socialism as, first and foremost, a system advocating for a better life for all and not just the few, implores us all to learn from their compelling narrative.
It is interesting to note that while the likes of Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese counterrevolutionaries on the Right were in a hurry to introduce China to capitalism (for all its supposed glory!), the fervor of these two Americans' revolutionary optimism is something more worth emphasizing:
"You go deeper and deeper into it and it becomes fascinating if you really try to find out what the laws that work are --- otherwise it's just fluffy. It's really observing nature, and in China it was observing people and the relations between people, and the relations between production and the enthusiasm of the people."
"Mao's whole writings said that the most precious thing you had was serving the people. That if the Party went against the people, then what did you want a Party membership for? The first thing was to serve the people and the Party was second."
Moreover, throughout the Hinston-Engsts' decades of devoted work in China, we are reminded of the importance of relentless criticism & self-criticism, always engaging in ideological struggle, and adhering to Mao's "serve the people," a profound reflection on the latter was provided by Joan:
"To believe in people. To understand the duality of things. To be able to see the positive side of each and every human being. This is what one must strive to learn. Science, technology, production --- what are they without people? Machines are made by people. Cows are milked and fed by the people. What meaning can there be to pure science, abstract from people? And the concept 'man' itself is abstracted from the existing reality 'men,' from the millions upon millions of thinking, acting, living individuals, men and women busy in all the daily tasks of production which go to make up society. Each of these individuals has his/her temper, his/her faults, his/her characteristics different from all the others, but each also has his/her brain, his/her hopes, his/her enthusiasm, and his/her desire to make a better world. Without individual 'men', there is no 'man.' Without 'man' there is nothing but raw nature."
Through the years, long after Joan and Sid left the physical world, the movements for national liberation and democracy across the world have encountered a lot of roadblocks as the imperialist assault on socialism was becoming more and more aggressive. May the story of the two Americans who came to China not knowing where to start but later on devoted their whole lives as revolutionaries who helped modernize agriculture so it could improve production and transform the lives of the people for the better inspire us to always soldier on!
"The Cultural Revolution failed because of the ability of the capitalist roaders to whip up factionalism among the people. And in fact the people are so easily whipped into factionalism. It's the petit bourgeois ideology, which is so strong in all of us; our Achilles' heel. We can't join together to fight the main enemy, because of our own petit bourgeois tendency to become factional. To me, if we can't get over this, it's the one thing that's gonna keep ordinary people from ever being able to develop socialism..."
Joan and Sid's lifelong commitment to socialism, even in the midst of political upheavals that had a great impact not only on the socialist ideological line and the dynamics of socialist production, but also on Joan & Sid's personal lives (and their fellow foreigners who helped China transition to socialism from the beginning), their firm belief and strong faith in socialism as, first and foremost, a system advocating for a better life for all and not just the few, implores us all to learn from their compelling narrative.
It is interesting to note that while the likes of Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese counterrevolutionaries on the Right were in a hurry to introduce China to capitalism (for all its supposed glory!), the fervor of these two Americans' revolutionary optimism is something more worth emphasizing:
"You go deeper and deeper into it and it becomes fascinating if you really try to find out what the laws that work are --- otherwise it's just fluffy. It's really observing nature, and in China it was observing people and the relations between people, and the relations between production and the enthusiasm of the people."
"Mao's whole writings said that the most precious thing you had was serving the people. That if the Party went against the people, then what did you want a Party membership for? The first thing was to serve the people and the Party was second."
Moreover, throughout the Hinston-Engsts' decades of devoted work in China, we are reminded of the importance of relentless criticism & self-criticism, always engaging in ideological struggle, and adhering to Mao's "serve the people," a profound reflection on the latter was provided by Joan:
"To believe in people. To understand the duality of things. To be able to see the positive side of each and every human being. This is what one must strive to learn. Science, technology, production --- what are they without people? Machines are made by people. Cows are milked and fed by the people. What meaning can there be to pure science, abstract from people? And the concept 'man' itself is abstracted from the existing reality 'men,' from the millions upon millions of thinking, acting, living individuals, men and women busy in all the daily tasks of production which go to make up society. Each of these individuals has his/her temper, his/her faults, his/her characteristics different from all the others, but each also has his/her brain, his/her hopes, his/her enthusiasm, and his/her desire to make a better world. Without individual 'men', there is no 'man.' Without 'man' there is nothing but raw nature."
Through the years, long after Joan and Sid left the physical world, the movements for national liberation and democracy across the world have encountered a lot of roadblocks as the imperialist assault on socialism was becoming more and more aggressive. May the story of the two Americans who came to China not knowing where to start but later on devoted their whole lives as revolutionaries who helped modernize agriculture so it could improve production and transform the lives of the people for the better inspire us to always soldier on!
August 9, 2022
Chou narrated the lives and struggles of Joan Hinton and Sid Engst the way the two probably would have wanted it - with thorough criticism and self-criticism. They were painted not simply against the backdrop of a newly socialist China at first and how the country struggled to keep its proletarian ideology later, but as two characters who reacted to and acted in the political situation they were facing. Personal stories interspersed with historical lessons which did well in guiding the reader through the political situation at the time. I especially liked the fact that I got to learn a lot about China - before and after the revolution, and before and after the capitalist roaders won.
July 4, 2023
If you've ever wanted to learn about the birth of revolution and people's liberation in China and its long history of struggle and reform then this is the book for you.
Joan and Sid's lived experience paints a textured portrait of life in the far reaches of China where everyone was creating their own revolution! In the household, in their dairy farms and metalworks, in each little office.
You will learn about Dazibaos and criticism, self-criticism, and the ever-corrupting factionalism that pained their generation.
Joan and Sid's lived experience paints a textured portrait of life in the far reaches of China where everyone was creating their own revolution! In the household, in their dairy farms and metalworks, in each little office.
You will learn about Dazibaos and criticism, self-criticism, and the ever-corrupting factionalism that pained their generation.
September 30, 2022
I love this book, it made me laugh and cry. It is also a very good historical overview of Chinese socialism which is what I was hoping for. Overall it is a lovely biography.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews