Word: mao
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...Mao up on the wall. His sayings all over. Wang Chong-chi, 42, a former soldier and vice chairman of the school's revolutionary committee, presides with a broad smile and constant reference to Mao. His ways are the school's ways, his thoughts the students' thoughts. Wang beckons and walks off down the cold halls...
...students who have been pouring tea, age 12 or 13, step back against the wall. One smiles. A few wear the red arm bands that designate them as Red Guards. Proud of his operation, Wang keeps hurrying his guests on to see more. First comes a chemistry class. Mao looks down from the wall again. The students sit like robots listening to the teacher talk about analyzing the content of calcium. They recite like soldiers, turning to their books and back again on command, as if executing close-order drill. Nobody slouches, no eyes stray from the teacher...
English class is the place where the full impact of Mao hits an observer. "We love Chairman Mao," is chalked on the board, and below this are the lines: "Our great leader . . . the red sun ... in our hearts . . . love . . . best . . . work for . . . think of . . .be loyal to." On the desks are the English books opened to Lesson I for the eighth grade. "A long, long life to Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao, you are the red sun in our hearts. We are sun flowers. Sun flowers always face the red sun. We think of you day and night. We wish...
...will recite in English?" asks the teacher. All the hands shoot up. Like bursts of machine gun fire they go through the bilingual drills. Wang glows. The teacher leans over and picks up a color picture of Mao and puts it on the board. "Who do you see?" she asks. In unison, the class shouts back in English, "Our beloved leader Chairman Mao." Is this really an English class? One of the guests puts the question to the interpreter. There is some discussion; then she answers simply...
...hunch over the tiny things, putting them together in silence, with determination. A visitor asks a 15-year-old girl what she wants to be when she graduates. "I wish to be a successor to the revolutionary spirit of the proletariat," she says. She carries an open copy of Mao's little red book. Yes, yes, says the questioner, but how does she want to do that? "I want to do what is beneficial to the people," the girl responds...