Mao Zedong was a remarkable person in the history of China. Moreover, he was a leader of the country whose political and philosophical views predetermined development of the country and its relationships with other countries throughout the world. For many years Mao Zedong was the key person for every Chinese. He was a deputy of God on Earth. His name and his figure were untouchable. In other words, it was a cult of the personality. One may say that Mao existed on different levels: he was simultaneously a real person and a kind of a higher, almost divine human being. Mao was also an image for worship, an altar, to which people sacrificed even the most precious things. There was a case in Mao times that may become a bright illustration of the concept we are speaking about. A young Chinese man, who was devoted to Mao’s philosophy with all his heart, made some notes on the pages that represented Mao’s literary works: poems, speeches, etc. That notes appraised strophes from literary point of view: good, not so bad, poor. The young man made these comments when he was at school, but the book was found when he graduated from a higher educational establishment. Still, he lost his reputation, was accused of a being a revolutionary and committed suicide. His own girlfriend could hardly overcome disgust towards his acts. Thereby, one cannot say, that Mao was a just a great politician. He was a symbol that encouraged people to do things even without his own commands. He was a symbol that was worshiped by billions of people and when this worship disappeared a great vacuum came to its place. Western customs as new and exotic ones attracted many people. Chinese culture was isolated for many centuries and it reluctantly accepted new traditions. Still, in these circumstances, when people were devoided of a symbol, that was half-religious, half- secular, it was indeed vulnerable. Blending of different, in some way alien cultures led to appearance of new social groups. There were different, negative and positive facts in their appearance. Still, they accepted and digested new cultural tendencies. They might be interpreted as both, children and victims of their time (Barme, “Shades of Mao” 126).
After his government was over, it was a real crisis for China. Despite utopian ideas China was an isolated country form different points of view: cultural, political, economic, and others. Although government of Mao Zedong is already over, the impact of maoization is still obvious. However, what we may observe today is a slow process of de-maoization. The history shows that there is always an opposition to a government that violates human rights. Such term as decadence refers to the group of people who express social protest in this or that form. As a rule, it is a generation of people who are tired of senseless and rude activities of their government. Literature and other types of art is one of the best things that could represent social processes of this or that period. One may definitely find works of literature that show opposition between people of this or that country and its government. Some Chinese authors are not an exception. Works by Wang Shuo were a new phenomenon for Chinese people. The thing is that he was a representative of people who was not afraid to express indignation towards inner and outer policy of the country. In other words, he was a social revolutionary in the aspect of literature. However, Wang Shuo is not an aggressive revolutionary, he is an observer of the chaos that takes place in China.
Nevertheless, any process of change cannot pass without any obstacle and complication. If Chinese culture was closed for many years, now, with the shift to the less extreme communism, China became closer to the western world than ever before. However, the interaction between western and eastern cultures, Chinese in particular, does not flow smoothly. The thing is that both western and eastern nations have a rich cultural. Still, the exchange between them is held on absolutely different layers. One of the main features Chinese culture adopts from the western one is consumer lifestyle (Barme, “Wang Shuo”). As a result, a new culture emerges in China. “Liumang in everyday speech is a harsh word. It is the word for antisocial behaviour, a category of crime” (Barme, “In the Red” 64). It is close to the movement of the 60-es in the USA and Europe. A Liumang lifestyle became the center of Wang Shuo’s works. Moreover, he even enjoys depicting it (Barme, “Wang Shuo”). The book Playing for Thrills is one of Wang Shuo’s works that depict life of Liumang people. The main character of the book is young man who spends his life in alcohol drinking, gambling, and womanising. In other words, Fang Yan, the main character of the book, is a young hooligan. One day he is accused of the murder. Still, he does not remember whether he has committed it or not. The thing is that alcohol does not favour development of memory. On the contrary, it is a kind of befuddling liquid that Fang Yan abuses. However, the author does not present Fang Yan as a negative person. Of course, he is a gambler, he is a womaniser. Still, it does not mean that he a bad person. He is an individual that is in the period of crisis. In this aspect, the main character of the Playing for Thrills is more close to the characters of western novels. Yet, apart from a life of the hooligan, Wang Shuo describes social life of many Chinese people after the Revolution. Moreover, Wang Shuo describes himself. Te author of the book is an individual, as well as Fang Yan, with his drawbacks. Still, he does not feel shame for this aspect. On the contrary, he is indifferent about it. he is indifferent about attitude of other Chinese people (do not forget that for the majority of Chinese people Liumang is a term with negative connotation), he is indifferent about politics of his country.
“ – Stay where you are. One step closer, and I’ll jump out the window.
– What’s that? Who do we have here, Lenin’s security boos, or maybe Dr. Tota?” (Shuo 24-25)
“Lenin’s security boos” is an allusion to the Russian movie where a man jumps and dies to save Lenin. It is not a secret that Lenin was the same for Russian people as Mao Zedong for Chinese. These words emphasize the attitude of the main character towards the cult of Zedong personality in China. In other words, they show that Fang Yan is not only indifferent about Mao Zedong and his government. Moreover, Fang Yan despises it. However, this indifference of Fang Yan and Wang Shuo is the passive expression of distrust and opposition to the government and social situation in the country.
As it has been mentioned above, Liumang was in many aspects influence of western cultures. Still, the attitude of the author towards it is obvious:
Foreigners in Beijing had begun dumping their money on the black market instead of using it in cabs, and locals who needed it to buy foreign goods were nearly crazed enough to storm the foreign legations, just like Boxers. We Chinese would swallow our pride, and that pissed this particular cabbie off. (Shuo 27)
In other words, the author ridicules consumer relations of China with western countries. Wang Shuo highlights that such international relationships just ruin the image of Chinese people and humiliate them. It is obvious that economic of China develops slowly in comparison with other countries.
All in all, the book Playing for Trills by Wang Shuo is a new stage not only in the literature of Chinese people. Although it was highly criticized by Chinese experts, it has a huge impact on a new generation of Chinese people. It reveals uneasy process of de-maoization. On the one hand, for many years they were restricted by the policy of Mao Zedong. On the other hand, contemporary cultural, economic, and political situation is similar to chaos. The result of this chaos is the generation of Liumang generation, people whose illusions are frustrated by the previous government of Mao Zedong and uncertainty of future cultural and economic life.
Works Cited
Barme, Geremie. “Wang Shuo and Liumang (‘Hooligan’) Culture”. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 28. July (1992). Print.
Barme, Geremie. In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Print.
Barme, Geremie. Shades of Mao: the Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. Print.
Shuo, Wang. Playing for Thrills. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 1998. Print.