Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A190-M19
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A190-M19
Release Date: March 11, 2006
发布日：2006年3月11日
Topic: Mo Li: The Two Faces of the "Harmonious Society" -- A Reflection as Yu Dongyue Leaving Jail
标题：“和谐社会”的两副面孔——从喻东岳出狱谈起（茉莉）
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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The Two Faces of the "Harmonious Society"
-- A Reflection as Yu Dongyue Leaving Jail
by Mo Li
February 23, 2006
While Chinese officials take delight in talking about forging a "harmonious society," the Chinese media has begun to talk more and more excitedly about the issue of "happiness". Those who are well-fed and clothed and who are happy do not want to know at all about Chinese political prisoners and their families - the "underclass" group of people who are sent to jail for expressing their views, as if they have any sense of "happiness" to talk about. What I saw was the true scene from last September: the father and younger brother of Yu Dongyue, who has been in jail for 15 years, went to visit him at the Crimson Mountain Jail on Dongting Lake. This former Hunan Province Liuyang Daily Arts Editor has already become mentally deranged and no longer recognizes his relatives. When he picks up the phone to speak to his father across the glass barrier that separates the two, Yu Dongyue can only talk nonsense. The two come so close together but are just like living in two different worlds.
In another room of the same reception area of the same jail, Shi Tao's mother, Teacher Gao Qinsheng, visited her recently-jailed son. This delicate yet firm mother moved from Shanxi Province to Changsha City in Hunan Province to live so that she could meet with her beloved poet son once each month. In a place where dust fills the air and can easily cause silicosis in the lungs, Shi Tao has to do hard labor everyday and has been abused to the point that he is much thinner now. The fact that this mother were able to talk so intimately with her son made the nearby father and younger brother of Yu Dongyue envying endlessly. To Yu Dongyue's kin, "happiness" would be such a simple scene: talking on the phone across the glass barrier to a loved one of sound mind.
Yet to them, this is a dream that they can hope for but not really pursue. In May 1989, Yu Dongyue and two other friends from Hunan tossed paint-filled eggshells at the painting of Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Square. He was then arrested and sentenced, and was severely punished while in Hunan Province's Jail No. 1. Yu Dongyue could not endure the jail placing him for long periods of time in a confinement cell, and became mentally deranged. For a considerably long period of time, the jail refused to give Yu treatment, and his condition worsened.
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Two Contrasting Images of One China
Yesterday, Yu Dongyue finally left jail, yet he is no longer to understand this changed "harmonious society," nor will he feel pained about his suffering. After 16 years in purgatory, an ardent youth striving for democracy has now become a muddleheaded man in his chaotic middle age. In Northern Europe, I ran into some Chinese people that had come from the Mainland. They told me, someone who has not returned to China in many years, about China's huge changes, and about the improvement of the standard of living. I was astounded at how they slighted Europe and at how they flaunted their own wealth. They said that they have everything that Europe has, and they also have things that Europe does not have.
Yet when I came into contact with the relatives of political prisoners such as Yu Dongyue and Shi Tao, I feel like they come from a different China - one in which they are persecuted, bullied, cruelly injured, and in which they live under the shadow of immense suffering.
One side has people living a life of wealth and of endless happiness, and the other side has people living in poverty and helplessness and in a sea of suffering. These two different Chinas, these two contrasting images, interweave and overlap one another in an odd way. In a world where people care only for profit and kiss up the power-holders, people only see China's "rise" and are unwilling to see the other reality: In this "harmonious" society, how many people are groaning from being brutally suppressed?
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"1984" and "Brave New World"
When Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom of Indiana University was researching Chinese issues, he referred to two famous works of literature, one being English writer George Orwell's prophetic political short story "1984", and the other being novel "Brave New World", written by Orwell's teacher, the English short story writer Aldous Huxley.
Mr. Wasserstrom believed that the criticism Orwell made towards communist autocracy in "1984" was only a picture of China 20 years ago, and could not help to explain the contemporary Chinese communist Party's surprising governing ability, so it is not the best mirror to observe contemporary China. Instead, Huxley's "Brave New World" gives us a more precise angle at which to look at China.
In "Brave New World", Huxley reflected on and provided advance notice about the future. He believed that later rulers were more likely to use the following methods of controlling people: first, through sexual temptation and other forms of entertainment, work hard to make sure the ruled all stayed the same wavelength as they do, and two, maximizing the separation between different portions of the populace. It seems as if "Brave New World" is more able to explain contemporary China's consumerist culture trend and the great gap between rich and poor.
But what Mr. Wasserstrom did not come to realize that "1984," as a prophecy of a totalitarian society, is not yet outdated. The frightening political tyranny that Orwell depicted could not be more true to Yu Dongyue and other political prisoners. In Orwell's fictitious Oceania, no one has any personal dignity, and any words or actions not in accord with the Party are seen as illegal and could bring about great disasters. Winston Smith, the protagonist, and his female friend are arrested and put into jail. In jail they are humiliated and tortured to the point that in the end, his wills finally collapse.
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The Same Essence of the Two Different Faces
Both "Brave New World," which depicts a place where people are entertained to death, and "1984," which depicts a terrifying totalitarian regime, show the two sides of today's China, and are the two true faces of a nation developing in a distorted manner.
These two faces have a common essence. That is, rulers use both political suppression and the indulgence of desires to control the people and to keep them from becoming truly free people. In "1984," people suffer the same torments that Yu Dongyue did, face injustice, and are put into jail, losing their personal freedom. in "Brave New World," people are submerged in the vulgar pleasures of sensory stimulation, desire, and unregulated recreation, and stay busy trying to satisfy their endless desire for entertainment, thus losing their spiritual freedom.
Both of them have lost their freedom, but the difference between them is that Shi Tao and other political prisoner have soberly and painfully come to realize their loss of freedom; they stand alone on the cliff with their towering figures. On the other hand, those who have been taken captive by the entertainment culture have had their bones weakened and have given up their own independent character. They do not care about their rulers' lies and suppress; be it intentional or unintentional, they work in collusion with the rulers.
Today's Chinese seems to face two choices: to either be killed by politics or by entertainment. The vast majority of the people have chosen the latter; in indulging in material pleasures, they have forgotten where they came from despite forced relocation, they do not ponder issues, and they happily and muddle headedly walk towards death. In comparison with the jailed and mentally deranged Yu Dongyue, these apathetic people do not necessarily have any true "harmony" or "happiness".
(Originally Published in "Democratic China")
(The Wei Jingsheng Foundation expresses its gratitude to writer Mo Li for her permission to publish her latest writing and is responsible for the translation of this English version.)
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中文版
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A190-M19
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A190-M19
Release Date: March 11, 2006
发布日：2006年3月11日
Topic: Mo Li: The Two Faces of the "Harmonious Society" -- A Reflection as Yu Dongyue Leaving Jail
标题：“和谐社会”的两副面孔——从喻东岳出狱谈起（茉莉）
Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2006/report2006-03/MoL060311YDYA190-M19.htm
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“和谐社会”的两副面孔
——从喻东岳出狱谈起
茉莉
当中国官府津津乐道地打造“和谐社会”之时，中国媒体有关“幸福感”的话题开始发酵。那些饱暖思幸福的人们完全不想知道，中国政治犯及其家属——一个因言论表达而打入地狱的“贱民”群体，是否也有一点“幸福感”可言？
我的眼前浮现出去年九月的一个真实场面：洞庭湖上的赤山监狱，喻东岳的父亲和弟弟远道前去探望入狱15年的喻东岳。这位前湖南省浏阳日报美术编辑已经精神失常，他认不出亲人了。隔着玻璃墙拿着电话和父亲对话，喻东岳只是一个劲地胡言乱语。亲人近在咫尺，却如同隔绝在两个世界。
在监狱接见室的另一处，师涛的母亲高琴声老师在探望入狱不久的师涛。柔弱而又坚强的母亲，从山西搬到湖南长沙居住，就是为了能和她心爱的诗人儿子每月一次地相聚。每日在灰尘弥漫容易得矽肺病的环境里做苦工，师涛被折磨得瘦多了，但母子两人亲密交谈的场面，令喻东岳的父亲和弟弟在一旁羡慕不已。
对于喻东岳的亲属，“幸福感”是如此简单的一个镜头：能够隔着狱中的玻璃墙，用电话和神智清醒的亲人对话。
然而，这对他们却是一种可望而不可求的奢望。1989年5月，喻东岳等三位湖南朋友将装满颜料的鸡蛋壳扔到天安门广场的毛泽东画像上，而后被捕判刑，在湖南省第一监狱遭受严厉惩罚。由于长期被关押在单人禁闭室，喻东岳不堪折磨，导致精神失常。狱方在相当长一段时间拒绝给予治疗，导致喻东岳的病情加重。
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两个如此迥异的中国形象
昨天，喻东岳终于出狱了，但他已不能理解这个变化了的“和谐社会”，也不会为自己的遭遇痛苦了。16年的炼狱，一个追求民主的热血青年，走向神智不清的混沌中年。
在北欧碰到一些从国内来的中国人，他们会向我这个多年不曾返国的人，介绍中国的巨大变化，物质生活水平如何的提高。我惊讶于他们对欧洲的轻蔑，惊讶于他们在炫耀自己富裕时的那种自豪感：欧洲有的东西，他们有；欧洲没有的东西，他们也有。
然而，当我接触到诸如喻东岳、师涛等政治犯的亲属时，觉得他们仿佛是来自另一个中国——被迫害、被欺凌、被残害，生活在巨大痛苦的阴影下。
一方面是富得流油、享乐无限；另一方面是贫困无助、苦海无边。这两个不同的中国，两个相互矛盾的形象，就这样奇怪地交织、叠印着。在趋炎附势、唯利是图的世界，人们只看见中国的“崛起”，不愿意看到另一个真实：在这个号称“和谐”的社会里，有多少人在残酷镇压下呻吟？
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《1984年》和《美丽新世界》
美国印地安那州立大学教授杰弗里N.瓦萨斯特罗姆，在研究中国问题时，提到两部著名的文学作品，一部是英国作家乔治·奥威尔的预言性政治小说《1984年》，另一部是奥维尔的老师、英国小说家奥尔德斯·赫胥黎的科幻小说《美丽新世界》。
瓦萨斯特罗姆先生认为，奥维尔在《1984年》里对共产党专制的批评，只是中国二十年之前的图像，无助于解释当今中国共产党令人惊奇的执政能力，所以不是观察当今中国最好的镜子，而奥维尔的老师赫胥黎的《美丽新世界》，才是另一个更为贴切的视角。
在《美丽新世界》里，赫胥黎思考并预告了未来。他认为后来的统治者更可能采取的控制策略是：一，通过性诱惑、娱乐和其它形式的娱乐活动，努力使被统治者与他们保持一致；二，将民众之间的分隔界线最大化。看来，《美丽新世界》似乎更能解释当今中国的消费主义文化潮流和贫富悬殊现象。
但瓦萨斯特罗姆先生没有认识到，奥威尔的《1984年》作为极权主义社会的预言，仍然没有过时。奥威尔笔下所描绘的那些令人恐惧的政治高压，对喻东岳等政治犯来说，仍然是再真实也没有了的现实。在奥威尔虚拟的“大洋国”里，人民毫无个人尊严可言，一切与“内党”不一致的言行都会视为非法，都可能带来灭顶之灾。主人公温斯顿和他的女友被捕入狱，在狱中受尽凌辱及摧残，最后，他的意志终于崩溃。
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两副面孔一个本质
描写“娱乐至死”的《美丽新世界》，和描写令人毛骨悚然的极权统治的《1984年》，同时展示了当今中国的两个侧面，是这个畸形发展的国家的两副真实面孔。
这两副不同的面孔具有一个共同的本质，即统治者通过政治高压和欲望放纵的两手，控制人民，使其不成其为真正的自由的人。在《1984年》里，人们承受喻东岳式的痛苦，陷入冤狱失去人身自由；在《美丽新世界》中，人们沉溺于充满感官刺激、欲望和无规则游戏的庸俗享乐里，忙于满足他们对娱乐的无尽欲望，因而失去精神自由。
二者都是失去自由，但不同之处在于：师涛等政治犯清醒而痛苦地意识到自由的丧失，他们孤独而峭然屹立；而被娱乐文化俘虏了的人们，却软化了骨头，放弃了自己的独立人格，他们不再在乎统治者的谎言和压迫，在有意或者无意之中与统治者合谋。
今天的中国人似乎面临着这两种选择：要么政治至死，要么娱乐至死。绝大多数人选择了后者，他们在物质的享受中乐不思蜀，不再思考，快乐而浑浑噩噩地走向死亡。比较坐牢而神经失常的喻东岳，麻木的他们未必有什么真的“和谐”与“幸福”可言。
原载《民主中国》 2006－02－23
（魏京生基金会感谢茉莉女士。）
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