Jeannette F. Ford - Maos Prey: The History of Chen Renbing, Liberal Intelletual

There is always more to be done. The purpose and scope of Maos Prey: The History of Chen Renbing, Liberal Intellectual invites further research into the fate of modern Chinese intellectuals. This preliminary work, mitigated by the foibles of an outsider looking in, would not have been possible without a strong belief in the sincerity of individual efforts by Chinese intellectuals and indignation at their imposed limitations. Oral history plays an important part of Maos Prey and makes it possible to confirm, as well as to explain, the professional and private lives of post-1949 intellectuals through the focal point of Chen Renbing, a man personally criticized by Mao Zedong.

Maos Prey is the culmination of a tenacious and protracted pursuit. Chen Renbing (19091990) created the spark that led me to many years of research. He was forthright and brave to tell his story to a foreigner at a time in modern Chinese history when frankness was punishable and had long lost out to reticence.

How did the Peoples Republic of China inspire citizens in grass-roots mass mobilization campaigns after 1949? Mao Zedongs fledgling government appeared to have eliminated corruption, prostitution and drug addiction, enacted land reform, repudiated counter-revolutionary elements, reorganized the entire educational system and reeducated citizens to accept socialist ideology. These amazing changes were wrought in a few years and apparently with the enthusiastic backing of the citizenry in mass mobilization units. I wanted to learn more about how the Chinese leadership managed to engage citizens and in January 1979 I enrolled in the masters program in history at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

My first visit to the Peoples Republic of China was in the summer of 1979 as a delegate with the US-China Peoples Friendship Association, a group that had promoted normalization of relations with China. I had studied Chinese at Nanyang University in Singapore a few years earlier in a senior year abroad program, and, my fascination with Chinese language and history that began at the State University of New York College at Brockport remained unabated.

One fateful morning in Shanghai during that 1979 summer, I didnt feel well and opted out of the morning excursion. I sat alone for a late breakfast musing on the view of the Bund from the 8th floor restaurant at the Peace Hotel. To my utter surprise I overheard a conversation in English at a nearby table where representatives from SUNY Stony Brook and Fudan University were discussing the forthcoming exchange program. I approached the group and took the first step towards continuing graduate studies at Fudan University. In August, 1980 I joined Shanghais Fudan University History Department as the first exchange student from Stony Brook.