Kwangchow (Canton) was the last city that the NZUSA Delegation visited in their tour of the Peoples Republic of China in July. It provided the highlight of the whole trip for me personally because there I met relations and family friends. Prior to Kwangchow the Delegation visited many factories, communes, schools, universities, creches, hospitals, youth centres and other institutions. At all these institutions delegation members participated in very useful and informative discussions, through interpreters, with the leading cadres, workers, Revolutionary Committee representatives, trade unionists and other workers representatives, and it was through these important discussions that Delegation members were informed on the broad spectrum of social and political conditions in China today thereby gaining a greater understanding of socialism in China.

Skeptics

But there were skeptics in the Delegation who dismissed the numerous discussions as boring repetition of the 'official party-line"—that whatever our Chinese hosts told us couldn't really depart much from that line, and that we had no independent means of judging the truth or falsity of their statement. However, during the time I spent away from the Delegation with two families in Kwangchow, my conversations with these people reinforced most of what had been said in the earlier discussions prior to Kwangchow. To me it was significant that those conversations were conducted very informally and without requiring an interpreter, so that I was hearing these people's views and their answers to my questions directly.

in the course of my conversations with the two families in Kwangchow, they exposed their criticisms and views of the Gang of Four Prior to Kwangchow vigorous attacks and criticisms of the Gang of Four had dominated most of the discussions at all the various institutions we had visited.

New Criticism Campaigns

All this is part of the current massive campaign throughout China to 'expose' and criticize the Gang of Four.—Chaing Ch'ing, Chang Ch'un Ch'aio, Yao Wen Yan and Wang Hun-Wen—all once prominent members of the Communist Party—are now universally disgraced.

Criticism of the Gang of Four was so intense and repetitive that certain dubious and lazy mind people in the Delegation became fed up to the point of crying "not the Fucking Gang of Four again"!.

Both families I spoke to in Kwangchow informed me that criticism of the Gang of Four was taking up all their twice weekly political study classes at the factories where they worked. I was then very interested in learning their own views and how the Gang of Four may have directly disrupted or affected their lives.

The substance of many of the charges made against the Gang of Four did not really become apparent to me until my informal conversations with my Aunt's family and with Mr and Mrs Choong (the other family). The major charge against the Gang of Four was that they directly and indirectly disrupted and sabotaged production throughout China.

Making Revolution in Production

The Gang of Four argued that if you make revolution, production would develop automatically. Their famous slogan was "It is better to have late socialist trains than capitalist trains on time". They attacked and accused any persons or groups, who attached any emphasis on increased production as "revisionists and capitalist roaders", who were "placing the theory of productive forces before revolution". The Gang of Four thus confuse two very important concepts and equated the theory of productive forces with efforts to promote production. The Gang of Four twisted Mao's slogan of "Grasp Revolution, promote production" and formulated a theory based on a metaphysical opposition of revolution and production.

All this seriously undemined both production and revolution, and created widespread political and ideological confusion leading to increased factionalism and factional disputes.

Supporting the sabotage and disruption of production charge against the Gang of Four, Choong told me that in Kwangchow serious disruption to Agricultural planning and to the supply system led to shortages in the supply of many basic food items. One of my cousins, who is an electrician at a factory, remarked that as a result of the political and ideological confusion caused by the Gang of Four—workers at the factory where he worked were unsure as to the degree of enthusiasm they should apply in approaching their work. So for fear of being accused as capitalist roaders many workers adopted a very casual attitude to their work—so casual that playing cards during workhours became very common at that factory.

"Swim Against the Tide"

The Gang of Four also encouraged the violation of rules and regulations and a general undermining and disrespect for any form of authority. They claimed that formal rules and regulations oppressed workers. Their call to the people to challenge and violate formal rules and regulations spread to the schools and universities.

My Aunt, a retiring middle school teacher told me that class attendances dropped at the school where she taught and that she found the children becoming increasingly lethargic in their approach to school. She also remarked that the respect and courtesy due by tradition towards older people in Chinese society was for the first time being ignored and challenged.

Relief After Expulsion

Both my Aunt's family and Mr and Mrs Choong expressed much enthusiasm and relief at the Gang of Four's fall from power. I was told that the Gang of Four was very unpopular in Kwangchow. Over one million people gathered at a rally in Kwangchow a few days earlier, to celebrate major announcements made by Central Committee of the Communist Party. It was announced here that the Party Central Committee officially verified Chairman Hua's appointment, and Teng Hsaio Peng's official reinstatement to keep positions in the Party was also rectified. The last part of the announcement On concerned the official expulsion of the Gang of Four from all positions in the Communist Party.

On the night that these announcements were [unclear: h] broadcast over China Radio our delegation was staying at a hotel in Changsha in Human Province. Within an hour of the broadcast two to three hundred Chinese people had assembled in front of the hotel with banners, slogans, drums and fire crackers. They then proceeded to march to Changsha Railway Station, making one hell of a racket, to join 500,000 others at a rally to celebrate the announcements.

All this as Mr Choong pointed out to me, illuminated the tremendous feeling of relief and liberation from oppression that he and most people in China felt when the Gang of Four was smashed.

I was very lucky to meet the two families in Kwangchow. The three days that I spent with them proved to be much more valuable, in giving me a greater appreciation and understanding of life in China than the rest of the other fifteen days I spent with the rest of the Delegation visiting the other places.

John Chan