One morning in August 1968, factory worker Wang Xiaoping overheard news of a mysterious mandatory meeting. Rumors whispered through the cafeteria described shipments of a gift from the country’s communist leader, Chairman Mao Zedong. And sure enough, managers soon dispersed a gift to every factory worker— a glass box encasing a golden wax replica of a mango.
一九六八年八月的一个清晨, 工人王小平无意中听到了 一个神秘义务会议的消息。 共产主义领导人毛泽东主席 赠送礼物的流言 传遍了整个食堂。 果不其然,工厂经理很快将 礼物分给了每个工人—— 一个装在玻璃盒里的金色 蜡制芒果复制品。
Wang Xiaoping’s factory wasn’t the only facility to receive this unusual offering. The Chairman gifted fresh mangoes to factories across China, leading employees to stay up late, touching the fruits and contemplating the meaning behind Mao's gesture. Some tried to preserve the fresh mangoes in formaldehyde, while others ate the fruit and commissioned wax replicas of their prize. In one factory, workers initiated a strange ritual: peeling and boiling their mangoes to create a “holy” broth that was spooned into their mouths. Since traditional Chinese medicine often involved boiling ingredients, it's possible this mango wine was concocted as a kind of healing tonic. Soon, fables formed that the fruit ensured a long life like the Peaches of Immortality from Chinese mythology. And by refusing to eat the mangoes himself, Mao had generously sacrificed his own longevity for the working class. But whatever Mao's intentions, this mango mania wasn’t as frivolous as it might seem. And in fact, it’s harmless appearance hid a much darker truth.
王小平所在的工厂并不是唯一 收到这份不寻常礼物的工厂。 毛主席向中国各地的工厂 赠送新鲜芒果, 导致员工们通宵达旦触摸水果, 沉思毛主席行为背后的深意。 有人尝试用甲醛保存新鲜芒果, 另一些人吃掉了芒果, 并制作了芒果奖品的蜡制。 一家工厂的工人们发起了 一个奇特的仪式: 他们将芒果剥皮并煮熟来制作 口服的神圣芒果汤。 由于中国传统医学经常 涉及到将原料煮沸, 所以这种芒果酒可能是作为 一种治疗的补药而调制的。 不久,传说芒果就像 中国神话中的寿桃 有长生不老的魔力传开了。 毛泽东通过自己不吃芒果, 他为工人阶级慷慨地 牺牲了自己的寿命。 不管毛泽东的意图是什么, 这种芒果狂热并不像 看起来那么轻率。 事实上,它无害的表面 隐藏着更黑暗的真相。
Two years earlier, Mao Zedong had launched the Cultural Revolution, a decade-long political and ideological movement intended to erase capitalist thought and cultural traditions from Chinese society. To enact this plan, Mao called on the Red Guards, a student-led paramilitary group. He enlisted them to help eradicate the “Four Olds”— a vaguely defined set of customs, habits, and ideas often associated with the elite upper-class. Mao’s dogma was militant, and the Red Guard interpreted his vision as achievable only through violence. The Red Guard acted above law and order, ransacking temples and tombs, including those of dynastic royalty and Confucius. Homes were raided and piles of books burned in the streets. But the Red Guard’s rampage went far beyond property damage. They began holding “struggle sessions”— public spectacles designed to shame so-called class enemies. Victims were accused of holding elitist, capitalist values, and were often forced to wear heavy signs detailing their crimes. The Red Guard pressured people to accuse their friends and family. They manipulated students to denounce their teachers and parents. They gradually morphed into torture and executions.
两年前, 毛泽东发动了文化大革命—— 一个长达十年的政治和思想运动, 旨在从中国社会消除 资本主义的思想和文化传统。 为了实现这个计划, 毛泽东召集了红卫兵, 一个由学生领导的准军事团体。 毛泽东召集他们来破“四旧”—— 一个通常和与精英上层社会有关的 旧风俗、习惯和思想 定义模糊的合称。 毛泽东的教条是激进的, 红卫兵认为实现 其目标的唯一途径是通过暴力。 红卫兵凌驾于法律和制度之上, 将寺庙和古墓洗劫一空, 包括那些王朝皇室成员和孔子的。 房屋被搜查, 成堆的书籍在街上被焚烧。 但红卫兵的横行无忌远远 超出了财物破坏。 他们开始举行“批斗会”—— 旨在羞辱所谓的阶级 敌人的公开场合。 受害者被指责为持有精英主义、 资本主义的价值观, 并通常被迫戴上详细说明 其罪行的沉重牌子。 红卫兵向人民施压, 让人们指认他们的家人朋友。 他们操纵学生们公开谴责 自己的老师和家长。 这逐渐蜕变成严刑拷打。
After two years of the Red Guards’ chaos, Mao recanted his support and sent 30,000 factory workers to fight the Red Guard at Qinghua University. With the help of the People’s Liberation Army, these factory workers succeeded, and Mao thanked them for their service with a crate of 40 mangoes. This gesture wasn’t quite as generous as it appeared since Mao was actually passing along a gift he received from Pakistan’s foreign minister. But much worse, this reward was quickly tainted by the ideology of the Cultural Revolution. As a propaganda tool, Mao’s mangoes demanded high levels of respect. Workers boarded unheated buses in sub-zero temperatures to visit mandatory mango exhibitions organized by the government. Factory workers were scolded for not holding their replicas securely. And in Sichuan, a man who remarked that the mango was “nothing special” and “looked like a sweet potato” was arrested, tried, and executed.
经过了两年红卫兵的动乱, 毛泽东收回了自己的支持, 并派出三万名工人 在清华大学与红卫兵作战。 在人民解放军的帮助下, 这些工人成功了。 毛泽东以一箱四十个芒果 来感谢他们的奉献。 此行为没有表面看起来那么慷慨, 其实毛泽东只是传递了一份他从 巴基斯坦的外交部长收到的礼物。 但更糟糕的是,这份奖赏很快 被文化大革命的思想所败坏了。 作为一种宣传工具, 毛泽东的芒果需要高度的尊重。 工人们在零下温度中 登上未供暖的巴士, 来参观政府组织的 强制性芒果展览。 工人因为没有保护好 他们的复制品而被责骂。 在四川,一个男子因为 ”芒果没有什么稀奇的”和 “看起来像个红薯”的言论 被逮捕、审判和处决。
For reasons mostly unknown, the mango fever broke a year and a half later. After the Red Guard was dissolved and participants were sent to the countryside for re-education, the mystifying mango faded from official propaganda. Wax from the replicas were repurposed for candles during power outages. And today you’d be lucky to find an antique mango tray or medallion while perusing a Beijing flea market. But the tale of Mao’s mangoes is just a minor story amidst a decade of painful, buried history. Discussion of the Cultural Revolution is restricted across China. And though some former Red Guards have attempted to challenge this policy by publicly reflecting and apologizing for their actions, they still avoid maligning Mao Zedong. Given the current political landscape of China, only time will tell when this history will be discussed openly and freely.
芒果热潮在一年半后爆发了, 具体原因不明。 在红卫兵被解散和参与者 被送到乡下重新教育之后, 神秘的芒果从官方宣传中消失了。 在停电期间,这些芒果复制品的蜡 被用于制作蜡烛。 在今日,当你在北京的跳蚤 市场上闲逛时, 能找到一个古董芒果托盘 或纪念章就算很幸运了。 不过毛泽东芒果的故事只是 在这十年来痛苦的、 被埋葬的历史中不足为道的一个。 在中国,对文化大革命的讨论 是受限制的。 虽然一些前红卫兵 尝试通过公开反思 并为其行为道歉反对这个政策, 他们仍然避免恶意诋毁毛泽东。 以中国目前的政治形势, 只有时间知道这段历史何时 能被公开和自由地讨论。