Author: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (---.uwa.edu.au)
Date: 11-25-01 11:15
The youth of Mao Ze Dong (2)
In 1899, when Mao Ze Dong was six years old his mother gave birth to a baby
boy who was named Ze Min (¿A¥Á). Now there were five members in the family; Mao Ze Dong's grandfather, his parents, his younger brother and himself. Mao
Shun Sheng (¤ò¶¶¥Í) began to deal in grain and pork transportation from Shang Shun Cun (»à¤s§ø) to the larger cities like Xiang Tan (´ð¼æ), Ning Xiang (¹ç¶m)
and Chang Sha (ªø¨F). Mao Shun Sheng employed a regular farm hand to tilled
his land. During the busy season, works like planting young shoots, treading the field, harvesting and threshing, a few extra farm hands were hired. Another short-term farm hand was hied to grind the rice during winter time. At such time there were seven people eating in the family. Although they ate frugally there was always enough for everyone.
Mao Shun Sheng sent his elder son to work in the fields when he was scarely seven. The following year Mao Ze Dong began to study in the local primary
school. He studied in the morning and worked in the field in the late afternoon.
At school he studied Confucian Analects and the four Classics.
When Mao Ze Dong was twelve years old his father bought another acre of land.
Shortly after acquring this piece of land his grandfather died. However, his mother
gave birth to another baby boy who was called Ze Tian (¿A¥Ð) named after the
newly purchased patch of land. The number of people in the family remained unchanged.
When he was thirteen Mao Ze Dong worked like a grown-up in the fields. At night he helped his father with his accounts. By then he was the most learned member in the family because he knew more words than anyone else in the family. He began to learn how to use the abacus from his father. Soon after Mao Ze Dong mastered
the miraculous art of calculating with both hands at the same time.
The diet of the family was rice and vegetables. However, on the first and fifteenth
of every moon according to the lunar calendar they were given a treat of fish, eggs
and on rare occasions meat. Their diet still remained unchanged.
Mao Ze Dong's rural background and his early training in tilling the land gave
him the intimate knowledge of the sufferings of the peasant masses in China.
He himself was the son of a peasant. His environment and upbringing brought
him into close contact with the peasant masses.
One year, during harvest time, it rained suddenly while the peasants were
having their crop sunned in the open. Mao Ze Dong got busy helping a tenant farmer's family to collect their crop before turning to his own family's. His father
was annoyed and Mao Ze Dong explained: "Theirs is a poor family, and they
have to pay rent too. The smallest loss would mean a great deal to them. as to
our crops, they don't mean that much, of course............................."
One day at his father's orders, he and his younger brother, Mao Ze Min, were
sent to the fields to collect beans. Mao Ze Min, being smart, chose a spot where
the beanstalks were spare. The job of picking was easier here and it took less time
to cover a wide area. Mao Ze Dong, however, chose a spot where the beanstalks clustered together and did some honest, hard work. It took him longer to pick and
he did not seem to be moving around much. When their father turned up, he praised Mao Ze Min while speaking bitter words at Mao Ze Dong who uncovered
his basket and showed his father the amount of beans he had gathered. Mao Shun Sheng was speechless.
Reference book;
Mao Tse-Tung
His Childhood and Youth
by Emi Siao (the classmate of Mao Ze Dong)
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (¾G¥Ã¤¸)
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