I grew up in China, under the rule of Mao Tse-Tung. I know that a free people might find it strange that I liked my childhood and the people what helped me to grow.
I have for sons, all of them born in the United States. They speak Mandarin fluently because it was spoken to them in our home. They know nothing of life in China that I knew and...yes...loved, because it been paved over into a new city, where my family lives in apartments connected to the electrics, water comes out of a faucet, and flush toilets.
I went to a boarding school all of my 12 years. I lived in an area that was pretty remote, and the nearest school was too far to travel to go home every day.
The very first day, we lined up in the courtyard along a yellow line painted on the pavement. We learned a song from a very popular movie at that time, and everyday after that, for the first 6 years of my schooling, we sang it before our day began. There were many songs we sang, to love of country, and to the leader, Chairman Mao.
We did everything in an order, in groups, even taking a bath where we would all join into a song as we washed our hair, our arms, our body and legs all at the same time as we sang a very simple song...loo la la loo la la loo la loo la lai....and so on. I would feel proud if the teacher chose me to lead a song to set the pace for the rest. I puffed up when the red medallion of leadership was put on my neck and took my mission seriously, whether it was just handing out meal trays, dorm inspector, even toilet washing...my toilet would look the best for the state.
We made things in workshops in class. When we were small, we made bags from repurposed newsprint, or egg crates, and then later on chairs and school desks, testing transistor radios. My grandfather was a cabinet maker, and he would come to school to teach our class how to work with wood. In secondary school, about half of our time was spent working. We were given a project, very basic instruction, drawings, and worked in groups to make ourselves efficient as a group. I worked in the woodshop the first 2 years, and then my second 2 years I worked soldering electronic parts for radios.
My favorite time was when we went out into the wheat fields for harvest. When we were small, we still had to work, it was more fun because we could run around in the fields picking up the loose stalks and during the heat of the day, sit under the trees and take off the kernels, play and talk. As we grew older of course, we participated in the harvests where city kids came to help us.
My last 2 years of school I worked in a factory that made guns. I worked assembling very small parts part of my time, and went to school the other part. We worked, ate slept and went to school in the factory, and to be honest, it was fun.
Although I am well aware of the parts of the regime that were not taught to me in school now, I have to admit that I did love Chairman Mao, and sang his praises almost every day when I was young.
I guess I should feel guilty and hate my childhood because for the most part it was under a brutal regime where, while I was doing good and loving my life, there was so much pain and misery not so far away...but I don't. I loved my childhood, and hate to say this to a free people like most of you reading this.
If it were not for the Great Leap Forward, and the rise out of the shame of being the humiliated nation, I would not have received an education, the most valuable thing I own.