Son of the Revolution

Soon after the “traveling struggle,” someone scratches “DOWN WITH CHAIRMAN MAO” into some fresh plaster near Liang’s home. That night, three “Revolutionary Workers” show up at Liang’s home and demand that Liang come with them. They take Liang to the basement of the Hunan Daily building, tie him to a chair, and interrogate him. Someone has said a boy with a slingshot wrote the anti-Mao slogan, and Liang was seen with a slingshot that day. The men attempt to force Liang to confess, saying his father must have urged him to do it, and all the while he, can hear the “anguished cries” of people being beaten upstairs (84). Finally they let Liang go, and he hurries home.

The next day, Liang is again brought to the Hunan Daily building, but this time to a big room where the other teenage sons of the disgraced newspapermen are being held. All the boys are asked to write Revolutionary slogans so the Rebels can compare their handwriting. Most of them, including Liang, are let go, but five or six of the older boys are locked up in a nearby nursery school for nearly a month. In the end, no one ever discovers who actually wrote the slogan.