The Telegraph marks the death of Song Binbin (1947-2024), a Red Guard who was an enthusiastic participant in Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Song contributed to the cause by leading the persecution and murder of a principal at her high school.
From genteel to militant
An icon of devotion to Mao, she was rewarded for her activities by being allowed to pin the Red Guard armband on Mao (shown above) and receiving a new name from him. “At the Tiananmen Square rally, Song Binbin was publicly praised by Mao for her role in the atrocity and urged to change her name from Binbin (‘genteel’) to Yaowu (‘militant’). An article under her new name was subsequently published declaring that ‘violence is truth.’ ”
Bian Zhongyun, the principal, was targeted by Song and her classmates after Bian suggested that saving a picture of Chairman Mao would not be a priority if there were an earthquake at the school.
CNN reports that in the buildup to the murder, “Led by their leader Song Binbin, the students labeled Bian as a counter-revolutionary and ‘opposing Chairman Mao’….” Although they regularly beat Bian, she kept coming back to the school. Her appeals to the Communist Party were ignored. Finally, “The mob beat Bian for three hours. They used the legs of their school desks spiked with nails.” This was the assault that killed her.
In a land of justice, such atrocious conduct would be shut down quickly, and the perpetrators brought to trial. But in the land of the Mao cult, it was conduct to be praised.
Song ended up living in the West for a time. She moved to the United States, received a graduate education, worked for the Massachusetts government, and after returning to China became a business leader.
“A massive calamity”
In 2014, she apologized for her involvement, saying that she had not done enough to restrain the intensity of persecution. “Please allow me to express my everlasting solicitude and apologies to Principal Bian,” she told The Beijing News. “I failed to properly protect the school leaders, and this has been a lifelong source of anguish and remorse…. The Cultural Revolution was a massive calamity.”
So Song Binbin acknowledged the horror of what she participated in. But she was never brought before a court to answer for her crimes. And that is because the organization responsible for them, the Chinese Communist Party, still controls the government of China.
The Telegraph article includes a picture of Chairman Mao, who directed and approved of the mass terror done in his name, smiling admiringly at Song as she pins a Red Guard band onto his arm.
Although Mao is known as one of the greatest monsters in history, the Chinazis seem happy to keep his picture hanging in Tiananmen Square to this day. And that tells us about their values and who they are.
