Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants Read Online Free PDF Page A

told the township Party boss, Li Kunfu, of their concerns and requested an audit of the village books. Li read through the list of “reserves” exacted by the village leaders and said, “Yes indeed, this is excessive. We will look through it and let you know in a day or two.”
    Two days passed and nothing happened. Another two days passed, followed by another three. Then, at a meeting called by the township where the various village cadres were present, including those from Luying Village, Ren Kaicai, the township deputy Party boss in charge of policy and legal affairs, called on the Party boss of Luying Village, Dong Yingfu, to clarify the question of excessive taxes. Dong was furious—everybody was doing the same—why single him out? When he learned that the villagers had appealed to the township leadership and had requested an audit, he suspected that people were jealous of his newly built tile-roof house. He spat out a challenge: “Some peo-ple want to audit my records. Some even want to tear down my house! I’d like to meet the son-of-a-bitch who has the gall! Others say that I cannot afford to buy a tractor and build a tile-roof house on my salary alone. Cannot afford to? But I did, and what can you do about it? It is called being smart. Too bad you are miserably poor! Serves you right! Want to pick a fight? I guess you’re tired of living.”
    Everyone present was shocked that a mere village cadre could have such an outburst at his township superior, but Ren let it pass. When word trickled down to Luying Village about Dong’s outburst at the meeting, everyone was outraged. “What! Is there no law under the Communist sky?”

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    will the boat sink the water ?

    Ding Zuoming was not going to let the issue go away. Three days before Spring Festival, he wrote out a complete list of the excessive taxes and “village cash reserves” imposed on the peasants of Luying Village and personally took it a further step up the official ladder—to the Disciplinary Committee of the Lixin County Party Committee.
    The officer at the reception desk pointed out that Spring Festival was right around the corner, and that Ding Zuoming would have to wait to present his document.
    Spring Festival was very sober at Luying Village; there were barely any sounds of festivities.

    The days dragged on and soon it was February 9, the eighteenth day of the first lunar month. Spring Festival had come and gone, and still there was no response from the county’s Party Disciplinary Committee. People went to look up Ding and discovered that he had spent the whole of the Spring Festival hol-iday writing out a second letter of complaint against the leadership at Luying Village, listing in detail the heavy burden of the peasants under the abuses of the village as well as the township bosses, describing in detail how they violated Party policy and fleeced the people.
    All were moved by the spirit of Ding Zuoming. Indeed, if nobody dares to stick his neck out, what hope is there for us as a nation? That very same night of February 9, the villagers made a collection, one yuan here, eighty fen there, and under cover of night they sent off eight men, including Ding Zuoming, as their representatives, to head for the county seat of Lixin.
    The head of the county’s general office who received the representatives saw the letter and realized that the situation in Luying Village was more serious than they had imagined. He immediately reported to the Lixin County Party secretary, Dai Wenhu. Dai, newly arrived at his post, was quite firm in his
    the martyr

    support. “We will direct the township to set up an auditing group as soon as possible, to go over the financial records of Luying Village. As to the problem of the township leadership, we will look into that, too.”
    Ding and his seven companions did not linger in the county seat after presenting the letter; to save expenses, they boarded the bus and headed home. Despite the rough ride in the bus,