| Lei Feng | |
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Lei Feng, Chinese propaganda poster by Qiu Wei (丘玮). The caption reads: Follow Lei Feng's example; Love the Party, Love Socialism, Love the People. |
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| Born | December 18, 1940 |
| Died | August 15, 1962 (aged 21) |
Lei Feng (Chinese: 雷锋; pinyin: Léi Fēng) (December 18, 1940 – August 15, 1962) was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army in the People's Republic of China. After his death, Lei was characterised as a selfless and modest person who was devoted to the Communist Party, Chairman Mao Zedong, and the people of China. In the posthumous "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng" (向雷锋同志学习)[1] campaign, initiated by Mao in 1963, Lei became the symbol of nationwide propaganda; the youth of the country were encouraged to follow his example.
After Mao's death, Lei Feng remained a cultural icon symbolizing selflessness, modesty, and dedication; his name entered daily speech and his imagery appeared on t-shirts and memorabilia.[2] Owing to relaxation of political controls, Lei Feng's life became more openly questioned by scholars and the public in the post-Mao era.
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Born in Wangcheng, Hunan (near the town of Leifeng, Changsha, Hunan, named in his honour), Lei was orphaned at an early age and raised under the wings of the Communist Party. He became a member in the Communist youth corps when he was young and joined a transportation unit of the People's Liberation Army at the age of twenty. According to his official biography, Lei died in 1962 at the age of 21 (22 by East Asian age reckoning, by which a newborn is one year old at birth), when a telephone pole, struck by an army truck, hit him while he was directing the truck in backing up.[3]
Lei Feng was not widely known until after his death. In 1963, Lei Feng's Diary was first presented to the public by Lin Biao in the first of many "Learn from Lei Feng" propaganda campaigns.[4] Lin's use of Lei's Diary was part of a larger effort to improve Mao's image, which had suffered after the Great Leap Forward.[5] Many Western scholars believe that the Diary was forged by Party propagandists under Lin's direction.[4]
The Diary contains about 200,000 words describing selfless thoughts with enthusiastic comments on Mao and the inspiring nature of the Party.[6] Photographs of Lei Feng doing good deeds for the working people were published. Susan Sontag, in her 1977 essay The Image World published in the collection On Photography, cited the photographs that were exhibited showing Lei Feng doing good deeds for the working people as examples of photographs "that depict scenes in which, clearly, no photograher could have been present" and that "[i]n China, what makes an image true is that it is good for people to see it."[7] The campaign began at a time when the Chinese economy was recovering from the Great Leap Forward campaign. During 1964 the Lei Feng campaign shifted gradually from doing good deeds to a cult of Mao.
When Lei Feng died in the line of duty, he was only 22, but his short life gives concentrated expression to the noble ideals of a new people, nurtured with the communist spirit, and also to the noble moral integrity and values of the Chinese people in the new period. These are firm faith in communist ideals, political warmheartedness for the party and the socialist cause, the revolutionary will to work arduously for self-improvement, the moral quality and self-cultivation of showing fraternal unity and taking pleasure in assisting others, the heroic spirit of being ready to take up cudgels for a just cause without caring for one's safety, the attitude of seeking advancement and studying hard, and the genuine spirit of matching words with deeds and enthusiastically carrying out one's duties.
— Editorial, People's Daily 5 March 1993[8]'
Chinese leaders have praised Lei Feng as the personification of altruism. Leaders who have written about Lei Feng include Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, and Jiang Zemin. His cultural importance is still reproduced and reinforced by the media and cultural apparatus of the Chinese party-state, including emphasizing the importance of moral character during Mao's era. Lei Feng's prominence in school textbooks has since declined, although he remains part of the national curriculum. The term "活雷锋/Huó Léi Fēng" (literally "living Lei Feng") has become a noun (or adjective) for anyone who is seen as selfless, or anyone who goes out of their way to help others.
The CCP's construction of Lei Feng as a celebrity soldier is unique to the PRC and differs from the more typical creation of military heroes by governments during times of war. In the PRC, Lei Feng was part of continuing public promotion of soldiers as exemplary models, and evidence of the People's Liberation Army's role as social and political support to the Communist Government.[9]
Lei Feng (1940-62) is the paramount 'heroic model serviceman' in the PRC and his influence on later icons cannot be underestimated: he is the benchmark of all subsequent 'soldier celebrities. Lei Feng's fame, stretching from 1960s through to the present, derives from his ordinary everyday acts of service to society and the CCP. Introduced posthumously to the Chinese people in 1963, Lei Feng has survived the myriad political twists and turns of the subsequent several decades'
— Edwards, L. Military Celebrity in China, 2010[9]
Lei Feng is an icon who continues to resonate in mainland China. 5 March has become the official "Learn from Lei Feng Day". This day involves various community and school events where people go to clean up parks, schools, and other community locations. Local news on that day usually has footage from these events.[10]
Lei Feng is especially honoured in Changsha, Hunan, and in Fushun, Liaoning. The Lei Feng Memorial Hall (in his birthplace, now named for him, Leifeng) and Lei Feng statue are located in Changsha. The local hospital carries his name. There is also a Lei Feng Memorial Hall, with a museum, in Fushun. Lei Feng's military unit was based in Fushun, and it was here where he met his death. His tomb is located on the memorial grounds. To commemorate Lei Feng, the city of Fushun named several landmarks in honor of him. There is a Lei Feng Road, a Lei Feng Elementary School, a Lei Feng Middle School and a Leifeng bank office.
Lei Feng's story continues to be referenced in popular culture. A popular song by Jilin singer Xue Cun (雪村) is called "All Northeasterners are Living Lei Fengs" (东北人都是活雷锋; Dōngběi Rén Dōu Shì Huó Léi Fēng)[11] A 1995 release, originally notable only for its use of Northeastern Mandarin, it shot to nationwide fame when it was combined with kitsch animations on the Internet in 2001.[12] In March 2006, a Chinese organization released a game titled Learn From Lei Feng Online in which the player has to do good deeds, fight spies, and collect parts of Mao Zedong's collection. If the player wins, he or she gets to meet Chairman Mao in the game.[13]
