The Legacy of the Cultural Revolution

In the history of communism, Chinese leader Mao Zedong is among the most influential names—one of the most feared and most revered. Born on December 26, 1893, in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China, Mao was raised in an impoverished household, where education was valued primarily as training for keeping records and accounts. His humble origins, however, did not preclude him from pursuing grand ambitions. At a young age, he set out to build his own path and seize his destiny. Rebelling against paternal authority, Mao left his family to study at a higher primary school, thereby evading an arranged marriage. In the provincial capital of Changsha, he attended secondary school, where he came into contact with new Western ideas, including those of political and cultural reformers such as Liang Qichao and the Nationalist revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. Influenced by these ideas, he began studying them more seriously.

Shortly thereafter, on October 10, 1911, fighting against the Qing dynasty broke out in Wuchang. Within weeks, the revolt had spread to Changsha. Mao then enlisted in a unit of the revolutionary army in Hunan, where he served for six months. His participation in the revolution confirmed his boyhood admiration for military leaders and exploits. After a period of uncertainty following the end of the revolution, Mao moved to Beijing to study at Peking University. The stars, it seemed, were aligning for him. While serving as a library assistant, he came under the influence of two men who would become principal figures in the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP): Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu. Mao also found himself at Peking University during the months leading up to the May Fourth Movement of 1919, a catalytic event that heralded sweeping changes in China over the ensuing half-century. In 1921, he became a founding member of the CCP. During the Chinese Civil War, he played a crucial role, and the CCP’s victory in 1949 set the stage for his ascent to power.

Following this victory, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949, and was installed as its chairman. From the quagmires of poverty, Mao rose to the highest and most influential position in contemporary China. In the process, he succeeded in uniting the country after decades of civil war and foreign interference. Adopting Marxist-Leninist theory, he mobilized the peasantry over urban workers to lead the industrialization of the modern nation. This would become the foundation of Maoism. However, his legacy is tainted by the Cultural Revolution, an upheaval he launched during his final decade in power. Aimed at purging perceived capitalist influences within the CCP, it threw Chinese cities into turmoil. Fearing that the revolutionary spirit was waning, Mao sought to revive it—only to disrupt historical processes already underway.

Last week I thought life was hell. Last week I thought it was unbearable. Today I just think it is a bore. Maybe tomorrow I’ll just give up on this damn novel, if I still can’t manage to put these characters onto the page.” The professional writer’s voice is always hoarse before the wine starts to take effect. It sounds as though he is putting it on.

Ma Jian, The Noodle Maker

The Cultural Revolution has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the contemporary Chinese landscape. It is no wonder that it is often the subject of literary works, such as The Noodle Maker. Ma Jian was born before the Cultural Revolution and lived through it; his formal education was cut short as a result. A subject of government censure, he has led a peripatetic life. In 1989, he returned to Beijing to participate in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. When the protesters and the government failed to reach a peaceful agreement, troops were deployed to occupy the square on the night of June 3, 1989, resulting in violent clashes and loss of life—an event now widely referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. Despite the brutal crackdown, Ma remained in Beijing and worked on his novel, The Noodle Maker.

In 1991, the manuscript was published as 拉面者 (La Mian Zhe). It was later made available to Anglophone readers in 2004, becoming his first novel to appear in English. The novel transports readers to the period shortly after the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989. The story begins with a professional blood donor who, thriving on the rewards of his labor, has become wealthy by exploiting his occupation. He runs a blood-donation ring that supplies what wealthy patients seek. As part of their weekly ritual, he meets his friend—the professional writer—at a noodle shop every Sunday, bringing food and drink as they talk and catch up. The two men are antithetical: while the blood donor thrives in the renewed capitalist market and has become affluent as a practical man, the professional writer is an idealist wallowing in poverty.

Through their conversations, we learn that the professional writer has been commissioned to write another book praising a revolutionary hero. He earns a living by producing propaganda for the government, modeling his work after figures akin to Lei Feng—a martyr exalted by communist ideology. However, he is unenthusiastic about the project, confiding in his friend his frustrations and dilemma. The blood donor, on the other hand, offers a blunt dose of reality: it is the profession he chose. “What the hell did you expect?” As the night deepens, their conversation shifts to the stories the writer truly wants to tell. Still, his friend admonishes him, calling him delusional. He insists that the writer should instead produce better stories about heroic workers who would rather work themselves to death than miss production quotas.

Despite these admonitions, the writer continues to yearn to abandon propaganda and pursue his dream of writing a great novel. For years, he has been envisioning this great novel, gradually weaving the pieces together in his mind. However, he still lacked the courage to pursue his lifelong dream. Following the friends’ dinner—where the two even attempt to diagnose the maladies of contemporary China—the novel unfolds as a series of loosely interconnected short stories drawn from the writer’s ideas for his great novel. In this way, the novel deviates from literary conventions: evading genre qualification, these stories form its backbone. They exist within the framing narrative while also functioning as independent pieces. The professional writer and the blood donor occasionally appear within them, offering commentary and critique.

The entrepreneur’s greatest talent was in recommending music for the deceased. He only had to glance at the profession, political class, age, sex and photograph on the form and he could select the appropriate music from the list. The price had to rise, of course, in line with the inflation brought about by the Open Door Policy.

Ma Jian, The Noodle Maker

The writer’s stories are inspired by people he has known. Though they come from different walks of life, they are all, in various ways, grappling with the changes sweeping China after Mao’s death. The story of the blood donor sets the tone, illustrating how some capitalized on the economic reforms championed by Deng Xiaoping. His “Opening Up” policy (改革开放) allowed the entry of international investors. The Open Door Policy ushered in rapid and often unmitigated change. It was from these changes that the blood donor capitalized. However, these transformations were not equally beneficial. For many, they were disorienting—especially for those emerging from the physical and psychological trauma of the Cultural Revolution.

The succeeding stories introduced an eclectic cast of characters. A thirty-five-year-old man seized the limited opportunities spawned by the Open Door Policy by acquiring a ceramics furnace. With his aging mother, they transformed it into a successful crematorium business. It sets itself apart from the ordinary crematorium because the bereaved can pay the son to play customized musical accompaniments for the deceased. Meanwhile, a frustrated actress named Su Yun was jealous of her boyfriend, a painter with a three-legged dog. Previously a performer of Maist operas, her ideologies were shaped by the Cultural Revolution. Post-Cultural Revolution, she sought affection only to find herself entangled in fleeting relationships. She eventually found it in the painter, only for her to be disillusioned.

Yet another vivid example of how the intersection of this sea of change altered the collective psyche is palpable in the story of Old Hep, a literary magazine editor. Following an early success as a writer, he was promoted by the CCP to a leadership role, in charge of propaganda at the People’s Cultural Centre. Elevated to a position of power and influence, he became drunk with power. The editor used his influence to exploit young women writers who sought publication of their works. Once they no longer please him, he leaves the aspiring writers. This exposes both gender and power imbalances. Ironically, his wife would ultimately surpass him in both literary and sexual success. A different dimension is introduced by the story of a female ghost, who visited a street writer; writers were ubiquitous in the stories. The ghost admonished the street writer for writing obscene letters.

These characters are carefully rendered, as though shaped by the steady hands of a noodle maker. Yet their lives are not solely of their own making. They are subject to forces beyond their control, navigating a China irrevocably altered by the Cultural Revolution while simultaneously confronting the upheavals brought about by economic reform. The arrival of Western influence and the rapid development unsettled their long-held beliefs. This left many confused and unable to cope. Some, like the blood donor and the entrepreneur, adapt quickly and profit. However, the majority of the population was left behind. Development remains uneven. Many were displaced from communities, which were transformed into industrial complexes. Meanwhile, the urban workers continued to struggle under long working hours and low wages.

Relations between people are very curious, the writer reflects. We behave kindly, even sycophantically towards people we are afraid of, but trample like tyrants over the shy and retiring. Our roles are determined by our opponents. We all possess a dual nature. The editor was a servant to his wife, a master to the textile worker – roles he couldn’t play with any of his other women. We all jump from one role to the next.

Ma Jian, The Noodle Maker

The stories underscore the persistence of political oppression. For Ma Jian and his characters, censorship and control remain daily realities. His works are banned in China, and he has been permanently barred from returning since 2011; he has been residing in London. His experiences illustrate how censorship continues to shape public discourse, serving as a powerful tool for suppressing freedom and controlling public opinion. Yet The Noodle Maker also demonstrates the resilience of storytelling. Writing and storytelling shine through despite persistent political oppression. The writer’s characters are drawn from ordinary individuals, emphasizing that those most affected by these sweeping changes are everyday people. The novel offers an intimate glimpse into contemporary Chinese society.

At the same time, these stories delve into the personal. Beyond political and economic upheaval, the characters confront their own struggles—loneliness, disconnection, and the search for meaning in a world fragmented by a pandemic of disconnection. The novel also grapples with loss, death, and the intricacies of family dynamics. Seeking solace in a broken world shaped by competitiveness and corruption was futile. The characters’ lives reflect the intersection of the personal and the political. Despite this, moments of humanity persist. Even in a society shaped by competition and isolation, individuals strive for connection. Kindness still reverberates in this bleak society. In one instance, a father contemplates abandoning his mentally impaired daughter to improve his family’s prospects, only to ultimately abandon the plan—despite the pressures of the One Child Policy.

The Noodle Maker keeps its characters at a distance, which may lessen its emotional immediacy. Nevertheless, it vividly captures the struggles of individuals adapting to rapid change. These transformations reshape not only their material conditions but also their relationships—with others and with themselves. Caught between tradition, Maoist ideology, and the forces of capitalism, the characters exist in a kind of impasse. These competing systems shape their lives, forming the backbone of Ma Jian’s political satire. Despite the pervasive sense of hopelessness, moments of hope still emerge—often through dark, even grotesque humor, reminding us of the enduring absurdity of human existence.

The lights have gone out once more, and the room is pitch black. For a moment, the professional writer feels like a plastic bag caught in the high wind. It occurs to him that although the plastic bag is worthless, it is able to rise above the mundane world and change directions. When the wind blows against it, it fills with air and glides through space – things the earth-bound can never do.

Ma Jian, The Noodle Maker
Book Specs

Author: Ma Jian
Translator (from Chinese Mandarin): Flora Drew
Publisher: Picador
Publishing Date: 2004 (1990)
No. of Pages: 181
Genre: Literary

Synopsis

Two men meet for dinner each week. Over the course of these drunken evenings, one man, a writer, recounts the stories he would write, had he the courage: a young man buys an old kiln and opens a private crematorium, delighting in his ability to harass the corpses of police officers and Party secretaries, while swooning to banned Western music; a heartbroken actress performs a public suicide by stepping into the jaws of a wild tiger, watched nonchalantly by her ex-lover. Extraordinary characters inspire him, their lives pulled and pummeled by fate and politics, as of they were balls of dough in the hands of an all-powerful noodle maker.

Ma Jian’s satirical masterpiece allows us a humorous yet profound glimpse of those struggling to survive under a system that dictates their every move.

About the Author

Ma Jian (马建) was born on August 18, 1953, in Qingdao, a city in Shandong Province, on China’s Yellow Sea coast. When he was young, he studied under the tutelage of a painter who had been persecuted as a Rightist. His formal education was also cut short by the Cultural Revolution. This prompted him to self-study, copying out a Chinese dictionary word by word. When he was fifteen, he joined a propaganda arts troupe and was later assigned a job as a watchmender’s apprentice. He also worked in a chemicals factory before moving to Beijing in 1979 to work as a photojournalist for a magazine published by the All China Federation of Trade Unions. During this time, he became associated with an experimental underground group of artists, the Yuanmingyuan poetry group, and the April photographers’ group. He then organized clandestine exhibitions of his paintings in his one-room shack in Nanxiao Lane, which became a meeting point for dissident artists and writers of Beijing.

In 1983, his paintings were denounced during the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign. His works of art were seized by the police, and he was placed in detention. Following his release, he resigned from his job and set off on a three-year journey through China, selling his paintings and stories as he went. When Ma returned to Beijing in 1986, he wrote 亮出你的舌苔或空空荡荡 (Stick Out Your Tongue), a novella inspired by his travels through Tibet. Its publication in the official journal People’s Literature coincided with a nationwide censorship of the arts. The state publicly denounced the work as an example of bourgeois liberalism and placed a blanket ban on the future publications of Ma’s books. This prompted him to move to Hong Kong, where he could work in freedom. There, he set up the New Era publishing company and the Trends literary magazine to serve as platforms for essays and novels banned in China.

In 1989, Ma returned to Beijing to take part in the democracy protests. Following the Tiananmen massacre, he remained in the capital and wrote 拉面者 (The Noodle Maker), a dark political satire, which was published in 1991. Following the Handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, Ma moved to Europe, where he taught Chinese literary history at the Ruhr University in Bochum. He then later moved to London with his wife, Flora Drew, who translates his works into English. Despite the ban on his works, he regularly visited China until he was finally refused entry in 2011. Among his works are 九条叉路 (1993; The Nine Crossroads), 非法流浪 (2003; Red Dust), 肉之土 (2009, Beijing Coma), and 阴之道 (2013, The Dark Road). He also published collections of essays and poems. For his works, he received different accolades from various parts of the world, such as the 2002 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for Red Dust, the 2009 China Free Culture Prize, and the 2010 Athens Prize for Literature (2010).