International

Chairman Mao's Victims Prod China to Confront Past

By Anthony Kuhn

Published March 8, 2007 at 1:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Huang Zeyun, 74 (from left), Yan Dunfu, 69, and Ren Zhong, 73, were victims of the 1957 anti-rightist campaign. They organized fellow victims to sign a petition calling on the government to admit the campaign was a mistake.

A half-century ago, Chairman Mao called on Chinese to speak their minds and offer constructive criticism of the Communist Party's work. But when they did, at least 50,000 were branded "rightists." Many lost their careers; some lost their lives.

Now, as China's legislature holds its annual session, some of Mao Zedong's victims from that time are asking their leaders to revisit a chapter that they've tried to airbrush out of history.

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International

Anthony Kuhn

Anthony Kuhn is NPR's correspondent based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and the great diversity of Asia's countries and cultures. Before moving to Seoul in 2018, he traveled to the region to cover major stories including the North Korean nuclear crisis and the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster.

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