Gang Of One Chapter Summary

Lao-tzu, an author, once stated, “This is what life is made of: Fire Earth Metal Wood & Water.” Fan Shen wrote a book called Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard. In the memoir, he described his life as he grew up in Communist China. The book covers the five stages of Fan Shen’s life which correspond with the quotation by Lao-tzu. Fan Shen’s life consisted of constant battles with the Communist Party. This however, allowed for Fan Shen to get the most out of his extraordinary life. Fan Shen turned against the Communist Party, which was trying to suppress any personal ambition of the people, by his reading of books not approved by the Communist state, his determination to reach his small personal goals, and his willingness to do what the party …show more content…
Mao Tse Tung was the leader of the Communist and started terrorizing the people of China once he came into power. His reign lead to an intellectual life in China that was mostly submissive to the Communist Party. Mao wanted to rewrite history to reflect his ideals for the world, so he had all the books that were from before his will destroyed or hidden. The Cultural Revolution was started to purge China of the old ways which meant that it was focused around children and teenagers. The reason for this is that the older generations were seen as monsters. The violence was first started against intellectuals in the country because they defended the old ways and were traitors, but eventually was spread to the rest of the people in China. Mao twisted the readings of Marx so that they fit into the reality of Communist China. The Red Guards were sent to live in the countryside because Mao believed that the true revolutionaries were the peasants and that the Red Guards could learn to be better Communists. Fan Shen’s grew up during the Cultural Revolution and eventually became a Red Guard. Fan Shen experienced many of the horrors that the revolution brought to …show more content…
He wrote, “But I felt hypocritical pretending to study something I knew was worthless nonsense, and I tried to skip class as often as I could.” He skipped classes or meetings that had to do with the Red Guard because he did not believe the material that the people were discussing. He tried to be true to himself by not attending, which caused trouble for himself. After his long fight against the Communist Party he wrote, “After trying to escape for so many years—four years in the countryside, six years in the aircraft factory, four years in college, and two years in Tanggu and Tianjin—I had finally done it; I had beaten the Great Leader and I did not have to pretend to be a revolutionary anymore.” When he was travelling to America he finally able to be his true self, and he had the freedom to communicate what his true feelings