Do not think of this as a psychological story. Do not ask what personal motivations drive these characters. This is a sociological story, just one anecdote in a country full of ruthless and vengeful selfishness.
What you're seeing in this story is the consequence of the Cultural Revolution (1965 to 1976). Long context short, Chinese leader Mao Tsetung was facing a Rebellion among the Chinese Communist Politbouro for the rather trivial act of killing sixty million Chinese people by engineering the greatest famine in human history. Rather than go meekly into retirement, Mao (with assistance from the head of the People's Liberation Army) started a countercoup that enlisted China's Post-Revolution generation who were mostly idealistic youths that were dedicated to Mao's desire to finish the Revolution's goals.
These youths formed a militia called the Red Guards, and they targeted older Chinese in traditional positions of authority (professions, community leaders, religious figures, university professors) by denouncing them for so called revanchism. Most of the accusers were employees or students of the accused, and in many cases they were relatives or neighbors. The accused were tortured and dragged into public denunciation meetings to be humiliated for their alleged crimes, destroying their reputations before neighbors and colleagues. Most of those denounced lost their jobs and livelihoods, and were packed off to prison. Some of the humiliated committed suicide. And many died from execution or further rough treatment in Chinese prisons.
Mao's campaign effectively crippled his adversaries, since millions of their loyal cadres were arrested and imprisoned, and much of China came under the de facto control of the Red Guards. But the CR also destroyed Chinese society. Because of the unprecedented mobilization of youth against traditional authority, and the insidious way that the Red Guards were recruited, brainwashed, and weaponized, basic societal trust was completely destroyed. Many people found that it was easier to preemptively accuse or denounce relatives, neighbors, and colleagues to save their own reputations and positions, adding a permanent bias of betrayal to the proceedings.
Chinese youth of this period, both the victims and the perpetrators, were taught that nobody could be trusted, and that you should only look after yourself. Love is an illusion, camaraderie is a lie, and solidarity only exists as an ephemeral mob mentality for mutual enrichment. Everybody cheats everybody else, and if your not trying to win then you're a fool. This attitude permeates every layer of Chinese society, particularly the Communist Party. The cheating girlfriend is only exhibiting this ethical selfishness, having learned it from her peers and elders in a conspiratorial manner.
That's just how China is now. And it could take a century or more for the country to return to its traditions and to regain it's moral grounding.
last edited at Jul 22, 2024 11:51AM
