Lu Hongen, conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, was the first high-profile intellectual to be publicly executed during the Cultural Revolution. The day after he was killed, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Public Security Bureau went to his wife and said: “You have to pay 20 cents; this is the cost of the bullet that was used to kill your husband!”
After the execution, no one dared to collect Lu Hongen’s body or hold a funeral ceremony for him. At the memorial service held many years later, Lu Hongen’s son, Lu Yuwei choked by tears, clutched an urn. The only thing inside was a fragment of his father’s conductor baton.
His crime? Lu Hongen was too honest for a totalitarian regime
Born in 1919 to a Catholic family, Lu Hongen enrolled in the French-run Xuhui Public School when he was young and later was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1937. From there, he entered the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Characterized by his candid and cheerful demeanor, Lu never shied away from expressing his true opinions. His quick wit often led him to speak without reservation. Such frankness was considered to be a sign of poor character under the CCP’s regime, and it marked him as lacking “political sensitivity.”
He proposed the retention of artistic integrity and freedom of thought
During the “Anti-Rightist Campaign” between 1957 and 1963, Lu Hongen advocated a “conductor responsibility system” where the conductor would help the players and the orchestra retain artistic integrity. In this way, the “players would remain faithful with every note of the score.”
Lu Hongen proposed that “the orchestra’s daily 5 hours of business activity time be controlled and arranged by the conductor.” Thence, the conductor responsibility system was implemented. “Give me human rights and financial rights, and I will definitely be able to conduct a good symphony orchestra.”
Heroically defied the CCP’s attempt to control literature and the arts
Initially, Lu Hongen wanted to improve the performance level and efficiency of the orchestra, but his suggestion was later regarded as “madly rejecting the CCP’s control over the literary and arts arena.”
At a group study seminar with the symphony orchestra, Lu Hongen said firmly: “Regarding Hai Rui, (a character in a theater play titled Hai Rui Dismissed from Office), who was indeed a man in history, he retired to the fields, and it is also a fact that hundreds of thousands of ordinary people saw him off when he was dismissed. The government can’t deny history, can it? If Yue Fei, Wen Tianxiang, and other national heroes are all denied and covered up, then what other historical and cultural heritage are they destroying?”
On May 28, 1966, as the orchestra was discussing the critique of Three Family Village, Lu’s family pleaded with him to remain silent during the meeting. He promised he would. However, the moment the meeting started, accusations of him being a “revisionist” arose. Likely overwhelmed, Lu defiantly responded: “Do you people even reason? … If what I’m saying is ‘revisionism,’ then long live revisionism!”
Everyone was stunned, and suddenly someone shouted: “Lu Hongen…. counter-revolutionary!” Then someone shouted: “Yes…. counter-revolutionary!” In an instant, a mob rushed forward and beat him until his head was bleeding, and then he was handed over to the Public Security Bureau.
Man with no name
After a year of detention, Lu was officially arrested and lost his identity, being known thereafter only by a number: 1598.
Inside the prison, the 48-year-old Lu befriended Liu Wenzhong, a 19-year-old political prisoner. Liu Wenzhong did not expect that he would become a confidante to a musician.
Liu Wenzhong later described in his memoir The Road of Stormy Life: “The poor teacher, Lu Hongen was dragged out to be criticized almost every month. Once, he was dragged to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to be criticized, he was beaten and came back with a bruised nose and swollen face.”
After two years of imprisonment, beatings, and humiliation, Lu Hongen, who was in the prime of life, soon became a weak old man; his body was thin and haggard, his hair turned white and fell out, his face was dull, and his eyes were cloudy.
Se Part 2 here.
Translated by Chua BC
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