Dan Offenbacker

Prof. Stevens
Asian Literature
10/24/2014
Shoes of the Cultural Revolution
The short story Shoes of the Cultural Revolution, is essentially based off
background information of China during 1966, the Cultural Revolution, and uses that
to portray the way people felt during the time. In China, Mao Zedong (leader of the
Communist Party of China), launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,
which was to seize back the power from the revisionists in the Party. He enlisted
young people, known as the Red Guard, to seize back these powers. Motivated by
slogans such as To rebel is justified from Chairman Mao, the Red Guard began
overthrowing authoritative figures that fit a Capitalistic mold, the teachers, doctors,
scientists, authors, actors, etc., anyone benefiting from the proletariats in the
Chinese society. The story then starts off with a boy, his father, his uncle, and his
grandfather looking at an actress, a class enemy, be demoralized in front of the
community and with a ragged pair of shoes around her neck. The theme lies behind
this picture and the uncles quote Twenty years ago you could not have touched
her little toes for thousands of yuan. Today, I have placed a wreath of shoes around
her neck. The theme, or more or less the point of this story, is to show that the
lower class, the laborers, supported this change in China and the oppression against
upper social class members. The laborers notice the unfairness in social class, as
seen when the uncle points out it would have cost thousands of yuan to touch her

feet, but now, she is no better than them, there is no upper and lower social class,
there is no preying off the laborers, so to speak, and the laborers (majority of
China are laborers) are excited about this. They lay ragged shoes around her neck
because at one point in time she could afford nice shoes and she took advantage of
her fame, but now she is just like the rest, barefoot. Government oppression is also
exploited in this snippet of China. As seen, just in the fact that this woman is
enduring the physical and emotional abuse in front of and by her community, solely
speaks to the governments interaction in the situation. If this woman was enduring
these abuses, why didnt she leave? How are the people allowed to spit on her
without any consequence? And finally, why at the end of the story, is she supporting
the movement with her chant Shoes, Shoes, Shoes Barefoot is the solution if she
is being abused from it? In my opinion, the governments involvement, or
oppression, was eminent by supporting the abuse of this woman and forcing her to
sing this mad song.