Author(s)
This reflection was written post-mortem in 2021, where the author is now undertaking his graduate studies (as of 2022/23).
I wrote this poem three years ago to capture my fascination with historical revisionism. The subject of my poem is Deng Guangming, a renowned Song dynasty historian who was caught in the tumult of modern China’s political changes. Compelled by different regimes and their preferred narratives, Deng (re)wrote his work, Wang Anshi’s Political Reforms During the Northern Song Dynasty (北宋政治改革家王安石), a total of four times (1953, 1975, 1979, 1997). It was only with Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in the late seventies that he was able to restore his original interpretations. Playing with this coincidence of surnames, I hoped to capture in this poem the subtle power of history that even the greatest of politicians could not ignore — much like how muted embers can quietly set the woods ablaze.
The following is a “reverse” commentary poem on the close intertwine between history and modern politics, particularly with reference to historian Deng Guangming’s publication, Wang Anshi: A Northern-Song Reformer. It is meant to be read from the top to bottom and then back to the top again.
Cultural R(evolution)
“Real change never occurs from the top on down…
1975
Nothing is remembered of Deng Guangming
It is true that
His sketch of Wang An Shi was flawed
I ridicule myself every day for thinking that
He held true to the Confucian core
I believe in my truest of hearts that
The New Policies represented his legalist soul
No one would hold that
The Green Sprouts Programme was a failure
But everyone would agree that
Wang An Shi symbolised the best of Qin’s legacy
It would be futile to trust
Deng for his deepness of historical knowledge
How can we believe otherwise but
The torch of the revolutionary cause?
There is so much pain in
The thought of holding an opinion counter to the revolution
So why not rewrite, rethink, reconsider
Our own naïve, traditional, conservative thoughts?
Is there no value in
Breaking away from the ways of the ancestors entirely?
What lies you feed yourselves:
The Way is to appease the people
Sacrifices must be made for
The republic divorces the True King
Who are we to say
Scholarly pursuits are any good?
Just like who would doubt
The “Three No Needs” as an imperial repudiation
How can you believe
That the way forward is the way backward
That culture holds the promise of a strong China?
Don’t you know
That we all need to plow and reflect?
The roots lie in the ground not memory
Do you believe
In change?
Do we have any other role
In this revolution?
Raise your hoes
Lower your pens
Why
There is still another way:
Another Deng also believed
1979
…but always from the bottom on up.” — Bernie Sanders