Revolution is not a dinner party
| Initiator | Mao Zedong |
|---|---|
| Origin | Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan[1] |
| Revolution is not a dinner party | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 革命不是请客吃饭 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 革命不是請客吃飯 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | revolution is not inviting guests to eat a meal | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Revolution is not a dinner party,[2] or making revolution is not inviting people over for dinner,[3] is a phrase coined by Mao Zedong.[4] It is taken from Mao's essay titled Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan written in 1927 during the Land Revolution.[5] It means that a revolution cannot be gentle and soft, but determined and thorough, and it is a violent and bloody action of one class overthrowing another.[6]
In this report, Mao stated that "A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."[7]
Based on this view, historian Zhang Ming further pointed out that "a revolution is not a dinner party, a revolution is a petition to eat".[8] The saying is also the basis of a political joke: "for many cadres Geming bushi qingke jiushi chifan 'Revolution is not entertaining guests, just eating dinner [at public expense or at the cost of the nouveaux riches]." [9]
In late 1966, during the early Cultural Revolution, the Chinese composer Li Jiefu (李劫夫, 1913–1976) composed a communist revolutionary song based on Mao's saying, entitled "Geming Bu Shi Qingke Chifan"《革命不是请客吃饭》(Revolution is Not a Dinner Party), and it was recorded and disseminated across China soon thereafter.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Programmatic literature written under the oil lamp". Xinhua News Agency. 2021-04-19. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021.
- ↑ Davis, Edward Lawrence (2005). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture. Taylor & Francis. pp. 656–. ISBN 978-0-415-77716-2.
- ↑ Xueping Zhong; Zheng Wang; Bai Di (2001). Some of Us: Chinese Women Growing Up in the Mao Era. Rutgers University Press. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-0-8135-2969-1.
- ↑ Christopher Arnander; Frances Wood; Kathryn Lamb (2008). The Pavilion in the Sky: Chinese Proverbs and Idioms. Stacey International. ISBN 978-1-905299-67-6.
- ↑ "50th Anniversary of the Cultural Revolution: A Look at the Cultural Revolution through Ten Objects". BBC News. 2016-05-09.
- ↑ "Does power come from the barrel of a gun?". Radio Free Asia. 2021-06-02.
- ↑ Stuart Heaver (15 August 2019). "Dear Hong Kong protestors: you have the support of Chairman Mao". The Independent.
- ↑ "A evolution is a petition to eat". Yazhou Zhoukan. 2011-09-19.
- ↑ Davis (2005).
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlWGnZkY4Q