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>>175931I was forced to apologize in school for being too “sentimental” because I kept a photo album. When I had a “puppy love” during my middle school and high school years I told myself to keep it quiet, as even my friends would turn me in.
Romantic songs and art were banned. We were only allowed to sing red songs to show affection to Mao and the CCP. The artwork on posters and walls were about collective love and loyalty to our leaders, never to family or friends.
Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao were the focus of our directed “love.” For example, the lyrics to one popular song we had to sing in school went like this: “My parents are dear, but Chairman Mao is dearer.” Spouses were urged to report on each other, children were brainwashed to turn on their parents.
In my college freshman year, we were warned by the Communist Party Law School Secretary “don’t think about dating or marriage; focus on your studies to build China.” Of course, some of us rebelled against CCP rule, at least in secret.
Things started to change publicly when a romantic novel was published. It caused a national firestorm; the novel, “Love shall not be forgotten,” was about romance: a woman and a man who put their own happiness first in a society that values sacrifice. Finally, the dating bans and dancing party bans were lifted.
After I came to America, I read a book written by a defector and former personal doctor to Mao. He revealed that Mao engaged often in dancing parties and had as many young women as he wanted during the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, the powerless were being kept down by a party and told they should not live a “capitalist’s lifestyle.”
My family and I were eyewitnesses to the true communism that exists in reality. You see, the reality for the perfectible socialist man — is a place where utopian promises never come. It is, instead, a place of hatred, division, envy, oppression, poverty and suffering. It is a place where there is destruction of love, families, individuals, human nature and humanity.
Today, in America and outside of China, I am free to wear whatever I want; I can pursue beauty, express my feelings and opinions freely. And yet, ironically, I see too many young people in America idealizing socialism and communism.
Just recently I was informed by a young Twitter commentator “You did not survive REAL communism. Real communist society has never existed.” This is a shocking lie and propaganda.
The real communism I lived in is the same one that has exterminated nearly 100 million people this last century. I sometimes wonder if the victims of real communism are turning over in their graves because of what many young Americans now believe. Have these real victims of communism been forgotten so easily?
Valentine’s Day is a time I will always treasure. I am happy to see people celebrate love. Love is a part of family life and individual freedom, expression, and desire that must not be suppressed or eradicated.
So, I want to invite you to celebrate this Valentine’s Day with me, to celebrate one of our most profound, precious, and powerful human emotions — love. It is love that will keep alive the memories of those millions who died under communism.
(My op-ed was published by @UnionLeader in 2023)
https://x.com/Lily4Liberty/status/2022475344838545564