The Paradox of Class Labeling in the Mao Era: Bio-Power, Racism, and the Question of Violence

摘要

How can we understand the paradox that the apparently “convivial” (Ivan Illich) ideal of Maoism and the Chinese Revolution resulted in the extreme violence and turmoil of the Cultural Revolution? In this article, I tackle this question by discussing the practice and system of class labeling during the Mao Era (1949–1976), in particular, during the Cultural Revolution. I begin by examining the theory and concepts presented by Michel Foucault and propose my understanding of such key notions as “bio-power,” “population,” and “racism.” Then, by closely examining the discourses of “class labeling” in “big character posters” (dazibao ) and other official and non-official publications during the period, I contend that the violence was not a temporary surge of political and social madness, nor was it a disruption in the normal progression of the history of modern Chinese society, but a historically and institutionally specific case of the workings of the rationality and power of modernity.