Lei Feng

This article is about the Chinese soldier and icon. For the female person in Dead or Alive, see Lei Fang. For the pagoda in Hangzhou, see Leifeng Pagoda.

Lei Feng, Chinese propaganda poster

Lei Feng (雷鋒; Léi Fēng) (December 18, 1940 - August 15, 1962) was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army of the PRC. After his death he was characterized by propaganda as a selfless and modest person who was devoted to Chairman Mao. In the posthumous "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng" (向雷鋒同志學習) campaign, started by Mao in 1963, the youth of the country was indoctrinated to follow his example.

Biography

Born in Wangcheng, Hunan (near the Town of Leifeng, Changsha, Hunan, named in his honour), Lei was orphaned at an early age and raised under the wings of the Communist Party. He became a member in the Communist youth corps when he was young and joined a transportation unit of the People's Liberation Army at the age of twenty. Lei died in 1962 at the age of 21, when a telephone pole, struck by an army truck, hit him while he was directing the truck in backing up. After Lei's death, his diary was published, and Lei was built up as a good example to the Chinese people to be cheerfully selfless and noble in thought.

"Learn from Comrade Lei Feng"

The campaign was started in March 1963, at a time when the Chinese economy was recovering from the failures of the Great Leap Forward campaign. During 1964 the Lei Feng campaign shifted gradually from doing "boy scoutish good deeds to the cult of Mao" Feng's diary exhorted the youth to "submit ... unquestioningly to the control of the Great Leader" – namely Mao. This created the mindset that would be further exploited with the Cultural Revolution It was emphasized that the good deeds were not to be extended to help the "class enemies".

Lei Feng as an icon

When Lei Feng died in the line of duty, he was only 22, but his short life gives concentrated expression to the noble ideals of a new people, nurtured with the communist spirit, and also to the noble moral integrity and values of the Chinese people in the new period. These are firm faith in communist ideals, political warmheartedness for the party and the socialist cause, the revolutionary will to work arduously for self-improvement, the moral quality and self-cultivation of showing fraternal unity and taking pleasure in assisting others, the heroic spirit of being ready to take up cudgels for a just cause without caring for one's safety, the attitude of seeking advancement and studying hard, and the genuine spirit of matching words with deeds and enthusiastically carrying out one's duties.

— Editorial, People's Daily 5 March 1993

Communist China's leaders have praised Lei Feng as the personification of altruism, a truly selfless figure. Although the historical authenticity of the man's story is under dispute, his cultural importance is ingrained within everyday life in China. The importance of moral character was emphasized heavily during Mao's era, but Deng-era reforms have seen a moral erosion where competitiveness in social networks has paved its path. Lei Feng's prominence in school textbooks has declined since the 1970's, although he remains part of the national curriculum and many of his deeds are taught in the elementary school curriculum. The term huo Lei Feng (活雷鋒, literally living Lei Feng) has become a noun (or adjective) for anyone that is seen as selfless, or anyone that goes out of their way to help others.

Cultural importance

Lei Feng is an icon who continues to resonate in mainland China and elsewhere:

• Learning from Lei Feng is still obligatory in the Chinese education system. His picture is found at the entrance to many rural primary schools. Some of the many Lei Feng movies are part of the mandatory primary school curriculum.

• 5 March has become the official "Learn from Lei Feng Day". This day involves various community and school events where people go to clean up parks, schools, and other community locations. Local news on that day usually has footage from these events.

• A popular song by Jilin rapper Xue Cun is called All Northeasterners are living Lei Fengs (東北人都是活雷鋒). A 1995 release, originally notable only for its use of Northeastern Mandarin, it shot to nationwide fame when it was combined with kitsch animations on the Internet in 2001.

• The Lei Feng Jinianguan (Lei Feng Memorial) and Lei Feng statue are located in Changsha. The local hospital carries his name.

• In March 2006, a Chinese organization released a game titled Learn From Lei Feng Online in which the player has to do good deeds, fight spies, and collect parts of Mao Zedong's collection. If the player wins, he or she gets to meet Chairman Mao in the game.

• In the West, Lei Feng is most often seen as a T-shirt motif, similar to other revolutionary symbols including Mao and Che Guevera. For example, Hayden Christensen's character in the movie Life as a House is wearing a Lei Feng T-shirt.

Note

The Chinese word 學習, when translated literally, can mean "to learn" or "to study"; however, given this context, it means something like "to follow". Therefore, the slogan/phrase 向雷鋒同志學習 means something more like "Follow the examples of Comrade Lei-Feng."

See also

• Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov
• Dong Cunrui
• Huang Jiguang
• Zhang Side
• List of campaigns of the Communist Party of China

External links

• Lei Feng T-Shirt Design
• Lei Feng Museum Website (Chinese)
• Lei Feng on Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages