Statement of Quitting the  Communist Young Pioneers

by Yan Zhengxue

When I was a child my father was targeted as an anti-revolutionist. In the years that followed I felt the increasing chill that spread across Chinese society like a blanket of ice. People looked down on me for having a revolutionary father, a father in prison. In 1957 when the Anti-Rightist Movement took place I was just a teenager, but I remember vividly the persecution the people suffered under. My middle school teacher was tortured to death for crimes of thought and ideology, supposed mistakes that she refused to acknowledge. I remember wanting to save her some how and knowing that I could not. When I heard that she had died rather than go against her principles I was deeply moved by her faith. In 1962 I was admitted to Zhejiang Fine Arts College. While I was a student there one of my teachers was driven to suicide by the social pressures being placed upon her by the CCP. This incident had quite a deep impact on me.

As I matured I took it upon myself to study the written works of communism in great detail, books such as, “The Exposition of Communism.” The more I studied the more I found myself in disagreement with the theories put forth in theses books. I began to understand the pervasive evil nature of communism and I was filled with the urgent need to escape from the dark specter of communism before it could poison my soul.

In 1965 I decided to leave school travel the country as a wandering artist. My travels took me to the Xinjian Autonomous Area in Qinghai province as well as the Gansu Autonomous Area. My objective was to witness people’s lives - specifically the hardships they endured under the yolk of the CCP.

In 1978 I wrote a biographical account of my journeys entitled, The Long Journey, which was eventually published in 1989. It was my hope in making the book that it would awaken people to the enormous suffering that had become daily life for so many Chinese under the rule of the CCP.

After reading the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” recently published by The Epoch Times, I found that the book echoed many of my own conclusions about the inherent wrongness of the CCP. As a painter I have a special interest in Chinese traditional culture as it pertains to fine art, and I have seen how the CCP has tried to systematically destroy our millennia old artistic traditions.

For example, Dong Xiwen painted, “The Ceremony of the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China”. Liu Shaoqi, the former President of China, was represented in the painting. When Liu Shaoqi stepped down, the painting was modified. Changes like that have happened again and again. How can an artwork be changed? The CCP sees artists as regular workers and tools. The painters paint whatever they are told to. They are used to spread the CCP ideology. This is far from the traditional art culture of China, in which the artist attempts to represent the divine for the human world. In traditional Chinese art the artist’s endeavor is considered sacred and serves a purpose for human society that also transcends it. The CCP completely demeans our Chinese artistic traditions by turning artists and their creations into mundane tools to be used for political ends.

Resigning from the CCP is a necessary and righteous act. The CCP has done nothing but damage China, its people and its culture, since it came to power. It is unable to bring China forward towards democracy and freedom - these two ideas run contrary to its very nature. The CCP is a completely corrupt governing body and all would do well to completely distance themselves from it. All wise people should publicly renounce the CCP.

Yan Zhengxue 
May 26, 2005

- Original statement in Chinese
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Video: News report: Chinese Painter Yan Zhengxue Sentenced to 3-Year in Prison, April 2007

More:

- Famous Painter Sentenced to Three-Year in Prison, The Epochtimes, April 16, 2007