Because Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don’t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments – positive, negative, or neutral – I will delete them.
Right, so Lei Feng (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people’s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People’s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster “Lei Feng Spirit” (雷锋精神).
In this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng’s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it’s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.
Some Language Stuff
If this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you’ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s:
单位 dān wèi – work unit
解放军 jiě fàng jūn – [People’s] Liberation Army (PLA)
同志 tóng zhì – comrade
毛主席 máo zhǔ xí – Chairman Mao
党 dǎng – short for “共产党”, the Party / the Communist Party.
There are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) – all places within northeastern China.
This post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 qù wài dì is used. At first glance, “去外地” just means “to go other places”, but this is specifically used to mean “other places within China”, not “other countries”. Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 chū chāi. This specially means “to travel on business”, as opposed to traveling for pleasure.
想都没想 xiǎng dōu měi xiǎng – Phrase means “without even thinking about it” or “without a second thought”.
雷锋小故事
从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。
人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”
有一次，雷锋外出，在沈阳车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从辽宁去吉林看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个单位的？”
雷锋回答道：“我叫解放军，家就住在中国。”
五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去沈阳。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋想都没想，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。
那位妇女感激地说：“同志，我可怎么感谢你呀！”
雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢党和毛主席啊！”
他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是党给的，光荣应该归于党，归于热情帮助我的同志，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……”
2 replies on “Communist folk tales: The good deeds of Lei Feng”
I wonder, since he’s so altruistic and does not give out his name, how does his real name even get spread by the public? Lol I jest, but thanks for the post!
Word of good deeds is always shared by others related to or in the same community as the recipient. There is no doubt that his name would come up in these celebrations of charitable deeds…..as they should be!!