• Source: Serve the People

"Serve the People" (Chinese: 为人民服务) is a political slogan and the motto of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It originates from the title of a speech by Mao Zedong, delivered in September 1944.
The slogan became popular in the United States due to the strong Maoist influence on the New Left, especially among the Red Guard Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Yellow Brotherhood of West Los Angeles.




Development


Mao Zedong wrote this speech to commemorate the death of a PLA soldier, Zhang Side, a participant in the Long March who died in the collapse of a kiln when he worked in Shaanxi province.: 54  In the speech, Mao quoted a phrase written by the famous Han dynasty historian Sima Qian: "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be heavy as Mount Tai or light as a feather" (人固有一死，或轻于鸿毛，或重于泰山). Mao continued: "To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather. Comrade Zhang Side died for the people, and his death is indeed weightier than Mount Tai".
The speech, delivered on 8 September 1944, states that the CCP and the People's Liberation Army have no other goal than to serve the people.: 66  It states that the CCP and its cadres should not be afraid of criticism, and if criticism is correct, they should accept it and revise their behavior accordingly.: 66  It also states that everyone in the revolutionary ranks is equal regardless of title or position.: 66 
The phrase "serve the people" became rhetorically important and subsequently appeared in important texts of Chinese Marxism including On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People.: 115 




Use in Mao-era China


During the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's interior, Serve the People was frequently assigned as reading for Third Front workers.: 94 
During the Cultural Revolution, the speech was widely read and people were encouraged to memorize it.: 66  Its messages had the effect of serving as a code of conduct which ordinary people could use to hold officials accountable.: 66–67 




Contemporary uses


The slogan of serving the people reflects the influence of the Maoist principle of the mass line.: 43 




= Ceremonial role

=

The slogan is inscribed in the calligraphy of Mao himself, on the screen wall facing the front entrance of the Zhongnanhai compound, which serves as the headquarters for the senior party leadership and houses the offices of the General Secretary, Politburo Standing Committee and the State Council, together composing the most powerful offices in the PRC.
Since 1984, during inspections of troops in the People's Liberation Army, the following ceremonial exchange is carried out:

Inspecting official: "Hello, Comrades!" (同志们好; tóng zhì men hǎo)
Troops: "Hello, Leader [or Chairman]!" (首长 [主席] 好; shǒu zhǎng [zhǔ xí] hǎo)
Inspecting official: "Comrades, you have worked hard!" (同志们辛苦了; tóng zhì men xīn kǔ le!)
Troops: "[We] Serve the people!" (为人民服务!; wèi rén mín fú wù!)




= Cultural role

=
In 2007, actress Cameron Diaz caused a minor controversy by carrying a bag with the "Serve the People" slogan in Chinese on a tour of Peru. Many Peruvians felt the bag to be a show of support for the Maoist movement Shining Path.
In 2005, author Yan Lianke wrote a satirical novel set during the Cultural Revolution titled Serve the People! about an affair between the wife of a military officer and a peasant soldier.
Huawei founder and CCP member Ren Zhengfei states that Huawei's culture is the same as the CCP's culture, "and to serve the people wholeheartedly means to be customer-centric and responsible to society.": 9  The conglomerate Hengtong Group characterizes its business mission as "Serve the people and devote to the society," also a reference to Mao's speech.: 56 




See also


Servant of the People
Community service
Public service
Volunteerism
Three Old Articles (China)




Notes






External links


Mao Zedong, Serve the People (1944)




References

• Source: Serve the People!

Serve the People! (Chinese: 为人民服务) is a 2005 novel by Yan Lianke. The English version, translated by Julia Lovell, was published in 2010 by Black Cat/Grove.




Plot


Set during the Cultural Revolution, at the peak of the cult of personality of Chairman Mao, the novel tells the story of an affair between the Liu Lian, the wife of a powerful military commander, and a young peasant soldier, Wu Dawang. Liu Lian tells Wu Dawang that whenever she removes the household's wooden 'Serve the People!' sign from its usual place on the dinner table, he must attend to her needs in the bedroom. Liu Lian discovers that destroying her absent husband's sacred Mao icons - such as the Little Red Book and statues of the Chairman - turns her on.
The title is a reference to a phrase originally coined by Mao in a 1944 article of the same name that commemorated the death of the red army soldier Zhang Side. During the Cultural Revolution, this article was required reading for millions of Chinese, and the slogan was widely used.




Reception


Due to the sex scenes and sensitive political content, the story attracted controversy in China when it was featured the literary magazine Huacheng in 2005. The Chinese government ordered the publisher to recall all 40,000 copies of the magazine, which in turn created huge demand for the novel. The novel was banned by the Chinese government. It has been translated into French, Danish, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Italian, Czech and English.




Adaptation


The screenwriter and director Jang Cheol-soo adapted the story to set the erotic South Korean film, Serve the People, in a fictional socialist country with similarity to North Korea in the 1970s. Filming of the movie began in 2020 and it was released theatrically on February 23, 2022.




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Serve the People (film)
• Melayani Rakyat
• Yeon Woo-jin
• Zhang Side
• Yan Lianke
• Hak LGBT di Oseania
• Song Joong-ki
• Hak LGBT menurut negara
• Old 100th
• Lindsay Lohan
• Serve the People
• Serve the People (film)
• Serve the People!
• Serve the People (Norway)
• Serve
• Serve the People (disambiguation)
• To Serve and Protect
• Servant leadership
• On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People
• Union of Communist Youth in Service of the People