Human Dam

The phrase “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory“ 下定决心, 不怕牺牲, 排除万难, 去争取胜利 from chapter 19 in Mao’s Little Red Book, the story of the so-called “Foolish Old Man” 愚公 who wanted to move two mountains in front of his house and finally manages to do so, in spite of everyone’s skepticism is used in Cultural Revolution propaganda works to overcome sandstorms, deep waters and difficult mathematics exercises, as well as nasty imperialists.

One of its most spectacular uses is in the revolutionary opera Song of the Dragon River 龙江颂 Longjiangsong: a dike has broken and the peasants now form a human wall to make repair works possible. Beating the waters, and taking acrobatic moves, they are citing, singing and performing Mao’s phrase at the same time (see Scene 5).