Wolf Totem

Glossary

BANNER: An administrative unit roughly equivalent to a county in China proper.

CAPITALIST-ROADERS: Party officials who implemented pragmatic economic policies in the countryside in response to the disastrous Great Leap Forward. The president, Liu Shaoqi was labeled the “Number one capitalist-roader in the party.” The term became the catchword for witch hunts during the Cultural Revolution.

DEEL: A long belted robe, often made of animal skins.

FOUR OLDS: Old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits. “Destroy the four olds” was a campaign, launched in 1966, during which the Red Guards terrorized the countryside.

HEILONG RIVER (JIANG): The river (Black Dragon) after which China’s largest northeastern province is named.

LEAGUE: An administrative unit roughly equivalent to a prefecture.

LI: About one third of a U.S. mile.

PRODUCTION BRIGADE: The largest labor unit in a commune.

STUDY SESSIONS (GROUPS): Meetings, usually scheduled as punishment for political errors, for which reform was the goal, the works of Mao Zedong the tool.

THREE DIFFICULT YEARS: Three years between 1959 and 1962, following the so-called "Great Leap Forward” (1958), during which upwards of twenty million people died of starvation.

WORK POINTS: Computations of labor rewards in the countryside.

YELLOW EMPEROR: The mythical founder of the Chinese race.

YUAN: Chinese currency, valued at the time (the 1970s) at roughly four to the dollar.

YURT: A round felt building. The preferred Mongol term is “ger.”