Once I had conducted interviews in the four counties around Nanning
and Wuzhou prefecture, I felt that I had an overall picture of the forest.
Now it was time to look at some trees. I put all my energy into learning
about the battle that had occurred in Wuxuan County.

On June 10, I arrived at Liuzhou city. I first contacted the Party Reform
Office of the Liuzhou Prefecture Committee, which is the prescribed ap-
proach. Long Huang, deputy chief of the CCP Organization Department,
provided me with some information on the issue of Party reform. He also
recommended me to Deputy Director Men Qijun, who was more familiar
with local affairs than he was.

Six thousand people had died in this prefecture during the Cultural
Revolution, whereas the fatalities in Rongan County totaled over 1,000,
and those in Wuxuan, over 500. (Punishment: Only nineteen people were
arrested in Rongan, thirty people in Wuxuan; none were executed, and
not even the relatively light sentence of suspended capital punishment
was meted out.)

As for incidents of cannibalism: These occurred in some counties, the
most outstanding being those in Wuxuan. Whenever victims were forced
to parade through the streets while being subjected to criticism, the old
women would turn out holding their vegetable baskets. Immediately after
a victim was killed, the crowd would rush forward. Those at the forefront
would get the good pieces of flesh. Those who came later divided up the
bones among themselves. Quite a few cadres had engaged in cannibalism.
For instance, Wang Wenliu (female), who had been promoted to the posi-
tion of vice chairman of the Wuxuan Revolutionary Committee after en-
gaging in several revolutionary actions, became something of a specialist
in consuming male reproductive organs. When this particular perversion
was reported to the CCP Central Committee by a Central Committee work
team, the elite Party bureaucrats were flabbergasted. During May and

-63-