Cast of Characters for Da Fo Village and Several Other Villages in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Area, 1945–2013

Summary

Bao Chengling. Head cook of the public dining hall in the commune period and the dictatorial, corrupt, and immoral principal of the Da Fo school in the Mao era and early reform period. Target of struggle led by Bao Sheping and the Da Fo teachers.

Bao Chuanxi. Poor and timid farmer. Bullied by Bao Wenxing. Forced to plead for right to use electricity and water his crops.

Bao Haizhen. Arbitrary Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader in Da Fo. Received more than his share of land in the 1982 land division. Target of arson.

Bao Hongwen. Da Fo farmer. Feared and disliked Bao Yinbao and his friends. Saw Bao Yinbao-led mafia as criminal and in league with corrupt CCP officials.

Bao Junling. Da Fo farmer who mounted a physical challenge to “electricity tiger” Bao Wenxing in the reform period, stirring memories of resistance to party leaders and their brutal cronies in the Great Leap era. Champion of more timid farmers.

Bao Junwei. Da Fo farmer and migrant worker. Said all Chinese officials are corrupt, and gave up on CCP-guided democracy.

Bao Nianxi. Eight years old at the start of the Great Leap Forward. Dropped out of school in 1960 because of hunger. Survived the great famine by secretly eating raw grain, sweet potato, and pumpkin crops in the collective fields. Thirty-two year-old farmer in 1983. Victim of Strike Hard campaign. Arrested and treated as a petty criminal for taking off government-monopolized chemical fertilizer from state trucks.

Bao Ruimin. Suffered a ten-year prison ordeal because of yanda, missing his chance to mentor his young sons. Petition writer for fellow prisoners falsely accused and arrested in the throes of the Strike Hard campaign. Unpaid Da Fo migrant worker who joined with other migrant workers to wage sit-ins at homes of unscrupulous subcontractors in villages and towns in between Beijing and Da Fo. Leader of New Year's Eve dumpling rebellion.

Bao Sheping. Teacher and principal of Da Fo school in the reform era. Leader of protest against corrupt Mao-era principal and of movement to democratize the school administration. Driven by Confucian ethics imparted by his father to improve the school and serve the students.