Landing on the Cultural Revolution

In 1973, newly-hired Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Davyd Booth was called to sub for an ill colleague on a tour to China. This was not just any tour. It was the first ever American symphony tour in Communist China.

China, which had been closed off to the world since 1949, was not a very known entity—“like going to Mars,” Davyd said.(See post one.) 

Life in China was vastly different than anything they’d ever known. (See post two.)

Little did Davyd and his colleagues realize it, but they were landing on the height of China’s Cultural Revolution. From1966-76 Chairman Mao led the Cultural Revolution to purge the country of old thinking. He demonized the rich, the intellectuals, and those exposed to the West, and he sent them into the countryside for “re-education.” Countless people died from torture, poor conditions, and suicide. 

As for music, Classical was banned. There were only eight model operas that Chinese were permitted to perform.

Davyd and the orchestra were instructed not to talk or mingle with the locals, and to always travel in groups of four or five.  This proved impossible.

“Anytime that we would go out, of course we would be surrounded by the Chinese people. Of course they were as interested in us as we were them.

 “One thing that I remember is that we had a couple of women in the orchestra who had blond hair. I don’t think the Chinese had ever seen blond hair. I’ll never forget –they would just come around to see the color of their hair. We were both witnessing such vastly different things from our culture and our lives at that point.”

(To be continued. Next: Madame Mao Asks Impossible.)