四十年後的平反

During the Cultural Revolution, which started in 1966, individuals like Fang, Rao and Zeng were, in the eyes of the Red Guards, people with "foreign connections". They were arrested and imprisoned very early.

The last project (of Zeng) was particularly important, not only for the city but for the entire country. The China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) was held twice annually in April and October and, from 1956, was the only way for foreigners to visit China. It was also an important source of foreign exchange earnings for the entire country.

In a case of extreme irony, Zeng and his East River Column soldiers were accused of being "bandits" -- the same accusation used against him and his soldiers by the KMT authorities in Guangdong right after the war.

On 3 December 1983 (in a celebration activity), Zeng wept (哭泣) openly when he recalled how his comrades suffered during the anti-localism activities and during the Cultural Revolution. He lamented (感到悲痛) sadly how they were let down by "the country and the party" and vowed that this should not be allowed to happen again.

After the downfall of the Gang of Four in 1976, the Central Committee of the CCP examined many cases of persecution (迫害) and imprisonment of various cadres since 1949. The work was conducted personally by Hu Yaobang, who had made his name by spending a long period as head of Youth Corps as early as the late 1950s. Because of his close relationship with Deng Xiaoping, he became general secretary of the party in the early 1980s. Hu was well known for his pragmatic (務實的) and liberal (寬容的) views and responsible for rehabilitating many people wrongly purged (政治清洗) in the 1950s and 1960s.

Xi Zhongxun said that the two anti-localism movements launched in 1952 and 1957 were seriously wrong. And both of them were due to the wrong policy and sectarian tendencies of some "senior cadres". This point was no doubt a veiled (隱含的) criticism of Tao Zhu.

In April 1994, the Central Committee (of the Communist Party) acceded (答應) to the Guangdong cadres' request to delete all reference to their errors when the anti-localist policy prevailed (壓倒) in Guangdong.

Chan, S.J. (2014). East River Column -- Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.