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the servants said. ''It's probably the Red Guards,'' said one of Meiping's friends, a young actor. ''What are the Red Guards?'' I asked. ''It's something new for the Cultural Revolution, encouraged by Jiang Qing,'' he said. ''Someone told me she actually organized them herself and then pretended it was the spontaneous idea of the students. And since she is the wife of Chairman Mao, the idea is catching on.'' Group after group of young students continued to march past our house. Meiping, who had gone outside to watch, told us that the students were shouting, ''Protect Chairman Mao.'' ''Who is supposed to be threatening him?'' I asked. In his lofty position as a demigod, Mao seemed beyond human reach. ''I'll see Auntie Li home,'' said Meiping. ''I don't think there are any buses. The streets have been taken over by the paraders.'' Li Zhen and I said goodbye. That was the last glimpse I ever had of my dear old friend. A month later, she committed suicide after a particularly humiliating experience. The Red Guards placed a pole across the gate of the conservatory less than four feet from the ground and made Li Zhen crawl under it to demonstrate that she was ''a running dog of the British imperialists'' because of her education in England. They then held a ''struggle'' meeting to compel her to confess her ''love for Western music.'' She was found dead the next day, seated by her piano, with the gas turned on. The note she left said, ''I did my best for my students.'' The day after Li Zhen's visit, I read in the newspaper that on Aug. 18 Mao had reviewed the first contingent of Red Guards in Peking and given them his blessing. In the days afterward, the Red Guards in Shanghai took over the streets. They debated whether to reverse the system of traffic lights, as they thought red should mean ''go'' and not ''stop.'' Meanwhile, the traffic lights stopped operating. Goods they considered offensive or unsuitable for a socialist society they destroyed or confiscated. Because they did not think socialist man should sit on a sofa, all sofas became taboo. Innerspring mattresses, silk, velvet, cosmetics and clothes that reflected Western fashion were tossed onto the streets to be carted away or burnt. One day, I decided to venture out to see all this for myself. Red Guards were stopping buses and punishing passengers whose clothes they disapproved of. (In my old shirt and wide trousers, I blended in.) I saw a group of Red Guards leading an old man on a length of rope, shouting and hitting him with a stick. Suddenly he collapsed. When he did not get up, the Red Guards jumped on him. The old man shrieked in pain. ''Dirty capitalist! Exploiter of workers! You deserve to die!'' they shouted. I heard of other victims being humiliated, terrorized and often killed when they offered resistance. The newspapers and leading Maoists congratulated the Red Guards on their vandalism. I felt utterly helpless.
NIGHT OF THE RED GUARDS
