SHANTOU, China (Reuters) - Chaos reined during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and millions were killed or persecuted, but for a reminder of that dark decade you have to make your way to a museum in an out-of-the-way corner of southern China.
In one of more than 1,000 images etched into black panels there, ``counter-revolutionaries'' are paraded through a jeering crowd wearing dunce caps. In another, radical youth militia known as Red Guards attack a Buddhist statue with clubs.
But the 40th anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution passed quietly across China on Tuesday -- not for lack of interest or sentiment, but because the ruling Communist party, obsessed with stability, has issued a blanket ban on the subject.
As museums go, China's first on the Cultural Revolution -- which opened last year -- is modest. It is a testament to the lingering sensitivity of the period and limits on memorialising the era during which Mao worship reached fever pitch and millions died or were persecuted in factional fighting.
The museum stands in a country park in a rural part of the port city of Shantou, some 300 km (190 miles) east of Hong Kong.
Museum officials are quick to point out that its version of history adheres tightly to the Communist Party line on that turbulent era, and even advances President Hu Jintao's current policy of building a ``harmonious society.''
Yet it has no official backing, and no senior officials have visited except for retired provincial cadres.
While the museum's contents may be modest, it is necessary for the country to face its past, says Peng Qi'an, a 75-year-old former vice mayor of Shantou, who said he was severely criticised during the Cultural Revolution and narrowly escaped execution.
Peng worries that the era is being forgotten.
``This is not good for the country,'' he said. ``I believe our goal is good for the party, for the country, and it is for society to take a more cultured road, a more democratic road.''
OFFICIAL SILENCE
In 1981 the party determined the Cultural Revolution was a mistake wrought by Mao which brought ``disaster and turmoil.'' But further, more detailed discussion has been suppressed.
Since late last year, researchers and journalists have been warned not to publish or organize any events marking the anniversary. With rare exceptions, that official silence has held, but critics warn it is as dangerous as the event itself.
``When the majority of individuals refuse to confront the historical truth, the costs of silence or lies are transferred to society as a whole,'' Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident and literary critic, wrote recently in an article posted online.
``As one generation after another continues to lie, the lies will corrode everything.''
Propaganda authorities have banned new books on the Cultural Revolution, though some publishers have skated around the ban by reprinting histories and memories first published years ago.
Scholars have also been blocked from attending a conference on the Cultural Revolution in New York.
Xu Youyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who has pressed for an open assessment of the Cultural Revolution, revealed a few days ago that researchers held a secret meeting on the Cultural Revolution in Beijing in March.
``The Communist Party is uncomfortable about squarely facing its history, but an official resolution isn't enough to deal with the Cultural Revolution,'' Xu told Reuters.
``To address the consequences (of the Cultural Revolution), we need to encourage discussion and debate, not suppress it. Otherwise, misunderstanding and ignorance come to dominate. That's not healthy.''
Wearing a starched blue shirt, a forest green tie and a beige sweater-vest adorned with a pin bearing China's national seal, Bi Yun, a retiree volunteer at the museum and a party member, understands the sensitivities but says remembering is paramount.
``Our goal, and we've said this to the central government, is to prevent a replay of the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution,'' he said. ``Can you forget this kind of thing? You can't. If you forget history it's a crime, it is betrayal.''
