Recasting a legend China dusts off, updates revolutionary hero

BEIJING -- His boyish smile beams from the pages of China's major newspapers. Lately, he's on the television news every night. Dozens of Web sites are dedicated to him.

But he's no pop star. This is Lei Feng, a 1960s propaganda icon, a dead soldier hailed as a model of charity. Dusted off and updated, he's being promoted as an example of cheerful self-sacrifice by communist leaders who worry economic reform has made Chinese selfish and fed social tensions.

Killed in 1962 in a freak accident, the 22-year-old soldier was immortalized by Mao Zedong the following year, when the communist leader exhorted Chinese to "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng."

Wednesday marks the 40th anniversary of Mao's declaration -- and, coincidentally, the start of the patriotism-infused meeting of China's National People's Congress. And amid the high-tech din of China's openly capitalist ambition, Lei Feng and his classic communist virtue are everywhere.

Secret sock washing

Schoolchildren visit exhibitions about Lei Feng, who is said to have helped the elderly and done such good deeds as secretly washing other soldiers' socks. Humble citizens are periodically elevated from obscurity by the government and dubbed "living Lei Fengs." Press reports say the southern city of Changsha has used the selfless "Lei Feng spirit" to cut crime and boost economic growth.

But Lei has not been a static figure. He has evolved over the years, changing as China changes, a mutable symbol of the moral virtues the country needs most.

Lei lacks the single-minded revolutionary zeal he once had. Today, the media focuses more on his compassion -- something China's new leader, Hu Jintao, named Communist Party general secretary in November, has been keen to promote in the country's citizenry.

Hu has made helping the poor and unemployed a key theme of his leadership and is expected to be named China's president at the legislature's annual session.

"Lei Feng suits Hu's agenda well," said Zhou Xiaozheng, a professor of sociology at Beijing's People's University. "'Lei Feng spirit' is to help the weak and do good things, and since he came to leadership that's been Hu's project."

On Friday, the Web site of the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper also invoked Lei, saying senior leader Li Changchun had told party faithful "the 'Lei Feng Spirit' should be carried forward" -- to inspire Chinese toward greater devotion to the country's modernization.

Doubts he existed

For all the attention Lei gets, doubts remain about whether he ever existed. If he did, he probably bore little resemblance to the saintly depictions offered up by state-controlled media.

According to biographies of Lei, he was born a peasant in 1940 and lost both his parents by age 7. At 20, he joined the People's Liberation Army and rose to become squad leader and party member. Then, on Aug. 15, 1962, Lei was killed when a truck backing up struck a pole that toppled and killed him.

Posthumously, through the details of his diary and testimonials from soldiers, he emerged as communist China's ideal, an icon of dedication and heroic selflessness. His modest deeds became legendary.

Many Chinese can recite passages from Lei's diary from memory, such as the entry for Oct. 20, 1961: "A person's life is limited, but to serve the people is unlimited."

The modern Lei, revamped for a new generation, is a little more pragmatic, a little less perfect and slightly more believable.