The landowner Huang Shiren was a character in the popular model ballet, The White Haired Girl (白毛女). The ballet, which was made later into a film, tells the story of a poor peasant girl, Yang Xier who is sold to the evil and abusive landlord Huang Shiren. She eventually escapes to the mountains, but because of her suffering, her hair turns white. In the end, Yang Xier is reunited with her fiancé, who had joined the Communist Eight Route Army, which overthrows the despotic landlord. Huang Shiren became a popular character representing the evils of the ruling class. In this ceramic, although he was a fictional character, Huang is subjected to a struggle session, similar to those undergone by academics and landlords as seen in the second section, “It is right to rebel”: the Early Years of the Cultural Revolution.
