WEBVTT 00:01:36.830 --> 00:01:40.033 Something that left a deep impression 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:44.304 was going to Shaanxi to join a production team. 00:01:44.337 --> 00:01:49.109 We came across poor peasants 00:01:49.109 --> 00:01:56.649 struggling between life and death. 00:01:56.649 --> 00:02:04.791 This issue formed a new challenge to our thinking, 00:02:04.858 --> 00:02:09.496 to our thoughts about life. 00:02:09.496 --> 00:02:11.798 At this point, I became a barefoot doctor. 00:02:11.798 --> 00:02:20.507 My first surgery was a case of postpartum mastitis. 00:02:20.507 --> 00:02:26.412 The whole breast was swollen and long. 00:02:26.412 --> 00:02:28.248 The patient couldn’t sleep at all. 00:02:28.248 --> 00:02:32.652 Actually, there was a huge sac of pus inside, 00:02:32.652 --> 00:02:34.921 incredibly swollen and painful. 00:02:34.954 --> 00:02:39.792 All we could do was take a penknife, 00:02:39.826 --> 00:02:45.798 actually an old type of razor, 00:02:45.798 --> 00:02:48.334 and cut into the abscess, 00:02:48.334 --> 00:02:52.839 catching the blood and pus in a bowl. 00:02:52.839 --> 00:02:56.643 Then, we put the bowl on the ground, 00:02:56.643 --> 00:03:00.480 and dogs came along to lap it up. 00:03:08.555 --> 00:03:19.732 The wife of the party branch secretary had gastric perforation. 00:03:19.766 --> 00:03:24.204 Acidic material from her stomach and internal organs 00:03:24.204 --> 00:03:27.207 poured into her abdomen. 00:03:27.207 --> 00:03:29.409 It was a serious illness. 00:03:29.409 --> 00:03:32.645 We only had one kind of anesthetic at the time, spinal anesthetic, 00:03:32.679 --> 00:03:40.053 which you gave as an injection in the spinal cord. 00:03:40.086 --> 00:03:46.426 But it wasn’t strong enough. 00:03:46.426 --> 00:03:50.096 There was still some pain, especially after time had passed. 00:03:50.096 --> 00:03:54.901 Her intestines pushed out, and couldn’t be pressed back in. 00:03:54.901 --> 00:03:57.003 By the time we’d stitched up her stomach 00:03:57.003 --> 00:03:59.272 and washed her abdominal cavity, 00:03:59.272 --> 00:04:01.441 the anesthetic had already worn off. 00:04:01.441 --> 00:04:05.278 At this point we were holding onto her intestines. 00:04:05.311 --> 00:04:08.414 We couldn’t get them to go back in. 00:04:08.448 --> 00:04:17.123 She was awake, so we said to her, "You must help us." 00:04:17.123 --> 00:04:21.094 Take a deep breath, and we’ll push. 00:04:21.094 --> 00:04:27.000 When it hurts, take a deep breath, and we’ll push. 00:04:27.033 --> 00:04:30.003 I grabbed a piece of wood, 00:04:30.003 --> 00:04:32.272 and little by little we pushed the intestines back, 00:04:32.272 --> 00:04:38.044 and stitched her up. 00:04:38.077 --> 00:04:42.415 We worked together to complete the surgery. 00:04:42.448 --> 00:04:45.018 In the end, she fully recovered. 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:58.197 During this time we gradually came to stand on common ground with the local people. 00:04:58.197 --> 00:05:00.733 We had a shared fate. 00:05:00.767 --> 00:05:12.712 That is, a feeling of fighting together from this sick and impoverished starting point. 00:05:12.712 --> 00:05:16.916 From this shared fate we had some knowledge. 00:05:16.916 --> 00:05:19.052 We communicated with some people in Beijing 00:05:19.052 --> 00:05:26.159 and were able to get medicine to treat the local people. 00:05:26.159 --> 00:05:32.732 The number of patients far surpassed our expectations. 00:05:42.909 --> 00:05:44.610 In the later stage of the Cultural Revolution, 00:05:44.610 --> 00:05:46.346 Educated Youth going "down to the countryside” 00:05:46.346 --> 00:05:50.350 gave local educational enterprises a lot of help, 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:53.820 since when they came down, we had already started to “resume classes and make revolution.” 00:05:53.820 --> 00:05:57.757 It was around 1967, 1968 when we started to “resume classes and make revolution.” 00:05:57.757 --> 00:06:02.995 Early [in the Cultural Revolution], we had "suspended classes to make revolution." 00:06:02.995 --> 00:06:05.131 After we started “resuming classes and making revolution,” 00:06:05.131 --> 00:06:07.867 generally it was Educated Youth who came to be our teachers. 00:06:07.867 --> 00:06:12.238 The quality of their education was much higher than that of us local people. 00:06:12.271 --> 00:06:14.374 We benefited a lot from them. 00:06:14.374 --> 00:06:20.012 They had a great positive influence on our culture and thinking, every aspect. 00:06:20.747 --> 00:06:23.816 I was sent to a village in the Mount Yimeng area. 00:06:23.816 --> 00:06:26.886 My father was identified as an “active counter-revolutionary,” 00:06:26.919 --> 00:06:29.055 but the village's poor and lower-middle peasants 00:06:29.055 --> 00:06:35.628 chose me to be the first teacher in the village junior high school. 00:06:35.661 --> 00:06:38.831 I worked for two years. 00:06:38.831 --> 00:06:41.701 I joined a Mao Zedong Thought propaganda team 00:06:41.701 --> 00:06:43.836 and performed the model drama Red Lantern, 00:06:43.870 --> 00:06:48.508 which the Educated Youth and members of the community had practiced together. 00:06:48.508 --> 00:06:53.780 At that time, people carried their cotton blankets and padded cotton clothes, 00:06:53.780 --> 00:06:58.618 and came late at night to watch with rapt attention. 00:06:58.618 --> 00:07:01.721 We also went to other villages to increase communication. 00:07:01.721 --> 00:07:05.458 The Cultural Revolution caused local people in rural villages to begin caring about politics. 00:07:05.458 --> 00:07:09.228 To know about the [political] voice of Beijing and the nation's leadership. 00:07:09.228 --> 00:07:11.697 To care about the nation's change of affairs. 00:07:23.443 --> 00:07:25.845 How can I explain it? 00:07:25.845 --> 00:07:30.116 In fact, at the time, we did not understand what it was to be used politically. 00:07:30.116 --> 00:07:35.121 We just went because of a very simple idea. 00:07:35.121 --> 00:07:41.627 A few of us classmates who had grown up together 00:07:41.661 --> 00:07:45.631 happened to hear that peasants in Northern Shaanxi 00:07:45.665 --> 00:07:47.934 had nothing but rice husks to eat. 00:07:47.934 --> 00:07:49.769 We broke down crying. 00:07:49.769 --> 00:07:52.004 We could not stand that farmers were eating husks, 00:07:52.004 --> 00:07:55.341 while we ate rice and flour. 00:07:55.341 --> 00:07:55.675 We wanted to be with them, 00:07:55.675 --> 00:07:58.311 We wanted to be with them, 00:07:58.311 --> 00:08:01.647 to improve such terrible conditions. 00:08:01.647 --> 00:08:04.417 Out of enthusiasm, we went. It was that simple. 00:08:04.417 --> 00:08:04.484 Out of enthusiasm, we went. It was that simple. 00:08:04.484 --> 00:08:06.752 What were peasants like? 00:08:06.752 --> 00:08:09.555 What was life like at the lowest level of Chinese society? 00:08:09.589 --> 00:08:13.759 I understood some things I had previously never thought about. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:15.528 For example, in the beginning, 00:08:15.561 --> 00:08:18.331 we thought OK, we've studied some books, 00:08:18.331 --> 00:08:20.533 we'll go to the countryside to help the peasants, 00:08:20.566 --> 00:08:22.668 and together we'll fight heaven and earth, 00:08:22.668 --> 00:08:26.072 work against backwardness -- we were full of zeal like this. 00:08:26.105 --> 00:08:28.875 But after a few years in the countryside, 00:08:28.875 --> 00:08:34.447 we found that China was not as simple as we'd imagined. 00:08:34.514 --> 00:08:38.684 It was not like, as long as you work hard and endure hardship, you will [prosper]. 00:08:38.684 --> 00:08:42.121 We saw it was more complex. 00:08:42.121 --> 00:08:44.156 What were the peasants' lives like? 00:08:44.190 --> 00:08:47.059 In the first year, we went to work every day. 00:08:47.093 --> 00:08:49.262 Work points, you young people don't understand this. 00:08:49.262 --> 00:08:51.364 I earned the highest work points among the women. 00:08:51.364 --> 00:08:52.999 After a year of hard work, 00:08:53.032 --> 00:08:55.668 I still had not earned enough for my food ration. 00:08:55.668 --> 00:08:58.437 I was 37 RMB in debt for the next year. 00:08:58.471 --> 00:09:00.940 That's how difficult it was. 00:09:00.940 --> 00:09:03.543 Even working diligently to get the most points, 00:09:03.543 --> 00:09:05.344 I could not earn enough for my food ration. 00:09:05.344 --> 00:09:07.914 My family had to make up the difference of 37 RMB. 00:09:23.963 --> 00:09:28.801 We stayed in the home of a son of rich peasants. 00:09:28.834 --> 00:09:31.771 His parents had died long before, and he was all alone. 00:09:31.771 --> 00:09:35.374 He was a strong worker for the production team, 00:09:35.374 --> 00:09:39.312 so the production team never treated him as the son of a rich peasant. 00:09:39.312 --> 00:09:42.815 Still, no matter what, he had that shadow, you know? 00:09:42.815 --> 00:09:47.820 One time, we were using waste from the girls’ outhouse to fertilize our garden, 00:09:47.853 --> 00:09:50.156 but there wasn't enough. 00:09:50.156 --> 00:09:54.627 The boys were lazy, so they had been using our host's toilet to save a few steps. 00:09:54.627 --> 00:10:03.202 Our landlord was named Shagu, a real country name meaning "ox in the sand." 00:10:03.202 --> 00:10:05.338 I said, “Go to Shagu's outhouse and get some waste for the garden.” 00:10:05.338 --> 00:10:07.440 My teammates said, “Is it really okay?” 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.042 They were concerned, since manure was like gold in the village. 00:10:10.076 --> 00:10:17.216 I said, “Why not? You three used his toilet, so why can’t we get half back?” 00:10:17.249 --> 00:10:21.621 So they went and got half of the waste to fertilize our garden. 00:10:21.621 --> 00:10:23.623 When it got dark, we finished up to go home. 00:10:23.623 --> 00:10:31.631 Just then, a good friend of mine, a country boy, ran over. 00:10:31.631 --> 00:10:34.634 He said, “You'd better not go back!" 00:10:34.634 --> 00:10:38.471 "Shagu is standing at the entrance to the village, ready to fight you!” 00:10:38.471 --> 00:10:41.507 Shagu knew I was the one who’d instigated it. 00:10:41.507 --> 00:10:46.145 I said, “What do I have to fear? Three boys used his toilet, but we only took half of the waste." 00:10:46.145 --> 00:10:49.081 "He got off easy!” 00:10:49.081 --> 00:10:51.550 Then I just swaggered back. 00:10:51.550 --> 00:10:55.688 When I got to the village entrance, Shagu was indeed standing there with a dark face, 00:10:55.721 --> 00:11:00.026 the kind of expression that made you feel a real storm was coming. 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:03.029 Then I saw our production brigade secretary, 00:11:03.062 --> 00:11:05.398 He was standing there, watching at a distance. 00:11:05.431 --> 00:11:08.067 He knew something big was going to happen. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:15.608 He was afraid of something bad happening to the Educated Youth sent by Chairman Mao. 00:11:15.675 --> 00:11:22.682 I figured, Shagu is a rich peasant, and the secretary is watching. 00:11:22.682 --> 00:11:24.884 Shagu won't dare do anything to me. 00:11:24.884 --> 00:11:28.921 So I passed him as if nothing had happened. 00:11:28.954 --> 00:11:36.729 That was that, but later on, it was obvious Shagu was really, really angry. 00:11:36.729 --> 00:11:39.065 Even before that, he had never liked me much, 00:11:39.065 --> 00:11:43.169 because I treated him with total disregard. 00:11:43.169 --> 00:11:45.971 Because I didn't treat him like a person. 00:11:51.744 --> 00:11:55.214 So you could say that people 00:11:55.214 --> 00:11:58.250 signed up voluntarily at that time. 00:11:58.250 --> 00:11:59.485 But under the circumstances, 00:11:59.485 --> 00:12:03.022 “voluntary” actually meant: “by force”. 00:12:03.089 --> 00:12:08.761 When we got to the train station, everyone was crying. 00:12:08.761 --> 00:12:08.794 When we got to the train station, everyone was crying. 00:12:08.794 --> 00:12:12.598 Tears welled up in my eyes too, but I didn't cry. 00:12:12.631 --> 00:12:15.034 I thought I couldn’t cry, because I was older than they were. 00:12:15.034 --> 00:12:16.802 The younger ones were crying hysterically, 00:12:16.836 --> 00:12:20.005 some holding their parents, crying "I'm not going!" 00:12:20.005 --> 00:12:21.741 It was a scene of great sadness. 00:12:21.741 --> 00:12:24.477 People were all crying. 00:12:24.477 --> 00:12:24.944 People were all crying. 00:12:24.944 --> 00:12:28.280 But I didn’t cry, because I was the leader of the company. 00:12:28.280 --> 00:12:31.984 I took 186 people from my school with me, 00:12:31.984 --> 00:12:37.189 and the military representative accompanied us. 00:12:37.189 --> 00:12:40.359 After I was promoted to be the political leader, 00:12:40.359 --> 00:12:42.428 I still kept working in the field. 00:12:42.428 --> 00:12:44.130 Generally speaking, as a leader, 00:12:44.130 --> 00:12:45.765 I didn’t have to work anymore. 00:12:45.765 --> 00:12:47.266 I could just supervise other workers, 00:12:47.266 --> 00:12:49.268 and discuss things if a problem arose. 00:12:49.268 --> 00:12:50.836 But I still worked. 00:12:50.870 --> 00:12:52.505 I was determined to continue working. 00:12:52.505 --> 00:12:55.007 However much others worked, I worked too. 00:12:55.007 --> 00:12:56.642 Sometimes, I worked even more than they did. 00:12:56.642 --> 00:13:03.215 I told them that leaders should stand in the bitterest place, 00:13:03.215 --> 00:13:05.818 the dirtiest place, the most tiring place. 00:13:05.851 --> 00:13:08.287 If I stood there, then 00:13:08.287 --> 00:13:10.723 everyone else’s spirit would be lifted. 00:13:10.723 --> 00:13:12.825 If I had stood in the best place, everyone would point and say, 00:13:12.825 --> 00:13:14.960 "Just look at our leader." 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:16.996 So back then, we would say, 00:13:17.029 --> 00:13:19.732 in the morning when we went to work, 00:13:19.732 --> 00:13:22.668 we followed in the leader’s footsteps. 00:13:22.668 --> 00:13:25.171 So I’d be at the front. 00:13:25.171 --> 00:13:28.874 After work, the leader had to 00:13:28.874 --> 00:13:31.610 walk in the others’ footsteps. 00:13:31.610 --> 00:13:33.979 That means that all the others went home first, 00:13:33.979 --> 00:13:35.347 and you had to be the last. 00:13:36.448 --> 00:13:37.850 I joined the army in Tianjin. 00:13:37.850 --> 00:13:44.290 At that time, joining the army was the best choice. 00:13:44.323 --> 00:13:46.959 It was 100 times better than going “up to the mountains and down to the countryside,” 00:13:46.959 --> 00:13:49.228 going to a rural village to join a production team, 00:13:49.228 --> 00:13:52.464 or going to the [production and construction] corps. 00:13:52.464 --> 00:13:54.567 As soon as you became a soldier, 00:13:54.567 --> 00:13:56.001 your social status was high. 00:13:58.337 --> 00:14:02.208 Also, during the Cultural Revolution, I was supposed to go “down to the countryside.” 00:14:02.208 --> 00:14:04.577 I was totally unwilling to leave Beijing. 00:14:04.577 --> 00:14:09.315 Some people said, "You can study the accordion," so I started studying at home. 00:14:09.315 --> 00:14:15.221 Interviewer: At that time, in Beijing, studying musical instruments at home was called "having a specialized skill." 00:14:15.221 --> 00:14:20.893 Right, right: "having a specialized skill." Later on, one of the neighbors in our courtyard 00:14:20.893 --> 00:14:25.865 mentioned that Beijing Children's Palace was enrolling students. 00:14:25.931 --> 00:14:36.175 They had a training class. I studied on my own, and took my accordion with me to take the [admissions] test, and passed. 00:14:36.475 --> 00:14:39.945 After that, I'd go to the teacher's house to study. 00:14:39.945 --> 00:14:45.851 But the teacher said to me, "Why are you studying accordion?" I said I didn't want to go 00:14:45.851 --> 00:14:48.821 "up to the mountains and down to the countryside." 00:14:48.888 --> 00:14:50.956 Interviewer: Ha! So honest! 00:14:50.956 --> 00:14:53.726 I was the oldest in my family, and my younger brother's health was not good. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:58.264 I'd certainly be the one going down, but I did not want to go at all. 00:14:58.264 --> 00:15:02.801 I thought maybe I could join an art troupe, or something like that. 00:15:02.801 --> 00:15:08.173 The teacher said, "You probably won't be able to get what you want just by playing the accordion. 00:15:08.173 --> 00:15:12.144 In an art troupe, the one who plays the accordion can usually also play the piano." 00:15:12.211 --> 00:15:20.386 She told me, "If you can only play the accordion, that's not enough. However, you're already too old to start learning piano." 00:15:20.386 --> 00:15:25.424 Yeah, a nightmare [噩梦]. Later, the teacher said, “Open your mouth, and let me look at your teeth.” 00:15:25.457 --> 00:15:31.931 She said, “Not bad. You can study the flute. I promise that you can study with the best [flute teacher] at the Central Conservatory of Music,” – 00:15:31.931 --> 00:15:39.438 -- because my teacher taught piano at the Central Conservatory of Music – 00:15:39.438 --> 00:15:45.945 [She said], “[If] you study flute, you’ll definitely pass the test, since they lack people in flute, especially girls.” 00:15:45.945 --> 00:15:49.481 So, I went back and told my parents I was going to study flute. 00:15:49.715 --> 00:15:52.551 Interviewer: So, the original motivation for you studying an instrument was that 00:15:52.618 --> 00:15:55.120 you didn't want to go "up to the mountains and down to the countryside." 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:57.957 Right! That's exactly what it was! 00:15:58.357 --> 00:16:02.328 My hometown is Beijing. 00:16:02.328 --> 00:16:12.438 From 1968 to 1975 I was on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. 00:16:12.471 --> 00:16:20.479 In 1975, I came back to Beijing. In the end, I came back to Beijing. 00:16:20.479 --> 00:16:30.089 I feel fortunate that during this fanatical, chaotic era, 00:16:30.122 --> 00:16:33.459 I chose to go “down to the countryside” in Inner Mongolia, 00:16:33.492 --> 00:16:35.594 and join a production team on the grasslands. 00:16:35.661 --> 00:16:39.765 There were some students who had already gone “up to the mountains and down to the countryside.” 00:16:39.798 --> 00:16:43.135 When they came back, they campaigned for us to go. 00:16:43.135 --> 00:16:49.041 Of course, they were really enthusiastic: you could go to the village, 00:16:49.041 --> 00:16:55.114 fight heaven and earth, change the appearance of the village, etc. 00:16:55.147 --> 00:16:59.151 We knew sooner or later we’d have to go “up to the mountains and down to the countryside.” 00:16:59.151 --> 00:17:01.487 So the question was, where would we go? 00:17:01.520 --> 00:17:08.060 I think the older Educated Youth who had gone before us really had the power to incite us. 00:17:08.060 --> 00:17:10.763 I was really worked up by them. 00:17:10.796 --> 00:17:12.231 I figured, since I had to go anyway, 00:17:12.231 --> 00:17:14.066 why not go to the grasslands? 00:17:14.066 --> 00:17:19.071 The grassland was a completely unfamiliar environment. 00:17:19.071 --> 00:17:22.341 First of all, you were entering a nomadic society. 00:17:22.341 --> 00:17:24.710 At that time, the whole prairie was nomadic. 00:17:24.710 --> 00:17:27.012 [People and their herds] moved year 'round, to wherever grass and water were available. 00:17:27.012 --> 00:17:28.714 All four seasons, we were constantly on the move. 00:17:29.348 --> 00:17:32.084 Also, the natural environment was harsh. 00:17:32.084 --> 00:17:40.125 It got to 30 below zero in winter. It was bitterly cold. 00:17:40.125 --> 00:17:46.365 Summer was not actually that hot, but the sun was scorching. 00:17:46.365 --> 00:17:48.367 So, the climate was really different. 00:17:48.367 --> 00:17:50.969 And then, you had to learn how to be nomadic. 00:17:50.969 --> 00:17:52.938 You had to learn how to ride a horse. 00:17:52.938 --> 00:17:55.407 To speak with the villagers, you had to learn Mongolian. 00:17:55.407 --> 00:17:57.743 You couldn’t use Chinese to communicate. 00:17:57.743 --> 00:18:02.848 You had to learn all parts of the nomadic lifestyle. 00:18:02.848 --> 00:18:07.586 Also, I could feel something that came from a different ethnic group: 00:18:07.586 --> 00:18:11.390 the Mongolian people’s exceptionally generous love. 00:18:11.390 --> 00:18:16.762 They accepted us like family— you wouldn’t believe it! 00:18:16.795 --> 00:18:21.533 They were really tolerant of those of us who’d come from outside, 00:18:21.533 --> 00:18:25.871 who spoke a different language, who were of a different ethnicity. 00:18:25.871 --> 00:18:28.574 The nomads offered us a lot of love. 00:18:28.574 --> 00:18:30.776 I could really feel this. 00:18:30.776 --> 00:18:39.451 So, I felt I should use this type of love to repay society, repay other people. 00:19:11.550 --> 00:19:15.053 At the time, the way we were educated, 00:19:15.087 --> 00:19:21.860 every young person wanted to be revolutionary. 00:19:21.860 --> 00:19:24.229 Their combativeness was really strong. 00:19:24.229 --> 00:19:27.332 When you get to that stage when you’re so combative, 00:19:27.332 --> 00:19:30.869 of course you neglect your life. 00:19:30.869 --> 00:19:32.905 You can’t revere life 00:19:32.938 --> 00:19:35.407 or cherish your body. 00:19:35.407 --> 00:19:37.643 So, at that time, in that place we were at, 00:19:37.643 --> 00:19:39.678 there were many, many accidents, weren’t there? 00:19:39.711 --> 00:19:41.613 I didn’t place importance on life 00:19:41.613 --> 00:19:43.715 -- it was my place to die. 00:19:43.749 --> 00:19:46.952 To die for revolution was glorious. 00:19:46.985 --> 00:19:49.321 Think of our troop – just speaking of Educated Youth, 00:19:49.321 --> 00:19:51.223 there were some who had their legs crushed while working, 00:19:51.223 --> 00:19:59.731 who died, who drowned while swimming. 00:19:59.731 --> 00:20:02.067 All kinds of things. 00:20:02.067 --> 00:20:04.703 I remember it like it was yesterday. 00:20:04.703 --> 00:20:08.240 Just after we went there, our 43rd regiment, 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.442 that is, our fourth division— 00:20:10.442 --> 00:20:13.979 in 1970, there were three huge fires. 00:20:13.979 --> 00:20:15.547 The 39th regiment, 00:20:15.547 --> 00:20:17.916 the 36th regiment, or 37th regiment 00:20:17.950 --> 00:20:21.887 and our 43rd regiment all had many examples of heroics [during these fires.] 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.324 Sun Lianhua was representative of the many martyrs from our regiment. 00:20:25.357 --> 00:20:27.326 Then the 39th regiment, they were all 00:20:27.326 --> 00:20:29.394 Pudong District Ganquan Middle School students. 00:20:29.394 --> 00:20:30.629 Dozens died. 00:20:30.629 --> 00:20:33.432 Between the three fires, about 100 people died. 00:20:33.432 --> 00:20:35.367 That was an awful thing. 00:20:35.367 --> 00:20:37.269 At the time, though, it was no big deal. 00:20:37.269 --> 00:20:40.272 Some Educated Youth didn’t even know about it. 00:20:40.272 --> 00:20:47.312 We only knew there was this glorious martyr Sun Lianhua. 00:20:47.346 --> 00:20:50.716 There was obviously no need to stop this fire – why bother? 00:20:50.716 --> 00:20:52.184 [We were] far from Russia. 00:20:52.217 --> 00:20:55.420 It couldn’t burn across Lake Khanka. 00:20:55.420 --> 00:21:00.659 In that place, there was no dry land connecting. 00:21:00.659 --> 00:21:04.062 It was all grassland – it wouldn’t burn. 00:21:39.965 --> 00:21:42.701 If you went to college, you were a Worker-Peasant-Soldier student. 00:21:42.701 --> 00:21:44.603 We local people thought going to college 00:21:44.603 --> 00:21:47.773 was something only for the Educated Youths. 00:21:47.773 --> 00:21:50.008 We didn’t even dream about [attending college]. 00:21:50.008 --> 00:21:53.712 It was true that it was mostly Educated Youths 00:21:53.712 --> 00:21:55.280 selected as Worker-Peasant-Soldier students, 00:21:55.280 --> 00:21:59.751 but some local people also “borrowed the glory” and were recommended for university. 00:21:59.751 --> 00:22:02.187 I was a Worker-Peasant-Soldier student. 00:22:02.187 --> 00:22:05.290 I followed [the Educated Youths] and went to college in 1975. 00:22:06.258 --> 00:22:11.296 It was July then, just the time when they harvest wheat in the Northeast. 00:22:11.296 --> 00:22:14.466 Can you imagine what it was like to harvest the wheat? 00:22:14.499 --> 00:22:16.234 They didn’t use harvesters. 00:22:16.234 --> 00:22:17.803 Maybe there weren’t that many of them. 00:22:17.836 --> 00:22:25.911 So they hustled these young Educated Youth to the wheat fields, and gave each one a sickle. 00:22:25.911 --> 00:22:31.650 Then one of the older staff members told you how to cut it down, and you went to work cutting it down. 00:22:31.683 --> 00:22:39.491 When we finished cutting the ground was covered with wheat, and it got soaking wet. 00:22:39.491 --> 00:22:41.827 But no one paid any attention to how you cut. 00:22:41.860 --> 00:22:44.396 It was just to get you into the wheat fields. 00:22:44.429 --> 00:22:46.031 Can you imagine what that was like? 00:22:46.031 --> 00:22:50.302 When they were soaked with water above your knees, that was called scooping out the wheat, 00:22:50.302 --> 00:22:51.803 scooping out wheat in the water. 00:22:51.803 --> 00:22:55.040 It rained every day, so it was soaked every day. 00:22:55.040 --> 00:23:00.679 Spending every day in the water. That’s the first thing. 00:23:00.679 --> 00:23:04.683 The second thing that got to you were the sand flies, midges. 00:23:04.683 --> 00:23:08.687 Flies in the Northeast are like mosquitoes, only smaller, 00:23:08.687 --> 00:23:13.425 usually only a tenth the size of mosquitoes. 00:23:13.425 --> 00:23:19.097 They’d bore into hair to bite you, and you couldn’t grab them. 00:23:19.131 --> 00:23:24.770 People’s faces would swell up. 00:23:24.770 --> 00:23:28.273 It was even worse for people who had allergies. 00:23:28.273 --> 00:23:29.207 We all just looked at each other. 00:23:29.207 --> 00:23:30.709 Interviewer: And there was nothing you could do, right? 00:23:30.709 --> 00:23:32.778 The Educated Youth from Beijing and Tianjin had it the worst, 00:23:32.778 --> 00:23:36.448 because nobody was prepared for this. 00:23:37.549 --> 00:23:41.553 The only way I could get out [of the countryside] was to find a way to go to university, 00:23:41.553 --> 00:23:45.023 --since that was the year when there was first some hope of going to a university. 00:23:45.090 --> 00:23:51.530 Whenever it was that Chairman Mao said, "The universities should be reopened," 00:23:51.530 --> 00:23:55.267 from the time they started having Worker-Peasant-Soldier students, there was 00:23:55.300 --> 00:24:02.808 this historic opportunity to be a Worker-Peasant-Soldier Student. 00:24:02.841 --> 00:24:08.947 I thought all education was a distant dream that was far out of reach. 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:14.352 I just wanted to go to university, and then I had a goal. 00:24:14.386 --> 00:24:21.193 The goal was to create the conditions that would let me go to university 00:24:21.193 --> 00:24:23.328 and get myself out of the countryside. 00:24:23.328 --> 00:24:29.167 So, I became an Educated Youth with a goal. 00:24:29.167 --> 00:24:33.705 Instead of a monotonous, empty life, I had a goal. 00:24:33.705 --> 00:24:36.041 I put everything I had into that goal. 00:24:36.041 --> 00:24:39.010 First, I had to devote myself to winning everyone’s approval. 00:24:39.044 --> 00:24:41.947 I thought to myself, you’re so puny! 00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:46.384 You don’t even weigh 90 pounds. 00:24:46.418 --> 00:24:49.154 You can’t carry anything heavy. 00:24:49.154 --> 00:24:52.791 So, if you want people to approve of you, 00:24:52.791 --> 00:24:57.963 you have to become a really capable person. 00:24:57.996 --> 00:25:00.332 No one could catch me resting. 00:25:00.332 --> 00:25:03.268 I wouldn’t let anyone see me rest. 00:25:03.268 --> 00:25:04.870 I did everything from start to finish, for sure. 00:25:04.870 --> 00:25:07.739 Interviewee's sister, off-camera: Like a beast of burden. 00:25:07.739 --> 00:25:10.075 I put everything I had into work, 00:25:10.108 --> 00:25:12.544 because every year there was a selection, 00:25:12.544 --> 00:25:16.014 selecting a "Five Goods Fighter," or something, 00:25:16.014 --> 00:25:17.983 and "Outstanding Youth League Member." 00:25:17.983 --> 00:25:20.585 We couldn’t enter the Communist Youth League, 00:25:20.619 --> 00:25:22.954 because our family background was no good, 00:25:22.954 --> 00:25:25.490 So, with that goal, every day I hoped 00:25:25.490 --> 00:25:28.260 the Youth League branch secretary would talk to me, 00:25:28.293 --> 00:25:30.061 since if the branch secretary wanted to talk with me 00:25:30.095 --> 00:25:31.930 it was preparation to recommend me for the Youth League. 00:25:31.930 --> 00:25:33.298 I'd already drafted my application many times. 00:25:33.298 --> 00:25:34.966 I'd already drafted my application many times. 00:25:41.606 --> 00:25:45.777 I watched the model ballet "Red Detachment of Women." 00:25:45.844 --> 00:25:51.783 I couldn’t sleep that night after listening to the music. 00:25:51.783 --> 00:25:57.255 I felt I had to struggle to get into the Youth League, 00:25:57.255 --> 00:26:01.393 and get into the Party, get close to the political organizations. 00:26:01.393 --> 00:26:02.961 That was what was on my mind every day, 00:26:02.961 --> 00:26:07.599 how to turn myself into someone people would think was capable. 00:26:07.632 --> 00:26:11.770 So, then I performed my work especially well. 00:26:11.803 --> 00:26:13.905 Interviewer: You were concerned so much with other people’s approval? 00:26:13.939 --> 00:26:16.041 Yes. Since that was the only way, 00:26:16.074 --> 00:26:21.746 because they were always making selections in the Democratic Life Meetings. 00:26:21.780 --> 00:26:26.885 Every few days they would hold Democratic Life Meetings, I remember. 00:26:26.885 --> 00:26:29.087 Everyone would offer opinions at the meetings. 00:26:29.087 --> 00:26:36.628 "So-and-so, I have a criticism of you. You don’t do such-and-such well.’" 00:26:36.628 --> 00:26:39.431 If you didn’t join in and speak up, that was unacceptable. 00:26:39.431 --> 00:26:42.267 Expressing your opinion was required. 00:26:42.300 --> 00:26:48.740 So, at those times I wanted people to be able to praise me, or commend me. 00:26:48.740 --> 00:26:51.676 It was something I would die for. 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:54.746 That’s how I thought back then. 00:27:06.124 --> 00:27:09.561 I went to Lujiangba in Baoshan [Yunnan Province]. 00:27:09.561 --> 00:27:12.464 I missed home a lot after I got there. 00:27:12.464 --> 00:27:15.600 We could not go back. 00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:17.769 People had to obtain an authorization to go back home. 00:27:17.769 --> 00:27:21.039 However, there was really no way to get such an authorization. 00:27:21.072 --> 00:27:23.508 At that time, my mom was also imprisoned. 00:27:23.508 --> 00:27:25.410 I missed home very much. 00:27:25.443 --> 00:27:31.249 Only my 80-year-old maternal grandma and my younger teenage brother were left at home. 00:27:31.249 --> 00:27:35.020 A classmate and I arranged to climb 00:27:35.053 --> 00:27:38.256 over the Gaoligong Mountains, to reach Baoshan. 00:27:38.256 --> 00:27:42.627 I was just 19 years old, and I have no idea where I got the courage. 00:27:42.694 --> 00:27:47.999 With the help of a peasant, the two of us boated across the Lu River. 00:27:47.999 --> 00:27:53.038 We carried backpacks and climbed the Gaoligong Mountains. 00:27:53.038 --> 00:27:59.878 We had no solid food to carry with us, so we stir-fried some sun-dried corn, 00:27:59.878 --> 00:28:02.047 and put it in our bags. 00:28:02.047 --> 00:28:05.617 We ate a little corn when we were hungry, and drank from a mountain spring. 00:28:05.617 --> 00:28:12.991 We climbed for two days, staying overnight at peasants' homes. 00:28:12.991 --> 00:28:19.097 When we woke up the second morning, we had the idea to trace the horses' paths. 00:28:19.097 --> 00:28:22.667 The horses passed through carrying luggage, so we would not lose our way. 00:28:22.667 --> 00:28:25.770 After three days, we got over the Gaoligong Mountains and arrived at Baoshan. 00:28:25.770 --> 00:28:28.039 After three days, we got over the Gaoligong Mountains and arrived at Baoshan. 00:28:28.239 --> 00:28:34.179 The next morning after we woke up, we went to the Baoshan bus terminal. 00:28:34.179 --> 00:28:38.750 We found a truck transporting goods to Kunming. 00:28:38.783 --> 00:28:40.652 We probably offered some money, 00:28:40.652 --> 00:28:42.854 and then sat on the top of the truck. 00:28:42.854 --> 00:28:46.424 We went home, and I met my mom, 00:28:46.424 --> 00:28:50.228 who was locked in her work unit and unable to go home. 00:28:50.428 --> 00:28:51.930 Interviewer: Today everything’s different. 00:28:51.930 --> 00:28:53.698 This was once a border checkpoint; now it’s a scenic overlook. 00:28:53.765 --> 00:28:55.133 Interviewee: How can I describe it? 00:28:55.133 --> 00:28:57.469 Back then, this was a hostile border; 00:28:57.469 --> 00:29:01.573 now it’s peaceful. 00:29:01.573 --> 00:29:04.809 Interviewer: Back then, you came from over there to here? 00:29:04.843 --> 00:29:07.112 Interviewee: As soon as I got here, I saw they were checking vehicles, 00:29:07.145 --> 00:29:10.081 inspecting vehicles and people, 00:29:10.115 --> 00:29:12.851 and then I just knew I was stuck. 00:29:12.851 --> 00:29:15.320 So, from here I went into the lake, 00:29:15.320 --> 00:29:16.821 from over there. 00:29:16.821 --> 00:29:18.223 From here the lake trickles along, 00:29:18.256 --> 00:29:20.058 so I was both swimming and wading. 00:29:20.058 --> 00:29:23.428 I got over there, skirted the inspection station, 00:29:23.428 --> 00:29:26.064 went over there and just walked off. 00:29:26.064 --> 00:29:28.299 It was pouring rain 00:29:28.333 --> 00:29:31.136 and the ground was soaked. 00:29:31.169 --> 00:29:32.704 Interviewer: At the time, what made you want to run away? 00:29:32.704 --> 00:29:35.740 Interviewer: What made you feel you had to do this? 00:29:35.740 --> 00:29:38.476 I just wanted to go home! 00:29:38.476 --> 00:29:40.945 In the 10 years I’d been here, 00:29:40.945 --> 00:29:42.680 I had only been home once. 00:29:43.948 --> 00:29:49.854 The place we were sent to was extremely poor. 00:29:49.854 --> 00:29:58.596 You'd do manual labor for a year without earning any work points. 00:29:58.630 --> 00:30:01.299 I worked my fingers to the bone for a full year, 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:04.169 had the best work performance, put in the most time, 00:30:04.169 --> 00:30:07.172 and it only counted for a few pounds of grain. 00:30:07.172 --> 00:30:09.774 Just when this grain had been passed out, 00:30:09.841 --> 00:30:15.980 my parents got in touch with me, saying they were being sent to a village, 00:30:16.014 --> 00:30:20.118 since during the Cultural Revolution and some previous movements, 00:30:20.118 --> 00:30:24.122 my father was struggled against, even imprisoned. 00:30:24.122 --> 00:30:26.424 During the Cultural Revolution he was continually struggled against. 00:30:26.491 --> 00:30:28.626 His body was already halfway handicapped. 00:30:28.626 --> 00:30:31.029 He basically had no more strength to work. 00:30:31.029 --> 00:30:34.199 My brother was still young, only 13, so he had no working strength, either. 00:30:34.199 --> 00:30:37.001 My old grandma was too weak to work. 00:30:37.001 --> 00:30:41.339 The three of them were sent to the village, live or die. 00:30:41.372 --> 00:30:43.274 It wasn’t like the Educated Youth who got a moving allowance. 00:30:43.274 --> 00:30:44.509 They had nothing. 00:30:44.542 --> 00:30:47.645 Live or die – up to you. 00:30:47.645 --> 00:30:50.648 No matter what, you were being sent to the village. 00:30:50.648 --> 00:30:59.991 Then, it was up to me to save them, since I was able to work. 00:30:59.991 --> 00:31:04.429 I wasn't living with them. 00:31:04.462 --> 00:31:08.099 It was hard for the three of them to make their way. 00:31:08.099 --> 00:31:11.970 I’d just been allotted a few hundred pounds of grain, grain from the frontier. 00:31:11.970 --> 00:31:18.309 At the time, Educated Youth were allowed to transfer from village to village, 00:31:18.309 --> 00:31:22.280 from a frontier village to the interior. 00:31:22.280 --> 00:31:24.015 There was this policy, 00:31:24.048 --> 00:31:28.786 so I applied for a transfer to be with my father and take care of them. 00:31:28.786 --> 00:31:32.257 So, I helped my father and them settle down, 00:31:32.290 --> 00:31:34.559 and gave them my grain, 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:39.130 which they depended on during that most difficult time. 00:31:39.430 --> 00:31:43.401 [From the village], I went on my own to Myanmar. 00:31:43.401 --> 00:31:46.938 I ended up staying in Myanmar for 15 years, 00:31:46.938 --> 00:31:52.477 through the brutal revolution there. 00:31:52.477 --> 00:31:57.315 I joined Myanmar’s Communist Party, 00:31:57.315 --> 00:32:00.251 became a cadre and an official, 00:32:00.251 --> 00:32:04.122 and lived to come back and tell the tale. 00:32:23.241 --> 00:32:27.412 After a period of time, our school’s deputy secretary leadership came and told me, 00:32:27.412 --> 00:32:30.114 “You [can] go and do technical work.” 00:32:30.114 --> 00:32:37.322 [I] went to the agricultural bureau to work on technology for cultivating fruit trees. 00:32:37.388 --> 00:32:43.828 Altogether, this was better than being an Educated Youth on a farm. 00:32:43.828 --> 00:32:46.764 This was during the Cultural Revolution. 00:32:46.764 --> 00:32:47.799 After the Cultural Revolution 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.402 I went to university in the class that entered in ’78. 00:32:52.270 --> 00:32:58.276 My father was not rehabilitated until 1982. 00:33:09.220 --> 00:33:13.858 My feeling was that our environment 00:33:13.858 --> 00:33:16.160 was a bit better compared to others. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:19.163 I played a lot. 00:33:19.197 --> 00:33:26.771 There was a lake by our house. 00:33:26.804 --> 00:33:29.807 In the summer, we could fish, catch dragonflies, 00:33:29.841 --> 00:33:36.314 catch cicadas, or fight crickets. 00:33:36.347 --> 00:33:39.217 We could just play as we liked. 00:33:39.217 --> 00:33:47.925 So, my feeling is that at that time, kids were the luckiest. 00:33:48.526 --> 00:33:51.929 A lot of people say the Cultural Revolution 00:33:51.963 --> 00:33:57.368 was actually a cultural desert. 00:33:57.368 --> 00:34:01.706 I feel it wasn’t like that at all. 00:34:01.706 --> 00:34:06.411 When the Cultural Revolution started, I was in first grade. 00:34:06.411 --> 00:34:13.351 For me, the Cultural Revolution was a culturally abundant era. 00:34:13.384 --> 00:34:15.920 For example, many model operas 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:20.892 and other artistic forms emerged at this time. 00:34:20.925 --> 00:34:27.932 Ballet was received from the west, 00:34:27.965 --> 00:34:30.234 with its dance and music. 00:34:30.234 --> 00:34:37.675 There were opportunities to join in artistic activities. 00:34:37.675 --> 00:34:41.112 Having a chance to appreciate artistic activities 00:34:41.112 --> 00:34:43.815 Another thing is that during the Cultural Revolution, 00:34:43.848 --> 00:34:46.651 we read a lot of Marx and Lenin, 00:34:46.651 --> 00:34:49.320 as well as Chairman Mao’s "three constantly-read articles.” 00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:51.622 This also wasn’t complete brainwashing. 00:34:51.656 --> 00:34:54.892 From them we gained a lot of knowledge of classic literature. 00:34:54.892 --> 00:34:58.162 So, reading Marxist books, reading Mao Zedong’s books, 00:34:58.196 --> 00:35:02.133 really gave us spiritual resources 00:35:02.133 --> 00:35:04.902 and a kind of power to think through issues, 00:35:04.902 --> 00:35:09.407 rather than to abide by so-called doctrines. 00:35:09.841 --> 00:35:12.176 Our class was split into several factions: those who beat, 00:35:12.176 --> 00:35:14.679 those who were beaten, those who exposed, 00:35:14.745 --> 00:35:16.280 and those who struggled against others. 00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:18.649 If you beat someone, you might have forgotten about it. 00:35:18.649 --> 00:35:21.185 But the one who was beaten wouldn't forget it for years. 00:35:21.185 --> 00:35:24.388 You insulted them, humiliated them. 00:35:24.388 --> 00:35:30.294 Divided even now, it is truly difficult for everyone to get together for a reunion. 00:35:30.294 --> 00:35:33.764 This is our situation. 00:35:34.332 --> 00:35:40.938 Down to today, 80 to 90 percent of my classmates are poverty-stricken, 00:35:40.938 --> 00:35:44.542 because after we returned from the countryside, 00:35:44.575 --> 00:35:48.646 most of the Educated Youth were assigned to factories 00:35:48.646 --> 00:35:51.282 and have earned very little. 00:35:51.282 --> 00:35:53.551 So, I think that for individuals, 00:35:53.551 --> 00:35:55.987 this has had a great impact on their lives. 00:35:56.020 --> 00:36:00.825 As for the nation, I think the Cultural Revolution 00:36:00.825 --> 00:36:03.928 was a mutual massacre among its people, 00:36:03.961 --> 00:36:06.430 so it destroyed people’s kindest elements, 00:36:06.430 --> 00:36:09.967 and brought out the ugliest tendencies from their hearts. 00:36:10.001 --> 00:36:13.204 So I think, up until today, in the whole country, 00:36:13.237 --> 00:36:18.476 the most basic sense of morality and faith were lost, 00:36:18.476 --> 00:36:19.544 and that has persisted up until today. 00:36:19.544 --> 00:36:22.580 and that has persisted up until today. 00:36:23.047 --> 00:36:28.319 Everyone was alienated, just like enemies. 00:36:28.486 --> 00:36:31.622 Later in 1977 and 1978, people in our class were able to take the college entrance exam again. 00:36:31.622 --> 00:36:42.266 Probably no more than five people passed the exam. There were almost 60 students in our class. 00:36:42.266 --> 00:36:45.736 Most people stopped studying after the Cultural Revolution and became workers. 00:36:45.736 --> 00:36:50.141 Some worked in little industries on the street, 00:36:50.208 --> 00:36:53.144 just whatever they could do. 00:36:53.144 --> 00:36:57.114 Now, a few have a very low pension and they are in poor health, too. 00:36:57.114 --> 00:37:00.618 It's really sad. This generation was totally ruined. 00:37:00.618 --> 00:37:02.320 However, some people are strange. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:06.357 There's a classmate who still really misses those days. 00:37:06.357 --> 00:37:09.994 He was beaten back then. 00:37:09.994 --> 00:37:16.667 But later, he optimistically joined the Party and became a cadre. 00:37:16.667 --> 00:37:18.169 He thinks it's pretty good. 00:37:18.169 --> 00:37:21.973 His father was executed by firing squad. 00:37:21.973 --> 00:37:24.308 Once I met up with him. 00:37:24.308 --> 00:37:26.143 I said, “You are in [the Party] now?” 00:37:26.143 --> 00:37:27.411 He said yes. 00:37:27.445 --> 00:37:30.815 He became union chairman in a little local factory. 00:37:30.815 --> 00:37:33.684 He was enjoying himself. 00:37:33.684 --> 00:37:39.357 What I think is, his monthly pension is really low. 00:37:39.357 --> 00:37:40.925 So, people's opinions vary now. 00:37:40.992 --> 00:37:44.061 For the whole nation, the worst [injury] was that 00:37:44.061 --> 00:37:46.130 no person can say he or she 00:37:46.130 --> 00:37:49.533 wasn't a persecutor during the Cultural Revolution. 00:37:49.567 --> 00:37:53.671 Turning every innocent person into a guilty one -- 00:37:53.671 --> 00:37:56.741 this is the very worst aspect of the Cultural Revolution. 00:37:56.741 --> 00:37:58.109 Take myself as an example. 00:37:58.142 --> 00:38:01.012 I was only 11 years old when I joined in the Cultural Revolution. 00:38:01.045 --> 00:38:05.216 But because I was good at writing, 00:38:05.216 --> 00:38:07.551 I was called upon to write all of the big denunciations, 00:38:07.551 --> 00:38:10.921 even up until the first few years after the Cultural Revolution. 00:38:10.921 --> 00:38:14.325 After my Worker-Peasant-Soldier student period, 00:38:14.325 --> 00:38:16.394 I returned to my original workplace, a research institute. 00:38:16.427 --> 00:38:17.828 They wanted to attack someone. 00:38:17.862 --> 00:38:21.365 What's funny is, I can’t even remember who the victim was. 00:38:21.365 --> 00:38:25.803 But our deputy director asked me to write a denunciation, 00:38:25.803 --> 00:38:28.572 although the Cultural Revolution was over already. 00:38:28.572 --> 00:38:32.977 Anyway, since they asked me to write, I wrote. 00:38:32.977 --> 00:38:41.152 During the Cultural Revolution, because I could write passably well, 00:38:41.185 --> 00:38:48.426 I denounced more than 10 people, at least -- people who had nothing to do with me. 00:38:48.426 --> 00:38:51.262 I didn't even know some of them. 00:38:51.329 --> 00:39:00.871 So it is very difficult to say who really did nothing bad. 00:39:02.173 --> 00:39:03.274 I felt I ought to own up to it. 00:39:03.274 --> 00:39:06.077 If nobody in our generation stands up to say, "I did some bad things," 00:39:06.077 --> 00:39:09.780 or "The Cultural Revolution was evil," then ours will be a failed generation. 00:39:13.684 --> 00:39:20.725 Now there are big conflicts between the leftist and rightist ideas. 00:39:20.725 --> 00:39:26.297 The conflicts mostly focus on how the Cultural Revolution should be judged-- 00:39:26.364 --> 00:39:28.366 whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. 00:39:28.366 --> 00:39:31.302 Some time ago, there were people who wanted me to express my opinion. 00:39:31.302 --> 00:39:34.105 There was a good friend who wrote an article and asked me what I thought. 00:39:34.105 --> 00:39:36.374 Of course, this was a good friend. 00:39:36.374 --> 00:39:37.308 Later, I wrote something about it. 00:39:37.308 --> 00:39:40.878 I said right now, our country faces all kinds of issues 00:39:40.878 --> 00:39:43.314 such as environmental pollution and corruption. 00:39:43.314 --> 00:39:46.650 If we emphasize the question of the Cultural Revolution or other problems from the past, 00:39:46.684 --> 00:39:51.188 with you on your side, me on mine, fighting over it, this is not a good thing. 00:39:51.655 --> 00:39:54.225 This generation of people walked the same path. 00:39:54.258 --> 00:39:58.662 Each person carried a bellyful of perplexity. 00:39:58.662 --> 00:40:01.232 Some became laid-off workers. 00:40:01.232 --> 00:40:08.038 Those who came out independently rushed into their own fields, step by step. 00:40:08.038 --> 00:40:08.239 Today’s path still must be chosen. 00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:11.876 Today’s path still must be chosen. 00:40:11.876 --> 00:40:15.846 It has not yet been settled. 00:40:15.880 --> 00:40:17.948 So, this was the generation of the Cultural Revolution. 00:40:17.982 --> 00:40:18.048 All along, I believed if my generation would rise up, 00:40:18.048 --> 00:40:21.252 All along, I believed if my generation would rise up, 00:40:21.252 --> 00:40:24.588 it would bring with it a powerful China. 00:40:24.622 --> 00:40:27.491 This generation, from age 10, 00:40:27.491 --> 00:40:31.962 began class struggle, mutual deception, two sides unable to co-exist-- 00:40:31.996 --> 00:40:37.501 made their way through a bloody path of carnage. 00:40:39.236 --> 00:40:44.141 I think the study of the Cultural Revolution is very necessary. 00:40:44.141 --> 00:40:47.445 There are a lot of debates on the Internet. 00:40:47.445 --> 00:40:48.813 Most people comment negatively about it, 00:40:48.846 --> 00:40:50.714 while quite a few are positive. 00:40:50.714 --> 00:40:52.249 The difference is related to personal experiences. 00:40:52.249 --> 00:40:56.620 For example, people who rebelled, "seized power," “grabbed houses,” 00:40:56.654 --> 00:41:02.927 and benefited from the Cultural Revolution would feel positively about the event. 00:41:02.927 --> 00:41:06.230 I agree that the Cultural Revolution was basically not good. 00:41:06.263 --> 00:41:11.302 However, since it did rein in some lawless senior cadres of the time, 00:41:11.335 --> 00:41:15.406 I'm afraid the Cultural Revolution also had a positive impact. 00:41:15.406 --> 00:41:21.846 I think China has the soil for the Cultural Revolution to happen again. 00:41:21.846 --> 00:41:25.249 The Cultural Revolution didn't come out of nowhere. 00:41:25.249 --> 00:41:28.486 It had a base in the masses, in cultural tradition. 00:41:28.486 --> 00:41:31.655 Take another country... it could not happen in America. 00:41:31.689 --> 00:41:34.058 It could not occur no matter how great the leader is. 00:41:34.058 --> 00:41:38.395 China's science, technology, and material life have advanced greatly in the past decades. 00:41:38.429 --> 00:41:46.604 However, I don't feel national culture, customs and habits have changed. 00:41:46.604 --> 00:41:52.776 If a situation comes to a head, for example, a civil turbulence breaks out, 00:41:52.776 --> 00:41:56.080 I think some local rebellions might possibly 00:41:56.080 --> 00:41:59.583 “overthrow local tyrants and redistribute land” because of their jealousy. 00:41:59.583 --> 00:42:04.054 This is not to say the distribution system in China is totally reasonable right now. 00:42:04.054 --> 00:42:04.188 There are problems that must be addressed-- 00:42:04.188 --> 00:42:06.156 There are problems that must be addressed-- 00:42:06.156 --> 00:42:10.294 but the foundation for another Cultural Revolution still exists. 00:42:11.829 --> 00:42:19.303 If our generation refused to talk about the Cultural Revolution, it would be terrible. 00:47:00.617 --> 00:47:04.655 I feel human dignity suffered the most harm during the Cultural Revolution. 00:47:04.688 --> 00:47:09.459 This phrase, “human dignity,” seems illusory-- 00:47:09.459 --> 00:47:12.763 what is the meaning of “human dignity,” after all? 00:47:12.763 --> 00:47:17.367 2,300 years ago, Mencius gave us a good definition. 00:47:17.401 --> 00:47:19.369 That is, “benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom”-- 00:47:19.369 --> 00:47:21.138 four key qualities of people. 00:47:21.171 --> 00:47:23.907 Without this, there’s no difference between us and beasts. 00:47:23.907 --> 00:47:25.776 I feel these within these four qualities, 00:47:25.776 --> 00:47:27.477 it can be put even more simply. 00:47:27.477 --> 00:47:30.514 Actually, two are the most important, the most basic. 00:47:30.514 --> 00:47:34.318 That is, sympathy--as Mencius said, compassion. 00:47:34.318 --> 00:47:39.122 Another is the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. 00:47:39.122 --> 00:47:42.960 If we lose these two qualities, we are no different from animals. 00:47:42.960 --> 00:47:47.264 I feel the biggest sacrifice in the Cultural Revolution was in humanity dignity. 00:47:47.264 --> 00:47:52.135 Most of the people we’ve seen in the interviews were teenagers back then, 00:47:52.135 --> 00:47:54.571 joining in the Red Guards. 00:47:54.605 --> 00:47:57.307 We can divide them into two types. 00:47:57.307 --> 00:48:00.544 One is those who blindly followed whatever the crowd did. 00:48:00.544 --> 00:48:03.046 The other is those who joined enthusiastically. 00:48:03.080 --> 00:48:06.884 Of course, there were different degrees of involvement. 00:48:06.884 --> 00:48:09.052 We probably already know the extent of the cruelty 00:48:09.052 --> 00:48:14.157 --including even murder, putting people to death. 00:48:14.157 --> 00:48:18.629 So, although after the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution, 00:48:18.629 --> 00:48:23.233 all of China began rehabilitation of cases, 00:48:23.267 --> 00:48:27.371 we must remember that “rehabilitation” is not the same as “reflection.” 00:48:27.404 --> 00:48:31.775 Some people say the Cultural Revolution had some positive effects. 00:48:31.775 --> 00:48:34.678 I hold a differing opinion. 00:48:34.678 --> 00:48:41.685 For example, many Educated Youth went to remote and distant places, 00:48:41.685 --> 00:48:44.755 and may have brought educational opportunities 00:48:44.788 --> 00:48:46.690 to those who had been unable to get a good education. 00:48:46.690 --> 00:48:49.359 However, this wasn’t the intention of the Cultural Revolution, 00:48:49.393 --> 00:48:51.461 wasn’t its intended outcome. 00:48:51.461 --> 00:48:55.065 We can use an idiom to describe this: a stroke of luck. 00:48:55.065 --> 00:48:58.735 It shouldn’t be seen as a direct positive effect of the Cultural Revolution. 00:48:58.969 --> 00:49:02.606 In the history of humankind there has never been such a large-scale movement 00:49:02.606 --> 00:49:07.210 of criticism and exposure, and such mass violence. 00:49:07.210 --> 00:49:11.448 Of course, there have been other examples of mass violence. 00:49:11.448 --> 00:49:17.988 In the history of revolutions, we can see that all used mass violence. 00:49:18.021 --> 00:49:23.994 However, the scale of it in China’s Cultural Revolution was unprecedented, 00:49:24.027 --> 00:49:25.862 and I hope will remain unrepeated. 00:49:25.862 --> 00:49:34.071 The reason behind [fighting for political positions] wasn’t unusual, 00:49:34.071 --> 00:49:37.441 but it happened across the nation, 00:49:37.441 --> 00:49:41.678 among the common people, from city to countryside, 00:49:41.678 --> 00:49:45.983 with everyone engaging in struggle-- not a struggle against a single person, 00:49:45.983 --> 00:49:48.518 but against a whole generation of people. 00:49:48.552 --> 00:49:52.522 The struggle was against the best and brightest of an entire generation. 00:49:52.522 --> 00:49:57.394 Speaking about this, I feel really moved, 00:49:57.394 --> 00:50:01.999 really filled with sorrow, 00:50:01.999 --> 00:50:06.303 but I must say this. 00:50:06.303 --> 00:50:12.409 I hope that China’s leaders, no matter which generation, 00:50:12.409 --> 00:50:17.280 will learn from this experience. 00:50:17.280 --> 00:50:19.850 Mao Zedong wanted to study the First Emperor of Qin. 00:50:19.850 --> 00:50:22.019 [He thought,] the First Emperor of Qin buried 450 Confucian scholars-- 00:50:22.019 --> 00:50:26.356 --I have buried 45,000 scholars. 00:50:26.356 --> 00:50:29.659 But Mao didn’t just bury 45,000 scholars. 00:50:29.659 --> 00:50:34.398 He buried the finest talents in every profession. 00:50:34.398 --> 00:50:37.167 The levels of education a society needs, 00:50:37.167 --> 00:50:41.938 which took generations to build up, were destroyed. 00:50:41.938 --> 00:50:43.473 If there had not been this event, 00:50:43.473 --> 00:50:47.244 if there had not been the Great Leap Forward, 00:50:47.244 --> 00:50:49.913 had not been the Cultural Revolution, 00:50:49.913 --> 00:50:56.053 then China’s current prosperity could’ve developed 40 years earlier. 00:50:56.086 --> 00:50:59.156 That would’ve been excellent. 00:50:59.156 --> 00:51:01.258 Now this is all in the past. 00:51:01.258 --> 00:51:03.693 It’s a pity.
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