WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.820 --> 00:00:06.000 align:center line:-1Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview. Would you please tell me when you were born? 2 00:00:06.010 --> 00:00:09.620 align:center line:-1 You don’t need to say the exact date, just “1950’s,” “1960’s,” etc. 3 00:00:10.020 --> 00:00:15.220 align:center line:-1 I was born in the early 60’s. 4 00:00:16.020 --> 00:00:22.020 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: In what area of China did you stay during the decade from 1966 to 1976? 5 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:28.000 align:center line:-1 I grew up in the western suburbs of Beijing, in a military compound. 6 00:00:29.020 --> 00:00:33.820 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You must have some impressions of that period of time. 7 00:00:34.020 --> 00:00:45.200 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: If I give you about 10 minutes, please tell us what you want to share in the first ten minutes, what you want to say most. 8 00:00:46.220 --> 00:00:58.200 align:center line:-1 Sure. 1966 to 1976 were the years I grew to be a teenager. 9 00:00:59.220 --> 00:01:12.020 align:center line:-1 Compared to the rest of Chinese society, the environment I grew up in was relatively closed-off; we didn’t have too much contact with society. 10 00:01:12.030 --> 00:01:26.020 align:center line:-1 At that time, I was a child. It was mainly when I was in kindergarten, elementary school, and the first two years of junior high. 11 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:44.000 align:center line:-1 That time is full of childhood memories. Most of the time I was carefree; a young person who didn’t know the taste of sorrow. 12 00:01:44.820 --> 00:01:53.400 align:center line:-1 My growing environment, because it was a military compound, relationships were basically very simple. 13 00:01:53.820 --> 00:02:11.200 align:center line:-1 All of my playmates were children of the compound, and unlike during other eras in China, the children did not have a lot of pressure from studying. 14 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:34.800 align:center line:-1 It was the same as you might read in some literary works: boys playing together, acting naughty, playing pranks, getting into gang fights… 15 00:02:34.810 --> 00:02:46.800 align:center line:-1 And also we made simple little toys and games with whatever was at hand, 16 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:59.200 align:center line:-1 such as wire slingshots, water guns, pinball games, and many others whose names I can't think of now. 17 00:02:59.210 --> 00:03:04.600 align:center line:-1 At that time, we were really carefree, living very happily. 18 00:03:04.610 --> 00:03:21.000 align:center line:-1 Also, at that time the materials in China were not as abundant as now, but we did not feel terribly in need. 19 00:03:21.010 --> 00:03:36.620 align:center line:-1 I was the oldest kid at home, with a younger brother and sister. Life was not without difficulties, but they could always be overcome. 20 00:03:36.630 --> 00:03:44.600 align:center line:-1 After all, living in a military compound, we could eat our fill, and we had the nutrition we needed. 21 00:03:44.610 --> 00:04:11.800 align:center line:-1 Relatively speaking, my parents’ jobs were stable and had not been negatively affected by various “movements” in society. 22 00:04:11.810 --> 00:04:29.000 align:center line:-1 My personal impression, in two phrases, is this: life was simple, but really very happy. 23 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:52.780 align:center line:-1 Now I have gotten to middle age, I recall that time, 1976, as a time of being too young to know the taste of sorrow. 24 00:04:52.790 --> 00:05:08.020 align:center line:-1 Later on, the physical changes, the arrival of adolescence, that was something afterward. Before then, nothing was understood, and you didn’t know to be nervous. 25 00:05:08.030 --> 00:05:25.400 align:center line:-1 At worst, because of some mischief, our parents might give us a little talking-to or a spanking, but there were no serious punishments. 26 00:05:25.410 --> 00:05:35.000 align:center line:-1 At that time, the relationships between people -- not just children, but between adults, too -- were very simple. 27 00:05:35.010 --> 00:05:41.810 align:center line:-1 Something I think is really interesting, and that left a deep impression on me, regarding people in society, 28 00:05:41.820 --> 00:05:48.760 align:center line:-1 is that I was able to leave the compound on weekends, 29 00:05:48.770 --> 00:06:01.870 align:center line:-1 to look around and do some shopping with my parents at the shopping center which was outside the compound. 30 00:06:01.880 --> 00:06:06.140 align:center line:-1 What left a particularly deep impression on me is that, when I was in kindergarten, 31 00:06:06.150 --> 00:06:15.260 align:center line:-1 my class lined up to say goodbye to a big group of “uncles” and “aunties” in front of our compound, 32 00:06:15.270 --> 00:06:20.050 align:center line:-1 who were being sent off to May 7 cadre school to receive reeducation. 33 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:29.590 align:center line:-1 At that time, Mao had issued the May 7 Directive, which was related to the sociopolitical environment. 34 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:42.200 align:center line:-1 Also, when I was really small, Chairman Mao issued a “highest directive,” so my father took me and a bunch of other children to march from Gongzhufen to Tiananmen Square. 35 00:06:42.210 --> 00:06:48.000 align:center line:-1 Because I was small, I fell asleep after a while. When I woke up, I was already at home in bed. 36 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:58.610 align:center line:-1 This is my only memory related to society. 37 00:06:58.620 --> 00:07:06.310 align:center line:-1 All other [memories] were carefree; besides playing we did nothing else. 38 00:07:06.320 --> 00:07:10.990 align:center line:-1 Homework really did not leave me too many memories. 39 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:22.000 align:center line:-1 We just lived simply, but life itself gave me a lot of valuable treasures. 40 00:07:22.010 --> 00:07:35.600 align:center line:-1 At that time, kids around ten years old need to do housework: steaming rice, steaming bread, washing vegetables, cooking. 41 00:07:35.610 --> 00:07:43.200 align:center line:-1 Older brothers took care of younger brothers and sisters; I did all of these things. 42 00:07:43.210 --> 00:07:57.000 align:center line:-1 Being the oldest one, I had to take more responsibility. Up until today, a whole lifetime, I still have the same feeling. 43 00:07:57.010 --> 00:08:09.000 align:center line:-1 At that time few families had a single child; we all grew up like this, with the older kid taking care of the younger brothers and sisters. 44 00:08:12.020 --> 00:08:27.800 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Later on, through what channels did you learn about what was happening in civilian society during the Cultural Revolution? From literary works? 45 00:08:27.810 --> 00:08:34.580 align:center line:-1 It wasn't just from literary works. 46 00:08:34.590 --> 00:08:42.050 align:center line:-1 Following Mao Zedong’s passing in 1976, and then after October 6 [the arrest of the Gang of Four], 47 00:08:42.060 --> 00:08:52.280 align:center line:-1 tremendous changes took place in Chinese politics, and later included the media. 48 00:08:52.290 --> 00:09:00.030 align:center line:-1 The situation was that any media you encountered, any news you could receive, 49 00:09:00.040 --> 00:09:05.770 align:center line:-1 all came from an official propaganda organization: 50 00:09:05.780 --> 00:09:16.710 align:center line:-1 official newspapers, radio, TV, and movies were all the same, 51 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:19.930 align:center line:-1 and that’s how we learned about everything that happened in China. 52 00:09:19.940 --> 00:09:24.580 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Are you personally interested in the topic of Cultural Revolution? 53 00:09:24.590 --> 00:09:27.540 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Would you like to know more about it? 54 00:09:27.550 --> 00:09:30.000 align:center line:-1 How can I put this? 55 00:09:31.020 --> 00:09:40.000 align:center line:-1 I think the Cultural Revolution changed the destiny of millions of individuals and families in China. 56 00:09:40.010 --> 00:09:46.000 align:center line:-1 Because of being in different positions, each person’s feelings about the Cultural Revolution would be completely different. 57 00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:52.000 align:center line:-1 The Cultural Revolution cannot be discussed from a limited scope. 58 00:09:52.010 --> 00:10:04.000 align:center line:-1 If every individual, especially those from families whose destinies were greatly changed, discussed the Cultural Revolution, the differences [in what is expressed] would be huge. 59 00:10:04.010 --> 00:10:09.200 align:center line:-1 However, from a social point of view, history has no “if”. 60 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:19.800 align:center line:-1 If we say we want to talk about the Cultural Revolution from all aspects, I think we must talk about history. 61 00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:32.970 align:center line:-1 Leaders, political organizations, including officials and cadres, 62 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:48.280 align:center line:-1 ordinary people, educated, uneducated, workers, farmers, soldiers, scholars and merchants, 63 00:10:48.290 --> 00:10:52.620 align:center line:-1 every different profession will feel differently about the Cultural Revolution. 64 00:10:52.630 --> 00:11:02.410 align:center line:-1 Later from literary works, memoirs, the Internet, etc., we learned about the disaster brought by the Cultural Revolution. 65 00:11:02.420 --> 00:11:16.000 align:center line:-1 But I think it is not the time yet to talk about the Cultural Revolution out of the reality of China. 66 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:33.400 align:center line:-1 During the process of the Cultural Revolution, what really happened from top to bottom -- regular people don’t lack interest in it, 67 00:11:33.410 --> 00:11:44.600 align:center line:-1 since in the end, these kinds of ideological things will also influence society in some way. We are still talking very generally about it. 68 00:11:44.610 --> 00:12:01.200 align:center line:-1 Now Jianchuan County in Sichuan has a Cultural Revolution Museum, a private museum. 69 00:12:02.400 --> 00:12:10.800 align:center line:-1 Because during violent struggle in Sichuan, Chengdu, and Chongqing, weapons were used, heavy weapons. 70 00:12:10.810 --> 00:12:21.600 align:center line:-1 Many people died; it was tragic. Many of the bodies of those who were killed are still buried in a woods there. 71 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:33.600 align:center line:-1 Studying the history of the Cultural Revolution touches on the history of the Communist Party of China, involves the modern history of the development of our nation. 72 00:12:35.400 --> 00:12:43.070 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Your meaning is that every person was involved in the Cultural Revolution, 73 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:51.010 align:center line:-1 Interviewer:...so studying the Cultural Revolution requires a process, takes time; it is not a simple thing. 74 00:12:51.020 --> 00:12:59.400 align:center line:-1 You could say that, but it also depends on each person's worldview and attitude towards life. 75 00:13:00.420 --> 00:13:08.200 align:center line:-1 The ancients said, wander outside the three realms, not in the five elements. 76 00:13:10.130 --> 00:13:17.130 align:center line:-1 Heaven, earth and human beings: people can keep away from the mortal world, and not talk about these things, 77 00:13:17.140 --> 00:13:25.590 align:center line:-1 to the extent that these things have nothing to do with them; they can go on like that in this world. 78 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:36.200 align:center line:-1 After a hundred years, maybe people will objectively and comprehensively review these things. 79 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:39.600 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview. 80 00:13:39.610 --> 00:13:40.600 align:center line:-1 You’re welcome.
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