Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview. Would you please tell me when you were born?
You don’t need to say the exact date, just “1950’s,” “1960’s,” etc.
I was born in the early 60’s.
Interviewer: In what area of China did you stay during the decade from 1966 to 1976?
I grew up in the western suburbs of Beijing, in a military compound.
Interviewer: You must have some impressions of that period of time.
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.
Sure. 1966 to 1976 were the years I grew to be a teenager.
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.
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.
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.
My growing environment, because it was a military compound, relationships were basically very simple.
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.
It was the same as you might read in some literary works: boys playing together, acting naughty, playing pranks, getting into gang fights…
And also we made simple little toys and games with whatever was at hand,
such as wire slingshots, water guns, pinball games, and many others whose names I can't think of now.
At that time, we were really carefree, living very happily.
Also, at that time the materials in China were not as abundant as now, but we did not feel terribly in need.
I was the oldest kid at home, with a younger brother and sister. Life was not without difficulties, but they could always be overcome.
After all, living in a military compound, we could eat our fill, and we had the nutrition we needed.
Relatively speaking, my parents’ jobs were stable and had not been negatively affected by various “movements” in society.
My personal impression, in two phrases, is this: life was simple, but really very happy.
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.
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.
At worst, because of some mischief, our parents might give us a little talking-to or a spanking, but there were no serious punishments.
At that time, the relationships between people -- not just children, but between adults, too -- were very simple.
Something I think is really interesting, and that left a deep impression on me, regarding people in society,
is that I was able to leave the compound on weekends,
to look around and do some shopping with my parents at the shopping center which was outside the compound.
What left a particularly deep impression on me is that, when I was in kindergarten,
my class lined up to say goodbye to a big group of “uncles” and “aunties” in front of our compound,
who were being sent off to May 7 cadre school to receive reeducation.
At that time, Mao had issued the May 7 Directive, which was related to the sociopolitical environment.
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.
Because I was small, I fell asleep after a while. When I woke up, I was already at home in bed.
This is my only memory related to society.
All other [memories] were carefree; besides playing we did nothing else.
Homework really did not leave me too many memories.
We just lived simply, but life itself gave me a lot of valuable treasures.
At that time, kids around ten years old need to do housework: steaming rice, steaming bread, washing vegetables, cooking.
Older brothers took care of younger brothers and sisters; I did all of these things.
Being the oldest one, I had to take more responsibility. Up until today, a whole lifetime, I still have the same feeling.
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.
Interviewer: Later on, through what channels did you learn about what was happening in civilian society during the Cultural Revolution? From literary works?
It wasn't just from literary works.
Following Mao Zedong’s passing in 1976, and then after October 6 [the arrest of the Gang of Four],
tremendous changes took place in Chinese politics, and later included the media.
The situation was that any media you encountered, any news you could receive,
all came from an official propaganda organization:
official newspapers, radio, TV, and movies were all the same,
and that’s how we learned about everything that happened in China.
Interviewer: Are you personally interested in the topic of Cultural Revolution?
Interviewer: Would you like to know more about it?
How can I put this?
I think the Cultural Revolution changed the destiny of millions of individuals
and
families in China.
Because of being in different positions, each person’s feelings about the Cultural Revolution would be completely different.
The Cultural Revolution cannot be discussed from a limited scope.
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.
However, from a social point of view, history has no “if”.
If we say we want to talk about the Cultural Revolution from all aspects, I think we must talk about history.
Leaders, political organizations, including officials and cadres,
ordinary people, educated, uneducated, workers, farmers, soldiers, scholars and merchants,
every different profession will feel differently about the Cultural Revolution.
Later from literary works, memoirs, the Internet, etc., we learned about the disaster brought by the Cultural Revolution.
But I think it is not the time yet to talk about the Cultural Revolution out of the reality of China.
During the process of the Cultural Revolution, what really happened from top to bottom -- regular people don’t lack interest in it,
since in the end, these kinds of ideological things will also influence society in some way. We are still talking very generally about it.
Now Jianchuan County in Sichuan has a Cultural Revolution Museum, a private museum.
Because during violent struggle in Sichuan, Chengdu, and Chongqing, weapons were used, heavy weapons.
Many people died; it was tragic. Many of the bodies of those who were killed are still buried in a woods there.
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.
Interviewer: Your meaning is that every person was involved in the Cultural Revolution,
Interviewer:...so studying the Cultural Revolution requires a process, takes time; it is not a simple thing.
You could say that, but it also depends on each person's worldview
and attitude towards life.
The ancients said, wander outside the three realms, not in the five elements.
Heaven, earth and human beings: people can keep away from the mortal world, and not talk about these things,
to the extent that these things have nothing to do with them;
they can go on like that in this world.
After a hundred years, maybe people will objectively
and comprehensively review these things.
Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview.
Reddit
Twitter
Facebook