WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.750 --> 00:00:25.890 align:center line:-1Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview. Please don’t be nervous. First, could you tell me in which decade you were born? 2 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:33.490 align:center line:-1 I was born in the 1960s. During the time of the Cultural Revolution, I was born and completed elementary school. 3 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:45.090 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Where were you living in China during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution? Which provinces or areas? 4 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:55.290 align:center line:-1 I lived in Xiushan County, which at that time was part of Sichuan Province, but is now a part of Chongqing. 5 00:00:55.300 --> 00:01:00.290 align:center line:-1 I was born in Xiushan, and lived there until I graduated from high school. 6 00:01:00.300 --> 00:01:17.590 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: If we only give you ten minutes and let you speak freely about your memories of the Cultural Revolution, 7 00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:33.060 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: ...what would you want to share with us? 8 00:01:33.070 --> 00:01:42.110 align:center line:-1 Originally, my parents lived in Hunan. 9 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:57.820 align:center line:-1 But during the 1950s, because they were makers of porcelain china, they were invited to Xiushan to help build up a china factory. 10 00:01:57.830 --> 00:02:10.190 align:center line:-1 They had a relatively superior family background, neither landlords nor wealthy peasants. 11 00:02:10.200 --> 00:02:15.890 align:center line:-1 They were respected by local people, because they belonged to the community of skilled workers. 12 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:27.190 align:center line:-1 Before Liberation, my father, as an able-bodied man, was summoned to work as a bodyguard for a distant uncle. 13 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:33.590 align:center line:-1 At that time, that uncle served as a senior official for the Kuomintang Party. 14 00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:41.090 align:center line:-1 Even though he was always hardworking and conscientious, my father was never able to become the factory director, because of this issue. 15 00:02:41.100 --> 00:02:46.190 align:center line:-1 He was always vice director. This situation is one I have deep impressions of during the Cultural Revolution. 16 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:58.690 align:center line:-1 Another issue concerns my neighbor’s daughter, who was my best friend from elementary school to middle school. 17 00:02:58.700 --> 00:03:08.490 align:center line:-1 At the start of the Anti-Rightist Campaign, her father was identified as a Rightist and was continuously persecuted. 18 00:03:08.500 --> 00:03:17.790 align:center line:-1 I didn’t quite understand it. My friend’s mom was also very kind to me. 19 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:24.090 align:center line:-1 My friend’s father was not very healthy because he was constantly repressed during the Anti-Rightist Campaign and the Cultural Revolution. 20 00:03:24.100 --> 00:03:31.590 align:center line:-1 The four kids in this family couldn’t find jobs, because work wasn’t arranged for them by the work unit. 21 00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:44.990 align:center line:-1 Later on, one of the “aunties” from our neighborhood introduced a boyfriend to that family’s eldest daughter, 22 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:54.290 align:center line:-1 and they invited the local Party committee secretary to dinner. 23 00:03:54.300 --> 00:04:04.490 align:center line:-1 I don’t know what happened next, but the eldest girl was then arranged to work in a collective enterprise’s store. 24 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:09.590 align:center line:-1 This left a deep impression on me. 25 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:18.590 align:center line:-1 Why would the same person receive different treatment in different times and under different circumstances? 26 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:24.790 align:center line:-1 So this is something that left a deep impression on me during the Cultural Revolution. 27 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:38.610 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Now that the Cultural Revolution has already been over for many years, do you have interest in understanding it more? 28 00:04:38.620 --> 00:04:42.690 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Would you like to share it with the younger generation? 29 00:04:42.700 --> 00:04:55.890 align:center line:-1 Of course. In retrospect, everyone had different experiences during the Cultural Revolution. 30 00:04:55.900 --> 00:05:13.890 align:center line:-1 From my point of view, and from my family’s perspective, although my father went through such a hard time, he never had any complaints about the Party [CCP]. 31 00:05:13.900 --> 00:05:19.090 align:center line:-1 He said he believed the Party would set everything straight. 32 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:26.790 align:center line:-1 In accordance with my father’s own excellent work performance in the factory, he also cared about our education; 33 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:34.790 align:center line:-1 for example, [he taught us that] we had to study hard always. 34 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:39.890 align:center line:-1 He also said that no matter what things are like today, after all, 35 00:05:39.900 --> 00:05:43.840 align:center line:-1 compared with what his life had been like growing up, things were still much better. 36 00:05:43.850 --> 00:05:50.290 align:center line:-1 His family was very poor when he was young, and they often needed to beg for food. 37 00:05:50.300 --> 00:06:00.290 align:center line:-1 [My father taught me that] now, China was a new society where people had enough nutritious food to eat, so we should be grateful to the Party. 38 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:10.890 align:center line:-1 Because of this traditional education, from the time I was small, I studied seriously; 39 00:06:10.900 --> 00:06:14.990 align:center line:-1 my academic performance was always the best in my class and school. 40 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:18.590 align:center line:-1 In my political life I didn’t really experience much influence. 41 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:20.290 align:center line:-1 For example, I served in the Red Guards, 42 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:28.140 align:center line:-1 and since I had the best grades it was only natural that I was team leader [of the Young Pioneers], and class monitor. 43 00:06:28.150 --> 00:06:32.290 align:center line:-1 By the time I got to university, although my father was still being influenced [by the Cultural Revolution] himself 44 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:35.390 align:center line:-1 – the situation still hadn’t changed – of course he still encouraged me to make progress. 45 00:06:35.400 --> 00:06:43.190 align:center line:-1 So, I feel that I saw the different fates of people. 46 00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:51.890 align:center line:-1 In retrospect, [I think we] should think more. [For example], we were such good friends; 47 00:06:51.900 --> 00:06:59.990 align:center line:-1 how could it be that her fate was not as good as mine? Later on, I watched some films and read “scar novels,” 48 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.980 align:center line:-1 and got to know that there were more people who had even more miserable experiences [during the Cultural Revolution.] 49 00:07:03.990 --> 00:07:11.590 align:center line:-1 Why? I think we should think more deeply about it, for example, about why such situations happened. 50 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:16.890 align:center line:-1 Did these things really have to happen? Could they have been avoided? 51 00:07:16.900 --> 00:07:19.680 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Very good. Thank you!
Reddit
Twitter
Facebook