"Local cadres were beaten in our village."

Interviewer: Hello! First, thank you for accepting my interview.

Interviewer: Could you please tell me the decade of your birth? You don't need to say the exact year. You can just say "1950s," "1960s," etc.

1960s.

Interviewer: OK, 1960s. Could you please tell me where you lived in China from 1966 to [1976]?

I lived in Hubei [Province], in a place that’s now called Xiantao, in [the city of] Jingzhou.

Interviewer: During the Cultural Revolution, you were still quite young.

Interviewer: If I give you about ten minutes to share memories of the Cultural Revolution, for example a specific incident,

Interviewer: ...or a happy or sad moment, or something about your family or friends – anything you want –

Interviewer: ...what would you most want to talk about in the initial ten minutes of the interview?

Interviewer: Please speak freely.

I really don’t have any memories, since I was still so young.

When the Cultural Revolution started, I was only about three or four years old.

Later, I heard that during the Cultural Revolution, people were beaten, such as some officials in the area.

I heard a bit about that.

Interviewer: Was anyone in your family affected?

No, no one. My parents weren’t officials.

Interview: I see. So your understanding was that it was only officials who were impacted?

I think so, along with some intellectuals.

Interviewer: Later, do you think there was anything from the Cultural Revolution that had a positive or negative influence on your life?

I don’t really think so.

Interviewer: No influence?

Well, I think the influence may have been indirect, for example, an influence on education after the Cultural Revolution.

Interviewer: What kind of indirect influence on education?

For example, we didn’t place as much importance on education as before [the Cultural Revolution].

When we got to middle school [age], we often went out to do manual labor.

I think maybe this [decreased emphasis on education] is a result of the Cultural Revolution.

But we didn’t feel any direct influence.

Interviewer: Today, do you have any interest in the topic of the Cultural Revolution?

Yes, I do, actually.

Interviewer: You do. How come you’re interested?

Later on, I knew why the Cultural Revolution had happened;

I feel it was because at that time Mao Zedong wanted to make Liu Shaoqi step down. So that was the motivation.

Interviewer: Do you have an opportunity to talk about the Cultural Revolution with your children? Are they interested in it?

My children are all growing up in the United States.

They’re not interested; they don’t know this history.

Interviewer: They don’t understand it at all, right?

Right.

Interviewer: Is there anything related to the Cultural Revolution you want to say more about?

Not really. Basically, I think the Cultural Revolution was initiated by Mao Zedong to get Liu Shaoqi to step down.

Interviewer: Your own family didn’t feel too great an impact, but through other channels you’ve been able to understand the impact on other people.

Right, through reading books and watching TV dramas.

Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview.

Thank you.