My Grandparents' Different Experiences

Interviewer: Thank you for accepting our interview.

I was born in the 1990s.

Interviewer: Which area are you from in China?

My hometown is in Shandong [Province].

Interviewer: Are you from an urban or a rural area?

I'm from a city, Jinan.

Interviewer: About how old were you were you first got an impression of what it was about?

Interviewer: Through what channel did you

I feel like rather early in life, I knew the word and had some impression about this historical incident.

However, I'm not sure what specific age I was

Besides textbooks, I learned more about this event through TV dramas.

Interviewer: Other than TV and literature, did you also hear about it from your family, friends, or other people?

I rarely heard my family spontaneously bring up this event,

but I remember that when I understood what

the Cultural Revolution was,

I asked my grandparents whether they also experienced it.

My paternal grandparents rarely talk about this event, since the Cultural Revolution didn't affect them much.

However, I heard from my maternal grandparents

that they were affected by this event at that time,

because they were university professors.

However, they were not really persecuted, since they left the place they were living somewhat early,

and went to Jinan.

And then, because they had moved away, they happened to avoid a number of things that might have happened

to them [had they stayed].

Maybe it's because of this that

they rarely talk about that event.

Interviewer: How about your grandparents on your

father's side? They never bring it up?

They never received advanced education. My [paternal] grandfather was a soldier, and my [paternal] grandmother worked outside the home.

They don't belong to the intellectual class, so basically, they were not affected by the Cultural Revolution.

Interviewer: Are you personally interested in the topic of the Cultural Revolution? Or, how would you describe your personal understanding of the Cultural Revolution?

I am interested in knowing some of the current views on

the Cultural Revolution.

For example, when I was in middle school and high school, we learned what this event was like through textbooks, or through what the teacher had to say about it, and then that's how we thought about it.

However, now I am more interested in hearing from scholars, filmmakers, and other groups.

I want to know the impact of the Cultural Revolution on groups other than intellectuals.

However, in terms of my own study, I don't have a particular interest in that era or in contemporary history, so I don't feel a special motivation to research that incident.

Interviewer: Thank you.