WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:03.050 align:center line:-1Interviewer: Hello! Thank you for accepting my interview. 2 00:00:03.050 --> 00:00:07.330 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: First, could you tell me what decade you were born in? 3 00:00:07.330 --> 00:00:09.000 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You don't have to say the exact year; 4 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:10.030 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: ...just the decade will do, such as "'40s," "'50s,"... 5 00:00:10.030 --> 00:00:13.350 align:center line:-1 I was born in 1960, during the "[three] difficult years." 6 00:00:13.350 --> 00:00:17.800 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Where did you live in China from 1966 to 1976? 7 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:20.240 align:center line:-1 I was in Beijing. 8 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:23.150 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Based on your age, I think you must have many memories [of that time]. 9 00:00:23.150 --> 00:00:25.530 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You could probably talk about what you remember for days and nights on end. 10 00:00:25.530 --> 00:00:29.500 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: But if I only give you about ten minutes -- 11 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:33.420 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: -- or, in other words, in the first ten minutes of the interview, 12 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:38.010 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: ...what memories would you most want to share with us? 13 00:00:38.010 --> 00:00:41.040 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Please speak freely. 14 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:46.360 align:center line:-1 OK. I guess there were several stages. 15 00:00:46.360 --> 00:00:56.100 align:center line:-1 One was elementary school; one was junior high school; 16 00:00:56.100 --> 00:01:02.870 align:center line:-1 there were a few different things that happened that left a pretty deep impression on me. 17 00:01:02.870 --> 00:01:06.860 align:center line:-1 In 1966, I had just started elementary school, 18 00:01:06.860 --> 00:01:10.270 align:center line:-1 but classes stopped right away [the school was closed]. 19 00:01:10.270 --> 00:01:16.110 align:center line:-1 I remember that the Ninth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held, 20 00:01:16.110 --> 00:01:19.320 align:center line:-1 and at 11 o'clock at night there was suddenly a siren blaring. 21 00:01:19.320 --> 00:01:25.370 align:center line:-1 Everyone just looked like devils, running out and parading around in the street. 22 00:01:25.370 --> 00:01:31.320 align:center line:-1 After starting elementary school, of the things I remember well, 23 00:01:31.320 --> 00:01:40.460 align:center line:-1 one was that the old man who guarded the front gate committed suicide. 24 00:01:40.460 --> 00:01:42.570 align:center line:-1 What could this old guy have possibly done wrong? 25 00:01:42.570 --> 00:01:45.610 align:center line:-1 Even now, I don't understand. 26 00:01:45.610 --> 00:01:52.430 align:center line:-1 Then, there was a teacher who slashed his wrists, but didn't die. 27 00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:55.020 align:center line:-1 What happened later, I don't know. 28 00:01:55.020 --> 00:02:00.010 align:center line:-1 I had just begun to understand how things worked, and these are the kinds of memories I have. 29 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:04.010 align:center line:-1 We lived on the first floor of our building. 30 00:02:04.010 --> 00:02:09.100 align:center line:-1 There was a pair of engineers, a couple, who lived on the third floor. 31 00:02:09.100 --> 00:02:16.000 align:center line:-1 One day, the husband and wife hanged themselves. 32 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:17.870 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Two people at once? 33 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:24.360 align:center line:-1 Yes. I felt bewildered: how did they hang themselves? 34 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:27.410 align:center line:-1 Our place was arranged in the same way as theirs. 35 00:02:27.410 --> 00:02:34.000 align:center line:-1 Where did they put the rope? I couldn't figure it out. 36 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.710 align:center line:-1 Even today, I still don't quite know how they could've done it. 37 00:02:39.710 --> 00:02:46.020 align:center line:-1 I remember, it was probably July or August of 1966 -- summertime -- 38 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:50.590 align:center line:-1 and I was playing in the courtyard. 39 00:02:50.590 --> 00:02:55.350 align:center line:-1 Someone was shouting, "There there there! That building! It's happened again!" 40 00:02:55.350 --> 00:02:58.080 align:center line:-1 Everyone ran in that direction. 41 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:00.500 align:center line:-1 The next day, there was more shouting: 42 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:03.000 align:center line:-1 "Over there -- someone else has done it!" 43 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:11.000 align:center line:-1 [So many suicides] in such a short amount of time -- it was a surreal feeling. 44 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:16.050 align:center line:-1 Later, everyone was doing the "loyalty dance," 45 00:03:16.050 --> 00:03:19.020 align:center line:-1 and in the morning going to report what they'd do that day, 46 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:22.120 align:center line:-1 then in the evening giving an update on their activities. 47 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:24.300 align:center line:-1 I remember clearly that every morning, 48 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:28.000 align:center line:-1 a different kid would hold Quotations from Chairman Mao, 49 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:35.000 align:center line:-1 and stand in front of the portrait of Chairman Mao on the front of the building. 50 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.400 align:center line:-1 Then, a big group of people would stand there, 51 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:41.040 align:center line:-1 proclaiming what they planned to do that day. 52 00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:50.000 align:center line:-1 I'm not sure why, but every day it was a different kid's turn to lead, 53 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.230 align:center line:-1 yet it never got to be my turn, and that made me really depressed. 54 00:03:55.230 --> 00:03:58.790 align:center line:-1 The neighborhood committee was in charge of this, 55 00:03:58.790 --> 00:04:02.360 align:center line:-1 so maybe they just picked the kids they liked. 56 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:08.100 align:center line:-1 I remember this well, since I was never chosen. 57 00:04:08.100 --> 00:04:11.220 align:center line:-1 It was the same with the "loyalty dance." 58 00:04:11.220 --> 00:04:13.890 align:center line:-1 I would be dancing along in the middle of the group, 59 00:04:13.890 --> 00:04:16.090 align:center line:-1 and be called out by the teacher 60 00:04:16.090 --> 00:04:19.560 align:center line:-1 and told my dancing was terrible, so I had to step out. 61 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.650 align:center line:-1 This was a huge blow to me! 62 00:04:22.650 --> 00:04:27.820 align:center line:-1 These are some childhood memories of the Cultural Revolution. 63 00:04:27.820 --> 00:04:32.730 align:center line:-1 When I got to junior high, something happened to my father. 64 00:04:32.730 --> 00:04:36.250 align:center line:-1 My father had been in the army and done quite well; 65 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:45.840 align:center line:-1 he was an officer, and my mom worked in a textile factory. 66 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:55.300 align:center line:-1 In 1971, my father was sent back home. 67 00:04:55.300 --> 00:05:03.000 align:center line:-1 My mom immediately took all of us kids to the base to find out what was going on. 68 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:08.090 align:center line:-1 I remember my father and mother were in their room for a long time, 69 00:05:08.090 --> 00:05:13.630 align:center line:-1 whispering, not daring to speak loudly. 70 00:05:13.630 --> 00:05:17.550 align:center line:-1 After that, our family changed. 71 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:19.510 align:center line:-1 It was said that my father had a "problematic history," 72 00:05:19.510 --> 00:05:25.310 align:center line:-1 that he had joined the Kuomintang's Youth League when he was younger, but covered it up. 73 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:26.910 align:center line:-1 Someone exposed him. 74 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:32.240 align:center line:-1 After he was exposed, he was expelled from the Party and sent back home. 75 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:37.100 align:center line:-1 Our family situation changed greatly after this. 76 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:41.430 align:center line:-1 [Before this], my father's salary was over 100 RMB a month -- 77 00:05:41.430 --> 00:05:44.860 align:center line:-1 at the time, it was quite generous. 78 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:48.000 align:center line:-1 So now he didn't have this money, and had been sent back home. 79 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.010 align:center line:-1 My mom worked three shifts, and took care of us three kids. 80 00:05:51.010 --> 00:05:55.810 align:center line:-1 I was 11 or 12 at the time. So things changed in an instant. 81 00:05:55.810 --> 00:06:00.540 align:center line:-1 My mom had serious clinical depression, and she also smoked, 82 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:03.770 align:center line:-1 so our home was pretty miserable. 83 00:06:03.770 --> 00:06:07.690 align:center line:-1 At that time, I served as a cadre at school, 84 00:06:07.690 --> 00:06:11.370 align:center line:-1 but I didn't dare apply to join the Communist Youth League of China, 85 00:06:11.370 --> 00:06:15.860 align:center line:-1 because I'd have to get into my father's problems. 86 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:22.330 align:center line:-1 This was a shadow hanging over me at the time. 87 00:06:22.330 --> 00:06:27.650 align:center line:-1 I knew that because of his problems, I wouldn't be admitted to the League. 88 00:06:27.650 --> 00:06:34.680 align:center line:-1 This became a burden in my heart. 89 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:46.020 align:center line:-1 All along, I was the cadre for my class, and this was good, 90 00:06:46.020 --> 00:06:53.550 align:center line:-1 but I never joined the League. It was an oppressive situation. 91 00:06:53.550 --> 00:07:01.840 align:center line:-1 These are my deepest impressions of the Cultural Revolution. 92 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:08.030 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Thank you. Is there more you'd like to say? 93 00:07:08.030 --> 00:07:17.210 align:center line:-1 During the Cultural Revolution, we kids were actually rather carefree. 94 00:07:17.210 --> 00:07:22.330 align:center line:-1 In our residential complex, everyone's older brothers and sisters had gone "down to the countryside," 95 00:07:22.330 --> 00:07:31.610 align:center line:-1 and school was closed, so all we did was play. 96 00:07:31.610 --> 00:07:36.400 align:center line:-1 The girls were playing jacks and jumping rope, 97 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:38.410 align:center line:-1 while the boys were playing cards, building things with blocks, 98 00:07:38.410 --> 00:07:46.830 align:center line:-1 and playing marbles, or else catching cicadas and collecting bugs. 99 00:07:46.830 --> 00:07:50.000 align:center line:-1 We didn't have anything precious, 100 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.450 align:center line:-1 but we still had all these different ways to have fun. 101 00:07:52.450 --> 00:07:58.650 align:center line:-1 So, at that time, education had its strengths; 102 00:07:58.650 --> 00:08:07.190 align:center line:-1 we were all free and open, with no restrictions. 103 00:08:07.190 --> 00:08:16.220 align:center line:-1 Though we didn't study much about culture, we were happy. 104 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:22.980 align:center line:-1 That period of childhood life had a great influence on our psychology, 105 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:28.530 align:center line:-1 so I can really identify with Wang Shuo's novel Wild Beast. 106 00:08:28.530 --> 00:08:37.600 align:center line:-1 Although during that era things were a complete mess at the national level, 107 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:45.120 align:center line:-1 in my generation, we grew up quite freely and enjoyed our childhood. 108 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:50.850 align:center line:-1 Unlike today, there was no smog, no competitive education; we were all happy. 109 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:55.720 align:center line:-1 The friends I made back then are still my friends today. 110 00:08:55.720 --> 00:09:02.640 align:center line:-1 That was really a rare experience. 111 00:09:02.640 --> 00:09:06.069 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview.
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