WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.290 --> 00:00:09.130 align:center line:-1Interviewer: Thank you for accepting our interview. First, could you please tell me when you were born? 2 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:15.120 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You don’t need to say the exact year; just the decade will do, like “’60s,” “’70s,” “’80s,” “’90s.” 3 00:00:15.130 --> 00:00:17.280 align:center line:-1 I was born in the ’90s. 4 00:00:17.290 --> 00:00:24.990 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Could you please tell me where you were born and where you lived in China? 5 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:26.990 align:center line:-1 In the Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Shanghai region. 6 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:43.280 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Shanghai. OK. Do you remember how old you were the first time you heard about the Cultural Revolution? Through what channel did you hear about it? 7 00:00:43.290 --> 00:00:45.440 align:center line:-1 The first time I heard of the Cultural Revolution? 8 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:54.570 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Yes, as far as you can remember, when did you first hear of the Cultural Revolution, and how did you hear about it? 9 00:00:54.580 --> 00:00:57.360 align:center line:-1 I think it must have been in junior high school. 10 00:00:57.370 --> 00:00:59.830 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Junior high school. How did you hear about it? 11 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:10.580 align:center line:-1 I had a classmate who liked to read some rather incisive essays, and sometimes I’d hear this classmate mention some things regarding the Cultural Revolution. 12 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:14.420 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What was your [feeling] then -- curious? Or...? 13 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:21.860 align:center line:-1 I didn’t have a systematic understanding; I just heard my classmate mention it, so I knew this thing existed. 14 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:29.610 align:center line:-1 In the end, I got to high school and had history class, and through this course everyone knew more about the Cultural Revolution. 15 00:01:29.620 --> 00:01:32.550 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So it was through a friend, and also through class. 16 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:33.270 align:center line:-1 Yes. 17 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:35.580 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Were there any other ways [you found out about it]? 18 00:01:35.590 --> 00:01:43.010 align:center line:-1 When you go online, you will see some things—especially ifeng.com [Phoenix Television’s website]; I think that has quite a few reports about the Cultural Revolution. 19 00:01:43.020 --> 00:01:46.500 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So, do you have an interest in this subject? 20 00:01:46.510 --> 00:01:48.690 align:center line:-1 About average, to tell you the truth. 21 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:51.520 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So you’re not especially interested in thinking more about it. 22 00:01:51.530 --> 00:01:52.990 align:center line:-1 Right, not especially interested. 23 00:01:53.000 --> 00:02:06.060 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Yeah. OK. Since you were born in the ’90s, your knowledge of the Cultural Revolution must be entirely secondhand. 24 00:02:06.070 --> 00:02:16.430 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Maybe you never, for example, actively sought to understand what your family felt about it. Or were there [such opportunities]? 25 00:02:16.440 --> 00:02:21.720 align:center line:-1 In high school I had a chance to ask my grandparents about it. 26 00:02:21.730 --> 00:02:24.060 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What did your grandparents say? 27 00:02:24.070 --> 00:02:33.360 align:center line:-1 They said the radio would always be broadcasting things that would get people worked up, like “Long Live Mao Zedong,” stuff like that. 28 00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:43.820 align:center line:-1 But because my grandparents were what you’d consider peasants back then, [they might have just felt] it was another big broadcast, another big loudspeaker [promoting the Cultural Revolution]. 29 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:48.860 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So in your family, there wasn’t much impact, right? 30 00:02:48.870 --> 00:02:51.220 align:center line:-1 Right. 31 00:02:51.230 --> 00:02:59.120 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Today, you’ve already graduated from college and have become a graduate student. 32 00:02:59.130 --> 00:03:10.550 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So now, what is your current understanding of the Cultural Revolution? 33 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:16.030 align:center line:-1 I think the Cultural Revolution…I know that the majority of the revolution occurred in 1966, right? 34 00:03:16.040 --> 00:03:17.520 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Yes. 35 00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:25.170 align:center line:-1 And I know it was a class struggle, and that it was…I think it was a very serious mistake. 36 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:33.110 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You use the term “mistake.” It shows you have some personal opinion? 37 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:51.990 align:center line:-1 Because through education and literature, you can reflect on how people lived during the Cultural Revolution, particularly intellectuals who were persecuted—seeing those scenes still shocks me. 38 00:03:52.000 --> 24:00:00.000 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: There’s a still a feeling of shock. OK. Thank you for accepting my interview.
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