"[My grandparents] said that the radio would always be broadcasting things that would get people worked up."

Interviewer: Thank you for accepting our interview. First, could you please tell me when you were born?

Interviewer: You don’t need to say the exact year; just the decade will do, like “’60s,” “’70s,” “’80s,” “’90s.”

I was born in the ’90s.

Interviewer: Could you please tell me where you were born and where you lived in China?

In the Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Shanghai region.

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?

The first time I heard of the Cultural Revolution?

Interviewer: Yes, as far as you can remember, when did you first hear of the Cultural Revolution, and how did you hear about it?

I think it must have been in junior high school.

Interviewer: Junior high school. How did you hear about it?

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.

Interviewer: What was your [feeling] then -- curious? Or...?

I didn’t have a systematic understanding; I just heard my classmate mention it, so I knew this thing existed.

In the end, I got to high school and had history class, and through this course everyone knew more about the Cultural Revolution.

Interviewer: So it was through a friend, and also through class.

Yes.

Interviewer: Were there any other ways [you found out about it]?

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.

Interviewer: So, do you have an interest in this subject?

About average, to tell you the truth.

Interviewer: So you’re not especially interested in thinking more about it.

Right, not especially interested.

Interviewer: Yeah. OK. Since you were born in the ’90s, your knowledge of the Cultural Revolution must be entirely secondhand.

Interviewer: Maybe you never, for example, actively sought to understand what your family felt about it. Or were there [such opportunities]?

In high school I had a chance to ask my grandparents about it.

Interviewer: What did your grandparents say?

They said the radio would always be broadcasting things that would get people worked up, like “Long Live Mao Zedong,” stuff like that.

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].

Interviewer: So in your family, there wasn’t much impact, right?

Right.

Interviewer: Today, you’ve already graduated from college and have become a graduate student.

Interviewer: So now, what is your current understanding of the Cultural Revolution?

I think the Cultural Revolution…I know that the majority of the revolution occurred in 1966, right?

Interviewer: Yes.

And I know it was a class struggle, and that it was…I think it was a very serious mistake.

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.

Interviewer: There’s a still a feeling of shock. OK. Thank you for accepting my interview.