I was born in 1949. I am 68 years old. I was 17 when the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.
I had just graduated from junior high school, and I was preparing for the senior high entrance exam.
In June of 1966, the Cultural Revolution started. It started at school first--
Interviewer: Please move forward a little bit.
--large-scale student-against-student and student-against-teacher struggle was carried out.
The students who were the targets of struggle had parents in one of five categories: landlords, rich farmers, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists.
My father belonged to one of those categories. My name was called up at school every day.
Every morning, all of [the students being struggled against in the class] -- people like [us] were called “black brats" --
-- stood in a row in front of a blackboard with a wolfhound drawn on it, and were struggled against.
[They] had us do self-examination and think about how we were influenced by our parents. We were asked to expose our parents’ crimes, and things like that.
However, I think the humiliation that we personally experienced was nothing.
Actually, the most painful thing is that 17 million students my age, what we called the “old three classes," lost the chance of going to school after that.
That included three grades in junior high school – the first, second, and third years -- and three grades in senior high school – the first, second, and third years.
Six grades in all, which is 17 million students, all lost the chance to go to school back then.
They never had another chance to go back to school. I think this is the biggest loss to us personally.
Because if you did not attend school, it would have a huge effect on you later in life.
For example, [it would affect] the kind of work you did, who you chose as your mate, the family you started, your children's education, and your own manner of facing all kinds of difficulties in life.
Your abilities in dealing with those things would be very limited.
Even today, 80 to 90 percent of my classmates are living on the edge of poverty.
It is because we, the Educated Youth, were assigned to factories when we came back from the countryside.
Even up until now, the salary is quite low. So, I believe it had a huge effect on a person’s whole life.
As for the country, I think the Cultural Revolution was a mutual massacre between people, so it destroyed people's kindest elements, and brought out the ugliest tendencies from their hearts.
I feel the most basic morals and convictions were lost throughout the whole country, and this persists until today. So, I think this was the biggest loss.
During the Cultural Revolution, we stopped going to school between 1966 and 1969.
After 1969, all these 17 million youths went to many different places as Educated Youth.
We called it “joining a production team." I went to Lujiangba in Baoshan [Yunnan Province].
I missed home a lot after I got there. We could not go back. People had to obtain an authorization to go back home. However, there was really no way to get such an authorization.
At that time, my mom was also imprisoned. I missed home very much. Only my 80-year-old maternal grandma and my younger teenaged brother were left at home.
One of my classmates and I arranged to climb over the Gaoligong Mountains together, to reach Baoshan.
I was just 19 years old, and I have no idea where I got the courage [to do so].
With the help of a peasant, the two of us boated across the Lu River. We carried our bags on our backs and started climbing the Gaoligong Mountains.
We did not have solid food to carry with us, so we stir-fried some sun-dried corn, and put it in our bags.
We ate a little corn when we were hungry, and we drank from a mountain spring when we were thirsty.
We climbed for two days, staying at peasants' homes for the night when it got dark.
When we woke up on the second morning, the only idea we could come up with was to trace the horses' paths.
The horses passed through carrying luggage, so [if we followed their trails,] we would not lose our way.
After three days, we had gotten over the Gaoligong Mountains and arrived at Baoshan. Then we went back home.
I met my mom, who was locked in her work unit and unable to go home.
This incident left a very deep impression on me.
I wonder, at that time, did I not worry about being eaten by wild beasts in the Gaoligong Mountains? I don't think I did.
Because the most important thing to me was that I just really wanted to see my mom.
Why did I climb over the mountains to Kunming, regardless of the danger? Because I missed my mom so much.
Here is the whole story: I went "down to the countryside" in February 1969. After that, I was assigned to Lujiangba in Baoshan.
I wanted to know what was going on with my family, how my mom was, but I did not receive any letters from her.
All of my classmates had received letters [from family] except for me.
Later, I walked on foot – it was 10 kilometers from our production team to the post office.
I walked for 10 kilometers to reach the post office, and called my mom’s unit. My mom picked up the phone.
I started crying, and shouted, “Why didn't you write to me? You should write to me! I never received your letters!”
My mom cried on her end, too. She said, “Go back, go on back. I will write to you. I will write to you.”
Now I understand that there were some things she could not talk about.
She wasn’t able to tell me directly why she was being like that. Then, the phone was hung up.
There were a lot of Educated Youths in the post office. They had gone there to mail their letters.
A lot of them stared at me, wondering why I was crying and shouting out loud.
Later, I went back. I was walking alone with the wind blowing my hair and tears. I walked alone for 10 kilometers, back to the production team.
Later, I received a letter from my aunt. She told me what was actually going on in my family.
Because of my father’s issues, my mom was affected and was labeled a historical counter-revolutionary.
[People] had already searched our house to confiscate our possessions, and our floor was even dug up.
They said there were radio transmitters in our home, and we were spies.
Only my 80-year-old grandma and my younger teenaged brother were left at home. At that time, I was extremely homesick.
I did not know how my grandma and my little brother were getting by, and that was why I made up my mind and arranged to climb over the Gaoligong Mountains with my female classmate.
The scene when I got back was really memorable.
When we arrived in Baoshan, we had no money to stay in a hotel. We knew a cadre from May 7 cadre school.
He had given us his home address, and told us his father was in Baoshan. If we needed any place to sleep, [he said] we could go to his home.
We went to his house. His father welcomed us, but he probably did not know what he should offer us for sleeping at night.
So, there was only one bed without even a cotton cushion, let alone blankets.
It was January. We wore all our clothes and huddled together to keep warm.
The next morning after we woke up, we went to the Baoshan bus terminal. We found a truck that was going to Kunming to transport goods.
We probably offered [the driver] some money, and then sat on the top of the truck, on the goods that it was carrying.
I remember we slept on the cloth sacks, and then arrived in Kunming.
Then, I went into my home. My grandma was lying in bed. My elder brother had also come back home.
My elder brother was a student in technical school and had been assigned to Nanjing [to work]. He had come back because of mom's troubles.
I was eager to see my mom, my grandma, my elder brother and my little brother. My elder brother had come home, my grandma was home, and my little brother was there, too.
I asked, “Where’s my little brother?” They said, “He went out to play.”
My first impression was opening the door and seeing a thin, dark little boy in the distance. His hand was hanging down; he had slipped and hurt it somehow.
He walked toward us with a bandage hanging from his hand. Seeing this, my elder brother and I burst into tears on the spot.
Mom was not at home. That was the situation. My mom was locked up in the bank, where she had been working.
The next day, my elder brother and I went to visit our mom. I have no idea where I got the courage.
I bravely told my mom, “It’s okay. You can come to the countryside with me. We can live there forever and never come back."
Interviewer: How long did you stay in Kunming before you went back to Lujiang?
I stayed for about one month. I was not allowed to stay for long. During that time, my mom was released and went home.
Now that I think about it, at that time I should have gone there to ask for an explanation. Right?
How could they just do as they pleased? Of course, now I understand.
If they labeled you a counter-revolutionary, that meant you were, right? They even took away everything from our home and destroyed our floor.
Thinking back, our human rights were definitely violated. [At that time] Chinese were not protected by law and human rights.
When I think about it now, my mom was released, but there was no explanation given [for what had happened to her].
Since my mom had come back, I felt relieved, and went back to the countryside. I labored well and behaved well after I got back.
Later, in 1972, factories began recruiting laborers.
Lots of factories in Kunming came to every site in the countryside to recruit Educated Youth. I was recruited by a plate glass factory.
In 1977, the college entrance exam was restored. I really wanted to go to college.
I was already 30 years old at that time, and had just had a baby. My child was only a little over a year old.
I took part in the second year of the reinstated college entrance exam. I was admitted to a normal [teachers’] university.
After I graduated, I became a teacher and taught up until I retired. That’s all.
Interviewer: Thank you. That’s all?
Yes. Was it enough?
Interviewer: Yes. Anyway, it was just what you wanted to say.
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