"[M]y primary feeling is regret that many good people were persecuted."

Interviewer: Hello! Thank you for accepting my interview. Could you first tell me what decade you were born in? No need to say the exact year.

[I was born in] 1990.

Interviewer: 1990—post-’90. Oh, so young! What geographical area of China were you born in?

In the south—Guangzhou.

Interviewer: You were born and raised there?

Yes.

Interviewer: OK. So, in your impression, when was the first time you heard about the Cultural Revolution, this historical incident? When did you gain an impression of it?

The first time I got an impression, I don’t remember. It might have been during school that I heard it mentioned.

Interviewer: Ah, during your studies.

Right.

Interviewer: Could you say whether it was during elementary school or middle school—do you have an impression [of when it was]?

It may have been during junior high school.

Interviewer: I see, during junior high. What about the channel? Do you remember through what channel you heard about this incident?

It must’ve been in history class that the teacher mentioned this term [“Cultural Revolution”].

Interviewer: Ah, it was mentioned in history class.

Right, right.

Interviewer: Do you have an impression of how much was shared [about the topic]?

Just that the textbook said it was the period from ’66 to ’76, that was the Cultural Revolution. It didn’t say anything concrete.

Basically, in junior high it wasn’t really discussed [in depth], but in high school we might have talked about it more, through telling stories and things.

Interviewer: Oh, telling some stories. Then besides coursework, were there other channels through which you heard about it?

My dad really likes watching a drama called

. After watching the drama, he read the books, and he told me that Li Yunlong, the protagonist…

Actually, after the TV drama, the novel describes all the things [the protagonist] experienced during the period of the Cultural Revolution.

It made [my father] feel so distraught that an amazing war hero would meet such a devastating end.

This is my deepest impression from all the things I’ve heard related to the Cultural Revolution.

Interviewer: OK, so it was brought up in your family. So, as someone born in the ’90s, you’re very young.

Interviewer：I know you’re in school right now. Would you classify your studies as sociology, humanities, or natural sciences?

I’d classify it as sociology.

Interviewer: Sociology. Then, apart from the times it was brought up in class, or the time your father mentioned [提到过] it, are you personally interested?

Interviewer: If you personally came across this topic concerning the Cultural Revolution, would you be interested in it?

I’m pretty interested in the literature of that period, like novels and such…

Interviewer: Oh, [you] read literary works.

Yes.

Interviewer: So, can you understand them?

I can’t especially—it’s just to listen to some stories and think about the situation of the time.

Interviewer: Ah. You’re not saying…Do you have any kind of doubts? Do you have any thoughts—for example, some young people have asked, “Is all of that [described in novels] real?”

Ah! Actually, my primary feeling is regret that many good people were persecuted.

I feel it was such a pity: they had already paid such a heavy price, and the result was that they ended up encountering such a tragic event.

That is, they might have gone on to do even more [good] things, but after being persecuted during that period, they just couldn’t do more good things.

Interviewer: Ah. Very good. Thank you for participating in this interview.

No need to thank me! Thank you.