WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:04.230 align:center line:-1When the Cultural Revolution [started], I was about seven or eight years old. 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:09.490 align:center line:-1 Our family moved from the county to Meicheng Town. 3 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:16.490 align:center line:-1 At this time, which included [the years of] the Cultural Revolution, I understood a few things, but I didn’t know it was called the Cultural Revolution. 4 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:24.360 align:center line:-1 So, suddenly one evening [people] were saying, “Down with so-and-so! Down with Liu Shaoqi.” 5 00:00:24.370 --> 00:00:27.560 align:center line:-1 It was the first time I saw Liu Shaoqi’s statue. 6 00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:29.660 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So, at the time, did you know who Liu Shaoqi was? 7 00:00:29.670 --> 00:00:32.360 align:center line:-1 At the time I didn’t know; I still didn’t have an understanding. But there was one thing. 8 00:00:32.370 --> 00:00:44.120 align:center line:-1 At that time, I was attending school—after [Liu Shaoqi was brought down], the radio [announced], “The Cultural Revolution is good.” 9 00:00:44.130 --> 00:00:49.290 align:center line:-1 At that time, workers propaganda teams established themselves in schools. 10 00:00:49.300 --> 00:00:57.070 align:center line:-1 Even [at] our elementary school—we were at Donghuawan Elementary—suddenly [it was announced], “Today there will be no classes.” 11 00:00:57.080 --> 00:01:04.990 align:center line:-1 What’s more, [representatives of] the workers propaganda team stood on the road about 100 or 200 meters from the school and kept us from going in. 12 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:07.990 align:center line:-1 [They] said, “Today you’re on vacation—don’t go to class.” 13 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.450 align:center line:-1 We asked, “When will we go to class?” 14 00:01:09.460 --> 00:01:10.310 align:center line:-1 [They] said, “Wait for a notification.” 15 00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:11.170 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Wait for a notification. 16 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:12.820 align:center line:-1 Right, wait for a notification. 17 00:01:12.830 --> 00:01:18.790 align:center line:-1 “What is the Cultural Revolution, after all?” [we asked]. 18 00:01:18.800 --> 00:01:25.280 align:center line:-1 Slowly, there were [people] who started wearing red armbands—Red Guards. 19 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:32.070 align:center line:-1 I saw that some [students] a bit older than us, sixth grade students, had red armbands. 20 00:01:32.080 --> 00:01:33.930 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Little Red Guards? 21 00:01:33.940 --> 00:01:35.200 align:center line:-1 Red Guards. At the time, they were called Red Guards. 22 00:01:35.210 --> 00:01:37.190 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Sixth grade elementary school [students]? 23 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:42.040 align:center line:-1 At that time, [there were] Little Red Guards, Red Guards, and the Red Guard Army. 24 00:01:42.050 --> 00:01:52.690 align:center line:-1 These three [groups] all wore red armbands. Different propaganda teams had come from different organizations. 25 00:01:52.700 --> 00:02:02.300 align:center line:-1 But I didn’t get [what these organizations were]: “Is it like becoming a member of the Young Pioneers at school? Can everyone apply?” 26 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:07.090 align:center line:-1 The people from the workers propaganda team were also peasants—that was how it was. 27 00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:10.110 align:center line:-1 They were quite harsh toward the teachers, but not toward the students. 28 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:13.990 align:center line:-1 We said to [the workers propaganda team], “We’ll join, too.” 29 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:21.990 align:center line:-1 They said, “We don’t have Red Guards here, nor do we have Little Red Guards. We only have the Red Guard Army, so you can serve in the Red Guard Army.” 30 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.100 align:center line:-1 [We said], “Great! Where do we get our red armbands?” 31 00:02:24.110 --> 00:02:26.290 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Did the Red Guard Army have weapons? 32 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:34.310 align:center line:-1 No, no weapons. The armbands were the same as the Red Guards’. A red armband with “Red Guard Army” on top. 33 00:02:34.320 --> 00:02:41.230 align:center line:-1 At the time I was small, and had to pull up half of that armband and pin it together [so it would fit]. 34 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:46.270 align:center line:-1 Wearing it, [I] felt such honor. But [I] didn’t really know what it was. 35 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:48.440 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What activities did you do? 36 00:02:48.450 --> 00:02:54.380 align:center line:-1 [We] didn’t do any activities. But we heard being a Red Guard was good. 37 00:02:54.390 --> 00:03:03.560 align:center line:-1 I had a classmate whose older brother was about four years old than him. [His brother] did “networking.” 38 00:03:03.570 --> 00:03:07.430 align:center line:-1 That was something later on, “networking.” [I thought], Wow! That’s great. 39 00:03:07.440 --> 00:03:17.190 align:center line:-1 Going to Beijing, not having to spend money, riding trains for free, people giving you stuff to eat and a place to stay all along the way. 40 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:19.360 align:center line:-1 Some [circumstances] were quite good, and you’d be given a hotel to stay in. 41 00:03:19.370 --> 00:03:26.240 align:center line:-1 In worse [circumstances], you’d live in a school’s classrooms, putting some desks together [to sleep on]. 42 00:03:26.250 --> 00:03:29.690 align:center line:-1 Several people could organize and go to Beijing together. This was something great! 43 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:32.380 align:center line:-1 So, everyone wanted to join [the Red Guards]. 44 00:03:32.390 --> 00:03:39.280 align:center line:-1 This was probably in 1966 or 1967. 45 00:03:39.290 --> 00:03:41.320 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: 1966—then that was the relatively early stage. 46 00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:43.270 align:center line:-1 Relatively early. I counted as a bit older [than the others]. 47 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:47.620 align:center line:-1 At the time, we were still naïve; had just begun to accept these things. 48 00:03:47.630 --> 00:03:57.280 align:center line:-1 Later on, [our] feelings changed; adults became rather fierce, struggling fiercely. 49 00:03:57.290 --> 00:03:59.990 align:center line:-1 I’d already—I don’t call it “joining in” [the struggle]. 50 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:07.070 align:center line:-1 At the time, [I] climbed up to look through the window of a classroom where the struggle meeting was being held. 51 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:08.300 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: [To someone off-camera]: We’re recording! We’re recording! 52 00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:11.000 align:center line:-1 [They] were having a struggle meeting. 53 00:04:11.010 --> 00:04:22.510 align:center line:-1 They hung a landlord up by one leg and one hand; [his] other leg was standing on a desk, and [they] were struggling against him. 54 00:04:22.520 --> 00:04:25.230 align:center line:-1 Everyone called this “hanging a side of pork.” 55 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:29.770 align:center line:-1 In the end, [they] were tired and let him down, but I don’t know who he was. 56 00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:30.780 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You don’t know? 57 00:04:30.790 --> 00:04:42.860 align:center line:-1 I don’t know. When my family lived at the entrance to Rouzhizhan, [there was] a [nearby] factory that made bamboo hats. 58 00:04:42.870 --> 00:04:46.690 align:center line:-1 There were two people, an old man and his wife, [working] there. 59 00:04:46.700 --> 00:04:49.730 align:center line:-1 That old man still had a beard this long, and he wasn’t very tall. 60 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:54.140 align:center line:-1 They were also struggled against in the Cultural Revolution. It was said [it was because] they had an uncertain background. 61 00:04:54.150 --> 00:04:55.770 align:center line:-1 It seemed like [they] really did have an uncertain background. 62 00:04:55.780 --> 00:04:59.210 align:center line:-1 We had lived there a long time before they came along. 63 00:04:59.220 --> 00:05:06.230 align:center line:-1 What happened is that as soon as the old man was struggled against, he killed himself. 64 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:16.510 align:center line:-1 It was said that he had come from elsewhere to avoid something. [He] had come to that factory, but [I] don’t know what for. 65 00:05:16.520 --> 00:05:22.100 align:center line:-1 It wasn’t until then that [I] knew the Cultural Revolution involved struggle and violent struggle that could kill people. 66 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:31.230 align:center line:-1 There, we didn’t yet have military weapons, or violent struggle using guns. 67 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:36.380 align:center line:-1 But I heard about fighting. I didn’t join in, since I was quite young. 68 00:05:36.390 --> 00:05:42.050 align:center line:-1 But from the whole atmosphere, [I] could feel… 69 00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:48.980 align:center line:-1 Also, the influence on our school’s curriculum [was that] our school studied different things. 70 00:05:48.990 --> 00:05:50.450 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What had you studied before? 71 00:05:50.460 --> 00:05:57.000 align:center line:-1 Our first grade studied [the characters for] sun, moon, water, fire, mountain, stone, field, earth, “a-o-e” [Hanyu Pinyin phonetics]. 72 00:05:57.010 --> 00:05:59.190 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: [You] studied Pinyin. 73 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:03.660 align:center line:-1 Later, the first thing [students] studied were [the slogans]: “Long Live Chairman Mao,” “Long Live the Communist Party of China.” 74 00:06:03.670 --> 00:06:07.400 align:center line:-1 The elementary school books all changed. That's one thing. 75 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:18.410 align:center line:-1 Also, up until the later period [of the Cultural Revolution], [when we] had finished junior high school— 76 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:21.900 align:center line:-1 --especially in the beginning of junior high school—in general, there were no tests. 77 00:06:21.910 --> 00:06:25.620 align:center line:-1 We just listened to what Chairman Mao said: “If there was something [we] didn’t know, it was good enough to just copy it down.” 78 00:06:25.630 --> 00:06:29.080 align:center line:-1 Because of this, later on we generally didn’t have tests. 79 00:06:29.090 --> 00:06:32.640 align:center line:-1 If there had been tests, the teachers wouldn’t have dared to say, “This is a test for you!” 80 00:06:32.650 --> 00:06:36.770 align:center line:-1 [Instead], the teacher [would say], “Here’s a problem for you to do. Those who don’t know how to solve it may read a book.” 81 00:06:36.780 --> 00:06:44.660 align:center line:-1 That’s how it was. The teacher would give grades, but grades had nothing to do with which school you’d go to. 82 00:06:44.670 --> 00:06:51.840 align:center line:-1 Anyway, you could go to school up through high school. As for university—that was something later. 83 00:06:51.850 --> 00:06:54.990 align:center line:-1 That was [after the Cultural Revolution] had basically concluded. 84 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:00.990 align:center line:-1 1977—that was already much later, [being] recommended [to go to university]. 85 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.580 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Approximately when did you feel the atmosphere had changed? 86 00:07:05.590 --> 00:07:17.980 align:center line:-1 My feeling is it must’ve been around 1967. The winds changed—[with] internal power struggle, struggle against intellectuals. 87 00:07:17.990 --> 00:07:24.190 align:center line:-1 My father counted as a minor cadre—that was also [considered] a “capitalist-roader.” 88 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:30.200 align:center line:-1 There was nothing to be done. Our family was pretty poor. Our family’s wages were used up. 89 00:07:30.210 --> 00:07:38.030 align:center line:-1 I remember one time, my mom wrote a note to my father: “[We] have no money. Borrow 2 RMB, [or else we’ll have nothing to eat].” 90 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:49.690 align:center line:-1 I went out, and happened to see 20 or more people having a meeting in a room—actually, they were struggling against my father. 91 00:07:49.700 --> 00:07:52.950 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What was the accusation? 92 00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:58.820 align:center line:-1 “Capitalist-roader.” “Those in power,” “capitalist-roader.” 93 00:07:58.830 --> 00:08:09.960 align:center line:-1 The room was completely papered with “big-character posters” that had been put up [before the struggle meeting]. 94 00:08:09.970 --> 00:08:15.990 align:center line:-1 They started struggling against [my father], and I had no choice. I was just a little kid. I ran up behind my father and gave him [the note]. 95 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.120 align:center line:-1 My father read it, and handed it over to the accountant next to him. 96 00:08:20.130 --> 00:08:23.490 align:center line:-1 The accountant wrote, “Agree to lend 2 RMB.” 97 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:27.030 align:center line:-1 I went back out to the teller to get the money. 98 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:32.740 align:center line:-1 As for this kind of situation, [I] thought, Why are they always having meetings, always struggling? 99 00:08:32.750 --> 00:08:39.950 align:center line:-1 There were quite a few “big-character posters.” We read a lot on the “big-character posters”—there were a lot of slogans. 100 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:49.560 align:center line:-1 But as for studying—there was no real studying. That’s not to say teachers didn’t teach classes. 101 00:08:49.570 --> 00:08:58.990 align:center line:-1 They taught, but there was no pressure at all. So, during that period of time we didn’t gain much knowledge. 102 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:02.820 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Were teachers struggled against? 103 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:10.860 align:center line:-1 [Yes]. But students struggling against teachers—at our [age], this didn’t happen. 104 00:09:10.870 --> 00:09:16.670 align:center line:-1 I guess the students struggling against teachers were in junior high and high school. 105 00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:28.310 align:center line:-1 The main thing for us there was the workers propaganda team suddenly saying, “This teacher’s no good, has political problems—today you won’t go to class.” 106 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:35.680 align:center line:-1 Back then, classes were suspended quite often—this was not uncommon. 107 00:09:35.690 --> 00:09:39.100 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Did you go to high school later on? 108 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:44.270 align:center line:-1 By the time I went to high school, the Cultural Revolution had generally concluded. 109 00:09:44.280 --> 00:09:45.500 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: It was about… 110 00:09:45.510 --> 00:09:52.990 align:center line:-1 It was about…there were two periods. [In] the first, I [went to] junior high school—this was before 1970. 111 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:59.360 align:center line:-1 Actually, we can still call this the Cultural Revolution; it hadn’t yet ended. But at this time, I went to a rural village. 112 00:09:59.370 --> 00:10:06.690 align:center line:-1 In Lu’anqiao, in a rural school, struggle did not exist, and there was no workers propaganda team. 113 00:10:06.700 --> 00:10:12.960 align:center line:-1 But as for studying, generally it was just, “If you want to come [to school], then come. If you don't, then ask to take a break." 114 00:10:12.970 --> 00:10:20.310 align:center line:-1 At that time, I had returned to the production brigade’s elementary school [in a rural village, Lu’anqiao] to go to school. 115 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.760 align:center line:-1 Later, many [city] residents were sent down to do manual labor. 116 00:10:22.770 --> 00:10:29.090 align:center line:-1 Except for my dad, our entire family was sent to a rural village, to Lu’anqiao. 117 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:40.480 align:center line:-1 When going to school there, one teacher taught three years’ classes, one grade in each row. 118 00:10:40.490 --> 00:10:49.650 align:center line:-1 [We] must’ve gone to school at 8:30 and finished at 3. 119 00:10:49.660 --> 00:10:52.420 align:center line:-1 Generally, we didn’t have anything to eat at midday. 120 00:10:52.430 --> 00:10:59.100 align:center line:-1 As soon as classes finished for the morning, [we’d] tell the teacher, “There’s something going on at home,” and [the teacher] would say, “OK, go on.” 121 00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:02.210 align:center line:-1 Generally, there were few people [attending class] in the afternoon. 122 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:08.500 align:center line:-1 This atmosphere wasn’t like [the atmosphere] in the cities, [with] struggle, “capitalist-roaders,” etc. [There was] nothing [like that]. 123 00:11:08.510 --> 00:11:12.410 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: But were you able to hear any information, or any news reports? 124 00:11:12.420 --> 00:11:17.390 align:center line:-1 Generally, we didn’t hear anything. First, [we] didn’t have radios. 125 00:11:17.400 --> 00:11:18.430 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: No radios. 126 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:24.710 align:center line:-1 Not to mention TV! [We] didn’t have newspapers—newspapers didn’t reach rural villages. 127 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:35.660 align:center line:-1 There were just [people like] the school principal, who’d go to the commune every six months, [or] to the district for a meeting—then [we’d get] some information. 128 00:11:35.670 --> 00:11:39.330 align:center line:-1 In general, information was restricted. 129 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:45.390 align:center line:-1 [When we] got to junior high and high school, [we] went to the commune [for classes]. 130 00:11:45.400 --> 00:11:47.630 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Was the commune in the rural village, too? 131 00:11:47.640 --> 00:11:51.710 align:center line:-1 It was also in Lu’anqiao, still in the rural village, in the commune. 132 00:11:51.720 --> 00:12:06.370 align:center line:-1 At this time, there was no Cultural Revolution atmosphere—[no] struggle, [no] violent struggle—nothing at that time. This was 1971. 133 00:12:06.380 --> 00:12:17.900 align:center line:-1 But it was the same as before: there was no radio, no television, no broadcasting, no newspaper. 134 00:12:17.910 --> 00:12:27.900 align:center line:-1 All information came from, for example, the secretary of a commune going to the county or a town for a meeting, and bringing back [some news]. 135 00:12:27.910 --> 00:12:36.530 align:center line:-1 [When] Lin Biao fell to his death [in a plane crash], I was in my hometown; this was 1973. 136 00:12:36.540 --> 00:12:38.990 align:center line:-1 How did I know [about this]? 137 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:49.190 align:center line:-1 It was an emergency meeting: one production brigade sent someone to the commune, to communicate an urgent message: “Lin Biao has died.” 138 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:53.360 align:center line:-1 [He] said it had to be kept secret; you couldn’t talk about it. But what was there to talk about? 139 00:12:53.370 --> 00:12:54.990 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You had to keep it secret. 140 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:03.210 align:center line:-1 [Yes]. The peasants couldn’t spread it around. No voices could get in from outside, and there were no files. 141 00:13:03.220 --> 00:13:05.620 align:center line:-1 So, whatever he said when he came back was how it was. 142 00:13:05.630 --> 00:13:15.700 align:center line:-1 These days, from [the perspective of] management studies, we say that when a directive is passed on several times, when it reaches [the recipient], it has changed completely. 143 00:13:15.710 --> 00:13:23.440 align:center line:-1 From my point of view, [I] generally didn’t experience much impact from the Cultural Revolution during the period [I] was in the rural village later on. 144 00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:29.110 align:center line:-1 But there is one thing: that is that the quality of studies decreased. 145 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:34.950 align:center line:-1 Then, as a university student, whether you’d studied well didn’t matter. 146 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:43.540 align:center line:-1 [If] you were in a production team, and someone recommended you, you could [attend university]. [You could be a] Worker-Peasant-Soldier student. 147 00:13:43.550 --> 00:13:48.203 align:center line:-1 So, this was my Cultural Revolution.
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