WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.450 --> 00:00:04.370 align:center line:-1Interviewer: Hello. Thank you for accepting my interview. 2 00:00:04.380 --> 00:00:06.980 align:center line:-1 You're welcome. You're welcome. 3 00:00:06.990 --> 00:00:16.720 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Please tell us in which decade you were born. It doesn’t have to be a specific year. Just the decade will do. 4 00:00:16.730 --> 00:00:19.880 align:center line:-1 I was born in 1950. 5 00:00:19.890 --> 00:00:24.990 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Oh, 1950. It was the intersection of the end of the '40s and the beginning of the '50s. 6 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.250 align:center line:-1 That’s right. 7 00:00:29.260 --> 00:00:37.080 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So, where were you in China during the 10 years from 1966 to 1976? 8 00:00:37.090 --> 00:00:48.680 align:center line:-1 In 1966, I was still in a middle school in Beijing. In 1967, as the movement of going "up to the mountains and down to the countryside" began, I left Beijing. 9 00:00:48.690 --> 00:00:52.120 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Oh. You were only in Beijing for one year [of the Cultural Revolution] before you left. 10 00:00:52.130 --> 00:00:57.400 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Then, in 1967, you went to join a production team. Is that right? 11 00:00:57.410 --> 00:01:07.390 align:center line:-1 I also chose to join a production team in the grasslands area of Inner Mongolia, the same as my wife [had chosen]. 12 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:13.070 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So you spent most of your time on the grasslands pasture during those 10 years. 13 00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:17.060 align:center line:-1 [Yes,] [I spent my time] on the grasslands pasture. 14 00:01:17.070 --> 00:01:20.880 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You must have had many experiences during those 10 years. 15 00:01:20.890 --> 00:01:30.630 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What are the clearest memories that you would most like to share with us in the first 10 minutes? Could you chat freely with us? 16 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:36.460 align:center line:-1 How can I put it? Right now there are many, many discussions of the issue of Educated Youth. 17 00:01:36.470 --> 00:01:40.580 align:center line:-1 Some [people] think [the experience] was good, some think the opposite. There are all sorts of opinions. 18 00:01:40.590 --> 00:01:46.390 align:center line:-1 As for us, we think we count as lucky. 19 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:55.940 align:center line:-1 We went to what could be said to be the best place to join a production team during "up to the mountains and down to the countryside." 20 00:01:55.950 --> 00:02:06.820 align:center line:-1 Except for the terrible natural environment, it was the best place in all other aspects for joining a production team. 21 00:02:06.830 --> 00:02:12.190 align:center line:-1 So, I think God smiled upon us, and we had the great fortune to go to a good place. 22 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:17.310 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: What do you mean by "good"? Besides the lifestyle being tough, what was good about it? 23 00:02:17.320 --> 00:02:25.980 align:center line:-1 The tough lifestyle mainly meant the tough natural environment. What was good was that we did not have much trouble with other basic necessities of life. 24 00:02:25.990 --> 00:02:39.950 align:center line:-1 We did not have to worry too much about those things. So we Educated Youth who went to the grasslands were quite stable. 25 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:45.360 align:center line:-1 We were much luckier than other Educated Youth. This is one thing. 26 00:02:45.370 --> 00:02:51.230 align:center line:-1 Another thing is that the grasslands were special. [There was] the Mongol ethnic group, and the borderlands grasslands pasture. 27 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:56.730 align:center line:-1 So, it was a magical place for us. [Before that], no one had seen it. 28 00:02:56.740 --> 00:03:02.990 align:center line:-1 How would normal city dwellers have had the chance to experience the [nomadic] grasslands lifestyle? 29 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:10.520 align:center line:-1 To us, especially in our youth, it was a new and magical place. 30 00:03:10.530 --> 00:03:17.210 align:center line:-1 You had to learn everything from the beginning. But you didn't get tired of it. 31 00:03:17.220 --> 00:03:24.030 align:center line:-1 You just felt you wanted to learn everything and master everything. That was the situation. 32 00:03:24.040 --> 00:03:30.860 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Could you often come back to Beijing for a visit? 33 00:03:30.870 --> 00:03:39.190 align:center line:-1 [Being able to] come back often was the situation later on. In the first three or four years, people rarely came back. 34 00:03:39.200 --> 00:03:46.890 align:center line:-1 It’s because once you went there, you had to live and to survive. You needed to master all different kinds of production technologies and skills. 35 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:53.020 align:center line:-1 You had [to study] with the local herdsmen, who were all from ethnic minorities. 36 00:03:53.030 --> 00:03:55.870 align:center line:-1 [You had to learn] lifestyle customs, language and many other things. 37 00:03:55.880 --> 00:04:03.210 align:center line:-1 You had to learn so many things, so you would rarely come back. 38 00:04:03.220 --> 00:04:13.850 align:center line:-1 Later, after you'd been there a few years, you'd almost assimilated with the locals by living together, and you felt comfortable. 39 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:20.850 align:center line:-1 At that time, you'd generally come back [to Beijing] once a year. It changed into that. 40 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:28.780 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: To be honest, did you really have the mental preparation for taking root, for staying there forever? 41 00:04:28.790 --> 00:04:33.500 align:center line:-1 Hmm...I didn’t consider it much at first. I did have that kind of thought. 42 00:04:33.510 --> 00:04:41.870 align:center line:-1 I even told my wife that if we had to get married [there], so be it. It wasn't bad to have children and raise them there. 43 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:44.290 align:center line:-1 I did have this kind of thought at that time. 44 00:04:44.300 --> 00:04:52.320 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: We've interviewed quite a lot of Educated Youth. Your positive attitude is not that unusual. 45 00:04:52.330 --> 00:05:00.450 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: It seems like it's indeed a common feeling among people who joined a production team in Inner Mongolia. 46 00:05:00.460 --> 00:05:07.480 align:center line:-1 It's mainly because those [Educated Youth] in the grasslands area had better living conditions. 47 00:05:07.490 --> 00:05:13.580 align:center line:-1 This is an objective reason. Nowhere else could compare with it. 48 00:05:13.590 --> 00:05:15.280 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: You emphasized the grasslands. 49 00:05:15.290 --> 00:05:19.620 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: [This means] it must be different from the Inner Mongolia [Production and Construction] Corps, right? [You mean the two] were not the same. 50 00:05:19.630 --> 00:05:29.150 align:center line:-1 The Corps was completely [different] from us. We lived with the true Mongol ethnic group. 51 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:43.990 align:center line:-1 The Mongolian herdsmen's characteristics and personalities were really different, different from the ordinary peasants. 52 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:51.990 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Hearing this, it makes me feel like during the 10 years the cities were involved in the Cultural Revolution, your [life] on the grasslands was completely different. 53 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.350 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: It seems almost like paradise. Could you sense any effects of the Cultural Revolution there? 54 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:06.730 align:center line:-1 Yes, we could. We still cared quite a bit about politics. But that place was remote and the transportation was extremely inconvenient. 55 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:11.910 align:center line:-1 The spread of information lagged far behind. We mainly depended on the radio. 56 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:18.810 align:center line:-1 You couldn't read a newspaper until two or three months after [publication]. 57 00:06:18.820 --> 00:06:22.540 align:center line:-1 We mainly depended on the radio, and people paid attention [to politics]. 58 00:06:22.550 --> 00:06:28.490 align:center line:-1 However, the impact and influence [of politics] wasn't that great. 59 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:38.330 align:center line:-1 What people cared about was the annual central meeting that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held -- which leader was replaced, who fell from power, and such things. 60 00:06:38.340 --> 00:06:43.180 align:center line:-1 But the impact was not that big. 61 00:06:43.190 --> 00:06:58.430 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: This is very important. Because during the course of our interviews, everyone's description of the geographical location [where they experienced the Cultural Revolution] has been different. 62 00:06:58.440 --> 00:07:03.550 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: So, your description about the grasslands area during the Cultural Revolution is quite unique. 63 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:05.900 align:center line:-1 Right. [The Cultural Revolution]'s impact wasn't that large. 64 00:07:05.910 --> 00:07:12.740 align:center line:-1 The largest and only impact was [the persecution of] the [New] Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in the area of Inner Mongolia. 65 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:14.750 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Yes. I’ve heard of it. 66 00:07:14.760 --> 00:07:27.020 align:center line:-1 This incident had some impact on Inner Mongolia. Many Educated Youth got involved, and it brought some negative effects. 67 00:07:27.030 --> 00:07:32.600 align:center line:-1 However, we should thank the simple and honorable Mongolian herdsmen. 68 00:07:32.610 --> 00:07:40.100 align:center line:-1 Most of them did not harbor resentment regarding this incident. 69 00:07:40.110 --> 00:07:53.090 align:center line:-1 And the [coexistence of] the herdsmen and the Educated Youth—let’s not call it herdsmen/Educated Youth, but rather the living-together of the Mongolian and Han ethnicities—was relatively good. 70 00:07:53.100 --> 00:08:05.320 align:center line:-1 I think it was because the Educated Youth did a rather good job there. So, perhaps it brought about ethnic harmony. 71 00:08:05.330 --> 00:08:10.560 align:center line:-1 So, after all those years, until now, our relationships with the herdsman are still very deep. 72 00:08:10.570 --> 00:08:15.250 align:center line:-1 We go back and forth visiting each other, just like family members. 73 00:08:15.260 --> 00:08:22.230 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: It is really hard to come by. You really witnessed the mixing of Han and Mongolian [during the Cultural Revolution]. 74 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.400 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: It is so rare. Really precious. 75 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:29.060 align:center line:-1 I go back to the grasslands every year. Every year, it's like going back to my own home. 76 00:08:29.070 --> 00:08:34.510 align:center line:-1 I go there, eat and stay, and don't need to worry about a thing. 77 00:08:34.520 --> 00:08:43.200 align:center line:-1 Wherever I go, I'm received with so, so much consideration. 78 00:08:43.210 --> 00:08:49.600 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Really, your feeling is very different from other Educated Youth I've interviewed. Even I can feel your-- 79 00:08:49.610 --> 00:08:53.010 align:center line:-1 We [can understand others’ feelings], too. I am quite sympathetic to those Educated Youth. 80 00:08:53.020 --> 00:08:59.020 align:center line:-1 I can imagine [their experiences in] poor places like Yunnan, Shanxi and Shaanxi. 81 00:08:59.030 --> 00:09:03.020 align:center line:-1 [They had] nothing to eat or drink, and almost lost their lives. That was quite different [from us]. 82 00:09:03.030 --> 00:09:10.180 align:center line:-1 We didn’t have those [problems], indeed. We had relatively good economic conditions and living conditions. 83 00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:13.860 align:center line:-1 The nation took care of us, since that's an ethnic minority area. 84 00:09:13.870 --> 00:09:17.310 align:center line:-1 The nation had some special policies that we Educated Youth benefited from as well. 85 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:25.420 align:center line:-1 So, we said we were lucky to go to a good place. Our group of people really had good luck. 86 00:09:25.430 --> 00:09:30.750 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: I can feel that your state of mind is really quite different. 87 00:09:30.760 --> 00:09:36.850 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Thank you very much. Is there anything else you want to talk about? 88 00:09:36.860 --> 00:09:41.330 align:center line:-1 We say once we are back in Inner Mongolia, our state of mind is completely different. 89 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:47.390 align:center line:-1 I used to often drive to [Inner Mongolia]. The closer I got, the happier I became. 90 00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:50.230 align:center line:-1 On the contrary, I was not so excited on my way back. [Laughs.] 91 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:59.070 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: [Laughs.] That's so natural and true. Thank you for accepting my interview. 92 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:01.030 align:center line:-1 You are welcome. 93 00:10:01.040 --> 00:10:02.090 align:center line:-1 Interviewer: Bye. 94 00:10:02.100 --> 24:00:00.000 align:center line:-1 Bye.
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