"My mom would always write 'Long Live Chairman Mao' to practice calligraphy."

Interviewer: Hello. Thank you for accepting my interview.

Interviewer: Could you first please tell me, were you [born in] the 1980s or 1990s?

I was born in 1992.

Interviewer: Born in ’92. Could you tell me, in your memory, when was the first time you got an impression of the Cultural Revolution?

Interviewer: [Through] what channel was it?

This was really long ago.

I remember, when I was really young, maybe when I was six or seven, my mom told me about some things that happened during the Cultural Revolution.

Actually, none of my childhood understanding of the Cultural Revolution was very clear.

Nobody would talk about this incident, [but] my mom would tell me about it once in a while.

Some things that happened later gave hints, but at the time I didn’t pay much attention.

For example, my mom would practice calligraphy—to give a really simple example—she was really good at calligraphy,...

...and when she practiced she’d always write, “Love Live the Communist Party of China”; “Love Live the People’s Republic of China”; “Long Live Chairman Mao”; things like that.

[I] felt it was unusual.

Later I understood: during the time of the Cultural Revolution, when my mom was young, she had just graduated elementary school when Chairman Mao passed away.

At that time, when she was writing on the blackboard, she used these [slogans], so she [still] just automatically wrote them.

So, there are some random memories.

Sometimes [my mom] would mention to me the [slogan], "The political line is the principle; follow the principle to expand our vision."

She said when she was young, she didn’t understand what it meant; it was only later that she understood.

[She] felt it was quite amusing to talk about interesting things from that time.

Basically, it was like this.

Interviewer: Could you tell me, what kind of place is your hometown?

Interviewer: Is it a big city, a small city, or a rural village? What’s [your] background?

I am from Xi’an, Shaanxi [province]. My ancestral home is Henan [province], but I was born and grew up in Xi’an.

Interviewer: Were your parents considered intellectuals, or…?

You mean during the Cultural Revolution? [If you mean] family social class status, it’s a little hard to explain.

In my mom's childhood, her family's social class status was landlord.

At the time, it was changed to peasant, but her ancestors [had] the landlord class status.

It wasn’t just [during] the Cultural Revolution; after the establishment of new China, their entire lives became pretty difficult.

My dad’s family’s social status was a bit better. My dad’s from Henan [province].

My mom’s from Lantian; Lantian is a county in Xi’an. They both grew up in rural villages, and came to the city later.

But during the Cultural Revolution, it seems like they were both in the villages.

My dad hasn’t talked about it with me too much, but my mom has said a lot.

There were a lot of parades during her childhood; when Chairman Mao passed away they really grieved.

She’s often talked about these kinds of things.

Interviewer: So, are you in school now?

Right. I’m studying for my Ph.D. at CMU [Carnegie-Mellon University 卡内基梅隆大学

].

Interviewer: So, do you feel that you young people today have an interest in this topic [the Cultural Revolution]?

Personally, I really like reading.

Generally speaking, my understanding of the Cultural Revolution has come from my parents, or from discussion of issues among my older generation.

[Another] large part of it has come from reading books.

To give an example, there’s Professor John K. Fairbanks’s

, [which] is at an official level, because he takes a relatively theoretical point of view.

There’s also the media, TV dramas, etc., that discuss these occurrences, too.

For example,

, starring Zhang Guoli—in the middle there are some years, 10 years, [portraying] the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution, with some reactions.

Another example is [the movie about]

Lu Yanshi

[

], [showing] what the oppression people experienced during the Cultural Revolution was like.

There’s a lot of media like this, including novels.

Although they don’t directly write about incidents during the Cultural Revolution, take it as a theme, these stories connect to it.

[Through] these things [I have] understood a bit more; I’ve read quite a few books.

I think that regular people’s, including my friends’, impression of the Cultural Revolution is like this: they’re usually indifferent.

That is, no one ever talks about it.

But if once in a while you mention to them that there was this incident, they’ll get really interested, will have a desire to know.

But they wouldn't take the initiative to seek out the knowledge.

[However], in a circumstance of passively receiving [information], they’d still be quite interested.

Interviewer: OK. I’d like to know, is your academic background science and engineering, social science, or humanities?

I study mechanical engineering, so that’s science and engineering.

Interviewer: Science and engineering. Do you think your classmates’ interest in the Cultural Revolution has a relationship to their major?

Interviewer: For example, those who study history would naturally be interested in this topic.

Right. People who study history would study it, so they’d certainly know a little more about it.

There are [probably] more than a few people like me, who study science and engineering [and also] have an interest [in the Cultural Revolution].

But there can’t be too many. I was chatting with my friends, and they don’t know that much.

I’m the only one who truly likes reading, among the people I know.

Interviewer: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

My major feeling is that, there’s a theory that because those before us, such as my parents’ generation, personally experienced the Cultural Revolution,...

...[even if] they tell us their perceptions, our perceptions are already different.

Because the people who personally experienced it and the people who are listening already have different [understandings].

Among those [born] just before me, there’s already nobody who personally experienced it.

[They] can only understand the Cultural Revolution through documentary materials and media.

The value of this situation for us, I personally feel it’s changed from a practical value to a socio-theoretical response.

It’s the same as our feelings now about things that happened in the Song Dynasty, but its value is even greater.

For example, why—all in all, from the founding of [the People’s Republic of China] in 1949 up until now,...

...in this long period of time, the Communist Party of China has gone through good periods and bad periods.

[The Party] has done a lot of proper things, and made mistakes, to be honest.

Didn’t Deng Xiaoping say, “Wade the river by groping for stones”—there must’ve been missteps at times.

As to China’s social environment, governmental environment, these things are the most important reference point.

Because, as for missteps, [the Cultural Revolution] might have been the biggest misstep, but [also] our most important reference point.

Moreover, it’s a time that isn’t that far away from us; a lot of people [who lived during that time] are still here; a lot of information is still complete.

If we take [the Cultural Revolution] as reference, you could say it’s really, really meaningful.

We can talk about the details of [how to use it as a reference] slowly.

I suppose [in] this

[采访] I won’t be able to speak [thoroughly].

Discussing slowly, the question of how to take it as a reference point is a bigger topic.

I wouldn't talk in detail [now]—this is a bigger topic.

Interviewer: Very interesting. You expressed your own interest in and perspective on the Cultural Revolution as a young person.

Interviewer: Thank you for accepting my interview.

That’s okay. I’m honored to have been interviewed.

Interviewer: Thanks.