1950-1970 Student Interview Report

The people that I interviewed were my grandparents. Both of whom where born and lived in China during the 1950-1970 time period. In China school life was very easy and relaxed compared to America. My grandmother, Jin Xia Pan, was born on November of 1940 to two loving parents. She claims that she was one of the smartest kids in her city. She would do very well in school and would compete in many different academic competitions. In the interview, she stated that school was always easy for her and a just a routine so she focused on extracurriculars. Everyday, my grandmother would attend school until 4 pm and would then proceed to go to dance sessions or study for upcoming competitions. This would continue on until she graduated from high school.
This was short lived however as Chairman Mao would declare the Cultural Revolution in 1965 (The Cultural Revolution). Mao would call on students to become part of his Red Guards to help Mao succeed in the Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards were called to attack counter revolutionaries which included people of significant knowledge or were richer than the working class (Cultural Revolution). All schools and universities were shut down because all the students were called to help in rural areas and learn the farming techniques to assist the peasants working the field. After working in the fields for hours, the students would march back home and destroy anything that would put rebellion in someone’s mind such as religion. Sometimes they would go to extreme lengths such as killing/torturing middle-upper class that were richer or smarter than the ordinary man. My grandmother was hated by many Red Guards because of her job and the fact that her grandparents were rich business people working under prodigious companies. Luckily for me, she was never targeted since she was fairly new to teaching and was smart enough not to show off her
As mentioned previously, school was closed down because of the Revolution. My grandfather was born into a talented family, so he knew how to play the erhu, a chinese fiddle. He was also very talented at playing the erhu, but unlike his studies he did not pursue a career from it. Since he was skilled at playing the erhu, he would march around the city with the rest of the Red Guards playing the song to accompany them. He never went into the rural areas to work the field because he had married my grandma in 1962 and they were having a child in 1965. He said that it was very difficult to support his new family because their was very little work available. The Cultural Revolution did not significantly impact southern China so a few businesses were open that offered part time jobs. A recurring joke in the family is that my grandpa became crazy because he tried to teach my aunt calculus when she was just 2 years old. He argued that he was simply trying to make lesson plans for the next day at school, even though there was no school