Uncovering Lost History
Three families talk candidly about the Cultural Revolution and through the process, highlight the importance of passing on family history
"Death, death, execute him,” chanted 13-year-old Yifu Zhao.
Zhao and his classmates had been gathered together that morning and handed a list of 38 names.
The Red Guards stood at the front of each classroom, read each name aloud and incited wildly passionate chants from middle-schoolers like Zhao by yelling, “Does this person deserve the death sentence?”
Thirty-eight people, the majority of whom were intellectuals and government officials, were publicly executed that day in People’s Square, an open plaza in the heart of Shanghai, China.
This was reality during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: a decade-long period of political and social chaos in China that led to the death of millions and the displacement of millions more.
Mao Zedong initiated this political campaign in an effort to consolidate his ideological stranglehold over the Communist Party. Political opponents were purged, all traces of western influence were banned and millions of Chinese were collateral damage.
Some of those affected would rather not talk about past demons and who can blame them?
But there’s an issue: Those who experienced the Cultural Revolution as adults have mostly passed on, those who were children at the time are now in their 60s, and the current generation is left trying to find a balance between satisfying their personal curiosity and honoring their parents’ wishes to remain silent.
Three families talk candidly about the Cultural Revolution and through the process, highlight the importance of passing on family history.
“My heart has been tainted by what I’ve seen and experienced, but I don’t want to pass that onto my daughter – she was born in America and her heart is clean.
— Yifu Zhao
”
Yifu Zhao and daughter Joanna Zhao
The Zhaos in their home art studio
Zhao is now 60 years old, an accomplished artist and an art professor in Shanghai. He still feels guilty about condemning 38 people to death that day in the classroom, especially because his own father would be targeted soon after.
“My dad was Chiang Kai-shek’s personal telegram messenger…he was making 240RMB a month when everyone else was making around 40RMB,” Zhao said.
The stated goal of the Cultural Revolution was to revitalize the communist revolutionary spirit by wiping out capitalist and bourgeois values. As a landowner and having worked so closely with the leader of Mao’s western-backed opposition, Zhao’s father endured several brutal “struggle sessions” throughout the political campaign.
“My heart has been tainted by what I’ve seen and experienced, but I don’t want to pass that onto my daughter,” Zhao said. “She was born in America and her heart is clean. I don’t want our family history to weigh on her.”
He protected his daughter, Joanna, the best way he saw fit. However, it’s unclear whether either side has benefited from the silence on the topic.
“My parents didn’t really talk about the Cultural Revolution. I started to take more of an interest in my family history when I was in high school but it was hard to get answers,” Joanna said.
While Zhao has been hesitant to share certain aspects of the Cultural Revolution with his daughter, he has always stressed the importance of education through the lens of the movement.
“We couldn’t go to school for years…all the schools had shut down. So now that you have your pick of schools, it’s important to be educated so you can think for yourself,” Zhao said.
This is a lesson Joanna not only took to heart but also chose to pass on. After graduating from University of California, Santa Barbara, she joined City Year, a non-profit that works with students who are at risk of dropping out.
Joanna has learned new details about what happened to her family during the Cultural Revolution during our conversation. She sees immense value in uncovering this lost history.
"They say if no one remembers who you are, did you really exist? If I remember them and their memories and what they remember, then I can keep their history and recollections going on,” Joanna said.
Baoyu Wang and daughter Yajing Dong
Mother and daughter share a tender moment
Yajing Dong just accepted an offer from the Los Angeles County Superior Court to work as a court interpreter. She immigrated to the U.S. from China two years ago and was hosting her mother in her new apartment when the mother-daughter duo reflected on their family history.
“I appreciate the opportunities I have on a daily basis because of the stories my parents told me growing up. My mom didn’t finish high school so that puts all the options I have into perspective,” Dong said.
Baoyu Wang was only three when the Cultural Revolution began, but the movement still had a huge impact on her life trajectory.
“Everything was so backwards then - the more educated you were, the more you were targeted,” Wang said. “The belief was that the most educated were the most counter-revolutionary, so no one paid attention in class. In fact, schools were completely shut down for years.”
Looking back, Dong can see how her mother’s lack of access to education has influenced her own upbringing. More specifically, there has always been an emphasis to dream big.
“Although my parents didn’t have that much money, they were always willing to allow me to explore my passions by sending me to art and dance classes,” Dong said.
Some families avoid talking about the Cultural Revolution altogether, but Dong appreciates how open her parents have been with her. Between sips of water, the court interpreter says she has gained a better understanding of herself through her parents, especially her mom.
Father and son Michael H.
An oldie but goodie - goofing around at the zoo
Michael is studying at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.
He was raised in a Christian home and has been taught to rely on his faith during challenging times, a lesson his paternal grandfather exemplified during the Cultural Revolution.
“When my dad was 6, they sent his dad to a labor camp for 11 years because he was Christian. At the same time, they sent my dad's mom away to the countryside to be reeducated,” Michael said. “So for a year, my dad actually lived in a daycare.”
By the time Michael’s grandfather was allowed to go home, Michael’s dad was 17 years old.
The veterinarian student never expressed a big interest in where his family came from until very recently.
“When I was younger, I didn't pay attention to much of it because I identified as an American. Now that I’m older, I feel like knowing this family history sets me apart because I'm also Chinese,” Michael said.
Like many others in his generation, Michael wasn’t familiar with the details of his family’s fate during the Cultural Revolution. He recently learned how close his grandfather came to renouncing Christianity and how his grandmother still has the little sleeping bag from the daycare.
“It's sobering. I didn't even know my dad grew up without a father for most of his formative years. I had no idea. I have a much deeper respect for what my parents have gone through and what they have done,” Michael said.
People learn about their culture through their family history, a sentiment Michael shares: “Family history shapes you. It may not be the defining factor, but no one can say ‘that's not who I am.’ ”