by Solange Brand
Today many of the “sacrificed generation” of the Cultural Revolution run China, as the transitional generation who have followed the heirs of the Long March. They may shape the China of the future or manage its economy or be creative. Some may just be paying the heavy price of the “decade of chaos”.
The Cultural Revolution is hardly mentioned now in “Communist” China. It is officially closed, and China has turned towards the future, to the pleasures of development and consumption. As always when people are both the perpetrators and the victims of tragic events, memories are not individually transmitted, or only poorly.
It is not easy to live with the bitterness of betrayed ideals, of being manipulated and cheated, while still remembering that imposed churning between urban and rural. It is difficult to find a balance between the freedom of the time when everything seemed possible, and the young travelled China on free trains, lived independently of their parents and teachers, and yet faced family tragedy, violence and suicide. There remains a recall of the friendships and solidarity the young form every generation, but also guilt about teachers, neighbours or family members.
At the Dashanzi International Art Festival, Beijing 2006: an older woman explains a little history