First Person Accounts
The Danwei web site (“Chinese media, advertising, and urban life.”) offers a couple interviews with people who returned to China after the establishment of the PRC. They might be good readings to use as an introduction.The first two interviews are "Another National Day: 1949," by Sang Ye, translated by Geremie R. Barmé.
"1949, the bloody internecine strife that had wracked the Chinese nation for twenty-two long years finally came to an end. During the four-year Civil War of 1946-49 the People's Liberation Army led by the Communist Party wiped out an eight million man strong Nationalist Party army.
"On 1 October 1949, the Chinese Communist Party established a socialist nation, the People's Republic of China.
"In 1995, he was living on a pension. He had never officially 'worked for the Revolution' so it was only a small stipend. For the most part he relied on what his daughter could send him from the United States.
"'I was in London when I heard about the liberation of Shanghai. I'd gone to England from the United States ostensibly to collect material for my dissertation. That same night I told my friends that I wanted to go home, back to China, and I booked a ticket the next day. They asked what I was going to do with my things in America-and what about my degree? I'm chucking it all in, I replied...'"
There's also an article about the man who wrote China's national anthem, "Do you have an ear for music?" by Peter Mcic.
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:56 PM
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