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China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation

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Xinran traveled across China in 2005-06 seeking out the men and women who had experienced the vast changes of the modern era. She tells the stories of 20 ordinary people, average age in their 70's.

Unfortunately, the information volunteered by these people is limited - partly because of their likely lack of broader knowledge, and mostly due to cultural reticence. As early as the second millennium B.C., a Chinese criminal's family was punished as harshly as the criminal himself. Around 100 B.C. the people were grouped in units of 5 and 10 households, carrying out mutual surveillance and mutually responsible for each other's conduct. In the case of minor offenses, the criminal's family would be exterminated to between 3 - 5 degrees of association; with serious offenses this was extended to 9 - 10. This principle remained a mainstay of the Chinese judicial system until 1911, and also gave rise to powerful traditions of clan loyalty and fear of speaking out openly that is still an inhibition today.

Even media in today's China base reporting in line with this fear. Interviewees are often "led" to follow the central ideology of the party and to express personal views defined by these principles.

Thus, Xinran's accounts from those in the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the Long March, etc. is not able to convey the immensity of these tragedies.

Notheless, some of the interviews were of particular interest. One first involved a teacher at a Gobi Desert construction/military site. She received no raises for 30 years, supervised self-study until 11 P.M., and sometimes helped the children home during severe weather. Desks were made from mud covered with straw.

Altogether, incredible indicators of internal strength and stoicism. However, for broader perspectives I recommend "Mao," by Jung Chang, and "Chinese Lessons," by John Pomfret.

Xinran Xue's efforts to elucidate China's past 50 years, by interviewing various members of the older generation, is a good read for Sinologists, curious souls like me, and Chinese abroad who'd like to know their own people, history and culture. Under "curious souls", I would include those who are still interested in Communism and its effects, those who wonder what China is - and was; how Chinese men and women think about everyday things. The gender roles and male domination of China is an interesting facet brought up frequently by this author. A good chapter on this is the story of a husband and wife who did the land surveying of the Gobi during the 50's and 60's, far in the miserable hinterlands. The wife's account of her early years in this unusual place and job (esp. for a woman!) is modest and straightforward: what they did, how they did it, how few the materials, how poor the people, how harsh the weather, etc. Then they interview her husband, who did the same work, and he's completely full of himself, his titles and so on, rather than discussing what he actually did, how he lived, what and how he ate, and other down-to-earth real details of 1950's China expansion into the oil business.

The writing style is nonfiction, yet personal, and if anything, I'd suggest the author use more photos if she publishes any further stories about the older folks of China. We in the West often have no real idea of how the people were living, eating, dressing, etc. unless we see the photos in addition to reading the books. The sexual modesty of China also comes through in a very strong way, although it's much looser now.

Perhaps I can find more such photos and stories online, esp. old missionary photos are available. But the big advantage to this book is that it is written by a real Chinese, who spoke the language(s), and who was trusted by the people she interviewed - rather than a foreigner's view. Her somewhat love=hate relationship with her motherland amuses me.

This is not exactly the kind of page turner. At times, there is no story line or you lose track of it easily. But it is a weighty work and valuable for the amount of research the author put into. The author clearly identifies with the silent generation and poured her heart into the writing of it. Read it, and you will not fail to be touched.

China's history experienced by millions during Mao's Cultural Revolution is captured in a series of interviews by a journalist. Her subjects are the grandparents and great-grandparents who survived imprisonment, re-education, famine, separation from their families and hard labor.

The author selected 50 ordinary individuals across China to interview. The interviews covered not only the tragedies and hardship that they experienced, but also their candid opinions of the changes that China has gone through since the end of the Mao's reign. A number of them agreed to be interviewed as long as their real names weren't used for fear of reprisals from the government.

Some of the interviews were more detailed than others, but on the whole, they were all very interesting.

This book provides some good, personal information from older people who lived through some of China's tragedies and tumultuous times. Some of the people who were interviewed have interesting and tragic stories.

Unfortunately, I found myself a little irritated by some of Xinran's commentaries. Oftentimes, she would discuss why she was qualified to interview such subjects, why the subjects trusted her, why she was qualified to discuss Chinese culture, how hard it was to travel, and so forth. Two other books of interviews that I read recently did not have as much interference from their respective authors ("The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories" and "Woman from Shanghai: Tales of Survival from a Chinese Labor Camp"). Perhaps this is a small quibble, but it obstructed the interesting and personal narratives of the subjects, whom I found more interesting than the author's triumphs and tribulations.

Nevertheless, this book is of interest to laypeople like myself who want to know more about China and the recent tragedies of the country.

Xinran is a gentle, non-pushy reporter, but her politeness gets the old folks to open up more than they would for their families. She is trying to record what the revolutionary generation really thinks, and what they are proud of. Mostly they are poor people, who've faced enormous hardships and abuses, while making more or less heroic sacrifices for others. My favorite is the shoe repair woman who put both her daughter and son through top ranked universities, after being barred from university herself by inherited guilt due to bogus records concerning her class background.

These people are China's version of the wartime "greatest generation." Mostly they are, as Xinran says, "silent." They feel their sacrifices and involvements in mistakes of the past have rendered them irrelevant to their grandchildren. But they are the foundation of modern China, and Xinran wants to thank them.

--author of A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Chinese Civilization

Xinran is the author's nom de plume according to Economist newspaper, Feb. 21, 2009, p. 85. Economist states that her real name Xinran Xue.

Certainly the voice of the people is going to be myopic but it is the pulse of the country and should be valued, and treasured, for being just that.