Through a glass darkly

By Lara Farrar (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-18 10:31

The Shanghai "youth intellectuals" having the dinner with the villagers of Huangqiao, Guizhou province, where they were "re-educated" during the "cultural revolution".

On March 30, 1969, around 400 urban youth from Xuhui district in Shanghai boarded a train destined for tiny villages dotted throughout Tianzhu county, Guizhou province.

It was the height of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). They were part of the estimated 17 million zhiqing, or youth intellectuals, ordered to the countryside from the cities for re-education by former chairman Mao Zedong.

Last month, nearly 100 of those youth intellectuals from Shanghai made the journey to Guizhou again to mark the anniversary of their stay there 40 years ago. They also went to reunite with the villagers who, for many, became surrogate families during one of the most difficult and painful times of their lives.

Most of the 400 youth intellectuals from Shanghai could not be contacted for the reunion. Some had moved. Some died. Some did not want to go back. But for those who did return, their time in the countryside with the villagers is cloaked in bitter nostalgia.

It was no doubt a harrowing experience but also one for which many said they are grateful. It made them resilient, able to face life's challenges, they said.

And it was also a unique experience for those from Xuhui. While the majority of the urban youth who went to live with farmers were of Han ethnic group, they were sent to villages inhabited by Dong and Miao minorities.

They could not speak their language and were unaccustomed to their customs and culture.

Many of the returnees said they wanted to go back after 40 years out of a desire to once again see the land where they spent much of their youth.

Some hoped to find the farmers who became their friends and family. Others were curious but also detached, still harboring resentment toward the farmers who, at times, did not treat them well.

This is a collection of their stories, both from the youth intellectuals and the farmers with whom they lived.

Today, some of the zhiqing are successful businesspeople, living with their families abroad or in Shanghai; while others have not been as fortunate.

For the farmers, change has brought electricity, mobile phones and modern clothes, instead of traditional dress.

"We can't forget the road we have traveled," Wang Zhenxuan, one of the organizers of the trip, says. "We must respect it."