Account of an era

Zhang Xianyong offers some money to villagers in Miaotian, Guizhou province, to repay them for their help 40 years ago when he was sent to the countryside during the "cultural revolution". It was, he says, the toughest time of his life.

"They gave us food when we had none," Zhang, 58, says. "They were there for us when we had no one."

Zhang was 17 when he arrived in the countryside, and he hated it. The work was miserable, life was brutal and he wanted to run away. He wanted to go back to his life in Shanghai. He wanted to be able to dream again.