ZHAO： This is a very important fact that you’ve reminded me of just now,namely,that the American people have not forgotten the images they have of China from the"Cultural Revolution"。 Actually,the Chinese Government has totally negated the"Cultural Revolution" and has issued official documents to that effect. Unfortunately,when those documents were issued,China-US relations were not very good,so most people in the United States were not even aware that…
Now I am roughly the same age as you are,and at the time of the"Cultural Revolution" I was living in China,so of course I have even deeper memories of it. I had graduated from college when it started,and I was sent down to work in the countryside to amend my incorrect thoughts. At that time,I heard from the radio that the Apollo project had landed an American on the moon. My colleagues and I were all very upset because we were all very well-trained engineers,and we were saying,“We are the ones who should be working on engineering projects like that. What on earth are we doing farming the fields?"
So,China is very clear about the"Cultural Revolution." And that is why we put on trial the"Gang of Four" headed by Jiang Qing.
But the very profound lesson that this has left the Chinese people with is that we have to build the rule of law,and we cannot let something like the"Cultural Revolution" happen again. Because at that time,people were calling not just for the overthrow of the United States,but also of China. People were calling for the overthrow of Chinese leaders. They wanted to overthrow China’s professors and engineers.
I was relatively young at the time,so I did not bear the brunt of these attacks. I would guess that people like Mr. Zhang Yuanyuan from our embassy and our diplomatic representatives here spent some time on the farms. But the question,of course,is how do we get Americans to rid themselves of that impression? It seems to me that we need some writings or some other forms of expression that will let people know what our current evaluation of the"Cultural Revolution" is.
Before you said that just now,I didn’t realize that Americans had such a deep impression of the"Cultural Revolution." So I am grateful to you.
Q： I would like to follow up. I agree with you,sir. I am writing a biography of one of the old China hands named John Service. I made my first documentary film in China in 1975,with a group of Congresswomen who had been invited by Deng Xiaoping. We were there when Zhou Enlai died.
In April 1976,when I finished the film,we invited representatives from the liaison office of China to come to the showing at the Congress. But we were told that unless our film removed all film images and statements of Deng Xiaoping they would not come.
So,two years later,when Mr. Deng was able to take off his dunce’s cap and return to Beijing,I was fortunate to entertain the CCTV director on behalf of the US-China National committee. And I gave them a copy of the documentary. I said,“Now that Mr. Deng is back in Beijing,I believe you can look at this." Now I tell you that because I,too,am very impressed with your honesty and your discussion today about the ups and downs of US-China relations. I agree with you that we must look to the future and try to strengthen relations.
I have worked in your wonderful city of Shanghai,and I have many friends there. I have watched the skyscrapers grow in your Pudong New Area. I work in the media as a news consultant.
There are other images,though,that you need to address,sir.
HICKMAN： Would you let him respond to what you have said already,please? We have some other questioners in line.
Well,this is the question,and I apologize,I needed to give him that background so that he could understand where I am coming from with the question. And that is the images of Tiananmen Square.
Unfortunately,every time when there is a summit meeting or anything between the United States and China,our media carry pictures to remind people of what happened then. This is a part of your history that is still very difficult for all of you in China to come to terms with. But the rest of the world does know about it.
I was helping a Shanghai TV film crew last week. I took them to the Vietnam Memorial. And I asked them if they thought there could ever be a memorial like that for the victims of the"Cultural Revolution" and the victims,soldiers,students and common citizens of Beijing in your country. I would like to know what you think.