1: 'How could they do it?'
Former Red Guard Yu Xiangzhen tries to make sense of the violence committed by teenagers against their teachers during China's notorious Cultural Revolution.
A haunting exploration of China's Cultural Revolution through the rarely heard stories of those who lived through Mao's decade of madness.
Mao's 1966 Cultural Revolution heralded a decade of hysteria, violence and relentless persecution. Teenagers were turned against adults, even parents. Party officials, artists, teachers and intellectuals were publicly humiliated, beaten and even murdered after vicious 'struggle sessions'.
Yet China's bloodiest decade is now barely mentioned, and both victims and perpetrators still live with this unspoken trauma. Now, after forty years of silence, Tania Branigan hears the stories of those struggling with the impact of this murderous decade...
Today: a former Red Guard struggles to make sense of the atrocities committed by fellow teenagers in the 'Red Terror' of 1966.
Writer: Tania Branigan is the Guardian's foreign leader writer, and was the Guardian's China correspondent for seven years.
Reader: Chipo Chung is an acclaimed screen and stage actor and activist of Zimbabwean/Chinese descent.
Producer: Justiine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams
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- Mon 10 Apr 2023 09:45±«Óãtv Radio 4 FM
- Tue 11 Apr 2023 00:30±«Óãtv Radio 4