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China Witness

Page 51

by Xinran Xue


  Through this book, I hope my own readers, standing like me outside the door looking in at China and its history, will experience these memories of China for themselves. I long for my readers to empathise with the people in this book and their families' stories; and to see how a people have risen from poverty and conflict to assume a new self-respect. And it will not be me – limited as I am to existing within a single moment, a Chinese cell with a single function – it will be the China witnesses who, with their stories, have the real power to persuade.

  China Witness is a crystallisation, too, of numerous people's combined efforts. Without the help of the following, this book would never have seen the light of day now: in Beijing, Chen Linfei and Cheng Lu ran the research side; in Nanjing, Zhang Ye and Hao Chong coordinated the collection of background information; Yang Ji, Kate Shortt and others filmed and recorded; Julie from Jindian travel agency did the planning and organising; London office volunteers John and Li Yi did the email communications work, led by Motherbridge of Love (MBL) CEO Wendy Wu; and Xiao Shenshen (Beijing University), Wei Xuan (Beijing Broadcasting University), Pan Zhigang (Nanjing University Web) and more than fifty students from Shanghai's Fudan University, helped with documentation.

  Without Esther Tyldesley, Nicky Harman and Julia Lovell, who translated this book from Chinese into English (putting Chinese clouds into an English box, as Esther says); without my two editors, Dan Frank at Pantheon Books, who formed my writing into a readable book, and Alison Samuel, who has done so much not only for this book but also my other books published by her Chatto & Windus team; without those Random House people who have worked on this book, and many friends in different countries and the wisdom and dedication they have brought to the project – without all of them these Chinese stories would still be gathering dust in my Chinese memory or even left in the past of China.

  Please do not think that I have simply given you a long list of names. In fact, they are not only a part of this book, they are part of China's witnesses today. I thank them, as China will thank them in the future, because they gathered together for us these precious historical records. Every book is imbued with the blood, sweat and reflections of so many people, and forms a building block in the Long March of literature.

  Chinese Assistants:

  What China Witness meant to them

  My thanks go to all the following for their help:

  Wendy Wu, MBL CEO and China Witness supporter: As CEO of Mothers' Bridge of Love (MBL), I feel that the book opens a door for exploring a cultural journey for Chinese children, for those who were adopted by Western families and for those Chinese who now live in the West.

  Leo Hao Chong, China Witness Nanjing research team leader: I realised, as I worked with the team, that the stories the book told were going to be very different from those in our school history textbooks.

  Julie Zhu, China Witness travel and office assistant: This experience helps me and many others understand our parents' and grandparents' lives, with their tears and suffering, and their happiness which is different from ours.

  Chen Linfei, Beijing research team leader: These witnesses have put up with such immense hardship and yet still stand miraculously tall…

  Li Yi, London MBL office and media assistant: These people and their lives are both very distant and very close to us. I discovered a very simple fact: China is very big. They truly have testified to this most ordinary and yet most important fact about China.

  Yang Ji, China Witness media assistant and cameraman: I never thought about what my parents' and grandparents' generation had lived through before this.

  Xuan Xuan, China Witness media assistant: Ordinary people emit a very uncommon strength. Our self-restraint cannot conceal this expression of our national self-respect.

  Panpan Xue, China Witness media assistant: The stories were different but the witnesses all felt relieved that someone was there to listen to them, to comfort them. I hope that people reading this book will reach a new level of understanding and be educated in the same way as I was.

  Jiang Wei, China Witness media assistant: This project has awakened my interest in discovering the untold story of my own family.

  Li Xu, China Witness media assistant: Now, wherever I am, I can say with complete confidence: "I am proud of my country and her people!"

  Li Yuan, China Witness media assistant: I feel I have grown up by working on these stories about the kind of lives which I had never encountered in my life before…

  Xu Ke, China Witness TV assistant: I had never been so moved as when I listened to those old people tell of the joys and sorrows of their lives. Now the whole world will listen to these hidden voices.

  Kenny Renhu, China Witness research support: I gave my parents traditional respect, but I didn't learn about their history or try to understand them. My mother told me that she would not allow me to suffer the way she did.

  Pan Zhigang, China Witness assistant manager, Nanjing

  Shen Wei, China Witness assistant manager, Beijing

  Cheng Lu, China Witness research assistant, Beijing

  Xiao Shenshen, China Witness research assistant, Beijing

  Yan Yan, China Witness research supporter, Beijing

  Tea, China Witness research supporter, Nanjing

  Xin Meng, China Witness research supporter, Nanjing

  Liang Qin, China Witness research supporter, Henan

  Wu Suiping, China Witness research supporter, Henan

  Yi Zhang, China Witness research supporter, Xinjiang

  Lin Xue & Ping, China Witness research supporter, Sichuan

  Zhang Yongmin, China Witness research supporter, Shanghai

  Zhong Jane, China Witness research supporter, Shanghai

  Liu Tong, China Witness research supporter, Gansu

  Zha Xi Liu & Pu er Min, China Witness research supporters, Anhui

  Xi Fenglan, China Witness research supporters, Guizhou

  Li Lin, China Witness research supporter, Shandong

  Gao Feng, China Witness research supporter, Shanxi

  Hu Feibao, China Witness research supporter, Silk Road

  Wu Fan, China Witness research supporter, Guangdong

  Kate Shortt, China Witness photographer

  What we have done together with Xinran is so that Chinese history will not be forgotten, and so that our history will be known and remembered throughout the world.

  Index

  Africa

  Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, emperor

  Amdo

  Amdo people

  Angola

  Anhui province

  see also Linhuan

  Anli

  Anti-Japanese War

  see also Japan/Japanese

  Anti-Rightist movement

  Anxi

  Anyang

  Archangelsk-Daqing Line

  Bai Juyi

  Ban Chao

  Banpo Neolithic village

  Beijing

  4 May Movement

  Olympics see Olympics 2008

  Beijing Central Mapping Bureau

  Beijing Educational Research Institute

  Beijing Library

  Beijing University

  Bengbu

  Bethune, Norman

  Black Sea

  "Black Warrior Lama" (Danbin Jianzan)

  Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian)

  Bohai Gulf

  Boys' Army

  Braun, Otto see Li De

  Britain

  Bureau of Mines, Turfan

  Cang'an county

  Cao Rulin

  CCP see Chinese Communist Party

  Central Asia

  Central Military Committee

  Central Plains Regional Courts

  Central Red Army

  Central Soviet Area

  Chad

  Chang'an

  Changsha

  Chaoshui Brigade

  Chen Changfeng

  Chen Lianshi ("Double-Gun Woman")

  Chen Yi

  Chen Yunr />
  Chengde

  Chengdu

  Chevron-Texaco Company

  Chiang Kai-shek

  China Engineering Physics Research Institute

  China Military Diplomatic Academy

  China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company

  China Petroleum and Gas Group

  China Petroleum Corporation

  China-Vietnam War

  Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

  Central Committee

  and Long March

  and media

  Military Committee Foreign Languages Training Unit

  and "Three Represents"

  and Xinjiang Construction Corps

  Chinese Criminal Code and Protection Procedure Law (1979)

  Chinese Earth Management Delegation

  Chinese Post Office

  Chishui River

  Chongqing

  "Clear Sky Bao"

  CNN

  Colombia

  Columbus, Ohio

  Communist Party see Chinese Communist Party

  Communist Youth League

  Congo, the

  Cuba

  Cultural Revolution

  and acrobats

  Chinese official website account of

  and lanterns

  and Mao Zedong

  and People's Courts

  and tea houses

  Dalai Lama

  Danbin Jianzan ("Black Warrior Lama")

  Daqin

  Daqing oilfields

  Daxue Mountains

  Deng Xiaoping

  Deng Yingchao

  Dingxi

  Direct Broadcast Reform Team

  Dong'an

  "Double-Gun Woman" see Chen Lianshi

  Douhet, Giulio

  Dunhuang

  Dushanzi oil deposit

  East China Normal University

  E'erduosi Basin

  Eighth Route Army

  Ela Grasslands

  Equatorial Guinea

  Erlian Basin

  European-Asian Association of Earth Management

  European Earth Management Association

  ExxonMobil

  Fallaci, Oriana

  Fang Haijun

  First Front Army

  First World War

  Flaming Mountain

  Foreign Languages Institute

  Foreign Ministry

  Four Clean-Ups

  Fourth Army

  Fourth Front Army

  4 May Movement

  Fudan University, Shanghai

  Fujian province

  Gabon

  Gan Ying

  Gang of Four

  Gansu province

  see also Hezheng; Lanzhou

  Gao Mingxuan, Professor

  Gao Yaojie

  Geological and Mining Production Department (Geological Bureau)

  Germany

  Ghost Gate Pass

  GMD see Guomindang

  Gobi Desert

  Grand Canal

  Great Leap Forward

  Great Massacre (Nanjing Massacre)

  Great Powers

  Great Wall

  Great Wall Lubricants

  Gu Yeliang

  Guangdong province

  Guangxi province

  Guangzhou

  Guangzhou military government

  Guilin

  Guizhou province

  see also Xingyi

  Gulf of Guinea

  Guo Shaoquan

  Guomindang (GMD)

  corruption

  harsh policies

  and liberation of Shanghai

  and Long March

  and resistance to Japan

  San Qing Tuan

  and system of ownership

  Gurbantunggut Desert

  Hami

  Han

  Hangzhou

  Hankou

  "Harmonious Society", concept of

  Haslung, Henning

  He Long, General

  Hefei

  Henan People's Radio Station

  Henan province

  see also Zhengzhou

  Hero (film)

  Hezheng

  Hezheng County Guest House

  Hezheng Fossil Museum

  High Court of the People's Republic of China

  Higher People's Courts

  Hongsong

  Hongxingyuan compound, Zhangjiakou

  Hu Jintao

  Hua Guofeng

  Hua Mulan

  Huai River

  Huanshui River

  Huaying Mountain Uprising

  Hubei Cadre School

  Hubei province

  Hui

  Huiba

  Hunan province

  Hundred Regiments Offensive

  Huocheng

  Hussein, Saddam

  Ili

  Imperial Academy, Archives of the

  Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

  International Herald Tribune

  Iraq

  Islam

  Japan/Japanese

  and First World War

  invasion of China

  and Nanjing massacre

  see also Anti-Japanese War

  Jews

  Jiajing Mountain

  Jiang Qing

  Jiang Zemin

  Jiangnan

  Jiangsu province

  see also Nanjing

  Jiangtai Fort

  Jiangxi

  Jian'ou

  Jiao-Ji Railway

  Jiaqing, emperor

  Jiayuguan

  Jilin

  Jilin Basin

  Jimsa

  Jinan

  Jingning

  Jingxian

  Jinhua

  Jiujiang

  Jiuquan

  Jiuquan Big Brigade

  Jiuzhaigou

  Kaifeng

  Kaifeng Normal University

  Kang Shi'en

  Kang Yiming

  Kangba

  Kebuduo

  Keji-ri Bao newspaper

  Kelamayi oilfield

  Korean War

  Kunfan Girls' Middle School, Shanghai

  Lake Elinhu

  Lake Zalinhu

  Landa

  Lanzhou

  Lanzhou University

  Lazi Kou Pass

  Leiongzhuang Farm

  Leitai

  Lhasa

  Li De (Otto Braun)

  Li Xiannian

  Liberation

  Lin Biao

  Lin Liguo

  Lin'an

  Linhuan

  Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture

  Liu Bocheng

  Liu Shaoqi

  Liu Ziyu

  Long March

  Longmen Caves

  Longxi

  Louis XIV, King

  Lu Shan

  Lu Zongyu

  Luding Bridge

  Luo Ruiqing

  Luoyang

  Lushan Conference

  Lushan Declaration

  Ma Bufang

  Maiji Grottos

  Malacca Straits

  Manchuria

  Manila

  Mao Zedong

  and Cultural Revolution

  and Long March

  and national heroes

  opinions about

  Maqu

  Marco Polo Bridge incident

  Mediterranean

  Men He

  Middle East

  Ming dynasty

  Minhe Brigade

  Mobil

  Mogao Caves

  Mongolia

  Mongolian Revolutionary Army

  Moscow

  Moscow State Geological Prospecting Academy

  Mosuowan Farm

  Muslims

  Nanjing

  lantern-makers

  massacre (1937)

  tiger stoves in

  Nanjing Central School of Politics

  Nanping

  Nanyang

  National Civil Administration Depar
tment

  National Party

  National Prospecting Bureau see Petroleum Bureau

  Nationalist Forces

  Neighbourhood Administrative System

  Nine-Thirteen Incident

  Ningxia

  Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

  North China oilfield

  North China People's University

  North Korea

  North Sichuan Dam

  North-West Geology Management College

  Northern Song dynasty

  Nurhaci, emperor

  Oil Prospecting Conference

  Olympics 2008

  Öndörhaan

  Opium War

  Pakistan

  Paris Peace Conference

  Pearl River Radio

  Peng Dehuai, General

  People's Courts

  People's Daily

  People's Liberation Army (PLA)

  and Construction Corps in Xinjiang

  Foreign Languages Institute

  and liberation of Shanghai

  Persian Gulf

  Petroleum Association

  Petroleum Bureau (China Petroleum Prospecting Bureau; National Prospecting Bureau)

  Petroleum Ministry

  Philippines

  PLA see People's Liberation Army

  Public Security Bureau (PSB)

  Putten, Frans-Paul van der

  Qi Jiguang

  Qianche

  Qilian Mountains

  Qin Banxian see Bo Gu

  Qin dynasty

  Qin Gui

  Qin Huai Lantern Festival

  Qin Huai lantern-makers

  Qin Shi Hung Di, emperor

  Qing dynasty

  Qingdao

  Qinghai province

  Qinghai-Tibet railway

  Qinghua University

  Qiqihar

  Qiu Jin

  Quanzhou

  Qula

  Radio Jiangsu

  Raise the Red Lantern (film)

  Rehe River

  Reader magazine

  Red Army, Chinese

  see also Long March

  Red Army, Soviet

  Red Crag (film)

  Red Guards

  Reform through Labour

  Revolutionary University

  Richthofen, Baron Ferdinand von

  Russia

  see also Soviet Union

  Sahara Desert

  Sai Mengqi

  St John's College, Shanghai

  St Petersburg

  San Qing Tuan

  Sanguanmiao

  Sangxiong

  Second Front Army

  Sha Duoling (pen name of Yu Ruobin)

  Shaanxi province

  see also Xi'an

  Shandong province

  Shanghai

  4 May Movement

 

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