Rural re-education: full of pain, but not without gain

Fifty-nine-year-old woman Xie Ying said her life would be totally different if she had not experienced the time as "zhiqing."

"Zhiqing," or educated youth, is a group of people who spent the prime of their life toiling in the countryside during former Chairman Mao Zedong's re-education campaign.

Xie said it was the days she spent with the farmers that taught her to be tolerant and grateful.

"I find I'm stronger and more tolerant thanks to my experience in the countryside," said Xie, who works in the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress in southwest China.

In 1971, she took a train from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Kunming, capital of Yunnan.

The 17-year-old girl spent another five days traveling from Kunming to a farm in Ruili, a border city largely inhabited by the ethnic Dai and Jingpo people.

Xie's first task was to learn how to log. Educated youth were sent up a mountain with farmers in the morning to collect wood, which they would take back with them before sunset, Xie said.

"It was quite a hard time," Xie recalled. "We, who did not have to worry about what to eat and wear when at home in the city and did not even wash our own bowls after meals, had to do everything all by ourselves in addition to the farming work."

In the 1960s and 1970s, millions of young people in cities and towns went "up to mountains and down to villages" at the call of Chairman Mao to receive re-education from peasants and help with rural development. Mao believed that the countryside offered vast room for young people to bring their talents and skills into full play.

Most sent-down young people returned to their urban homes around the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Mao's campaign received critical reflection during the 1980s, when literary works full of stories about the youth's hard and bitter experiences emerged.

This literary genre reflected the groups' complaints and resentment, according to Yang Jianlong, a professor at Shanghai Normal University who was also a sent-down youth.

The sentiments of this "forgotten generation" simmered during the 1990s, when they found themselves in a disadvantaged position, as the country's market-oriented reform posed employment challenges for them in their older age.

The trend, however, has been changing both in the literary sphere and in reality in recent years, as more educated youth are reflecting on their experiences in the countryside in a philosophical way.

Feng Jiankun, a retired official in Kunming, said he got to know a different side of his country when he was sent down to the city of Simao in Yunnan.

"No matter who you are, you have to work for the people in a down-to-earth manner. This is what I learned in the countryside," says Feng, who spent 10 years in the countryside of Simao, initially working as a herder and then a farmer.

"I learned that we cannot do things just out of passion. We have to take a practical attitude and start from reality," said Feng.

As some observers have pointed out, however, it is true that there was a division between educated youth and other people in their later development.

While the group does not lack success stories with some people taking the helm of the nation, there are also many who are troubled by their employment and living conditions, according to Li Zhenlin, a professor at Shanghai Theater Academy.

The division can partly explain why there has been controversy about the history of educated youth, as exemplified in discussions regarding a TV series that premiered on China Central Television in May 2012.

While some critics say the TV show downplayed the sent-down youth's suffering, others argue that it offers insight into contemporary Chinese history.

In the words of freelance news commentator Guo Songmin, the TV series reflects the sent-down youth's perseverance in pursuing their ideals and their passion to assemble under the call of the times.

Ma Yunchang, who was sent down to Inner Mongolia for five years and now manages a website aimed at educated youth, said he is a fan of the TV show.

"History is stereoscopic and artistic works just reflect part of it," said Ma. "Different people from different backgrounds may certainly have different views about that period of history."

Ma said he never argues with people about whether or not he regrets the time he spent in the countryside.

"The social environment required young people to go to rural areas. Our generation was educated to prioritize the nation's interests over personal needs," Ma said.

Ma's website is an online communication platform that allows sent-down youth to post essays and information regarding their experiences, as well as track down old friends with whom they have lost contact. The website also collects donations for sent-down youth who have had difficulty paying medical fees.

For Xie, the TV series offered a chance to look back on her past. "Some of the stories in it are so familiar. They're quite like what I experienced in Ruili," she said.

Xie says the bond between urban youth and local farmers has become an indelible memory for her. She recalled a time when the child of a local farmer was seriously ill and needed a blood transfusion. She said nearly all the educated youth on the farm where she worked volunteered to donate.

"But it was I who happened to have the same blood type as the child. You can't imagine how happy I felt when the child was saved," Xie said.

Xie said the days spent in the countryside offered educated youth a chance to feel the local people's pain and needs.

"Our bond with the grassroots can never be severed, no matter where we are or what we do," Xie said.