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The John Batchelor Show

REMINDING THAT RED CHINA IS RECKLESS AND SADISTIC: 3/8: Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution by Tania Branigan (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Arts, Society & Culture, Books, News

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

REMINDING THAT RED CHINA IS RECKLESS AND SADISTIC:   3/8: Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution  by  Tania Branigan  (Author)

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Memory-Afterlives-Cultural-Revolution/dp/1324051957

Red Memory uncovers forty years of silence through the stories of individuals who lived through the madness. Deftly exploring how this era defined a generation and continues to impact China today, Branigan asks: What happens to a society when you can no longer trust those closest to you? What happens to the present when the past is buried, exploited, or redrawn? And how do you live with yourself when the worst is over?
1966 PRC RED GUARDS

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:34.8

This is CBSI in the world.

0:36.7

I'm John Batchel, with the author of the new book, Red Memory,

0:41.1

the afterlifes of China's Cultural Revolution, Tanya Brannigan.

0:44.6

And we go to a moment, August of 1966, Red August it's called.

0:51.4

And the memories of a 13-year-old, many decades later in her 60s and 70s, about how she got

0:59.1

caught up in events that she could not understand and still is haunted, cursed by the memories of what she

1:06.9

saw between August of 66 and her birthday, December 26th, 1966.

1:14.5

Her name is Yu Cheng Zhang.

1:17.5

Tanya, Yu was 13 years old, and she's remembering now these many decades later.

1:23.3

She was part of the rally.

1:25.2

I believe the date is 3 a.m. August 18th, we were called to Chenaman Square. Why? What happened that moment?

1:33.8

So this was the first of the mass rallies that Chairman Mao held for teenagers, for Red Guards,

1:41.4

really giving his seal of approval to the Red Guard movement. Because, of course,

1:46.0

the Cultural Revolution was not a grassroots uprising. Although the first Red Guard groups formed

1:52.1

spontaneously, it was within a context where it was becoming clear that Mao wanted upheaval. And Mao, of course, was a figure that they revered as a

...

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