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.
Footnotes
*1 At 2007 rates, approximately US$700, €460, £350.
*2 A revolt against the Guomindang government of Xinjiang.
*3 The idea of "Harmonious Society" was introduced by China's president, Hu Jintao, in an attempt to address some of the increasingly serious inequalities and divisions of Chinese society.
*4 A valued medal given to outstanding women workers, awarded each year on 8 March (International Women's Day) at different levels: national, provincial, county and city.
*5 Shenzhou VI was the second human spaceflight of the People's Republic of China, launched on 12 October 2005 on a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
*6 Caramel-like sweet, high in energy and milk protein.
*7 To give some idea of the scale, most Chinese provinces are the size of a medium-sized European country. Some of the military areas mentioned here, such as the Chengdu military area, cover several provinces.
*8 Shang dynasty: 1600–1046 BC; Zhou dynasty: 1046–256 BC.
†1 Spring and Autumn Period: 770–476 BC.
*9 12,500 kilometres/8,000 miles.
*10 The Central Soviet Area, also known as the Jiangxi Soviet, was an independent government established by the Chinese Communist Party in Jiangxi province in southeastern China, 1931–34.
†2 Li De was the Chinese name given to Otto Braun, the German advisor sent by the Communist International to advise the Chinese Communist Party in 1934. Later that year, Braun, Zhou Enlai and Bo Gu became the leaders of the early First Front Army and made all decisions, despite opposition to them and their tactics from revolutionary leaders Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai. Much of the Communist Army was destroyed due to Braun's doctrine of direct attacks on the far larger and better-equipped GMD Army.
*11 In fact, some units did not participate in the Long March, but of course a single soldier could not know what was happening in detail to the whole army.
*12 Canadian surgeon, b. 1890, Ontario. He joined the Communist Party, after a visit to the Soviet Union, and went to China in 1938 where he became a hero for his dedicated work, and died in 1939.
*13 Guomindang planes.
*14 Post-war liberation from Guomindang control by the People's Liberation Army, the troops of the Chinese Communist Party.
*15 130 hectares/330 acres.
*16 See the following chapter p.307, for a selection of these remarkable letters.
*17 Its English title was Random Harvest.
*18 This phenomenon is also recounted in Cao Jinqing's China Along the Yellow River: Reflections on Rural Society.
*19 16 acres / 7 hectares.
*20 Part of the Chinese court system, formed of a hierarchy of prosecuting offices called People's Procuratorates, the highest being the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
*21 Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) was Chairman of the People's Republic of China from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968 but during the Cultural Revolution he was labelled a "traitor". In July 1966 he was displaced as Party Deputy Chairman by Lin Biao. By 1967 Liu Shaoqi and his wife Wang Guang-mei were under house arrest in Beijing.
*22 Tao Zhu (1908–1969) was Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee and Commander of the Guangzhou Military Region. He later became First Secretary of the Central-South region, and in 1965 was moved to Beijing as Director of the Central Propaganda Department. He was a Vice Premier of the State Council and Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the CCP, as well as an advisor to the Central Cultural Revolution Group. In May 1966, he was promoted to No. 4 in the Party, behind Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao, but was purged during the Cultural Revolution in early 1967 and died under house arrest in 1969.
†3 Xu Haidong (1900–1970) was born into poverty and was made Grand General in the People's Liberation Army of China in 1955. Mao Zedong praised him as "a banner of the working class". He died in Zhengzhou in March 1970.
*23 After Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978, Liu Shaoqi was politically rehabilitated (in February 1980) with a state funeral.
*24 Date is 2005. This text as been reproduced a number of times on blogs and even university websites.
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 Yun
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 Ar
my
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 Department
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
liberation of