XINRAN: Do you argue? Are there things you fight about?
CHANGZHENG: We don't fight about anything. She knows how I suffered on the Long March, and the health problems it left me with, and she's very good to me. Now that I'm old, she does everything for me. She gets the food, she's the buyer, the phone-answerer, the messenger, the nurse, the cook, and so on and so on. She has a lot to cope with.
XINRAN: From what I hear, you haven't been idle since you retired, you still give patriotic education classes. Isn't that right?
CHANGZHENG: Yes, that's right. I've taught in primary, secondary, right up to university level – I've lectured at Qinghua University, for instance. I've given more than 430 talks. More than 130,000 people have been at my classes, and I can still remember which schools I've taught at.
XINRAN: Why do you enjoy going to talk to them about your experience?
CHANGZHENG: I'm very concerned about whether or not the next generation understand us. We suffered so much hardship and so many people died. As the new generation grows up, I want them to remember those fallen comrades. They died for us today and they cannot be forgotten.
XINRAN: If your children asked you what were the worst and the happiest things which have happened to you in your life, what would you tell them?
CHANGZHENG: The time when I'm happiest is when I look at my children and grandchildren. That's what makes me happiest. My second daughter has a grandson too, that's my great-grandchild, so the fourth generation has arrived. My childhood may have been hard, but now I'm very fortunate. That's made me think of a song I know. [He begins to sing at the top of his voice]:
XINRAN: You sing well! Do you remember any other songs?
CHANGZHENG: There's 'Yellow River':
XINRAN: Can your children sing them?
CHANGZHENG: No, they never learned them properly.
XINRAN: You say that things were hard in the past. Your generation suffered so much. What was the worst thing you suffered? And what have you enjoyed most?
CHANGZHENG: It
XINRAN: Your songs will go to lots of places in the world too, and everyone will read the words of the songs you have just sung.
CHANGZHENG: What a pity they can't hear me sing.
XINRAN: If you could live your life again, how would you live it? Would you choose the same life as before?
CHANGZHENG: Of course I would.
XINRAN: Would you still follow the Communist Party, and suffer all those hardships?
CHANGZHENG: Ha! If I'd known in advance, of course I wouldn't have. But if we hadn't been through all that, would we have peace today? We were fighting every day, so of course everyone suffered. But because of us, China stopped fighting, so it was well worth suffering for. Otherwise our children and grandchildren would go through what we went through as children. China has developed and changed enormously; this sort of development never happened before.
XINRAN: How do you know China has changed so much?
CHANGZHENG: I like to follow the news, I watch the TV news, I read the Party magazine
XINRAN: Why?
CHANGZHENG: Because it's put out by the Central Committee, and there are a lot of study topics.
XINRAN: Have you told your children and grandchildren stories of when you were young?
CHANGZHENG: Yes, I have. They know most of it. My children and grandchildren come and see me on Saturdays and Sundays. These children of mine all understand how to behave properly.
XINRAN: What kind of people would you like your grandchildren to turn into in the future?
CHANGZHENG: Well, that depends on their abilities.
XINRAN: You're ninety years old now. Do you have any unfulfilled wishes?
CHANGZHENG: Ninety years old… No I haven't. My health is quite good, and I go out every day to do morning exercises or to do other things, and everyone says I'll easily live to be over a hundred.
XINRAN: What would you like to do most now? If you had the time and energy?
CHANGZHENG: Keep myself fit. When I go out every day I take my dragon-head walking stick given to me at the Great Hall of the People. I do at least 5,000 paces daily, that's 50,000 paces every ten days. I'm not boasting. To get really fit, live a bit longer, see China change. Those are the things that will make me even happier. I go to bed at nine thirty at night, get up at six and eat breakfast. Once I've eaten I go out and do my exercises and my paces. I told the reporter from the China-Japan Friendship Association: 'I did the 25,000 li Long March, and now I've walked a new Long March of 25,000 li.'
XINRAN: Do you know where your granddaughter Yanyan is now?
CHANGZHENG: I'm not exactly sure where she is. Sometimes she writes to me.
XINRAN: She's in England.
CHANGZHENG: I had heard but I don't know anything about it. Her granny keeps in touch with what she's doing, I don't.
XINRAN: You say that you saw Chairman Mao. Did you know that many people are saying that Mao made mistakes? Do you agree?
CHANGZHENG: I can tell you that Chairman Mao was a very open-minded man. When we were clearing land for cultivation, he planted vegetables too. When we were tending our vegetables, we saw Chairman Mao in the vegetable garden too. Think of that… a chairman, tending his vegetables just like a peasant. He did neglect some things though. He didn't even keep an eye on his wife, Jiang Qing. He used to say: 'Women are like the weather – they can't be controlled.' But he was a terrific man.
XINRAN: Are the cadres nowadays the same as they were before?
