Oral History–A Charitable Service

IN China， oral history is something that at- tracts the public’s attention because it provides more details and different perspectives on otherwise veiled information and supplements gaps in historical archives.

On June 22， 2013， in an old church at 85 Tonglinge Road in Beijing， archival researcher Shen Zhihua and Cui Yongyuan， a well-known CCTV host， gathered with their respective think tanks to talk about the Korean War. The 600-strong audience overspilled the 300-capacity hall. This time， Cui was not there as a TV host， but as founder of an Oral History Research Center at the Communication University of China （CUC）.

Living History

Eighty-one-year-old Wang Minqing， formerly Deng Xiaoping’s personal physician， was taking an afternoon nap after a whole morning being interviewed on camera. His bathroom had been turned into a studio， Cui Yongyuan’s colleague perched on a stool checking data on his laptop， another laptop balanced on the washing basin table.

This is typical of the working environment of Cui’s oral history team – they set up where they can， when they can.

So far， Cui’s team has interviewed some 4，000 seniors like Wang Minqing for a TV series on Chinese history. Among the interviewees， more than 1，000 have since passed away. Such a large project is the first of its kind and has proven invaluable in collating source data in China.

For the elderly interviewees， facing the camera and narrating their past experiences is not an easy task. Some are reluctant to retell their stories. Cui’s team has to pay regular visits with fruits and flowers and essentially become part of their family， helping them with errands and jobs around the home to win their trust. Such was the case with wartime writer Mei Niang. As well acclaimed as Zhang Ailing in the 1930s and 1940s， Mei Niang， who recently passed away， was 92 at the time of her interview. Cui’s team tried for two years to persuade her to record her narrations； they even called her daughter in the U.S. for help. Mei Niang eventually agreed and recalled her childhood growing up in northeast China in the 1920s.

For Cui， editing and cutting these oral accounts is a great shame； everything he hears is so precious to China’s history. If it weren’t for the time constraints of each episode， he would keep it all.

“When doing a regular TV program， if someone says no to our invitation to participate， we change tack， but for oral history， an interviewee with firsthand accounts of the part of history we are interested in is indispensable，” Cui said.

Cui recently read Shen Zhihua’s book about the Korean War during a trip to Turkey. The two elements presented an interesting juxtaposition： “Ap-preciating architecture from 1，500 years ago while reading a book on war awakened in me more emotions and understanding，” he said.

“Our team are pioneers [in China]，” Cui said， as they have been collecting valuable oral history records for future research， some of which may be useful in 50 or 100 years’ time.

Rare Intangible Cultural Heritage

So what exactly is oral history？ Many people would answer that it is interviewees narrating history as they experienced it. But to be precise， it is a method， a way of doing historical research.

Cui clarified the misconception that “oral history equals documentary” that some viewers of the popular TV program oral history had： “Oral history originated in the U.S. It is a historical recording mode extensively accepted in the world. It has matured in the West， but in China， it is still in its infancy.”

Many countries are actively involved in recording oral history. South Africa， for example， refers to it as archiving people’s memories. Singapore is currently researching the history of Chinese immigration and its indigenous people.

“The importance of historical research institutes must never be overlooked， regardless of whether a country is developed or not， and regardless of its GDP. Historical records relating to a country， a nationality or even a family clan are all assets. And historical research does not have to be limited to one’s home nation； some Western developed countries make huge efforts to conduct research on other countries’ histories. As far as I know， there is a British expert who has been dedicated to researching Chinese history all his life.”

Tong Tekong， the late Chinese expert， spearheaded oral history in China， and recorded the narrations of Chang Hsueh-liang， Li Tsung-jen， and Hu Shih. Over the years， historical publications in the Chinese mainland have been on the rise， among which Feng Jicai’s Ten Years of Madness is considered a classic.

Cui Yongyuan’s work in oral history can be seen in many TV series such as， Story of Movies， My Long March， My War against aggression and My Motherland.

Cui battled through years of clinical depression. His doctor asked him what made him want to live. He thought for a while and told him that it was the movies. “I thought， with movies， I could live my life.” Thus came the start of his Story of Movies series.

Cui still clearly remembers his interview with the Pearl River Film Studio’s director Wang Weiyi. The seven-hour interview with this octogenarian director was a record by virtue of its length at that time， but these days the total interview time for one person can reach 85 hours. That interview changed Cui’s previous method of setting up camera and cutting the take as soon as the interviewee stopped talking. He found out that the narrations could be very valuable as intangible cultural heritage. Because of old age， deep-seated worries about their previous experiences， or poor health， the interviewees need much courage to face the camera and unveil the past.

“In collecting these videos and accounts， we are in a race against time； our 4，000 interviewees have an average age of 85. The eldest is 106 years old， and 1，000 of them have already passed away.” Director Xie Jin passed away just 15 days after Cui’s interview.

“These elderly people cannot wait， and if we do not hurry， their history will perish with them，” Cui concluded.

In Cui’s eyes， the historical videos of Peking Opera stars Mei Lanfang， Cheng Yanqiu， Shang Xiaoyun and the Chinese comic dialogue artist Hou Baolin pay respect and admiration to history.

Free of Charge

On the flip side， Cui acknowledges， albeit tonguein-cheek， that historians that do not adopt oral history in their research run the risk of becoming a dying breed. Cui jokingly said that if Confucius were interviewed on camera， there would be no need for well-acclaimed expert Yu Dan to disseminate Confucian philosophy to the public in the accessible way she has – we could view Confucius explain it himself on screen.

For the majority of viewers， their personal experience and understanding dictate their comprehension of oral history.

Cui Yongyuan and his team have visited many oral history centers across the globe. When visiting Japan’s Broadcasting Corporation NHK， he was amazed by the organization’s large archive of historical documents and the ease with which they could be accessed. Whatever was needed， be it a video of Chang Hsueh-liang’s interview or of a historical event such as the September 18 Incident in 1931 in Shenyang， northeast China， anything could be called up with the help of a comprehensive index.

Cui’s idea to open a museum of oral history originated from his visits abroad. Japan’s Waseda University houses well-preserved historical records， including oral history data on China. This was also the case in other countries， such as the U.S. and Canada. Cui was thus confronted with the fact that China’s total oral history pool could not compare to that of one foreign university.

Some people blame this on a lack of technology， but Cui does not believe this to be the case. Instead， he believes that oral history has not been taken as seriously in China as it should be. “I once saw a whole wall of books on Chinese ethnic minority history in a Japanese bookstore. Our oral history center has met many experts and journalists from other countries， and once， a German scholar invited me to read documents about China from Germany. He told me they had so many documents they could fill up Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium.”

“People undertaking oral history research should not be business-oriented or lose sight of the reason behind conducting such research， as this would render the outcomes ineffective.”

Some people think that oral history has great moneymaking potential and that there are also past models to follow. But you shouldn’t collect historical documents or write books or produce TV programs for financial gain.

Cui Yongyuan believes that such resources should be free of charge， a public service like a charitable cause.

Dialogue with Descendants

The TV series are just a small portion of Cui’s oral history work. A video data pool has also been accumulating over the years.

By the end of 2013， an 8，400-square-meter oral history research center will be set up in the Communication University of China with an investment inflow of RMB 200 million from over a dozen sponsors. Cui did not want to reveal the investors’names or how many there are， but they all believe in the strength of cooperation. “One yuan from ten million individuals each is better than ten million yuan from one person，” said Cui.

“I have tried every means to raise funds – except for theft，” Cui has always been humorous when recalling his 10 years’ hard work. By February 2012， his research center had collected oral history video data amounting to over three million minutes， masses of photographs， and 300，000 material objects from over 4，000 interviewees covering six categories. This is the wealth of China’s intangible cultural heritage.

Cui’s oral history center and museum are rec- ognized in the media as filling the gaps in China’s modern history research methods， and as the firsts of their kind in China.

The museum intends to digitalize the video data accumulated over the past 10 years and put it into an electronic index system. The videos will also be free for all to access.

“Here， we have a chance to talk with our descendants after hundreds of years，” Cui remarked. Unlike other museums， talking， eating and drinking water is allowed here. It should be somewhere where people can feel inspired – Cui joked that people can even date here.

On November 12， 2012， Cui’s first public class on oral history research attracted scores of people –not only the invited Master’s students， but also undergraduates. They had to change venue to a larger hall that could seat 1，500 people. On seeing such a bustling scene， Cui happily observed that oral history’s spring had come.

Using vivid oral records to present a more objective history and know its true course has been Cui’s dream.

“I still doubt the veracity of any so-called historical truth， as different perspectives see the truth differently. But we are getting there. Oral history has made accessing diverse angles on historical truth possible. There may be other approaches， but we have a way in now.”