STUDENT NUMBER: A
NAME: Shilei
CLASS: English 1202
Inorder to find out what the life it was in the past in China, I intervewed a grangpa in our shool’s little park, who is at about his 60s.
Q(Question):Hello, nice to meet you. Thank you for accepting my interview.
A(Answer): Nice to meet you too.
Q: Em, you look like about at 60s, right? Would you like to tell me when people mostly used bikes?
A:Yeah, I was born in 1953 and I’m 61years old now. Actually, you know China was been named of “The Kingdom of Bicycle” in the past. I remember my grandpa told me that bicycle was introduced in China in the late 19th century. Then in 1960s, 1970s, when I was a young man, bicycle along with sewing machine and watch became the necessary three-major-items of marriage. Bicycle became really popular in the 1980s, it was the most important and most universal vehicle at that moment, the famous brands included “Yong jiu”, “Fenghuang”, “Feige”. The flow of thousands of bicycles during the rush hour was extremly awesome which made China became “The Kingdom of Bicycle”.
You might cannot realize that kind of feeling, but you have to know who had a bicycle at that time woule be jealous by others, especially our young guys.
Q: But a bicycle must be very expensive at that time, right? A: Certainly! One bicycle costed about 200 yuanat that time while people’s salary just a few dozen yuan. It’s very precious.
Q: Em, what about bus? When buses appeared? And how the buses of today compare with the buses when you were young? A: Haerbin’s buses were developed in the 1950s. When I was young , buses in Haerbin were still not widespread, just several bus-lines were operated. What’s more, the buses’ environment and situation were not very well when compared with the buses of today.
Q: Well, I got it. How life was in your 20s’, 30s’, and 40s’? And every day life how it changed when you grew older?
A: In my 20s’ , what I remember most was that you had to take the tickets or certificates to buy all the things you wanted and needed , and the number of those stuff was fixed by government, so you couldn’t buy a lot even you had money. Like the liquor, you had to buy it in state-run
stores with certificate. If you wanted more, you might suppose to borrow the certificate from other family which was begrudge to buy the liquor , for the numeber of liquor was limited. And later, the individual business appeared and became more and more, so you could buy anything with money in stores. Since followed the policy of reform and opening, our daily lives became more and more colorful.
Q: Do you rememberhow life changed when tall building were built?
A：Em...In fact, the tall building didn’t bring much impact on our lives. At the beginning, we might feel shocked or wondering, but later we gradually accustomed to it. You can see, there are tall building everywhere nowadays. Q: What do you miss about the old days and what you do not miss?
A: What I miss... May be the simplicity and kindness of those people, besides, at that time, they worked harder and braver. But I enjoy the high life quality of today, comprehensive health care system, varieties of entertainments, convenient public transit, etc. You know, the life in the old days is difficult.
