In my opinion, if you're Chinese and you don't understand the Cultural Revolution, then you have absolutely no idea what kind of a country and society you're living in. The appendix at the end sent chills down my back--young teens interviewed in 1996 don't know anything about it and some even dreamed of returning to that era, while others were sure it would never happen again. It is precisely because people are so sure that it won't happen again that it will happen again, and we are seeing very dangerous signs right now.
I read this book with a very heavy heart. It is hard to imagine that this book was written in the 1980s, and the reflections after the Cultural Revolution did not seem to be preserved. What happened in the book is very similar to what is happening now. We still have to face strict censorship and dare not speak freely. People with malicious intentions occupy the mainstream of society, why do we always forget the original pain after the wound has healed?