A powerful exploration of China's Cultural Revolution through the rarely heard stories of those who lived through Mao's decade of madness.

Mao's 1966 Cultural Revolution heralded a decade of hysteria, violence and relentless persecution. Teenagers were turned against adults, even parents. Party officials, artists, teachers and intellectuals were publicly humiliated, beaten and even murdered after vicious 'struggle sessions'.

Yet China's bloodiest decade is now barely mentioned, and both victims and perpetrators still live with this unspoken trauma. Now, after forty years of silence, Tania Branigan hears their stories.

Today: Composer Wang Xilin recounts his dramatic fall from grace after Mao's crackdown on Western music, which led to his banishment, traumatic struggle sessions and torture.

Writer: Tania Branigan is the Guardian's foreign leader writer, and was the Guardian's China correspondent for seven years.
Reader: Chipo Chung is an acclaimed screen and stage actor and activist of Zimbabwean/Chinese descent.
Producer: Justiine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams Show less