It is a universal social phenomenon that there is gap between grandchildren and grandparents. They live in different ages and are affected by different mainstream cultures. However, what kind of person the grandchildren could be are more or less related to their grandparents. That is the importance of roots which require the grandchildren to be intelligent to dig. If you are someone’s grandchild, visiting them and communicating with them is a good way to know them and also to understand yourself better. If you are someone’s grandparent, imparting your experiences is good for your later generations. Actually I really want to spend more time with my grandparents and talk with them. It happened that Gerry asked us to interview our grandparents about their views on the past, the present and the future. As a granddaughter, I took this opportunity to enter my grandparents’ inner world.

Last weekend I visited my grandparents with the purpose of interviewing them. To tell the truth, I feel a little ashamed about this. I just asked them some questions without telling them that what I was doing was for assignment. I was so tactful to make the interview become a spontaneous chat.

I sat on the sofa with my grandparents last Saturday afternoon. It was a hot afternoon. It seemed that my grandparents enjoyed the sunshine shining through the window very much. I like sunshine too, but I can’t bear the hot weather. Then I asked my grandparents why they didn’t turn on the air-conditioning. They answered that it was unnecessary. They said nowadays most young people are inclined to waste resources and have no consciousness of environmental protection. They also encouraged me to be thrifty and to be responsible for the environment. They reminded their past life, which was very poor and arduous. Sometimes they even were unable to have meal. So they said people of their ages were thrifty, which as well as hardworking were our Chinese traditional virtues. I agreed with them and they continued, “Furthermore people should consider more about the environment. Look at the sky of Beijing. When we were young we could see the blue sky dotted with white clouds in the day and the dark blue sky decorated with bright stars. But now…Of course, the limitation on cars could do something good for the environment. And the plastic bag needs to be bought, which is a good policy. But you know what, in our time, we just used paper bag to wrap things.”  Suddenly I felt they were more modern. I then asked them what they expect about the future in the environmental field. They said that people realized the threat from the ozone hole. They have to pay attention to this problem and take some measures. However they still thought that there were a lot of people who were wasting resources. Such as turning on the air conditioning easily or playing with water etc. They had the belief that intelligent people could explore more new energies which would adhere to the Sustainable Development Principles. They hoped everyone could contribute to our earth thinking less of one’s own profit.     

Since they don’t take advantage of technology frequently, I asked their attitudes towards this in passing. They felt it was somewhat a pity that they fell behind the high technology. They said only those rich people had monochrome TV sets. Very few families could own a telephone at that time. But now they said almost each family had one telephone at least. Cell phone was just like an essential communication tool for a large range of people. They said they didn’t need it. They said they just wrote letters to their relatives or friends they missed. Maybe it was not quick to deliver and receive. But it succeeded in transmitting the missing feeling or any other goals. It would embody the value of expectation and the precious relationship. I asked whether they knew QQ, Skype, MSN those chat tools. They just warned me not chat online constantly. They upheld that high technology was a sign of people’s progress. They told me they had prepared the cost of laptop for me. They said it would be very useful for me. I was surprised and moved on the verge of tears. They always want to do something for me. They encouraged me to advance with the times and never give up learning. They said technology field would play a leading role and be more powerful in the future.

Since we mentioned study just now, the education topic would be proceeded to be discussed. They said when they were students, education was not thought highly of. They hadn’t much time to study but work constantly. The College Entrance Exam system was resumed in 1977. That time, their first child, my father was 14 years old. I asked whether they studied foreign language when they were middle school student. They said that they had learned Russian a lot. Now my grandfather could remember a few sentences. They were satisfied with the education at the present time. They said although there were some shortages in education systems yet, it was improving day by day. They took education seriously so that there are many teachers in my family. They told me lots of benefits of being educated. Try to become a perfect person through being educated and own a good future. They believed that in the future more and more people could handle a foreign language and computer technique.

They asked me how usually I went to school. I said sometimes I took the bus and sometimes took the subway. They praised the nowadays transportation. They said I was lucky enjoying a discount of 80% on bus fares and they were luckier enjoying the free tickets. They said the subway lines of Beijing would wave a net. They believed that "Wanna be rich? Build roads first!" They recalled that they could see many carriages and some big size bicycles traveling in the pack ways. Now what they could see more is cars stopping up on the asphalt roads. Much as this, it was still more convenient than before. They thought that Beijing would have a better control in traffic.

They told me to be careful with heath. Health is more important than studying. Then I asked them whether they had a notion of AH1N1. They knew it was a kind of flu. I then asked them whether it had any kinds of flu in their times. Their answer was no. In the past, people were healthy and seldom got sick. What they had ever caught was cold. They said they even did not take any medicine if catching cold. Scraping the neck, chest or back took the place of medicine. That time western medicine was rarely seen and very expensive. They warned young people that they were ill due to unhealthy diet, less exercises and bad habits. They hoped people could change those habits in the future and medical science could have a close study on micro world.

I then asked, “It seems that you two like sports, right?” They answered, “Yes, of course. That’s why you also have some PE talents.” I laughed and got to know that both my grandparents liked swimming, playing basketball. I then asked them if this same hobby brought them into the marriage hall. They laughed and answered that they married because they were the same sort of person. They met each other at middle school. In the past, they said most of couples getting together was an obeying their parents. I wondered how they could live together for life long without telling love and what would they do if they found the other was not suitable. They said marriage was regarded as a task and less people got divorced even though they did not love each other. On the contrary, the divorce rate was rising now. They thought most of the young people were selfish and lacking in responsibilities. They did not think that divorce rate could be decrease in the future. However they admired the young people’s courage of being crazy for love. I also asked them what kind of granddaughter-in-law they expected. They became serious and said he should be responsible, good temper, not poor and not very well-off. I thanked for their suggestions.

To sum up, my grandparents have experienced a lot. They have their own opinions in viewing the past, the present and the future. Maybe some of the views are outmoded and most are suggestive. I am beneficial from this chat. Actually they felt a little weird that I asked some questions. They are happy I have taken an interest in getting to know them more. In this course, I in turn know about myself. Whatever, they never allow their grandchildren to get hurt. Thank you my grandparents for sharing your views and caring for me and teaching me so much.