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WEB EXTRA: Composer Zhou Long on Cultural Revolution

"Class of 1978," members of the first class at the Central Conservatory in Beijing.
"Class of 1978," members of the first class at the Central Conservatory in Beijing.

As a teenager during the Cultural Revolution in China, composer Zhou Long was sent from his home in Beijing to work on a rural state farm. Here, he talks about the experience.

By Laura Spencer

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/national/local-national-887853.mp3

Kansas City, MO – Composer Zhou Long and his wife, composer Chen Yi, teach at UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance; they were both among a select group of Composition students accepted to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing when it re-opened after the Cultural Revolution. This "Class of 1978" - the first Chinese men and women allowed to study Western classical music after the Cultural Revolution - also includes Tan Dun, Bright Sheng.

Laura Spencer is staff writer/editor at the Kansas City Public Library and a former arts reporter at KCUR.
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