Tien Ju-Kang interviewed at his home in Kunming, China, by Alan Macfarlane 20th October 2005, filmed by Xiaoxiao Yan

0:00:05 Born 1916 in Kunming; educated at Peking Normal University until the Japanese invasion when I escaped back to Kunming and went to South-West University; parents were merchants in Kunming; had three brothers and four sisters; joined the army to fight the Japanese

0:03:00 Became an anthroplogist by chance; according to South-West University regulation every student, especially literature students, had to take a literature paper; did it with Fei Sha-tung who was in Kunming; said I should study Yunnan first; abandoned original subject which was comparative psychology; Fei had been at the L.S.E. but was not the reason I went there; [went 1945] I was funded by the British Council

0:06:09 At L.S.E. supervised by Raymond Firth but he was not a very good supervisor; he lectured at lunch time to two students, Edmund Leach and I; Leach went to sleep; boring lectures; Lucy Mair very kind; ever since I graduated from L.S.E. Leach and I kept in touch; thought his work original; I studied religious ceremonies in Yunnan among the Dai peoples; got PhD and got a Colonial Research Council Scholarship and went to work in Sarawak on Overseas Chinese; then came back to China to teach but changed subject

0:13:42 During the Cultural Revolution suffered as had openly criticized the policy; was criminalized but then as I had interest in borders became a hero; first it was the Indian border then the Russian border; imprisoned as a criminal for two years; problems between Russia and China changed everything; went to Cambridge in 1979 and at that time did not want to go back to China; didn't feel that Deng Xiao-Ping had done much and there are still problems

0:17:53 After Cambridge went to the U.S. and Japan among other places; feels that China is now chaotic; thinks that murder has increased (his information from TV) for money; bribery has increased; before liberation 1945-49 China was peaceful; village are better than the cities now

0:22:48 Advice to young people is to spend more time reading, trying to understand the world; not to spend time bothering about money; should like Chinese scholars to know more about anthropology; likes older anthropology books such as  Frazer's 'Golden Bough', Rivers, but not Mead; Maurice Freedman didn't understand China; recommends Evans-Pritchard's work on the Nuer; thought highly of L.S.E.; Harold Laski; Tawney's 'Land and Labour in China' an excellent book; final thoughts on Chairman Mao