Beethoven in Beijing

The first time my husband, Jindong Cai, heard a Beethoven symphony was as a child in Cultural Revolution (1966-76) Beijing. His close friend, Wang Luyan, had somehow got hold of an old wind-up phonograph and a complete set of 78 RPM records containing Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony;" each record held about five minutes of music per side. Because music by "Old Bei" was deemed subversive – all Western composers were lumped together as "bourgeois capitalists" and Chinese traditional music was banned in favor of "model revolutionary operas" – the two boys carefully closed and curtained the courtyard house windows before daring to play the scratchy recording at low volume.  Afterwards, they kept silent about their transgression and resumed listening to revolutionary operas  – but my husband never forgot Beethoven.