Mao cheated him out of his youth; he had to feed his children rats during the great famine. Despite this, Peng Fangcong never lost his faith in the Communist Party. His granddaughter grew up in Germany and is now returning to China as a young woman. When her parents moved to Germany, Xifan Yang had just started kindergarten. Before that, she spent the first years of her life deep in the Chinese hinterland, in Pingxiang, a city that had only one highlight to offer apart from its coal mines: a nationally famous statue of the great Chairman Mao Zedong. Over 20 years later, she returns and searches for her family roots with Peng Fangcong, whom she affectionately calls "Grandpa Peng". She keeps stumbling over the trials and tribulations of China's recent history. Pingxiang is now a modern Chinese small town. High-rise buildings tower into the smog-gray sky; "Grandpa Peng" has spent his whole life here. As a young intellectual, he was persecuted by Mao's Red Guards. For over 20 years, he was forced to do forced labor in exile on the Mountain of a Thousand Dragons because, as a young journalist, he had written critical articles about Mao's policies. For Xifan, his 84-year-old grandfather with his indomitable will is still a role model to this day. She also became a journalist and she also writes critically about China. The big difference to her grandfather, however, is that she now has a German passport and works for a German newspaper. SRF China correspondent Pascal Nufer accompanies the journalist for "Reporter" on her journey from Shanghai to Pingxiang - a journey that also allows him to rediscover China. NEW DOCUMENTARIES AND REPORTS EVERY WEEK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ???? Subscribe to SRF Dok on YouTube now and activate the bell: https://www.youtube.com/srfdok?sub_co... ???? You can find out more about documentaries & reports here: ???? SRF Dok on Facebook: https://fb.com/srfdok ???? More stories to listen to: https://www.srf.ch/audio/themen/mensc... ???? More documentaries on Play SRF: https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/themen/dokus ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Channel info: The SRF Dokus & Reportagen teams report factually, avoid "scripted reality" and are committed to journalistic integrity. The editorial team's credo: We show life in all its shades. __ Social Media Netiquette from SRF: ► https://www.srf.ch/social-netiquette #SRFDok #Reportage #China #communism #maodynasty