A brief history of father's struggle
Wen | Yuqiang
My father's hometown is located in a small mountain village on the shores of Aoshan Bay in Jimo District, Qingdao, Jiaodong. Every time I return to my hometown, I will take more time to accompany my father to the Shuipo River Bank Station in front of the village, take a walk, and take a look. Looking at the river that has witnessed the evolution of the history of the countryside and precipitated more than a few years of spring, summer, autumn and winter, I prefer to listen carefully to my father's stories of his little-known legends. At this time, this river that leads to the inland of the peninsula at one end of the Yellow Sea seems to be particularly gentle and amiable, as if it understands his father's heart better. With its babbling sound, the Shuipo River narrates the endless fate of the countryside, reverberating with the life sigh of "the deceased is like a sifu, not giving up day and night". Before liberation, following this river out of the poor and backward mountain villages and realizing the pursuit of studying for the country was a dream of my father when I was young; in the new era, looking back at this river and returning to the roots of the fallen leaves, it was my father's dream. As a junior, I am now wading through the rivers of my homeland, seeking to verify the road my father has traveled, understanding the brief history of my father's struggle, and exploring his long life journey of not fearing suffering, being diligent and upward, being a teacher, and not changing his original intention, which is a small long-cherished wish of mine. I only hope that in this life, I can take my father as a mentor, firmly dream, go up the river, and forge ahead. With a passionate life, determined words and deeds, he paints a moving chapter like spring to the earth of the heart.
01
His family was poor and determined to study. Born in 1936, his father, named Yu Wenliu, is eighty-six years old this year, and although his health is not good, he is still in good spirits. His father was born into a poor peasant family before liberation. In that era, it was an era of panic in which soldiers were in chaos, lives were ruined, and fate was ill-fated; it was an era of ignorance and backwardness, lack of food, and chaotic life. In the stormy Republic of China, grandparents used simple family style, meager strength, and poor family resources to raise five children, namely uncle, second uncle, father, fourth uncle and aunt, and survived and grew up in the gap of the dark years. In order to let their children one day jump out of the farm, they will have a good future in the future. Grandparents and grandparents devoted their lives to relying on weak arms to shield their children from the wind and rain, to teach their husbands and children, to spread the fragrance of books, and to inherit virtues. That year, Grandpa also specially gave his father such a gentle and pleasant name, hoping that his father would have a bright future in the future, and advised their children to jump into the "dragon gate" through their own diligent efforts. At that time, the young father was not overwhelmed by the poor family situation, and was not intimidated by the dark years. He obeyed his grandfather's teachings, and with a clear heart, firm ambition, and young steps, he consciously embarked on the road of study.
My father enrolled in school at the age of 7, and the village before liberation always stopped and closed under the impact of war, delaying a lot of studies, even so, my father did not give up the belief in studying for a moment. After failing to learn in the old school that was useless, my father would collect grass and vegetables at home, graze cattle and sheep, and help improve the family situation; at the same time, he followed his grandfather who had attended a private school to read the four famous works such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Dream of the Red Chamber, and checked the Kangxi Dictionary to read. Uncle Da taught him to read the Three Character Classic, the Hundred Family Names, and the story of Yue Fei's loyalty to the country. His second uncle, who had been a teacher, taught him to do arithmetic problems, memorize ancient poems, and learn to write. All of this sowed the seed of "only by reading, there is a way out" in the heart of his father's young heart. After the liberation of his hometown in 1949, all aspects of New China slowly restored order, and the primary school where my father attended was also formalized. At this time, my father cherished the hard-won learning environment, worked harder, and relied on the spirit of hardship cultivated by the day after tomorrow to achieve one excellent result after another in his coursework. When he was in the fifth and sixth grades of primary school, his father also served as a small editor of the school poster, practicing a strong and powerful brush writing; he was also keen to learn to sing red revolutionary songs such as "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" and "You Are a Beacon", and cultivated patriotic feelings of loving the party and the country since childhood. At that time, his father was a young teenager who had just turned 15 years old, and his father when he was a teenager was a magnificent teenager who forged ahead and learned with ambition.
02
Practice by candlelight and teach the pulpit. In 1952, his father was admitted to Jiaoxian Normal School with excellent results. On the day of receiving the acceptance letter, the family members burst into tears of joy. You must know that in the early days of liberation, it was a beautiful thing for a child from a poor and backward small mountain village to be able to enter a normal school through his own struggle. The young father was not complacent about this, but full of confidence, he carried a simple bag on his back, said goodbye to his relatives with tears, said goodbye to the barren mountain village in his hometown, and embarked on a new path of study alone. The three years of study of Jiaoxian Normal School are, in the words of my father, the most precious and unforgettable three years in my life. After being admitted to the teacher training, because the school managed the living expenses and issued the bursary, my father no longer worried about not having enough to eat and wear, and he spent his energy on his studies. While learning basic courses and professional courses, my father paid great attention to strengthening extracurricular self-study, and often went to the library to read "How Steel is Made", "The Story of Zoya and Shula", "Mao Zedong's Adolescence" and other works. It was at that time that my father began to like writing, and he took the initiative to write manuscripts for the school and class blackboard newspapers, and the compositions he wrote often became praised by teachers and students for classroom examples. Rich knowledge reserves, good lecturing level and writing ability laid the foundation for my father to become a qualified people's teacher in the future. After graduating from the normal school in 1955, his father successively served as a primary, junior high school and high school teacher in Caijia Station, Zhichenghe, Hujiazhuang and other communes in Gaomixi Township. During the teaching period, no matter in which position, the father properly handled work and family relations, obeyed the organizational arrangements, was loyal to his duties, had no complaints or regrets, worked silently, worked hard to complete the teaching tasks, and fulfilled the duties of a people's teacher. Because of his outstanding performance, in 1975, his father, who was nearly 40 years old, gloriously joined the Communist Party of China and realized his wish for many years, and in the same year, he was transferred to the county cultural and educational office. Although he is no longer engaged in teaching in the field, his father still misses his former teaching career. Because, from teaching, he realized the value of life; from teaching, he achieved the dream of life.
"Tao Li does not speak, the next is its own." In the 20 years of teaching the pulpit, in every early morning when the books were loud, or on the night when the lights were flickering, my father was like a glowing star, burning youth and illuminating others. He used his rich knowledge and no complaints and no regrets to preach and teach students to solve their problems, and cultivated a large number of outstanding talents for the society; the kind deeds of teaching by words and deeds cultivated the sound personality of the students like a spring wind and rain; with strictness and care, he built a good family style of "learning and being happy" for his children.
03
Wind and rain in the spring and autumn, keep the right way. Although his father was an intellectual, in the first half of his life, he has always shared the prosperity of the national fortune and the hardships of life. Born in the revolutionary war years, he witnessed the great War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression of the Chinese nation, the magnificent War of Liberation, celebrated the founding of New China, withstood the baptism of the Cultural Revolution, welcomed the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, and witnessed the glorious development process of reform, opening up, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. In my heart, my father can be called an old man of the century who has experienced the vicissitudes of the world through storms and rains. But no matter how life rises and falls, how the world changes, my father has always adhered to his own rules of life: self-cultivation and morality, and keeping the right way. In the 1957 national struggle against the Rightists, many teachers were classified as Rightists, some were re-educated through labor, some were supervised labor, and the father survived because of his family origin and firm personal political attitude. During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, a nationwide upsurge of steel smelting was set off, and school teachers and senior students were all suspended. In response to the party's call, the father led his students to actively participate in all kinds of labor, loyal and responsible, without complaint, and the bittersweet and humiliation of which only their generation themselves knew. Especially in the three years of difficulty in the late "Great Leap Forward", natural disasters were frequent, food shortages were very scarce, and dried sweet potatoes and elm bark were the only food in the family. In the face of famine, my father had the idea of quitting his job and going out to earn a living. But in the end, my father still convinced himself, relying on firm faith and tenacious will. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out. During this period, the rebels repeatedly threatened and encouraged their father to join their organization to rebel, and his father always adhered to principles, took a clear position, and did not follow the trend to rebel, thus safely escaping the catastrophe that lasted for ten years. For ten years, my father has always adhered to the oath he made when he joined the army to "teach and educate people" and did his duty to teach students. Even when classes are suspended, he doesn't go to Hulai. Instead, he took advantage of his leisure time to live alone in a dark room, eliminate disturbances, and quietly read revolutionary literary and artistic works and philosophical and social science books, so as to enhance his political literacy and ideological realm. During his teaching in secondary school, he was transferred to the commune several times to fully display his writing talents and help drafting meeting experience materials and leadership speeches. His father's upright personality and excellent quality, in that turbulent era, it was a great honor to win the unanimous approval of the leaders of the commune and the teachers and students of the school.
04
Simple life, bittersweet companionship. I remember when I was four or five years old, in the mid-1970s. At that time, my father's monthly salary was only more than thirty yuan, and the whole family was huddled in a few dilapidated, low-sturdy earthen houses, and my father, mother, eldest brother, second brother, sister, and I, a family of six, often ate the last meal without the next meal. Faced with the problems of the cost of living and going to school for the four of us sisters, the problem of dress, and the problem of transportation, my father and mother complained privately, had troubles, and quarreled. In that era of waste and waiting to be revived, the life at home was like cold water, both dull and tasteless, bitter and difficult, pressing on the hearts of parents, as if there was a mountain that could never be moved.
Before liberation, my father suffered from hunger, and after liberation, my father experienced too many twists and turns, and since he was a child, he experienced that a peaceful and stable life was not easy to come by. Even if life was a little bitter in the 1960s and 1970s, he always showed positive optimism in front of his children, did not abandon or give up, overcame the hardships of life with the attitude of "thrifty family management" and "tightening the belt to live a life", and took on the heavy responsibility of raising children without complaint. When my father was a teacher, he was particularly thrifty and thrifty, often a coarse cloth zhongshan suit worn three seasons a year. Never give up to spend an extra penny, and save up a little bit of hard-earned salary for family expenses. In his spare time, he also helped his mother, who was a farmer at home, to earn work in the fields and cultivate and harvest grain together. At that time, the main food in the family was tortillas, sweet potato noodle nests, pickled pickles, and it was a luxury to eat pork and white noodle dumplings several times a year. In order to ensure the nutrition of his children, the father secretly planted a small vegetable field in his yard in his spare time to improve the family diet. Looking back now, although the life at that time was a little bitter, the days were bitter and sweet, bitter and happy, and happy.
After the reform and opening up, the country's social economy has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the people's food, clothing, housing, and transportation have become increasingly prosperous. At this time, my father still maintained the simple quality of an intellectual, adhering to the fine style of hard struggle, looking down on flashiness, underestimating interests, and valuing family affection. For their generation, as long as the old have some support, the sick have medical treatment, and the heart has a return, there is no need to excessively pursue material pleasures. Three meals a day, just a cup of water, a steamed bun, a plate of small dishes, a bowl of hot porridge, the father is easy to satisfy, the individual is never willing to waste a grain, a piece of vegetables.
05
Engage in political organs and practice what they do. In the autumn of 1975, his father, who had 20 years of teaching experience, was arranged by his superiors to serve in the county cultural and educational office. After that, his father was entrusted with heavy responsibilities by the organization many times because of his strong management ability and hard professional quality. In 1981, he successively served as the director of the county teaching and research office, the deputy director of the family planning bureau, the director of the county family planning bureau in 1984, and the chairman of the county trade union in 1987. No matter what position he held or what work he was engaged in, his father always played the leading role of party members and cadres, adhered to principles, strictly self-disciplined, practiced deeds, and devoted himself to the cause with the dedication of giving up his small family to take care of everyone, and achieved remarkable results. During the period of engaging in the work of the organs, he mainly participated in the solution of four major events. The first is the matter of the rightists taking off their hats. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee was convened, in accordance with the unified deployment of the central government and the work arrangements of the county party committee, my father participated in the examination and correction of the materials of 275 rightists in the high-density education circles. At that time, the office conditions were poor, unlike now there are computers and printers, the writing materials rely on manual repeated revision, transcription, time-consuming, laborious and brain-intensive, in the face of this sensitive work related to the fate of teachers, my father fully understood the connotation of national policy, strictly checked the written materials, and carefully conducted preliminary examination and correction with colleagues. Eventually, they were restored to their reputations and duties. The second is the matter of enrollment. During the period of presiding over the work of the Admissions Office, the enrollment policy was strictly stipulated, and there were no problems in the enrollment work of the whole county. The third is the matter of family planning. At that time, family planning was already a basic national policy of the state, which was related to the national economy and people's livelihood and to thousands of households. Under the leadership of the county party committee, my father adhered to the bottom line of the population and fertility policy, strengthened scientific management guidance, organized the creation of a family planning service station, optimized the birth service measures, and won the national advanced unit of family planning. The fourth is the affairs of grass-roots trade unions. In the mid-1980s, reform and opening up were in full swing, and township enterprises mushroomed and flourished, and it was imperative to form trade unions in the nascent township enterprises. To this end, my father, in the spirit of eating crabs, tried first. He personally visited the frontline, conducted in-depth research and discussion, vigorously publicized and launched, and for the first time promoted the establishment of trade union organizations within the township enterprises in the county. At the same time, trade unions at all levels have generally established technical associations to organize, guide and serve enterprises to carry out technological innovation, which is the first in Weifang City.
06
Exert the residual heat, and the kindness will last forever. 1997 was my father's retirement year. It is said that the father who retired from the leadership position should have been idle at home, and the children and grandchildren should have enjoyed a happy old age at the knees, but the father still could not stay idle. Father often said: When people are old, they not only eat nutritiously and pay attention to maintenance, but more importantly, they must have cultivation and achievements. Just after retiring to the second line, my father was hired to the county tax bureau to engage in secretarial propaganda work, and he gave full play to his writing expertise and used positive brushstrokes to record and report on the footsteps of local economic and social development progress. Although my father was old, he still adhered to the party's belief and purpose, and successively organized and participated in the "I Say The War of Resistance" and "Add Positive Energy to the Party's Cause" prize essay solicitation activities organized by the local veteran cadre bureau. A few years ago, as the secretary of the branch of retired veteran cadres of the Gaomi Federation of Trade Unions, with the support of his unit, he advocated the establishment of a "home for party members and cadres", and his father led the retired old party members and cadres in the system to visit enterprises, communities and villages, witness and narrate the new changes of the times, and jointly contribute to the economic and social development of Gaomi. The days of getting together and studying together allowed my father and the old cadres like my father to eliminate loneliness, find a sense of belonging, and experience a sense of happiness.
Insisting on justice, not being humble, being honest and simple, and having a kind heart are the biggest traits in the father's personality. My father often said that no matter how the times develop and how the years change, what remains unchanged is the accumulation and promotion of traditional Chinese virtues in the family and society. In addition to influencing his children with his charisma, fathers also do their best to help others and contribute to society. In recent years, he has moved his elderly and weak body, traveled and coordinated in many ways, helped old party members with family difficulties to contact and do cataract surgery free of charge; applied for help for cancer patients; contacted old comrades who were injured on buses to apply for insurance compensation; and volunteered to teach ancient poems and promote traditional Chinese culture for party members and cadres. My father was able to exert his residual heat and dedicate his love to the society, all because of the obsession of compassion for the people and friendliness in the hearts of an old party member and old cadre.
About author:Yu Qiang, a native of Gaomi City, Shandong Province, a member of the Communist Party of China, with a university degree, is currently working for the Gaomi Municipal Taxation Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation. He is a member of the Shandong Writers Association, the Chinese Essayists Association, the Shandong Prose Literature Society, the Gaomi Moyan Research Association, and the Director of the Red Sorghum Literature Society. He has published more than 500 essays, poems, essays and news works in newspapers and periodicals at all levels and new media literary platforms, and won more than ten literary creation awards at or above the municipal level, such as the title of the Second Red Sorghum Literary Star, the Excellence Award of the Second Wu Boxiu Prose Award National Prose New Works Competition, the Third Prize of the National Literature Competition of China's Most Beautiful Travelogue, the Third Prize of the "Memory Weifang" Essay Contest, and the First Prize of the Second Contemporary Short Literary Works. Many essays have been selected into books such as "2022 Jiaodong Prose Annual Selection", "Contemporary Essayist American Calendar", "Good Life and Good Prose Excellent Works Selection", and have published tax news works "Blue Heart Collection", prose collection "Walking Season", "Affectionate Years".
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