Impression of Xiamiao Elementary School
Author: Ren Shulin
I was born in 1950, and I am also a peer of the Republic, and my ancestral home is Binba Village, Xiamiao Town, Huaxian County. I studied at Xiamiao Primary School since I was a child, and later worked in other places and have retired. Children are naïve, white-headed homesick, and everything about their alma mater is still vivid!
At that time, Xiamiao Primary School was renovated from an ancient temple, with grades 1 to 6, with more than 500 students, and the teachers were superior in the county. The principal is Mr. Zhao Xipu, who likes Qin dialect and Qin Yun, and in the literary and artistic activities held by the school, he often performs on stage as a man dressed as a woman. At that time, the main subjects were Chinese and arithmetic, and in addition to natural, historical, geography, physical education, and music and art classes, there were also manual labor classes. Chinese teachers include Zhao Decheng, Gan Zhongyi, Qin Shaorang, Wu Shimin, and Shen Zhiyu; arithmetic teachers include Yin Guoshu (pockmarked face, able to Taijiquan), Zhang Xuexiu, Qiao Shurui, Ren Guixiao (some teachers can't remember) and a group of dedicated gardeners. They are knowledgeable and have cultivated batches of outstanding talents for the country, which can be described as peach and plum all over the world!
The five halls are the landmark of the school, and there is a small stage in the hall. At that time, there was still an ancient building in the north of the hall that had not been demolished and was used as a dormitory for senior students. There are several hundred-year-old pine trees standing next to the ancient building. The five halls also serve as temporary classrooms for students to attend classes when there are many students.
The school has rudimentary facilities, and rows of brick and wood classrooms have been erected along with the demolition of other ancient buildings. Desks in the first and second grades of primary school are made of brick legs, and wooden desks and benches are available for students in the third grade and above. To this day, I still remember the content of a text in the first grade of primary school: Workers love machines, farmers love land, the People's Liberation Army loves guns and artillery, and we must love books and pens. The pinyin that I first enrolled in school is the Chinese language that has been used during the Republic of China: 勹, 攵, 冂, 匚, 勹. I remember that I began to learn the current pinyin in the third grade, b, p, m, f, in order to cater to international standards, using English letter combinations.
We are in a time of unprecedented natural disasters for the country. The supply of all daily necessities is scarce, prices are rising, people's lives are stretched, and even the pen, ink, paper and inkstone used by students are nervous. The paper is poor, the writing is poor, and there is no ink, so I buy a bag of blue and water. As long as you can use a book that doesn't leak, it's an honor.。
The school also actively organizes students to work and study to overcome difficulties. There is a shortage of papermaking raw materials in the country, and the school stipulates that each student completes the task of 30 kilograms of cotton rod skin (for papermaking). Every Sunday, or in the afternoon, when we don't go to school, we peel the cotton pole next to the cotton pole pile of the production team, dry it, and hand it over to the homeroom teacher for weighing.
The whole country has launched a vigorous campaign to "eliminate the four evils and stress hygiene", and schools are no exception. To eliminate rats, the tail must be cut off and handed over to the class for registration, and the number of rat tails can prove how many rats have been eliminated. To eliminate sparrows, you need sparrow legs (a pair of legs counts as one), and everyone uses a variety of methods such as homemade slingshot and sieve trapping to complete the task. Students who are too young have to rely on their parents to do it for them. At the end of the competition, students who complete the task well will be awarded certificates for encouragement.
The school's playground is more than two acres in size and is located in a low-lying area west of the teaching area. And there is an earthen stage in the east of the playground, which is the main venue for cultural and sports activities. However, every time it rains or even rains, the water is overflowing, and even physical education classes cannot be completed.
On Sundays, I have to complete the homework assigned by the teacher and do what I can for the family. At that time, there was no electricity in the countryside, and if you were greedy for fun during the day, homework could only be done under kerosene lamps. At that time, the sanitary conditions were poor, there were a lot of lice on the body, and the itching was incomparable, so we did our homework while catching lice, and caught them on the kerosene lamp to burn, and the most favorite thing to hear was that the lice were burned to make a "pop" sound!
I remember that in the sixth grade, the teachers of the graduating class grasped the important knowledge very tightly, and engraved it into handouts for students to memorize. For the assault, there was no electricity, so the teacher used the class fee to buy two gas lamps, which burned kerosene. Under the guidance of the teacher, I was put in charge of the gas lamp, first adding oil and gas, and then lighting and deflation. The gas lamp is made of a mixture of gas to burn the asbestos mesh to illuminate the light, and at first, if the gas supply is too large, the screen will blow up. So, you have to blow slowly until the mesh gets brighter and brighter.
Recalling the school life in the sixth grade, I couldn't calm down for a long time, there was no pressure, homework was completed in class as much as possible, and the rest of the time, I mainly participated in social activities and carried out recreation, sports and entertainment. Such as skipping rope, kicking shuttlecock, throwing sandbags, rolling hoops, playing softball, rehearsals, etc., are rich and colorful. The teacher's focus is to educate students to acquire the ability to analyze and solve problems from knowledge. Teachers and students live in harmony with each other and enjoy each other.
Under the hard work of my teachers, I was successfully admitted to Huaxian Shaohua Middle School in 1963, and graduated from junior high school in 666. But the happy study life in Xiamiao Primary School is a beautiful memory of my life and will always be remembered in my heart!
About author:Ren Shulin, male, college degree, assistant economist, third term. He used to work in the People's Government of Dazhu County, and is now retired, a member of the Weinan Calligraphy Association and a member of the Weinan Red Culture Research Association.
Source: Author's contribution
Original author: Ren Shulin
Collation and editing: Huazhou Literature and History