The college entrance examination is a turning point in fate for many people. Ten years of hard study, just hoping to be on the list.
But have you ever seen a person who handed in a blank paper in the college entrance examination? Not only did he hand in a blank paper, but he was also elected as a "white paper hero".
He is Zhang Tiesheng. In the college entrance examination room, he handed in the blank paper and wrote a letter on the back of the test paper. He became a "white roll hero" overnight, and although he was imprisoned afterwards, he became a billionaire after he was released from prison!
Why did he have to hand in the blank papers, and what has he experienced in his life after 51 years?
"Educated youth" in the examination room
In 1950, Zhang Tiesheng was born in a peasant family in Xingcheng, Liaoning. Despite his poor family, his parents had high hopes for him, hoping that their son could rely on his own ability to get rid of the days when he was facing the loess with his back to the sky.
For this reason, Zhang Tiesheng has worked extra hard since he was a child. He kept his parents' expectations in mind and secretly decided to use knowledge to change the current situation of poverty in his family.
During the high school entrance examination, Zhang Tiesheng was admitted to the county key middle school with excellent results.
Watching their son move towards his ideal step by step, his parents were sincerely gratified for him. They look forward to Zhang Tiesheng being admitted to a key university in a few years and completely changing the fate of the family.
But at this moment, a social movement disrupted the trajectory of Zhang Tiesheng's life.
In 1968, the movement of intellectual youth to go to the mountains and countryside was in full swing across the country. Eighteen-year-old Zhang Tiesheng, like many of his peers, went to remote villages to settle in a queue with idealistic feelings.
Zhang Tiesheng, who came to the countryside, devoted himself to rural production. Even after many years, Zhang Tiesheng still hasn't forgotten the skills he had cultivated by helping his parents do farm work at home.
So with his excellent agricultural expertise, he soon became a production expert in the village and was promoted to the leader of the production team.
Just when Zhang Tiesheng gradually adapted to the life of going to the countryside to cut the queue, an opportunity he had dreamed of came. In 1973, Zhang Tiesheng was recommended by the county as a student of workers, peasants and soldiers for the university entrance examination.
After hearing the news, Zhang Tiesheng was excited, and he finally saw the hope of changing his fate.
Zhang Tiesheng immediately began to prepare for the exam, hoping to be admitted to a key university. But after going to the examination room, he turned in a blank paper! What happened?
From the "White Roll Hero" to the Prisoner
In the summer of 1973, Zhang Tiesheng got the opportunity to take the college entrance examination. Although he had been away from academics for many years, the village leaders remembered his excellent academic performance in the past and gave him priority in the only place they had for the college entrance examination.
But when Zhang Tiesheng began to review with the thick review materials, he realized that the knowledge he had learned was about to be forgotten.
Arts, science, engineering, agriculture and medicine, every subject is like a book in heaven to him.
But the opportunity to take the college entrance examination is too rare, and many people are not even qualified for the exam. Thinking of this, Zhang Tiesheng felt that he couldn't give up. So I started to review desperately, but the temporary Buddha's feet didn't seem to have much effect.
The college entrance examination is coming as scheduled. Zhang Tiesheng walked into the examination room, picked up the exam paper, and had no way to write.
He was confused by the dense topics. Mathematics and Chinese can still answer questions with a little foundation, but chemistry and physics don't know how to write at all.
Inner anxiety quickly turned into anger. Zhang Tiesheng wrote a letter on the back of the test paper with years of grievances.
"We used to have the right and the opportunity to learn, but we were forcibly deprived of it...... If it weren't for the fact that we had been so focused on productive labor and delayed revision, how could we be so embarrassed now?"
"Isn't it ironic that the winners are often the ones who are on the loose?"
This straightforward and sincere long article tells the unwillingness in Zhang Tiesheng's heart.
He understood that this exam was destined to be a farce, and he was powerless to make amends. So he silently threw the pen on the ground and turned away.
It's just that he didn't expect that this "white scroll" that should have been forgotten would cause an uproar across the country. That long article was made public and quickly resonated strongly with many people.
Countless educated youths who have the same experience as Zhang Tiesheng regard him as a voice representative.
In this way, all of a sudden, Zhang Tiesheng became a "white roll hero". This incident caused a lot of uproar, and eventually even reached the central leadership.
Under the impetus of this public opinion, the central authorities soon issued instructions demanding that Zhang Tiesheng be given key commendations and support.
And Tieling Agricultural College admitted this young man with no grades for the first time. Next, Zhang Tiesheng was given priority to become a member of the Communist Party of China, and two years later he was elected to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
Overnight, Zhang Tiesheng jumped from an unknown rural guy to a well-known "hero". He attends conferences and speaks at various venues.
However, no one realized that this false aura of heroes was destined to bring more suffering to Zhang Tiesheng.
Zhang Tiesheng has completely abandoned his own work and is running around every day for the propaganda campaign in various places. However, in 1976, with the change of the political situation, Zhang Tiesheng's "heroic halo" also disappeared quickly.
A storm of censorship knocked the once-highly admired youth to the ground. Tieling Agricultural College first revoked his student status, then revoked his public office and party membership, and finally Zhang Tiesheng was arrested by the public security department.
Three years ago, he was a "hero" in the limelight, but now he has become a prisoner.
The Jinzhou Intermediate People's Court quickly heard Zhang Tiesheng's case. As a defendant, Zhang Tiesheng did not hire a lawyer to defend himself, as many expected, but personally stood in the courtroom to speak for himself.
But no matter how good the reason is, it will not help in the context of the times at that time. The court finally made a ruling, and Zhang Tiesheng was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Since then, Zhang Tiesheng has spent fifteen years of his long and arduous prison life in Lingyuan Prison. Finally, in 1991, Zhang Tiesheng regained his freedom.
Do it all over again
It has been 15 years since I left the society. Everything had changed drastically, and he felt like a newborn baby, strange and curious about the outside world.
Fortunately, there is a female friend named Dong Liping who has been waiting for him. Since Zhang Tiesheng was imprisoned, she has been silently waiting for him to be released from prison.
During Zhang Tiesheng's 15 years in prison, Dong Liping became a teacher at Shenyang Agricultural University. During this period, she helped Zhang Tiesheng take care of his parents and gave spiritual and financial support to the second elder.
Now, seeing Zhang Tiesheng regain his life, she was ecstatic, and the two soon became husband and wife, and the family finally regained its warmth.
However, Zhang Tiesheng, who regained his freedom, did not settle down. He wants to find a decent life for his wife and children, and he must start working again.
However, 15 years is like a century for him, and society has changed dramatically.
At first, because of his criminal record, he searched everywhere for a job, but he ran into a gray nose, and no one dared to hire this "alternative person".
Later, Zhang Tiesheng found a job in a feed processing factory. With the accumulated knowledge of agriculture and animal husbandry, Zhang Tiesheng soon became the company's backbone sales executive.
Soon after, Zhang Tiesheng simply used some savings on hand to start a "Tiandi Feed" company with an old friend.
The road at the beginning of the business was not easy, but Zhang Tiesheng was never discouraged. He holds books to learn relevant knowledge, and strives to study and improve the formula of new feed, just to provide customers with high-quality products.
Soon the company was on the right track, and was later acquired by a large agricultural and livestock enterprise.
This is Zhang Tiesheng's wisest move. With the help of the new owner, 5% of his shares appreciated rapidly, and in less than 10 years, Zhang Tiesheng's worth exceeded the 100 million mark!
Today, he lives a free life, with his wife and his daughter.
Those ups and downs have now turned into the experience of life. Zhang Tiesheng used his own struggle to interpret the spirit of unremitting self-improvement and became the real winner of the times.
The author thinks
Zhang Tiesheng has experienced ups and downs in his life, but he finally sailed into the other side of tranquility after the rainstorm with his tenacious perseverance.
He used his life to explain the spirit of self-improvement and was a model for many strugglers. In this era of pursuing dreams, he will surely become a footnote for a new generation of young people to pursue their ideals bravely.
Information sources:
1. China.com "The History of the Fortune of the "White Roll Hero" Zhang Tiesheng
2. Overseas network ""White Roll Hero" Zhang Tiesheng is worth nearly 200 million because of the stock listing"