An unforgettable song
"In the blue sky, white clouds are flying, and the beautiful Yangtze River is my lovely Wuhan, Jiangcheng, my hometown." The changhong-like bridge lies like a dragon on the Turtle and Snake Mountain, and the majestic Wuhan Pass stands in my hometown" Beautiful, soothing, emotional song coming out of the tape recorder. Suddenly, I was pleasantly surprised, and I felt very kind, that was the song I had sung. Stop and listen immediately. This song brought me back to the unforgettable career of "Zhiqing", the youth years that were ruthlessly ravaged by history.
I remember that I learned to sing this song at the end of 1969, and it was a cold winter, and the Zhiqing of the neighboring production team came to our Zhiqing Hut to "visit the door". At that time, whenever the farmers were idle and the team was on vacation, we knew that the young people would walk around each other, as if they were relatives. Some people talked about a song that was circulating at that time, saying that it came from other places, and in order to meet the actual situation of Wuhan Zhiqing, some changes were made to the lyrics. They sang to us, listened to it, and the intellectuals present were deeply moved by it, and everyone's excitement, joy and excitement overflowed into words.
Neither of us recorded the score or the lyrics, but we learned it quickly. We sang down with the beat, "The changhong-like bridge spans the turtle and snake mountain like a dragon, and the majestic Wuhan Pass stands in my hometown..." Singing, some Zhiqing actually cried, beautiful Wuhan, we miss you. This is the song of our hearts, a song of a lifetime. "Farewell to my mother, goodbye to my hometown, the golden student era has been recorded in the annals of youth and gone forever..."
It is called "Zhiqing", but knowledge is trampled under our feet, we simply cannot choose history, we cannot choose life, everything has long been fixed for you, history is destined to engage in hard agricultural labor. In the "vast world" shrouded in the aura of "revolution", it is this song that gives us sustenance, and accompanies us through that painful journey.
Surrounding the lake to create fields
Unforgettable days when farmers were idle and went to the water conservancy. In the winter in the countryside, we built a tent with cotton poles on the embankment of Longgan Lake, and then spread out the luggage on the spot, and we had to stay in this temporary residence for two months. The team arranged for me and Qiaoqiao to stay close to the kitchen. It was an unforgettable night in my life, it was raining, the wind was blowing, the rain was ticking and leaking, first wetting our quilts, then the mats were also wet, and we both clung to each other, first squeezing to sleep, then sitting up, and finally there was not even a dry place the size of a palm, so I had to stand up, and I was so cold that I only shivered.
The sound of our late-night noise alarmed the male laborers who were separated by only one wall, and when they knew, they kindly evened out a quilt and a cushion so that we could stay up until dawn. Afterwards, Qiao Qiao and I sighed in unison, remembering this unusual night, I want to write a story about this night in the future, I did not expect that this wish was really fulfilled today.
The truth of the affliction
Speaking of coincidence, I think of an unforgettable thing. I remember that at the end of April 1971, when we "didn't plant May 1st seedlings", we got up early to pull and plant seedlings in the dark. In April, the water in the fields is cold and cold. Due to physical discomfort and long hours of watery work, I fell ill, lying in bed with a high fever, and the pain in my body was unbearable. It was Qiaoqiao who borrowed a board car to send me to the Zhanghe Health Center, which was 20 kilometers away from the team, to see a doctor. The scene of this cart delivering patients is like the scene in the movie "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" in which Feng Qinglan pulls Luo Qun back to her residence with a wooden cart.
The cart went back and forth for more than 40 kilometers, running on the loess road, tired and sweating. From time to time during the march, farmers gathered around, only to hear the sound of "students are so pitiful". At this time, I lay on the board and looked up at the blue sky with both eyes, full of tears in my heart: "Good people, thank you!"
How much I wanted to cry with her today. Unfortunately, she left me prematurely, and at the moment I just wanted to shout into the sky: "Qiaoqiao, I miss you so much!" My pen is too heavy to lift, and this article only brings me deep gratitude and eternal remembrance. Another of my friends and old classmates, Cheng Juqing, also unfortunately died of illness in 2005, and I would like to bring endless thoughts with this article.
Zhiqing of the same group, from left: Cheng Jiqiao, Yu Liangfan, Cheng Juqing, Li Qunbao, Li Li, Yao Yuehua
"Double grab" season
The most tiring thing in the countryside is the "double grab" season.
The first is to harvest early rice, the most difficult is to pick the grass head (grain handle). The grass head is all tied by male laborers, the grass head is tied thick and large, we have to use a person's high burden, the head of the burden is stabbed to the grass head, and then with full strength to lift the grass head high, and then the other end of the burden into another grass head, and then the trend of a shoulder on the shoulder, really heavy! I estimate it's eighty or ninety pounds. To take difficult steps forward, you have to stride forward in the flow of people, because those who carry heavy burdens cannot walk slowly, and the slower they are, the more tired they are.
Second, when the early rice is harvested, the ground is rakeed and the second crop of rice seedlings must be planted in the field. With the 40°C heat under the scorching sun overhead, the hot water under his feet, the bowed waist and the head bowed to plant seedlings, the beads of sweat on the forehead only dripping down, the young people in the village shouted vigorously: "It's so uncomfortable!" It was like being in a steamer. ”
We all suffered in silence, and we went to the countryside to take root for a lifetime! In that age of "more knowledge and more reactionary", we have no choice but to sing: "As the sun rises, with the sun and the moon setting, the heavy repair of the earth is a glorious and sacred vocation, my destiny..."
After recruitment
In the days after the Zhiqing recruiters who went to the same place returned to the city, this song accompanied me in the face of adversity and struggled without discouragement. As a "Zhiqing", I went to the countryside with the school to settle down, and after I began to recruit workers in 1970, Zhiqing was agitated, and Zhiqing, who had a good family composition, was first recruited. My family was made up of clerks, my father worked in the old government offices before liberation, and was sent to the "May Seventh" cadre school during the Cultural Revolution. Each recruitment was stranded due to "unqualified political review". Poor and lower-middle peasants recommended me to enter the factory several times (such as Hubei Tractor Factory and 330 Engineering Bureau), but they failed because they could not pass the political examination.
Later, we knew that the people of Qingdian 7 brothers walked 6, and I was the only one left in the 3 houses, I was really sad, it was indeed a matter of ashes. In those days, after each day's work, I always had an inexplicable fear in my heart. As soon as he returned to the Zhiqing Hut, he quickly closed the door and used a shovel to hold the door against it, then used the foot basin to build it, and then took the kerosene lamp to check the empty rooms one by one, and finally sat by the stove to cook rice, while whispering: "How difficult and long the road ahead is, and the depth of life is in a remote foreign country." "A sense of historical humiliation came over me, and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
I sang "Embroider the earth red with our hands, red all over the universe...", and the song gave me confidence and hope. I prayed and longed, and I missed my hometown more than ever. At this time, I secretly decided that I must return to the city and return to Wuhan, where I was thinking about it. I hate the hateful words "unqualified political trials." I don't know where the energy came from, but I went out, worked tirelessly, desperately completed all the work entrusted to me by the brigade and the squad, and filled my daily life to the fullest.
When the farmers were busy, I was a good broadcaster, and every day during the planting season, I got up at dawn and stood at the entrance of the village with a radio tube to loudly publicize and encourage: "All the members of zhou yan's third team: In order not to plant may 1st seedlings, the young people of the independent regiment, Aihua and Lazhi, etc., have gone down to the field to pull the seedlings ××, please learn from them and go to work!"
After everyone went out to work one after another, I saw the members of the club carrying the burden in front of me and chasing me past. At the edge of the field, I ran the blackboard newspaper of "Yellow Flowers on the Battlefield", and improvised the allegro book to praise the advanced, promoted the production team to set off a catch-up, help, and super climax, and boosted the morale of the members of the production team. I actively completed some of the publicity work given to me by the production team, and in the places where the production team stood out, on some iconic buildings, I painted large slogans on the walls with white lime water. Slogans such as "Agricultural Village" and "Deep Digging Holes, Extensive Grain Accumulation, and Preparing for War and Famine for the People" written in black or lishu are very eye-catching.
Originally, I was not good at singing and dancing, and I had to take on the work of running a propaganda team. You say you can't do it, and the peasant says, "You city servants, there are things that won't happen." "Okay! Just in response to this, I set up a propaganda team again, which can also be regarded as winning glory for the people of Wuhan. I didn't expect that to be the case, our propaganda team rehearsed the program to the whole brigade tour, and the primary school propaganda team won back several first prizes in a row. I also set up a night school for the production team to teach farmers to read, and then I was named "Five Good Society Member" and "County Zhiqing Activist".
In those days, I was so tired that I could only summon up the courage to meet tomorrow when I lay quietly in bed in the middle of the night and hummed "The Song of Zhiqing" alone. In April 1973, my brother and 3 girls from Wuhan People's Middle School also joined the team to my Zhiqingdian, and everyone hoped that I, the "old Zhiqing", would be able to recruit workers to a new position as soon as possible.
Finally, the day everyone was looking forward to came, it was the summer of this year, the university began to enroll, and the poor and lower middle peasants unanimously recommended me to go to college. At this time, the state implemented the policy, my father's problem was rehabilitated, the whole family had returned to the city from the "May Seventh" cadre school, and naturally my political trial was finally qualified, and I sang "I believe that the tomorrow I envision will come..."
On August 28, 1973, I received my acceptance letter from college, and it was the most exciting day of my life, and I couldn't sleep with excitement. On September 1, I bid farewell to five years of rural life, and under the escort of the villagers and my brother (my brother and I lived together in Zhiqingdian for 4 months), I took the Oriental Red Wheel through Jiujiang and embarked on the return journey to the Metallurgical Machinery Major of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute (now Wuhan University of Science and Technology). After graduating from college, I stayed in school to work, and my experience at work was: There are young people who have experienced this bowl of wine at the bottom, and it is difficult to overcome any kind of difficulties.
On July 11, 1970, we took a group photo with local youth at Kong'an
Thanks to "Song of Zhiqing", it gave me strength and courage to accompany me through the difficult five years of Zhiqing's career. I have always wanted to inquire about the original songwriter, and when commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Zhiqing Movement, I was pleased to learn that the songwriter of this song was Ren Yi of the sixth and sixth zhiqing of Nanjing No. 5 Middle And High School in Wuhan, and thanked him for writing a song of his own for us Zhiqing. At the same time, knowing that he paid the price of 9 years in prison, while we complained about the injustice of history, we could only look forward and believe that tomorrow would be better.
Ren Yi, we Wuhan Zhiqing greet you! Please accept our salute!
"In the blue sky, white clouds are flying, and the beautiful Yangtze River is my hometown in the lovely Wuhan River City..." Every morning along the beautiful Peace Avenue, I ride my bicycle to work. The morning wind blew my hair, stirred my clothes, and greeted the rising sun, and I said "Good morning, Wuhan!" Singing "The Song of Zhiqing" softly, a new day began again.
Li Li (Li Li)
Wuhan 19th Middle School 68th high school students.
At the end of 1968, he was sent to the third squad of the Zhouyan Brigade of Wuhe Commune, Kong'an District, Huangmei County, and was recommended to be admitted to the Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute (now Wuhan University of Science and Technology) in July 1973, graduated in 1976 and retired as an associate researcher in October 2003.
Salvage of urban memories Hook sinks the past of the three towns
Hankou St. Joseph's Girls' High School, now Wuhan No. 19 Middle School. Wang Khan wu provided the picture
Editor: Tian Lianshen
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