I recently saw an example of the tragic life of a college student from Jiaotong University in the 1960s who was assigned to dig coal in a Guizhou coal mine, reminding me of the experience of my own brother-in-law and aunt who went to Datong coal mine after graduating from Shanghai University.
Here is one more point. Even by today’s standards of foreign language education, my brother-in-law and aunt were definitely high achievers in English, but they were forcibly assigned to Datong, not to do any work remotely related to their major, but to go into the mines, so much so that my brother-in-law once got pneumonia and went back to Shanghai for treatment.
But it is interesting to note that at that time, one of the most popular paintings in Chinese painting world appeared, “Mine Recruit”, created by none other than my great uncle, and the inspiration came from either elsewhere or from my brother-in-law’s life in Datong coal mine. The vibrant female miners in the painting are based on my sister-in-law.
It is a landmark work in Chinese figure painting, with its excellent painting skills, the fusion of ink techniques from Qingtou to Xu Beihong and Western painting techniques, and the subject matter was absolutely in line with the political correctness of that era, so it had a huge impact and became the most famous painting of that year. This painting has long been in the National Art Museum of China.
But the bitter truth is that it was precisely because of the creation of this politically correct yet subtle reflection of the trend to revive industry in the late Cultural Revolution that my great uncle was able to completely free himself from the cowshed and resume his artistic career. And it was this new identity that enabled him to use his influence to help my brother-in-law and the others, who took the trouble to break away from the Datong coal mine and transfer to the Guangzhou Tourism Bureau.
Their English skills soon became evident, and although they had not had the opportunity to use any professional training for many years, they immediately became the best English-speaking tour guides in Guangzhou, which amazed a famous Los Angeles lawyer who was the first to visit China after the reform and opening up, and offered to help them go abroad for further study.
Such a peculiar reincarnation is absolutely difficult to imagine if not experienced. It is interesting to note that although “New Recruits in the Mines” is filled with the political propaganda of the era, the vibrant women in the painting do resemble my sister-in-law, a fearless woman who would never give in to her fate.
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