I
During the Cultural Revolution, it was difficult to feed my Family of five because I was only paid a living wage, and I suffered from malnutrition and heavy workload. In 1969, he suffered from a recurrence of lung disease (he had been unjustly imprisoned for three years and had contracted tuberculosis, which he recovered from after being released for a year) and had a cavity, so he was ordered to stay in bed to recuperate. Military propaganda team was ordered to October 1 must be decentralized with the Bureau of Cultural Heritage system in Hubei Xianning cadre school.
After arriving at the cadet school, first assigned to guard the vegetable field, then participated in the opening of the border planting. One day I saw a rape plant on the ridge that had been hit by the wind and rain, with most of its roots exposed and its stems broken, but the golden cauliflowers were blooming brilliantly and some of them were already bearing children. I was inspired by it and composed a small poem.
The wind and rain destroyed the garden vegetables, the root out of the stem half dead.
Head still as flowers, vow to bear fruitful children!
From then on, I resolutely followed the “cauliflower spirit” and faced the reality tenaciously, not only to survive, but also to work diligently for the people and the country, to make contributions and produce results. With this spiritual pillar, I was able to overcome the disease in a difficult environment. By 1971, he was able to pick more than 100 picks of water a day from a low-lying pond to water his vegetable patch. The commander of the military propaganda team said in a speech to the entire cadre school, “Give up your hearts, don’t try to go back to Beijing, just leave your old bones here!” He was happy that he had done a “great revolutionary work” – he had found a burial place for a large number of “bullies and snakes” from the capital. I had no idea that even I, a sick man with a hollow lung, would recover and eventually return to Beijing. Of course I was the lucky one, there were many who died in Xianning and did not return to Beijing.
The “spirit of cauliflower” became my lifelong motto. After returning to Beijing from the cadre school, I have fought for thirty more years. I have published about forty books, the majority of which were completed during these years.
II
Yuan Tsuen-you, my companion, worked at the China Music Research Institute, also part of the Ministry of Culture system, but the cadet school was not in Xianning, Hubei, but was moved from Baodi, Tianjin, to Tuanpohua. In May of 1970, a telegram came from the school’s regimental department, informing me that “Tsuen-you was critically ill”. Because none of the language and condition, I guessed that either an emergency or an accident, so I was very anxious. Thanks to Mr. Tang Lan, Vice President of the National Palace Museum, and researcher Ji Shuying of the Beijing Library, who sympathized with my situation, I was glad to lend me money to cover the cost of the ticket. But to the military propaganda team to ask for leave, on the grounds that I have not yet “liberated”, firmly denied. A week later, I received a letter from Tsuen-Yu’s second sister, telling me that I was suffering from schizophrenia and had been admitted to the An Ding Hospital, which did not appear to be Life-threatening, so I began to feel a little more at ease. Six months later, Tsuen-you came to his senses and returned to the cadre school.
In 1971, many people in Xianning Cadre School were allowed to leave the school to visit their families. I applied again, but was still denied permission.
In 1972, I was declared “liberated” and was allowed to visit my family at Tuanpohua cadre school because it was found that a person with the same name as me had joined the Kuomintang and was not related to me. The day after I met TWS, I received three urgent telegrams ordering me to return to Xianning immediately. When I asked why, the military propaganda team only said the word “necessary”. Two or three months later, my company commander (who was a colleague of mine) revealed that it was only because the military propaganda team had seen the news in the newspaper that the American official Hague had come to China and was afraid that I would get in touch with him, so they ordered a quick return. I can’t help but laugh, a district engaged in the study of cultural relics, only in his thirties when he had visited museums abroad, how can be acquainted with the United States government officials now in power? The military propaganda team is not too high praise me! Not to mention the black “dove”, even the white “dove” I do not know. It was a laughing matter in the company.
Three
In 1972, many people were transferred back to Beijing one after another, and there were only 20 to 30 people in each company. The canteen was full of Food and oil, the sugar was full of altar, the number of fat pigs in the pen was not reduced, and pork was often exchanged for fish and turtles, so life was greatly improved. At this Time, no one was working, so we could do whatever we wanted. I dig the orchids on the hillside in spring, and seek the ganoderma lucidum on the oak roots in autumn, seemingly free and easy, but actually worried like burning. Time is passing, the years are wasting, is it possible that the good years are so wasted? There is also a poem to prove it.
In the spring, he drifted around the orchid and autumn, and in the morning, he ate the fish and the Mandarin fish.
I have nothing to do day by day, although Xianning is good but worried about me!
The word “sorrowful” is from “Li Sao”, and Qu Yuan used this word to express his state of mind.
From “Beijing Cultural and Historical Materials”, Series 69
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