After I remember, the public media in Tsinghua Park changed dramatically. When I first went to Tsinghua University, the bell was rung for class. Later, electric bells were installed outside each classroom, making it much easier to greet people going to and coming from class. Then, every classroom was equipped with a trumpet. When it rained, the Pioneer Brigade meeting could be held in the school studio and in each classroom, and the “flag out, salute!” It was all done indoors. In fact, at that time, not only Tsinghua Park, but also all over the country were setting up cable broadcasting networks. The voice of the central government reached the most remote factories, mines, villages and communities as never before.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution began, and the consumption of information increased steeply. At night, slowly turning the radio’s frequency knob might pick up the call signs of a few mysterious amateur radio stations in Tsinghua Park. Around the time of liberation, Mr. Meng Zhaoying, a professor in the Telecommunications Group of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University, had instructed students to establish radio broadcasting stations, which were discontinued after being reprimanded. During the Cultural Revolution, the management was loosened a bit, and amateur radio broadcasting resumed. Who was the person who set it up? There are many high ranking people among the students, so there may be someone who knows.
After all, radio control was strict. During the Cultural Revolution, cable radio was still popular in Tsinghua Park. At that time, there was a faction war, and each faction set up a broadcasting station. There were many radio stations of various sizes in the park, the main ones being the rebel Jinggangshan Corps Radio Station, Jinggangshan Outpost Radio Station and the conservative Jinggangshan 414 Radio Station. The two factions competed to place supertweeters in an attempt to overwhelm each other in terms of volume. On the big chimney behind the apartment canteen, the two factions fought to seize the high point of the loudspeaker, and later the corps faction placed the loudspeaker on the top of the 30-meter-high chimney and sawed off the climbing iron ladder, so that a farce was over.
At that time in Tsinghua Park, radio noise pollution was serious. But the radio also gave us teenagers a lot of fun. The wake-up call of the troops played on the radio station in the early morning woke us up. After the song “Dongfang Hong”, the announcer announced the station’s call sign like this: “So-and-so radio station so-and-so radio station is now in battle! Comrades of the proletarian revolutionary faction, first of all, let’s wish the great leader Chairman Mao a long and prosperous life ……” We woke up to the sound of the radio and went to sleep at night to the sound of the lights out horn, just like being in a military camp, it was a great feeling!
The radio station is also an entertainment center. The radio station broadcasts the poetry of Chairman Mao, the Long March group song and the Chairman’s hymn, all of which are never-ending tracks. Remember the song “Sailors Meet Chairman Mao”? The radio station also broadcast the sample plays and film clips from the radio station. Although “Lenin in October”, “North and South”, “Coastal Thunder” has been seen many times, but listening to the clips is also very enjoyable. Jinggang Mountain and 414’s own songs and programs also have a certain force.
If you hear “Attention, there is an important broadcast on the first program of the Central People’s Radio at 8:00 tonight”, it is either the latest instructions from the President, or an important editorial or major news, and the night will not stop. Parents heard the notice are in a hurry, after dinner, rushed to the unit to listen, discuss. When the time came, the world’s strongest voice was heard in Tsinghua Park. We high school students didn’t stay idle either. Every time we listened to an important broadcast, we had to march to Zhongnanhai to “report” the news. The drums and flags were ready, and the students and teachers held the quotes of Chairman Mao, beating and shouting slogans all the way. It was a poor 50-mile round trip from Qinghua Park to Xinhua Gate, and it was almost dawn when I walked home each time.
The main function of the radio station was to publicize the Cultural Revolution and the polemics between the two factions. The intensity of the fighting in the Cultural Revolution in Qinghua Park was no less than that of the military fighting. The broadcasting station was an important position for the big sound, big release and big debate advocated by Chairman Mao. The two factions put their own grasp of the general direction of the Cultural Revolution, their estimation of the situation, and their use of strategies into eloquent texts for broadcast. The live broadcast of the big actions (such as the flying rally in the big square in the city) and the debate in the big auditorium touched the hearts of people. In-depth articles were written to expose the “old guard” of the capitalists and bourgeois academic authorities. The broadcasts were also filled with the unbridled mutual denunciations and invectives of the two factions, which became a powerful tool to confuse people and direct the battles during the 100 days of armed struggle, making the audience outside the audience feel enthusiastic at one time and confused at another.
The revolution was a great festival for the people. Those who have not been touched by the revolutionary halberd, all day long immersed in the war songs, slogans and explosive news broadcast by the tannoy, from time to time see some comrades around the victory, some comrades wiped out, the heart of a nameless exuberance, really like a holiday.
One of the broadcasts from Jinggang Mountain Radio Station reminds me of it to this day. One morning during the Tsinghua War, the Jinggang Mountain radio station suddenly broadcast a notice, reading the names of 20 to 30 people, mostly professors and associate professors from Tsinghua University, including my father, asking them to immediately go to the Jinggang Mountain Corps headquarters for a “meeting”. It’s not good to have your name read out on the radio.
During this period of time, the revolutionary generals were busy with martial fighting, leaving aside the capitalists and bourgeois academic authorities, large and small, and not bothering about them. People like my father seemed to have been forgotten and had a rare moment of leisure. Now he was called to a meeting. The whole family was apprehensive.
At lunchtime, my father came home. It turned out that the meeting was the Jinggang Mountain Corps borrowing money from the professors. The situation in the country at that time was that the revolutionary mass organizations had to implement a big union. Since Tsinghua was fighting in martial arts, the two factions were at odds with each other and refused to co-sign and stamp the withdrawal procedures in the bank, so the money could not be withdrawn and the faculty salaries and student grants could not be issued. Some students and employees were suddenly in a difficult situation.
The clever Commander Kuai Dafu came up with a solution: to borrow money from professors to send to some people of his own faction for emergency. You can’t borrow much money from an associate professor, but it shows that the revolutionary general doesn’t treat us as outsiders. In the days that followed, my father was in a good mood, and after the 8341 Military and Labor Propaganda Teams entered the school, the money borrowed was returned in full. Soon, began to clean up the class ranks and the whole party, my father just put down the heart again raised ……
As I grew older, the vague perceptions of listening to the radio as an hour became slightly clearer. Ideas should be allowed to express themselves freely. Action cannot be allowed to break through the cage. Cable radio equipment is worth a lot of money, some like the rich man’s golden trumpet. From the point of view of fairness in the possession of resources, I still prefer large-print newspapers and small-print newspapers. Large print newspapers are three and a half cents a piece, and the average person can afford them. Spending four cents can teach you to be disgusted for many days.
Small print is to reveal the post and flyers, that also has a lot of interesting stories. Nowadays, with the popularity of WeChat, there are more options for communication channels. After 50 years, I can still hear the male announcer of Jinggang Mountain Radio Station reciting Mayakovsky’s deafening poem in a high-pitched voice.
“……
Who is turning to the right there?
To the left!
To the left!!!
To the left!!!”
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