01
Just one year after studying at Gutian Elementary School, the township school site was adjusted and we moved to Xinya Jin Elementary School. It was 1958 when we returned to Wulongguan Elementary School for another adjustment.
It was not long before the school opened, and the storm of universal steel swept in with unstoppable force. That afternoon, several teachers were busy building a blast furnace with bricks and mud in the playground. None of them had ever seen a real blast furnace, so they followed the gourd to build a furnace 10 times the size of the countryside blacksmith store. But the bellows, not to mention the construction of 10 times the size, is to get one as is, it is impossible, simply save.
Near the end of the school day, the “blast furnace” really tree up. Teachers look very excited face. Then ignite the fire – and the Zhuang family in the fire pit for cooking exactly the same way: use old newspapers to ignite fine firewood, add coarse firewood, followed by the charcoal – charcoal, not coke. A few Putu fan over, the fire in the stove burned up, the fire even string the old high. The principal got the ore from somewhere and put in a skip. Other teachers with a brazier, take the digging hoe, a fuss a pass ah poke ah, but the result is smoke flying fire. The furnace is still a furnace, the ore is still ore. So the fire again, and then pass again poke, but no matter how tossed, but also did not refine even a small cup of steel.
The next day, the school mobilized us seniors to actively participate in the Great Steel Campaign. I don’t know when I started to hear the words “motherland, party, revolution, honor” and so on. When I heard it, my feet jumped, my heart jumped, and my blood rushed all around me, and I could not wait to go to the fire to show my sincerity and loyalty.
Our task was to burn charcoal, to provide fuel for the big iron and steel. There was no technical information, no safety measures – the principal teachers were not even mentioned at the meeting, and they themselves were complete amateurs. Anyway, there was one word: “do it”.
Everyone lined up on the field cave. The first thing was to dig the kiln. We had all seen lime burning, so we thought it should be the same thing as burning charcoal. I was really excited to do it – not only did this job satisfy our desire to be active and playful, especially the boys, but I really wanted to burn good charcoal to contribute to the great iron and steel and to the revolution.
With a digging hoe and a small shovel, I spent half a day bored to fix up the kiln. Its diameter is as big as a household frying pan and nearly two feet deep. Kiln door is the most difficult to repair, both to strong, the location must also be grasped on the right fit. A tail chimney two ear chimneys up is also very laborious. However, the difficulties were eventually “overcome one by one by me. Then came the loading of the kiln. One by one, the sticks to be burned were placed in the kiln pond. The sticks were prepared by another group of students, and they were all chestnut and maple firewood of about two feet in thickness, cut from the mountains. The kiln was installed, the soil was cultivated, everything was ready, and it was time to start the fire.
I was excited to ignite the flag wool, cast into the kiln, adding fine firewood, in my mouth close to the technical support of a strong wind into the fire, the fire. Looking at the smoke coming out of several chimneys at the same time, and thinking about this hard-earned victory, I couldn’t tell you how happy I was.
Once the charcoal kiln was on fire, it was like burning lime or bricks and tiles, which could not be extinguished in the middle. So, I took advantage of the excitement and worked hard, adding firewood to the kiln one by one. It was dark, it was late, it was midnight, it was the second half of the night, it was dawn, and I didn’t feel tired, I didn’t feel sleepy, and I didn’t feel scared when I spent the night outside for the first time, facing the dark forest and the dark wilderness.
By noon the next day, the kiln has burned red and bright wood sticks, the door breeze will be a whirring sound, smoke also became a hundred colors. Obviously, only one step away from the completion of the great work. I was excited to seal the kiln door, in addition to leaving the top chimney, the remaining 3 also all sealed. According to the adults, the kiln would be ready to start charcoal in a day. I waited and thought about it, and finally came to that exciting moment. I, along with several other students from the surrounding kilns, worked together to shave the soil from the top of the kiln, and to our surprise, what we saw in front of us was not a cut of black charcoal with white frost hanging next to each other, but half of the kiln with the same color of ashes as the dead! Failure. A complete failure.
The encouraging thing is that, at a young age, I did not flinch in the face of setbacks, but fell down and got up there. I cleaned up the work surface, reloaded the kiln, and followed the ignition. When it was time to close the kiln, I sprinkled water on the top of the kiln twice after cultivating the soil under the guidance of some students. What did we see when we left the kiln? It was still half a kiln of ashes! This was the case with dozens of other kilns, large and small! Why didn’t it burn to charcoal? To be honest, I still can’t figure it out today.
02
The enthusiasm of the whole nation to run a large iron and steel industry was getting stronger and stronger under the propaganda of newspapers and publications at all levels. Even the small-footed women, widows and orphans in our village were mobilized. Their task was to find out all the things containing copper and iron that they could find at home and send them to the supply and marketing agency to sell. It was as if they had drunk a hallucinogenic drug, and they searched all corners of the house with all their strength, in all sizes of boxes and cabinets. The first is not used, and later is the use of household goods, but also the wind and fire to take the blue to carry with both hands to the supply and marketing agency to send.
My mother was not only the first to find out the scrap copper and iron, followed by the lock leaves of the cabinet also a piece of the effort to pry up, and finally felt that these are not too much, the land reform points of the fruits of victory – copper hot pot from the top of the cupboard to move down, a brain in a small basket with a stretcher pout to Cheng Yi Bridge sold.
The third mother’s family has a copper fire pot, is also the land reform points. Usually do not rub are bright and shiny, a cold day to roast charcoal fire, the side of the wipe are shining to see the shadow of a person. It is really a rare treasure. Is taken to sell as scrap copper, a dozen big bucks is also absolutely no problem. That day several women in the gazebo parents chatting about the hot spots up. Who sold what who and what did not sell. The company has been compelled to sell the copper fire pit. “And get money, and support the country.”
The third mother may first be a little hesitant, after so seven say eight, the idea is set, excited to go home to get the goods. A cigarette, there suddenly came a cry from the sky, and the sound of feet slapping the floor “pop”. It turned out that her family’s copper fire pit had been stolen and sold earlier. Such things rarely happen in the village. Perhaps the thief does not think there is anything great: sooner or later have to sell anyway, you sell I sell is not sold? You “support” I “support” is not “support”?
That day in the afternoon after school, after listening to the duty teacher’s lecture, each road is splitting up to leave. The principal suddenly hurried up to the dirt platform and announced an important notice: the fourth and fifth graders were immediately ready to go to Longjiayao to carry charcoal to Niejiafan, where there was a sizeable steel base. It was a 60-mile round trip, and it was a mountainous and night journey, so what a challenge for us 11-year-olds. The task was so urgent that we didn’t eat our meals, so we shook our empty bags and went on our way. When we arrived at Longjiayao, it was already dark and we were exhausted. But the charcoal here is really a top product. The charcoal here is really top-notch. It is thick and coarse, and it is dry and crumbling. It was too long, and when I put pressure on the middle, it broke into two with a glassy click.
I put 4 tubes in my school bag, 10 pounds, and squeezed into the line for Nie Jia Fan. The journey was really hard for us. We were hungry, tired and sleepy. There were only 3 torches made of bamboo broom in the front, back and middle, and I don’t know how many times I fell. Most of the people were like in a dream, one foot high, one foot low, following the feeling of walking. It was good that the teacher shouted “keep up, keep up” from time to time, waking people up from the half-asleep state of confusion. It was not until 3:00 am that we reached our destination. It was a huge blast furnace complex. The flames in the furnaces rose high in a coffin-sized bellows pulled back and forth by two or three people, and there were dozens of them in one place, which was spectacular.
In the designated place to unload the charcoal, in the light of the furnace fire, I noticed that the charcoal sent by nearly 100 people from two grades over the mountains and dozens of miles in the dark was only the size of a grave bag, not enough to burn a blast furnace to the work of the smoke. I didn’t have the spirit to ask why, so I stumbled after the teacher to the canteen and ate a cold casserole, and then followed him into a doghouse-like kiln, where my body was just next to the straw, and I fell asleep. The teacher was obviously exhausted and hastily packed up the team, not bothering to say a word, not bothering to sing half a song, and went straight back on the road.
03
As soon as the five words “People’s Commune is good” appeared in the newspaper, the whole country was in a frenzy of frenzy. The propaganda of “people’s commune is good” was like a gust of wind that blew inside and outside the Great Wall, north and south of the river, and all the corners of 9.6 million square kilometers were noisy and boisterous.
Schools are naturally the main force of propaganda. In order to have a vivid form, while marching from village to village, the performance of rowing dry boats was carried out. This is certainly a good idea. The boat was made overnight by several teachers with great enthusiasm. In front of the boat around a white sweat scarf, take a long pole left rowing, right rowing boatman soon set a candidate; after the boat wearing a bad straw hat, shaking a broken fan here and there to pat the clown also did not take much effort to set my table. But who to find the flower girl inside the boat? A difficult time for the organizers. At that time, the remnants of feudalism in the students, especially the girls inside the influence is still quite big, no one wants to do that performance often harassed by the clown boat girl.
The class teacher came up with an inspiration when they were in a dilemma. He brought a chopped new floral towel to cover my head, and called a girl wearing a new floral dress, “Give him your clothes to try?” The girl looked at my turban, next to the dry boat, around the watching classmates teachers, immediately understood, gloriously, a few times off the top, I just put on the body, not yet organized properly, it rang a roar – no wonder, I look like a little sweet as a child, people love, play a little girl does not need to wear too much makeup I did not need to wear too much makeup to play a little girl. During the Spring Festival, I saw the dry boat, the boat lady walking “broken step” I can not learn.
Once on the boat, two round trips, it will win a full house. The matter was settled without further discussion. Followed by a few days of publicity from village to village, that is really a climax after a climax. Everywhere I went, men, women and children around the colorful boat to see my “beauty”, naughty boys even want to reach out and lift the flower towel on my head. And me? And happy, and proud, and a little bit of pride. That feeling, in the decades to come, was rarely repeated.
Our “Tingsi People’s Commune” was being born like a baby in a pregnant woman’s womb with a super-boosting agent amidst the shouts of the Great Leap Forward. Wulongguan Elementary School was given the task of performing at the commune’s founding meeting. There is no doubt that this task is extremely political, very difficult, and at the same time quite honorable – although there are other teams in the same field, but by no means all schools are qualified for this. Since it is a square performance, what program to engage in makes the school leadership a big headache. Although dry boat rowing is a strong point, but the idea is that there will be many, many teams, in order to surprise, we have to be creative. Finally, the pioneer counselor proposed the motion of “group batting performance”, which was passed by unanimous vote.
The “flower stick” does not belong to our local folk art, very unpleasant, especially not interesting. The prop is a 1-meter-long bamboo stick with a few coins embedded in both ends. I suspect that the poor farmers in the Yu and Wan areas when they go out to beg for food in the wilderness years with the dog beating stick. The action is also simple, from time to time in the bladder knock, in the crotch knock, this side of a, there a, even though the natural neat and tidy, there is no art to speak of. The whole class participated, and I was caught in the middle of it, so I didn’t have a chance to show off my abilities. The counselor took great pains to coach us to walk in formation while knocking, and to line up the five words “Good People’s Commune” in turn. After half a month of repeated rehearsals, the “group flower stick” with the theme “Good People’s Commune” at least passed the final review of the school and the leaders of the relevant units.
Early that morning, my sister and I followed my father to the founding of the commune in Tingsiqiao with flower sticks in hand. It was early autumn and the sky was high. 20 miles down the road, dozens, hundreds and thousands of teams poured in from all directions. Group after group of gongs and drums knocking, section after section of dragon lanterns held up, one after another colorful boat carrying, a burst of “ah huh -” shouting, make you not excited can not. When we arrived at the venue, there were a lot of people. Sure enough, the field was full of dry boats, playing dragon lanterns, playing clamshells.
It was hard for us to find our own team. The counselor hissed and gathered the flower stick team, and led us to line up in an inconspicuous open space on the far left of the podium, and then “clattered” the flower sticks up. Although we are very top true, and according to the requirements are wearing white shirts, the 5 words to go quite in place, but the onlookers is not much, sparse dozens of people, including my father. Finished, not to mention the applause, from their faces to see a little expression of joy, are not possible. This, including my father.
But to be serious, our counselors, our “group flower stick”, should be given a high rating. Today’s Zhang Yimou, known as an internationally renowned director, used thousands of actors and actresses in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, spending two years of work and nearly 100 million dollars to create the word “peace” in the Bird’s Nest; but our counselors, who spent only two dollars to buy flower sticks, were in the “Tingsi People’s Commune At the inaugural meeting of the “People’s Commune”, he put up the five words “People’s Commune is good”. Naturally, the artistic level of the two, the performance effect, worlds apart. However, the overall thinking and orientation of our counselor and Zhang Yimou are amazingly consistent.
04
The public cafeteria was also a great success. At first, when we, the “crazy kids”, followed the adults from all sides into the cafeteria in Wang’s house with our dishes and chopsticks, we were so happy and new. Even the adults were laughing and joking, and you let me and I let you be polite before sitting down. There were 12 tables set up in the upper and lower halls, and the whole village, excluding those who went out for steel making, reservoir repair and canteen staff, was just full. The whole form, and the joyous, boisterous atmosphere, as if the village every day people get married, night people give birth. But it didn’t take long for the drawbacks of the public canteen to become increasingly apparent.
The single dishes soon led to complaints from everyone. The family gets the meal, the table again how, a pickled bean, a steamed egg, a roasted winter melon, there are three or four bowls; from time to time add the small fish and shrimp from the ditch in the field, that is to see the meat. But the canteen table, either cabbage and radish, or winter squash pumpkin, there is no third bowl. Look at that trend, there is no possibility of this development. It is also true that who will go to encourage all members of the community or organize a small group of ditch fishing cesspool prawns? The reasoning is to send some old and sick people to do some pickles and pickles in a big jar to adjust the taste, no one actually moved this idea. It seems that the Great Leap Forward is completely incompatible with them.
Everyone has to go into the big house of the Wang family to eat, which brings great inconvenience to those 7 old 80’s, especially the grandmother and grandfather of the new house Li. Whenever the bell rings, they hold dishes in one hand, pestle with a walking stick in the other, and walk across several fields and steps. When there is a stormy day, it is like a big crime for them to eat a meal, not to mention the word enjoy. The leader who strongly advocates rural public canteens thinks that this new thing saves a lot of labor.
In fact, he only needs to look a little deeper into the situation, will find the opposite. Families usually cook before they go to work and after they close, late or early, it is not a big deal; if there are old people in the family, burning the fire to get the food is something they can do, willingly. In other words, rural households make their own fires, there is no problem of wasting labor. The public canteen, a big stove, a big fire, a big drawer, the elderly simply can not help, must be seven or eight stick labor to take down, accounting for almost 1/2 to 1/3 of the people left behind. think to the public canteen to eat, the community members do not have to do, just open your mouth, eat and go to work. The public canteen was a new thing in 1958.
The new things in 1958, can never be more than the great iron and steel, public canteen a few pieces, that is really after the rain mushrooms, a lot of. The reports of tens of thousands of mu on a hundred thousand were all over the place, and this satellite that satellite various fields and fronts and units did not give way to each other, one after another, the fierce release. To the old people’s home to run up, the nursery to run up, preschools also run up, dinner is to walk there to eat there …… the country from top to bottom feel: communism is at the door, a foot has crossed in.
This is a little bit on the fire atmosphere, so much so that a commune captain could not hold back, excitedly picked up the door of the big gong, along the village pounding: “Communism is coming! Communism is here!” Men, women and children were so happy that they ran towards the supply and marketing agency, grabbing whatever they could find, “taking what they needed”. A dedicated teacher was not moved, and waited until the bell rang before rushing to the class. The supply house has long been empty. The teacher picked up the ground and stepped on the chalk into half and half, not without regret to hold back to school. The story of the captain was naturally a joke, but the joke was only produced in those days.
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