About the Author
Sun Yunxiao
Former Deputy Director of China Youth Research Center
Former editor-in-chief of the journal "Juvenile and Child Studies".
Vice President of the Chinese Family Education Association
Member of the Children's Literature Committee of the Chinese Writers Association
Expert of the think tank on children's work of the Working Committee on Women and Children of the State Council
I have been a confidant sister and benefited for life
Sister Zhixin is a caring person who is popular with children. I didn't expect that I, a Shandong man, would also have the opportunity to become a member of the team of my intimate sisters, and those beautiful and unforgettable experiences are still fresh in my memory and will benefit me for life.
On November 24, 1978, at the age of 23, I finished my studies at the Central Youth League School and was assigned by the Central Committee of the Youth League to the China Youth Daily as the editor of the school's Young Pioneers Group. Prior to that, I served as the deputy secretary of the Qingdao Sifang District Committee of the Communist Youth League (later merged with Shibei District) and the chief counselor of the Young Pioneers. However, I soon found that it is not easy to reason with children and teenagers, not only to grasp the problem accurately, to analyze logically, but also to be natural and easy to understand, and the most difficult thing is to really understand the child, which is a big challenge for me.
Fortunately, there are many old leaders and editors of China Youth Daily who are experts, and Mr. Jiang Daya, the deputy head of our editorial team, is the first generation of confidant sisters with rich experience. For example, our editorial team often discusses how to write a statement or report, and even designs a dozen headlines for a short article, all of which are written on the small blackboard to compare the advantages and disadvantages one by one. Later, the famous educator Ye Shengtao was invited to speak at a celebration event, and the old man's words made me unforgettable: every word written for children needs to be weighed on the scale to see if it is enough and appropriate. The fact that China Youth Daily has been able to influence generations is closely related to the pursuit of excellence.
Recalling the experience of being a bosom sister, there are two things that impress me the most.
The first thing was the big discussion about the all-child team. "China Youth Daily" is the newspaper of the Young Pioneers of China, and naturally it is responsible for cooperating with the work of the National Young Pioneers. In 1978, the Sixth National Young Pioneers Work Conference proposed to organize all children and teenagers, referred to as "all children joining the team". This was the party's policy on the work of the Young Pioneers at that time. Its spiritual essence is "to organize and re-educate, not to re-organize after education". However, due to the influence of outdated concepts, it is difficult for many children with certain shortcomings or deficiencies to join the Young Pioneers, and some writers describe them as "white-necked", which means that they cannot wear red scarves. In the face of the pain of too many children joining the team, as a confidant sister, I can't be indifferent. After listening to the opinions of teachers and students at the school and studying the party's policy on the work of the Young Pioneers, in November 1979, as a confidant sister, we held a "small discussion platform" entitled "Can Daniel Zhang and Wang Hong join the team?" ”。
Daniel Zhang is a boy who often does not follow discipline, and Wang Hong is a girl with poor academic performance, can they join the Young Pioneers? The exaggerated image of these two children, published on the front page of the "China Youth Daily", really stirred up a thousand waves with one stone, and sparked a heated discussion among children all over the country, and the newspaper received nearly 6,000 letters and drafts from readers, with clear opinions for and against. We put the representative dissenting opinions in the newspapers, and even the old president Jiang Jingwen was a little worried when he read it, and he called me into his office and said that the objections were so sharp, would it be a good end? I said that there were more positive opinions, and there was also the guidance of the words of my intimate sister and the leader, and the old president was relieved. Toward the end of the discussion, we went to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League to report the discussion to Hu Dehua, secretary of the Secretariat in charge of the work of the Young Pioneers, and asked this senior expert on the work of the Young Pioneers to write a summary article of the discussion. She expounded a very crucial truth, the Party Central Committee named the Young Pioneers after the pioneers, and the meaning of "pioneer" is "learning pioneers", not "becoming pioneers". Therefore, it is necessary to let all children who are willing to join the Young Pioneers wear red scarves and grow up healthily in the Young Pioneers organization. According to the conclusion of the newspaper's leaders, this discussion is the most influential series of reports since the resumption of publication of the "China Youth Daily" in 1978, and it has effectively promoted the realization of the goal of "all children joining the team".
The second thing is the guidance on the issue of children going into the water to save people. In the summer of 1982, in the past month, our editorial team received 43 articles from 14 provinces, all of which reported the deeds of children who went into the water to save people, of which 17 people died, the oldest was 14 years old, the youngest was 9 years old, and some of them had been commended by the local authorities as "outstanding young pioneers" or "young heroes". As a member of the team of Sister Confidant, I am aware of my responsibility not to let more children lose their lives meaninglessly. So, on August 11, I wrote an internal "Briefing" entitled "17 Children Save People to Death," which was printed and distributed by the newspaper on August 12. At the same time, I wrote a remark in the name of my bosom sister entitled "What should I do if someone falls into the water?" It not only affirms the noble quality of children and teenagers to help others, but also advises them to learn to protect themselves and act wisely. The briefing and the remarks of the intimate sister attracted great attention from the leaders of the newspaper, and this remark was published on the front page of the "China Youth Daily", which attracted the attention of readers and many parties. The "News Network" of the Central People's Radio also broadcast this confidant sister's remarks. This was in 1982, when awareness of the protection of children was relatively low, and the Law on the Protection of Minors was enacted 10 years later. Some friends are worried about us, but I am calm in my heart: if I don't care about the safety of children and teenagers, can I still be regarded as a confidant sister? A bosom sister should dare to speak for her child!
In 1983, I was fortunate enough to enter the first junior college class of the Central Youth League School. In August 1985, my graduation thesis was published at the front of the journal "Youth Studies" of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, entitled "On the Scientificity of Children's Role Model Education", and won the Outstanding Paper Award of the Chinese Young Pioneers Work Society. Obviously, after two years of professional study, this is my theoretical thinking on issues such as children going into the water to save people.
Later, in order to conduct in-depth research on children's issues, I transferred to the China Youth Research Center to work for 30 years, becoming a child education researcher and children's literature writer, and published many books. I am sincerely grateful for the 9 years of training at China Youth Daily, especially the 4 years as a confidant sister, which has laid a solid foundation for me to explore the mysterious world of children. In 2020, I wish my 60-year-old bosom sister to be young forever. Writing this, a little poem came to mind:
Childlike heart on the left, love on the right, every younger brother and sister's troubles will be kept in her heart, spring breeze and rain to solve problems, intimate sister waiting for your true feelings
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