Voices
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. 75 years of wind and rain, forge ahead. The Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to compose a magnificent epic and forged the great cause of the People's Republic in the annals of history. In the new era, the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the main representative, have pushed the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics wider and broader, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has shown an unprecedented bright prospect. "United Front New Language" has set up a column of "Voices" for the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, telling the moving stories of the members of the united front in the new era of forging ahead on a new journey from the perspective of people outside the party, witnesses, and expressing the sincere feelings of the patriotic struggle of the majority of united front members, and contributing wisdom and strength to the new journey of unswervingly advancing towards the grand goal of building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
My father and I both did research in the humanities and were members of the united front. His father, Zhang Gongjin, was the first generation of scholars in the study of minority languages and cultures in New China, an expert in the literature of ethnic minorities in southwest China, and a professor in the Department of Minority Languages and Literatures of the Central University for Nationalities. I do research on literature and culture at Peking University. On April 26, 2017, my father left us, but what he gave me was the strength to move forward with my country. His father was born in a wealthy family in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and he experienced the Anti-Japanese War when he was a teenager, which made his father have a deep sense of family and country and lofty cultural care since he was a child. At the end of the 40s of the 20th century, my father left Wenzhou, and after a short period of study at Soochow University in Suzhou and Fudan University in Shanghai, he entered the newly established Central University for Nationalities in 1951. He has since entered the field of minority languages, in which he has spent his entire career. It can be said that he is moving forward with New China, and he is grateful for everything that New China has given him. As a person who grew up in troubled times, he has experienced the pain brought about by the danger of the country and the nation, which makes him have real expectations for the development of China and the fate of Chinese culture when he is doing research, and he always expects his linguistics and ethnology research to be linked to the fate of this country. His thinking is always based on the development of China and the harmony between the people of this land. He has a sincere affection for the Dai culture, which he has devoted his life to researching, and hopes that his own research will be helpful to the development of ethnic minorities. When I was a child, my parents used to get together less and leave more. My father was involved in the social reform of the Dai area at that time, and he went to Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province many times to investigate the Dai language. From the late 50s to the 60s of the last century, my father went deep into the Dai area for three consecutive years, eating, living and working with the people in the village, and he went for several months. My father and his family were reunited in the form of family visits, so we were together for a very short time. At that time, the country was still very difficult, and the living conditions were even more difficult. My father often wrote to us about how difficult life was for the local people, and he said that he hoped that his work would help change the lives of the local people. After a long period of front-line research, my father was finally able to skillfully use the Dai language to communicate with the Dai people. This made many of his later students deeply sigh. Because of the large number of first-hand materials, my father's later research achieved pioneering results. His work on the Dai calendar and Dai language is the best example of this kind of empirical research. In the 70s of the last century, my father studied the astronomical calendar of the Dai people through the Bayeux Sutra, which was not studied and sorted out in the past. Through field investigations and collecting a large number of first-hand information, my father investigated and studied the astronomical calendar and cosmology of the Dai people. This will be of great help to the advancement of the entire ethnographic discipline. My father did a lot of calculation work at that time, and he abstractly summarized and theoretically thought about the astronomical calendar of the Dai people, and calculated many formulas. He also used his knowledge of the modern astronomical calendar to compare and confirm the development and evolution of the Dai astronomical calendar, such as how the Dai New Year is set. At that time, my father, who was a scholar in the humanities, was like a mathematician. About half a year before his father's death, he fell and was diagnosed with lung cancer during subsequent examinations, and he spent the last few days living with the pain. But what he was thinking about on his sickbed was still his work and his students. These days, he also sits at his computer and is busy answering letters from colleagues and students, as well as quickly explaining the work at hand to colleagues and students. He knew that his days were numbered and that he needed to speed things up. Until the day before he died, he was still lying in bed and handed me a USB flash drive, asking me to send the information about the ancient national books to his colleagues, in fact, he also explained to them that his strength was about to run out, and he hoped that they would continue the unfinished work. From him, I felt the strength of a Chinese intellectual to move forward with the development of the country, which also gave me more teachings, so that my own research work always paid attention to the current cultural issues, and made my thinking closely related to the development of the country. In 1993, I joined the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the China Association for Promoting Democracy has made its own important contributions to the liberation of the Chinese nation and to the construction and development of New China. The Association for Promoting Democracy has also developed from a party composed of 26 intellectuals who were concerned about the country and the people at the beginning of its founding to a socialist party with Chinese characteristics today, making unremitting efforts for China's reform and opening up and the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. From yesterday's difficulties to today's glory, the DPP has gone through extraordinary years. We have participated in the construction and development of New China, experienced difficulties and twists and turns together with the country, and today we are advancing together with the country on the road of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. History has proved that the Democratic Progressive Party is a political party participating in China's democratic political life. Today, the Association for Promoting Democracy is writing the history of the future with a new look, and I can also make more suggestions and play a greater role in the organization. I have served as the chairman of the grassroots committee of the Peking University for Promoting Democracy, and I have also served as the vice chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee, and I am still participating in the work of the Association for Promoting Democracy. On the one hand, we can feel the responsibility of being members of the democratic parties, and on the other hand, we can also feel the concern and encouragement that the democratic parties care for and motivate individuals. On the one hand, the democratic parties should make sincere suggestions and offer good policies through participating in and discussing state affairs, and on the other hand, they should strive to play a role in building consensus through the path of party parties and do their best for the development of the country. As a member of the Association for Promoting Democracy, we must bear in mind the achievements of our predecessors in the future development and cherish today's development achievements. First, we must strive to do our own work well and contribute to the society in a down-to-earth manner; Second, it is necessary to consciously participate in the administration and discussion of state affairs, perform the duties of members of the participating political parties, keep forging ahead, conduct some research and reflection on the problems and contradictions of social development, and play an active role in participating in and discussing state affairs; Third, we must do a good job in rallying people's hearts, use the spirit of innovation, unite people's hearts, expand social consensus and recognition, let all positive factors integrate into China's development, and let all positive forces jointly create the future. Only in this way can the historical tradition of accepting the leadership of the CPC and fulfilling the responsibilities of participating in the political party pioneered by the forefathers of our democratic parties be inherited, and we will be worthy of this great era. (Author: Zhang Yiwu, Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee for Promoting Democracy, Director of the Culture and Art Committee, Professor of the Department of Chinese, Peking University)
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