Wang Jihong sent the manuscript "Children of the Earth", let me write the preface to the book, I have no reason to resign, because the book is proposed by me, although I did not do any specific work, but Wang Jihong and the authors stepped forward, took the initiative to edit, organize the manuscript, lasted more than two years, the book is about to meet with you. Although the matter of writing the book arose because of me, it was my turn to write the preface, and I was really a little embarrassed, because the book in front of me was not as simple as I thought at the beginning, the book showed the spiritual outlook of the old zhiqing from multiple angles, multiple sides, and three-dimensional, and the field involved was relatively broad, so that I did not know where to start. I think it is still simpler, just use your own memories and feelings to replace the order!
I remember that it was just after the National Day in 2014, and some Zhiqing representatives gathered in Maojiashan, Shanxi To talk about the dream of Zhiqing, Hao Guangjie and Cheng Wei respectively introduced how they returned to the countryside to help the poor and start a business, and Ge Yuanren also introduced the deeds of Sun Kuilian and Song Xinhua, and said that there are still many zhiqing like them who are concerned about the "three rural" issues. I was not afraid of everyone's jokes, before I arrived at the meeting, I still wanted to pour cold water on the elder brother Hao Guangjie, who was old and sick, and when I knew that he had already returned to Maojiashan with his household registration and party membership, he was determined to "bow down and do his best to die, and dedicate himself to the 'three peasants' without stopping", I did not say a word, only moved. At that symposium, I proposed to excavate the touching story of the old Zhiqing returning to his second hometown to start a business, and edited it into a book to inspire the world to care about the "three rural areas", an initiative that immediately received a unanimous response from everyone, and I am still moved by it in retrospect.
I think everyone responded to my proposal for a simple reason: because we are all "young people". It is Zhiqing, of course, who pays attention to the countryside, because the vast world of the countryside is imprinted with the footprints of our youth; it is Zhiqing, of course, who cares about agriculture, because in the process of agricultural development, it is soaked with the sweat of our struggle; it is Zhiqing, of course, who cares about the peasants, because in those difficult and difficult years we have formed a deep friendship with the local peasants, making us full of affection for our second hometown and deeply loving our fathers and fellow villagers.
In fact, the reason why I was moved and proposed to publish a book was also because I was an old and young man. My graduation from high school coincided with 1962, when our country was still in a difficult period, and due to the shortage of grain in the country, the Party Central Committee called on the whole party to "run agriculture on a large scale and run grain on a large scale." So I gave up the college entrance examination and resolved to be a new type of peasant with socialist consciousness and culture, determined to use my knowledge, wisdom, and diligence to build a new socialist countryside and produce more grain to support national construction. In the 1950s, Xu Jianchun and Xing Yanzi, who returned to their hometowns to know Qingqing, and Wang Peizhen, who went to the countryside to know Qingqing, were all good examples for me to learn from that year.
Coincidentally, our country has just begun to mobilize urban intellectual youth in an organized and planned way nationwide from 1962 to go to the countryside and go up the mountain. Here I say "going to the countryside and going to the mountains" is not a clerical error, at that time it was called "going to the countryside and going to the mountains", and later it was mainly called "going to the mountains and going to the countryside" from 1967. At first, the resettlement of young people in the countryside was mainly based on state-run agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing farms, but from 1963, the direction of resettlement was adjusted, and it began to shift to mainly cutting in teams. Because I was one step ahead of a large number of young people who went to the countryside to join the team, I was affirmed by Premier Zhou, saying that I was "a good example of automatically going to the countryside", and let the actor writer Huang Zongying write an article to report, so Huang Zongying's reportage "Special Girl" was published in the "People's Daily", which made me a model for urban intellectual youth who aspired to build a new countryside and was well-known.
To describe me in the words of modern youth, it can also be regarded as "stimulating the dreams of youth and flying"! But when I went to great lengths to come from Beijing to Doujiaqiao Village in Baodi to settle in line and fly my "new peasant dream", I really understood what is "destitute" and what is "starting from scratch".
In the blink of an eye, I have been rooted in Baodi for 55 years, during which my "new farmer dream" has been done for 18 years. In the "Second Hometown", I joined the Communist Youth League, was elected deputy secretary of the Doujiaqiao Brigade League Branch, and in January 1966, I gloriously joined the Communist Party of China, and from 1970 onwards, I was re-elected as the secretary of the Party Branch of the Doujiaqiao Brigade for 9 years. I don't know how many Zhiqing in the country served as "village officials" in those years, and several of the protagonists of the book also became "village officials", and the experience of being the village party secretary made us personally realize that Zhiqing became a village cadre and could indeed play a greater role in changing the appearance of "one poor and two white" in the countryside. Since I became the secretary of the party branch, three more young intellectuals in our village have successively entered the branch team. We have made concerted efforts to lead the masses of members to respond to Chairman Mao Zedong's call to "learn from Comrade Lei Feng" and "Dazhai in agricultural studies," to learn from Lei Feng's socialist thinking of loving the country and the collective, to carry forward the spirit of arduous pioneering work of the Dazhai people, and to vigorously carry out farmland capital construction with the spirit of "having us in the face of difficulties and having no difficulties in front of us." After 3 years of drought in the sky, we worked hard for 3 years, transformed more than 1,700 mu of saline and alkali land in the village into high-standard garden fields, and implemented scientific farming. Since then, Doujiaqiao has not only bid farewell to the era of low yield of less than 100 kilograms of grain and ended the history of eating grain sold back by the state, but also completely reversed the situation in which grain output has been hovering for many years and achieved a substantial increase year after year. By 1974, the average grain yield of the whole village exceeded 500 kilograms, and 150,000 kilograms of surplus grain were sold to the state that year. By 1976, we had sold 215,000 kilograms of patriotic grain throughout the year. At the same time, the village's side business has developed greatly, cultural activities have also flourished, and Doujiaqiao Village has finally become a well-known rich village and an advanced village. Although the achievements are insignificant now, they did play a certain exemplary role at that time. I am extremely relieved to see that my ideal of "doing agriculture in a big way and doing grain in a big way" has really become a reality. What is even more gratifying is that from the practice of hard work and entrepreneurship, in the action of sharing worries for the country, we have also cultivated the will to persevere, bear hardships and stand hard work, and the spirit of patriotism for the people and dedication, and this precious spiritual wealth we have harvested has made us use for life.
I often say that we knew the truth that "only by liberating all mankind can we finally liberate ourselves", because without the economic development of the whole village, there would be no personal development of us, and without the common prosperity of the whole village, there would be no personal poverty alleviation. I think it is precisely because Zhiqing was once a poor peasant living at the lowest level, so he can best sympathize with the people's suffering, and he can't stand that his second hometown is still backward and his fathers and fellow villagers are still poor. Look at the series of characters in the book "Children of the Earth", some of them have long achieved fame, but they have given up everything and returned to their second hometown to start a hard business; some of them are old, but they have given up a comfortable city life and a beautiful natural happiness, and once again went to the mountains and the countryside to take root and struggle; some of them originally lived a worry-free life, but they still had no regrets in order to help the villagers become poor; some of them were not rich, but they saved money and used donations to fund education and help the poor and needy... From them, I saw the shadow of the communist fighter Lei Feng, in order to "make others live a better life" and contribute to society, they were clear, struggling, happy, happy, they wrote the sublime into life, and made the best interpretation of "serving the people wholeheartedly". Although I am ashamed of myself compared to their noble deeds, the common name of "Zhiqing", similar experiences and the same complex make me fully able to understand their feelings and admire their spirit.
Combined with the deeds of the characters in the book and my own experience, I summarized the following three points of inspiration to share with readers:
First, the path of integrating intellectuals with workers and peasants is correct. Our party has always advocated the integration of intellectuals with workers and peasants, which is an important way to cultivate qualified builders and reliable successors of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and has a bright future. It is precisely when the rural areas are extremely poor and backward that our country's intellectual youth go to the mountains and go to the countryside, unite with the broad masses of workers and peasants, fight side by side, and hug the group for warmth, that they truly understand the national conditions, understand life, temper their will, and cultivate the ideological feelings of loving labor and loving the working people. This valuable wealth of experience has enabled many Zhiqing to become the backbone of the Republic and the backbone of all fronts, and has also made more Zhiqing prosperous and strong, ordinary labor, and silent dedication for the prosperity of the Republic. Looking back on the past, we have been able to grow up healthily and withstand the test of time and history precisely because we have adhered to the correct direction of integrating intellectuals with workers and peasants; looking forward to the future, if we want to never forget our original intentions and always adhere to the people's stand, we must also unswervingly take the correct road of combining intellectuals with workers and peasants.
Second, the exploration of intellectual youth going to the mountains and going to the countryside is valuable. Today, in the face of the passing back of history, we can all comment on the past, but the emergence of each historical event can only be objective and fair if we deeply explore its context and examine it in the historical context of the time. To this day, the need for employment of knowledgeable youth, the need for talents for the construction of new rural areas, and the need for training for the growth of young people are still major issues affecting China's economic and social development. Therefore, the exploration of the party and state leaders in those years to combine the three difficult problems through the way of intellectual youth going to the mountains and going to the countryside should be said to be necessary and valuable, although it is inevitable that there will be detours and risks in the exploration. Throughout history, at every stage, there must always be people who contribute to the national interests and even sacrifice for the great national righteousness, compared to our little payment is not worth mentioning. I feel honored and proud that I have inadvertently devoted myself to the country's exploration path, no complaints, no regrets, and I feel that it is worth it to suffer more!
Third, the mainstream group of intellectual youth is healthy and upward. The complexes and imprints left by the special and ordinary history of the intellectual youth going to the mountains and going to the countryside have forged the "Zhiqing" into a special group that is different from the predecessors and different from the descendants. No matter how history evaluates the decision of the intellectual youth to go to the mountains and go to the countryside, the vast number of intellectuals and young people share the same fate with the motherland, share worries with their youth, enthusiasm, and loyalty, make contributions and sacrifices to alleviate the pressure of urban employment, build and develop poor villages and remote areas, and consolidate the frontiers of the motherland; the vast number of intellectuals and young people struggle in a difficult environment, struggle in a long period of ups and downs, undergo the tempering of rebirth, cast a stoic will, and create an optimistic and upward character. It has cultivated the spirit of being brave and responsible and willing to dedicate, and has accumulated valuable spiritual wealth, which is also worthy of respect and inheritance. Although the identity, status, and even living environment of Zhiqing have undergone tremendous changes with the changes of the times, the loyalty of the worried country and the people has never changed, because everyone calls for a common voice in their hearts, that is, "everything for the motherland"! It is a seed of patriotism that has sprouted in our hearts since childhood, and it has always allowed us to regard the interests of the motherland and the people above all else. Nowadays, the zhiqing are all over the age of flowers and even rare, but the ideals, beliefs and value pursuits of dedication to the prosperity and strength of the country are still difficult to let go, so the vast majority of old zhiqing are still exerting the positive energy of the sunset and concentrating on doing various things that are good for society. We have every reason to believe that as a useful resource for society, the mainstream group of knowledgeable young people who go to the mountains and go to the countryside is a healthy and upward group worthy of the trust of the party and the people.
Thanks to the noble spirit shown by the characters in the book, they do small things with great love, convey greatness over the ordinary, and truly record the responsibility, dedication and responsibility of the old Zhiqing with one vivid life and one vivid story, and fully demonstrate the people-oriented feelings and patriotic spirit of the old Zhiqing. In particular, those brave people who are concerned about the "three rural areas" returning to their hometown to start a business are extremely noble people, and their righteous deeds of knowing the youth and realizing the Chinese dream will not only inspire the old and the young, but also enlighten future generations. Building a new socialist countryside is the long-cherished wish of the young generation, and it is even more the responsibility of modern youth. At that time, due to the limitations of conditions, we cherished the ideal of building a new socialist countryside but only solved the problem of food and clothing, but now we are building a beautiful countryside that is well-off in an all-round way, and we are building a modern socialist new countryside, which is a great cause of realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.
Finally, I would like to thank the authors and editors for their hard work and for dedicating such a good book to society.
concentrate:
Hou Jun: Female, born in March 1943, a native of Beijing, after graduating from high school in July 1962, she voluntarily went to the countryside to join the team, is a national advanced intellectual, a famous model worker, a deputy to the "Tenth National Congress" of the Party and a member of the Standing Committee of the Fourth National People's Congress, and has been received many times by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation. He once served as the secretary of the party branch of the brigade, the deputy secretary of the Baodi County CPC Committee, the deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Women's Federation, the secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Youth League, and the deputy head of the State Council's leading group for the work of knowing the youth. He left work in 1980 and successively served as deputy director of the People's Congress of Baodi County, Tianjin, deputy county magistrate, and chairman of the county (district) CPPCC committee. This article is the author's preface to the book "Children of the Earth" published by People's Daily Publishing House in 2018.