There were two groups of educated youth who went to Liulijing Brigade, Chengguan, Pei County to join the team and settle down, both of which were from , Xuzhou City . The first batch of people came around 1969, and they were all young women. The second batch was in the spring of 1975. There were nine people, only three male educated youth, and the rest were female educated youth.
I remember that the first batch of educated youths came to be divided into the third production team and the fourth production team in our village. Both production teams built new houses for them and established educated youth sites.
Picture source: Internet
The houses in the educated youth site are earthen walls and tile houses. On the wall is a poster drawn by a talented young man in the village. One is painted by "Yang Zirong Fighting the Tiger Up the Mountain", and the other is watercolor painting "Li Tiemei Holds Up the Red Lantern". There is also a learning column next to the poster, full of colorful "big-character posters". The eight big words "Broad world, great achievements" are written on both sides of the gate of the educated youth site.
At that time, the educated youth spot was also the activity center of villagers. Adults and children like to gather there to listen to female educated youth tell stories to everyone, read "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" and teach everyone to learn to sing revolutionary songs. The educated youth also established the "Mao Zedong Thought Literary and Art Propaganda Team" for artistic performances, and carried out education on "grasping revolution and promoting production" and "remembering bitterness and thinking about sweetness". At that time, I thought that the girls from these cities were so educated, dressed so fashionable, and ate good food. I was so envious.
After decades, I have no impression of other educated youth, I only remember Dawang, Xiaowang and Tao Ping. The king is extroverted and careless, giving people a silly impression, but she is very hard-working and later became the captain of women. Xiao Wang is pretty, quiet and shy. For some reason, the king and Xiao Wang always had to fight each other and often quarreled. Once when the quarrel was the most powerful, the king scolded Xiao Wang and the brigade branch secretary, which made Xiao Wang so angry that he drank pesticides on the spot. Fortunately, the rescue was timely and was spared.
Later, the superior transferred Xiao Wang to work at Chengguan Commune Hospital, separated them, and the educated youth site calmed down. Xiao Wang was very happy to leave the village. She worked very actively in the hospital and was rated as an "activist in studying Chairman Mao's works" for many years. Every time we went to the hospital for treatment, she saw us very enthusiastic, always smiling and asking about the situation in the village.
In my impression, Tao Ping is a slightly fat girl, wearing myopia glasses, big eyes, and two thick and long braids that look particularly beautiful when she sways. Tao Ping is willing to study and often keeps her books. When she goes to work in the fields, she doesn't forget to bring a book. She sits on the spot to read whenever she has time. Later, the brigade arranged her to be a private teacher in the central primary school. She walked back to the village with her classmates every day. The naughty male classmate either pulled her braids or took off her glasses, and nicknamed her "Four Eyes", which made her cry often. For this reason, the children who bullied her were punished by the school and beaten by their parents, but she always apologized to the children, as if she was the one who made the mistake. The teacher and the villagers said that Teacher Tao was such a kind girl.
By 1973, those girls who came to work in the country began to return to the city one after another. The last one left was the king. Maybe she was too straightforward and might not be able to do anything. Anyway, she was very frustrated when she left in the end, because she was old and returning to the city to recruit workers was a problem. Later I heard that she entered the Xuzhou Sand Turning Factory with "a red heart and calluses" and although her work was dirty and tiring, she said that there was no distinction between high and low in revolutionary work, and as long as she was willing to work, she could earn money.
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In early 1975, the villagers ushered in the second batch of educated youth. This time, the brigade assigned them to the first production team and the second production team. The village rebuilt the educated youth spot, brick houses with yards, and a kitchen was built, and a few female members were selected to take turns to cook for them. They brought their own radio and badminton and often held some cultural and sports activities. The girls and young men in the village often talked and laughed with them. The educated youth spot was very lively.
Later, I heard from the village cadres that most of these educated youth were the children of police officers in a prison in Jiangsu Province. In order to let village cadres and villagers take good care of them, their parents often sent film screening staff from their unit to the village from Xuzhou to show condolence movies. We followed a lot. There are some new films that the county cinema has not yet been released, but we all have a sneak peek.
The movies screened at that time include "Red Rain", " Spring Seedlings ", "Break", " Fighting Hongtu ", " Joyful Xiaolianghe ", etc. I still have a deep impression of these movies.
The second batch of educated youth who came to the country to work in the country have their own characteristics. The young grandson is funny, the eldest grandson is cute, Wang Huozi (nickname given to the king by the villagers) is honest, and the young lady Zhou is quiet and beautiful, but she is extremely myopic. Fat Zhang is good at singing and dancing. He often plays harmonica and flute after work. Other educated youth are also very unique.
The educated youth Xiao Sun had a good relationship with a young man in the village. He often visited the young man's house. After a while, he got along with the young man's sister. Xiao Sun's parents strongly opposed it when they heard about it, and the two were forced to break up. At that time, the urban and rural household registration was a river of earth between them, and an insurmountable gap.
Wang Huozi has the lowest education and is said to have only primary school education, but he also went to the village as the "intellectual Youth" to settle down in our village. Although Wang Huozi has a low level of education, he is really capable, not afraid of being dirty or tired, and has become a member of the members and has a very high prestige among the villagers. He was soon promoted to the production team leader and joined the party. He led the villagers to "fight the sky and the earth" to carry out production. Many farmland water conservancy construction projects in the village were completed under his organization.
The brigade arranged for Xiao Zhou to help my father settle accounts and record work points. She likes to write things in her spare time. She wrote a report about my father's newsletter broadcasting was broadcasted by the county radio station and was also awarded the Good News Award. Because she was active and willing to do well, her father recommended Xiao Zhou to work as a barefoot doctor at the brigade health center. She fell in love with a handsome young man who was also a barefoot doctor at first sight and quickly fell in love. The news of
quickly reached Xuzhou, and was also strongly opposed by Xiao Zhou's parents. In a fit of anger, the young man worked hard to take the exam and finally got admitted to Peixian Normal School. After graduation, he worked as a public teacher at the brigade central school and happily married Miss Zhou.
I remember that their home was temporarily installed in the free house of the brigade headquarters. When I went to the brigade to find my father, Miss Zhou always cared for me as an elder sister and loved me. She would hold my hand and cut my nails for me every once in a while. Sometimes it rained, she would hold an umbrella to send me to school or home.
There are many stories about the educated youth spot, both bitter and sweet. The ups and downs of these passionate young people's lives and joyful years have accompanied me from children to teenagers, and inspired me to move from ignorance to cleverness. I thank the educated youth from the bottom of my heart for their elder brothers and sisters.
In the winter of 1977, after the National resumed the college entrance examination , these big brothers and sisters returned to the city one after another, and there was no news from them again. I had the deepest impression of Sister Zhou, who settled in the village in the past. She is my favorite educated youth sister. It’s a pity that she never came back after returning to the city. I never saw her again. I miss her very much.
Although the educated youth went to the countryside to go to the countryside to work in the countryside for a lot of hardships and grievances, they also experienced the persistence and hardship of life beliefs. The struggle of a generation of educated youth is worth remembering and remembering. In the most difficult years of the country, they, together with the farmers in their village, used their wisdom and sweat to change the appearance of the mountains and rivers and support the development of the country. Compared with the young people who came later, this special group has more understanding of the hardships of life and has a spirit of hard work and perseverance.
Picture source: Internet
The word "educated youth" is no longer a purely literal meaning, but a kind of "character" given to them by that special experience. Their hard-working spirit and their great contribution to agricultural development are worthy of praise and learning.Later, when I read works such as Ye Xin 's "Waste Years", Wang Anyi 's "The End of the Train", Shi Tiesheng 's "Hard-off Qingping Bay " and Liang Xiaosheng 's "There is a Blizzard tonight", I had a particularly good impression.
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Liu Xiaodong, male, member of Shandong Writers Association , author of the collection "And to Glass of Wine for Years" and the collection of poems "The Years in the Heart".
