It was not easy for me to wait for until I was old enough to go to school. I still remember one day in the summer vacation of 1952 when it was raining, I was brought to the teachers’ office of the Jinyu Primary School. In that era, not all children who were old enough could go to school and every one of them must be interviewed. Then the headmaster decided who had the qualification to be enrolled in. In the course of the interview, teachers asked me a lot of questions, including my age, birthday, family member and their names and ages, and etc. I was asked to count; I counted to more than 50 without a breath and was stopped by the interviewer. I was able to answer all the questions but one which perplexed me a lot. After I told the teacher how old my father was I was asked to calculate how many years father was older than me. It was lucky, this question didn’t prevent me from being enrolled and I finally could carry my school bag to go to school now.
The schoolbag has been used by my elder brother and sister and I must continue to use it, which made me filled with unhappiness because it looked very ugly. I had no choice but accept it. On the first day I went to school, mother gave 3 fen for me to buy a “zongzi” (cooked rice wrapped by reed leaves). I didn’t know the meaning. The afterward query let me know that the “zongzi” had the shape of pyramid and children eating it were asked to climb the pyramid.
The first grade of the Jinyu Primary School had two classes, each one nearly 60 pupils. I was not tall and seated in the front. The first term (20 weeks or so) ended and my position was the 32nd of almost 120 pupils. Naturally I admired the first one very much, who was a tall girl and seemed to me an adult lady. During the spring festival a lot of relatives came to my home and had a party. My school report was read by those who could read and told my parents that I was fairly good because there were some pupils who read in the first grade for a second time.
I had the feeling that the teacher liked me very much so I was not fond of Sundays esp. the long holidays and willing to go to school every day. In the second term of the first year, a speech contest was to be held. The class teacher selected me as the competitor. Before the contest, every afternoon after school was over I was asked to stay in the teachers’ office and he coached me how to read what I would speak by heart and corrected my intonation. The speech contest took place as scheduled and facing so many audiences I was a newborn calf who didn’t fear the tiger. What I said was something about the Soviet Union, whose today would be our tomorrow. In the near future we would also eat good quality of rice, white wheat flour, chickens, fish, meat and eggs, and after the meal fruits could be offered. The result of the speech contest was that I got the third place; prizes were some pencils and writing books.
In the second year my class moved to the “First Zong Temple”, where there were a lot of bodhisattvas. I was afraid of these idols, who looked frightening with no exception. As soon as school was over I left the temple as soon as possible.
In the third year my class came back to the yard of the Jinyu Primary School. My class teacher was called Ping Yuan. During my childhood I feared the male adult person, but now I saw Mr. Yuan was very affable. I had the feeling that he liked me very much and in class he often asked me to answer his questions, esp. when he needed a student to summarize the main idea of a text, he would call my name and I was very glad to finish this task. Before class I used to get prepared and did my best to summarize as complete as possible. In addition, my composition was often read in class as a model. He didn’t tell the class whose composition it was, but I immediately realized it was mine and was vey delicious at heart, which resulted in my favor of writing. Every time I wrote the composition I used as many as possible the idioms we learned in the Chinese class, which I thought could gain the teacher’s praise. When the first term of the third year ended my position was the sixth one of the class of more than 50 students. The first 5 were most girls. I made up my mind to enter the first five in the next term, but the school did not allow the class teacher to position the students in the class. From then on I didn’t know my position in the class.
In the school there was a teacher who could blow the bamboo flute. On a party he made his performance, playing the flute with his nose instead of mouth. I admired him very much. Some students could also play a flute, making it singing what we learned in the music class. The bamboo flute didn’t cost much; I bought one and began to learn to play it. After 2 to 3 months I could also play some songs with it. Since then playing the flute had been my hobby and I took part in some accompaniments. During the junior middle school I performed on the stage with my nose playing the flute. The simple musical instrument urges me to teach myself numbered musical notations and I could sing popular songs myself without being taught by the teacher. In the second year of the senior middle school I worked as a recreation committee member in the class. For a long time, the flute became my symbol. When someone didn’t know my name he or she referred to me as the boy who could play the flute. I didn’t give up the flute until I began my university life.
I began to blow bamboo flute during the 4th year class
I have some bitter memories during the junior primary school. First I must do some physical labor, which was very boring for a child of only 9-10 years old. The part above I’ve written mentioned that father made use of the cow my family fed to pull the millstone to grind wheat to produce flour, which had to be looked after. The cow would defecate and urinate and someone had to stand by and got ready to catch its excrement and urine with a ladle of wood, otherwise it would dirty the ground and you would take trouble and spend a lot of time cleaning up. Furthermore, the bran flour flowing from the millstone must be pick up and sent to be sieved. When the wheat or the bran which needed to grind for a second or third time was about to be complete, new wheat or bran must be added, otherwise the millstone would grind nothing and it could become blunt immediately. As a result, the process must be stopped and masters be requested to sharpen the millstone, entertained with food and drink, plus payment. When the winter vacation began and I didn’t go to school, a lot of people came to process the wheat into flour because before the Chinese New Year, every family would steam mantou to celebrate the spring festival. In the early morning and later in the evening, father looked after the millstone, but during the daytime, the task fell on my shoulder. I was tied tightly and had no time to play outdoors with my little friends. The experience says, “Once lazy cattle begin to work, excrement or urine comes out.” Actually, it was very hard to deal with because the cow often defecate or urinate suddenly without any indication. If I was careless, excrement or urine would dirty the ground and I was sure to blame by parents. So I had to be careful every moment every day until the afternoon of the last day of the December of the lunar year.
The cow pulls the millstone like this
During the summer vacation I had still something to do with the cow. Every early morning, I had to get up and worked as a cowherd, leading the cow and letting it feed outside. Being very hot in the summer, we enjoyed the cool air outside at night and went to bed very late. In the morning I liked to sleep very much but had to get up, afraid of the dignified attitude of parents. Having a drowsy look, I led the cow outward. Every inch of the land in my hometown was precious and crops grew everywhere, there being no large piece of grassland at all. I had to lead the cow along the brook and looked for the grass it liked to gnaw, bewaring of the cow eating the crops. It was impossible to be rich in poetic and artistic flavor: the shepherd boy rode on the back of the cattle and “shepherd boy's singing sound is rippling…. there being a piccolo also sounding.” Sometimes I really brought a piccolo with me, blowing it mindlesslyand listlessly. Young and impatient, I often felt it very long for the cow to gnaw the grass and led it home, resulting in encountering a lot of blame. I was forced to lead it outwards again and let it continue to feed itself until the sun rose high and I felt hot, exposed to the sun. Even when it rained I put on a bamboo hat and did the job as usual. How I wished the vacation would come to an end sooner.
Another bitter memory should be recorded here was that I was afraid of losing the pen very much, which probably made my following generations puzzled. From the third year in the primary school students were asked to use the pen instead of the pencil. I was so careless that I would soon lose my pen after I got it. Once the pen was lost I dared not tell the truth and concealed it, telling a lie that I left it in the classroom. Always not seeing me use the pen, father compelled me to be honest and had no choice but admit the truth. Father got very angry and hit my buttocks and sometimes even cheeks. Nevertheless, I continued to lose my pens until I began the senior primary school.
Becauase of losing pens, I was beaten several times
One day in the fourth year I was told that in the county town Jinsha, there was a tractor for people to see. In the first year in the speech contest, I spoke about the tractor ploughing in the collective farm of the Soviet Union. Then in the Chinese textbook there was a story about the first Chinese woman tractor driver Liang Bin with a picture of a tractor. Now a real tractor was not very far away and I was anxious to see it with my own eyes. I couldn't resist the temptation and went to Jinsha with several classmates of mine on foot. On the road to Jinsha, I got afraid because I didn’t tell parents where to go, but I continued my way. I did see the tractor with a huge plough. The driver drove it and ploughed the earth. It was not a caterpillar tractor I saw in my book but one with two large wheels. However, I felt very satisfied. When I got home it was very late and I told the truth to parents. It was lucky that I didn’t get beaten.
At that time, I was esp. interested in the county town Jinsha. On Qingming Festival (on April. 5) the school organized us to go there to pay respects to the martyrs at their tombs, who had died in the war. After the ceremony we were free to go anywhere. I liked to go to the Jinbei Primary School with some little fellows, where we could play on the slide and the artificial mount. The smooth chute was made of cement with some designs which attracted us very much. We climbed up the stairs and slid down with several kinds of styles. Going on foot for so far made us tired out, and my two legs became ankylotic. Lying on the smooth chute and sliding down made me relaxed thoroughly, which comforted me very much. When thinking of the long way I must go home, I felt it terrible and imagined if only there were a very long smooth chute between Jinsha and Jinyu, I could lie on it and slide to my home. The artificial mount had a lot of fun, which was made of blocks of strange stones, and had caves for us to play the game of hide-and-seek. I’d never seen any mountains and the small man-made hill gave me much pleasure.
Children in this age section like to play very much without exception. I had not any toys, but played very happily, esp. in the moonlight evening, when a lot of children went out and played games together, such as “the eagle catches the chicken”, “selling the baby dogs”, “building the house” etc. It was so attracting that we forgot to go home to sleep. During the spring festival we played with copper money. At that time almost every household had some big copper coins of Qing Dynasty or Republic of China. The children took them out and played. We drew a circle on the ground and placed the coins in the centre then tried to drive them out of the circle with another copper coin in turn. If you could drive one out of the circle, you got your principal and if you could drive two you could gain other’s coin. If you drove none out of the circle, you would lose one copper. Other entertainments included playing Chinese cards and flying the kite, most of which were made by ourselves.
copper money we played during the spring festival
Parents never cared about my homework, and I had never been criticized because I didn’t work hard in the school, which might be admired by the children now and later.
Finished: On Oct 12 2008 in Melbourne
Proofreading: On Jan. 27 2012 in Chicago
Upload online: On Aug 3 2023 in Xuzhou
