Chapter 62 1. Thawing

In October 1978, I walked out of the valley in Guangxi and returned to Beijing after a ten-year absence. I was immediately in an exciting atmosphere.Beijing in the initial stage of transformation is a scene of thawing. Since it does not have its own school building, the Graduate School of the Academy of Social Sciences is temporarily located on the campus of Beijing Normal University and rents classrooms and dormitories there.The only exception is the Department of Philosophy, which rents a house at the Beijing Trade Union Cadre School, which is located in the south of Taoranting Park.Twelve people live in a large classroom, each with only one bed and a small desk, which is very crowded.At the beginning of its establishment, it can be seen that the Academy of Social Sciences has no experience in running schools, and the courses and teachers cannot be implemented, giving people the feeling of being messy and improvised.However, all this is nothing.What matters to me is that life has started anew, that I feel that I have boundless energy, that the road ahead leads again to all kinds of wonderful and unknown things.

A few days after the start of the semester, Wen Jize, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Graduate School, gave a report at the Beijing Experimental Theater, pushing the excitement of the graduate students to a climax.In his report, he listed the poverty situation of Chinese social sciences and called on us to work hard to change. A typical example is that San Marino, a small country with a population of 20,000, published dozens of volumes of encyclopedias and wanted to exchange them with my country, but we only took out A Xinhua dictionary.He impassionedly announced: "Our graduate school is a poor peasant with no place to stand, but in the future, we will let each of you live in a room and install a color TV!" You must know that color TV was a rare item at that time.He also announced: "Not only will we not wear hats, we will not grab braids, we will not beat sticks, but we will also not put bags. Existing files must also be cleaned up, and all the messy things will be removed!" I clearly remember, saying When they arrived at these two places, the audience really burst into applause, and this innocent and passionate old man was so moved that tears filled his eyes.Needless to say, his promises were not kept, at least until we graduated, and graduate school was still under the fence.As for the process of democratization, it was tortuous and longer than he imagined, and he himself seemed to suffer a lot later.Of course, the progress is also huge. An obvious fact is that with the advancement of the market economy, the shackles of archives on people are getting weaker and weaker, and "bags" can no longer scare many people.

One day in late November, I rode my bicycle through Chang'an Avenue and found many people gathered beside the long fence from Xidan to the Telegraph Building, and people were reading big-character posters.The one with the most viewers was a small-character poster, which was an open letter to the screenwriter of "In the Silent Place", criticizing this highly praised play set in the Tiananmen incident as the background for not revealing the true root of the incident—Mao in his later years metaphysical thought.In my impression, this is the earliest public statement reflecting on Mao's later years.Then, the reflection quickly became a prairie fire.A few days later, I passed the History Museum, and to the south was a construction site. I saw a huge crowd of people down the high slope, and bicycles parked on the side of the road.On the wooden wall of the work shed, there is a big-character poster of about twenty sheets.The first page is a short statement: "We have implemented the Constitution's provisions on freedom of association with practical actions, and announced the establishment of the Enlightenment Society in Beijing." The signature is "several young workers from Guizhou."The content of the text is democracy and human rights.This big-character poster was eye-catching for its clear views and was widely discussed at the time.

Later, with official permission, the Xidan Democracy Wall became a place where big-character posters were posted intensively.The Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee was being held in those days, as if it was an echo, and the society was very active in thinking, and touched on institutional issues, such as life tenure, transparency of leaders' history and actual performance, and so on.Every day, the front of the Democracy Wall is very lively. Hundreds of bicycles are parked on the side of the road, and the crowd is bustling. Those who squeezed in front read aloud, the rest listened attentively, and some buried themselves in notes.The foreigners were particularly active, huddled in the crowd to take pictures of the big-character posters, or happily chatted with the Chinese people around them.

Later, the situation became complicated, and the Democracy Wall gradually collapsed, but it still persisted for about a year.I occasionally went to see it, and there were mostly accusations from those who went to Beijing to complain and the sleep talking of mentally ill patients.Sometimes interesting things can also be seen, for example, a big-character poster entitled "Nonsense" advocates sexual freedom and nudity, and an open letter to US President Carter applying for emigration to the United States.These two requirements were enough to be regarded as nonsense at the time, and many viewers responded with surprise or ridicule.It is difficult for people to expect that in China a few years later, the freedom to emigrate and a considerable degree of sexual freedom have become facts and have been recognized or acquiesced by the law.

In addition to the activeness of thought, art also presents an active scene.Obscure poems went from underground to underground, mimeographed poetry magazine "Today" was circulated among college students, and Mang Ke, Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Shu Ting and others won many young admirers. In the spring of 1979, all Beijing was talking about a photo exhibition titled "Nature, Society, Man". Its advertisement was posted on the Democracy Wall. It is Zhongshan Park, the herald of private art activities in the new era.After many years of cultural imprisonment, its exhibits are indeed refreshing.Two geese on the lake, with their heads and necks buried in the water, their buttocks facing the camera, the narration is: "Don't let them take photos, who knows what their purpose is." Two old women put their ears on the echo wall at a distance from each other Listen, the dialogue is: "Did you hear it?" "I heard it." "What did you say?"

Movies, including many foreign original films, have temporarily lifted the ban, and units with connections have shown their talents, and they continue to get them to be screened.A staple of people's lives in those days was watching movies everywhere, sometimes several times a day.Most of them are original films that have not been dubbed, and people who understand foreign languages ​​perform simultaneous translation, but the level is very different.There are often nude or pornographic scenes in the original film. In this case, there seems to be an unwritten rule that the projectionist must make technical treatment on the spot.Generally, the focal length is changed to make the screen blurred, or the lens is blocked, or simply cut off, resulting in the whole film being fragmented.

Portable tape recorders were still a novelty at the time, and people were entrusting people to buy them smuggled from the coast.Teresa Teng's songs have just been imported from Hong Kong, and fans are scrambling to transcribe and play them.The once-banned flared trousers are sold in bulk in stores.There are more exotic clothes and long hair on the street, as if a large number of artists suddenly appeared from the ground.In the park, on the road, lovers hug and kiss in public.This is a China that is thawing. Different types of people play pioneering roles in different aspects. Deep people are innovating ideas and art, and shallow people are also changing conservative life concepts by pursuing fashionable appearance.

The wave in society has also caused shocks among graduate students.One day, a debate broke out in our dormitory. The cause was that a classmate was visiting Taoranting Park and saw lovers making out on a bench. He was greatly stimulated and came back to make a comment, accusing it of being immoral.I retorted: "Who is he in the way? Why is it immoral?" The students present immediately became violent, and there were four people in each of the old and new factions, and they were evenly matched.At issue is sexual freedom.I stated my point of view: Our country advocates late marriage, and premarital sex is considered improper or even illegal.It is a natural law that people have sexual requirements when they reach a certain age. As a result of forced suppression, most people have to spend a long period of youth in depression, while those young people who are careless or dare to break through the suppression are subject to public opinion. Accusations and administrative interference have left stains that cannot be washed away, affecting the future of a lifetime.At the same time, since cohabitation is not allowed before marriage, marriage is the only way to satisfy sexual requirements, thus resulting in many immature marriages.The conclusion is that there should be sexual freedom before marriage.Another modernist added: There should be sexual freedom not only before marriage but also after marriage.As soon as the words fell, the conservatives yelled: "My God, isn't this out of order?" "It's just defending hooliganism!" In relationships, only prostitution and rape are gangster activities.A conservative emphasized that married people should be loyal to their lovers.At this time, the fourth modernist, who had been silent all this time, spoke slowly and startlingly: "For example, a Chinese who sometimes goes to Japan and sometimes goes to the United States, can you say that he is not loyal to China? "The crowd roared and laughed together.This fourth modernist was named Wang Xiaoping, the younger brother of the late writer Wang Xiaobo.