Chapter 10 Scholars and Soldiers

The only period in my life when I dealt with soldiers was from 1969 to 1971, after Unit 8341 entered the Foreign Language Institute.I actually like these soldiers very much. They really do not have the complicated mentality of intellectuals who are overly cautious and consider all aspects of things.Dealing with them is in my character, most of them are straightforward, don't hide their views, don't beat around the bush.However, there have also been great disputes between us. I think the reason is that it is wrong to send a group of soldiers who do not understand teaching and foreign languages ​​​​to lead an institution of higher learning that trains foreign language talents.

One of the biggest arguments I had with the 8341 Military Propaganda Team was about foreign language teaching reform.It happened in July 1970, when I was ordered by Chairman Mao to go to the Hubei Shayang Cadre School of the College of Foreign Languages ​​to carry out educational reform and prepare for enrollment. In my essay "Recalling the Chairman", I described the background at that time as follows: In May 1970, under the leadership of the 8341 Military Propaganda Team, the School of Foreign Languages ​​left Beijing for the Shayang Cadre School.At that time, my mother had passed away the year before, and my father was ninety years old.Considering that my father had no relatives to take care of me, Premier Zhou suggested that I stay in Beijing after consulting Chairman Mao.I asked the Prime Minister not to let me stay in the school detention center with the old, weak, sick and disabled, but let me go to the factory to work and exercise.The Prime Minister agreed and appointed me to go to the Beijing General Knitting Factory, and personally wrote to Comrade Sun Yi, the representative of the 8341 Army who was stationed in the Knitting General Factory at that time, asking him to arrange my work and life there.On the early morning of May 1st of this year, in the wet morning light, I sent off the mighty school brigade who went to Shayang, and wandered alone in the large playground that suddenly seemed extremely empty.The "Cultural Revolution" that has been raging for six years has come to an end on this campus, leaving behind many shattered ideals and expectations.I am about to enter the factory and become an ordinary textile worker!The dreams and aspirations of the past have turned into clouds, drifting away, leaving nothing but a blank... I bid farewell to the school's study, bid farewell to the palace of Western literature, and walked into the gate of Beijing Knitting Factory.Comrade Sun Yi assigned me to the model team of this factory - trolley team A to participate in labor.This class was an advanced team in the advanced workshop that created and studied the "Seven Character Classic" of Mao Zedong Thought at that time.The workers warmly welcomed me, a decentralized intellectual, and earnestly taught me the technology of trolley weaving.Soon, I was able to watch a loom independently.I followed my little master to and from get off work in three shifts, ate and worked together with the workers, and never thought about the erratic future, and never thought about the pursuit that I was not sure about myself. I felt at ease, I feel at ease to be a worker.However, Chairman Mao did not forget me, a junior whom he jokingly called "teacher".My life soon took another major turn.

June 14, 1970 was my thirty-fourth birthday according to the lunar calendar.I was on the morning shift that day, and I took over at six o'clock in the morning.At around eight o'clock, the Army Representative's Office sent someone to the workshop to find me and told me that Chairman Mao had called and asked me to go see him immediately.Comrade Sun Yi also told me that the chairman specifically asked me to ask for leave from the factory, and I should not refuse to ask for leave just because he wanted me to go.I was a little dazed and a little excited by this sudden call.The ups and downs of the six years made me feel that the time when I talked English with Chairman Mao and listened to his wise teachings was a long time ago. I didn't think about whether I would have the opportunity to see him again.

I hurriedly changed my work apron, and rode my bicycle along the familiar road to Zhongnanhai as I did six years ago. The chairman is waiting for me at the swimming pool residence.He was half leaning on the bed drinking tea when I went in.I said: "Hi, Chairman! I haven't seen you for many years!" The Chairman smiled happily and patted the edge of the bed to ask me to sit down. He also pushed his teacup to me and told me to drink his tea.The chairman said: "Oh! My teacher Zhang, I haven't seen you for many years! How are you? You have weathered the storms and seen the world these years, haven't you?"

I froze in surprise.What an amazing memory Chairman Mao has!In these six years, how many major events in the "Great Revolution" he has dealt with, he still remembers the message he gave me, a little man, six years ago!So, I said: "Chairman, I didn't expect you to remember these two sentences. Over the years, I have experienced a bit of wind and rain, and I have seen a little bit of the world, but I still don't understand many things." Everyone will understand." The chairman then asked about my father's situation and asked me to take good care of him many times.He said: "Xing Lao is a rare friend, we must protect him! The Prime Minister wrote to me to take protective measures, and I agree!"

Afterwards, Chairman Mao got up from the bed, put on his dressing gown and said to me: "I have something to discuss with you, let's go outside to talk." So I walked with Chairman Mao to the conference room.He asked me to sit on the sofa next to him, and asked me, "How long has your school been closed?" I replied, "It's been four years from 1966 to now. It didn’t work out. There was a faction war in the school, and classes couldn’t be resumed.” Chairman Mao said, “Forget it in the past! Now I’m thinking that students should go back to the classroom, that is to say, they should go to class. But education can’t be done like in the past. .Education needs to be reformed. Foreign languages ​​still need to be learned, but they also need to be reformed. I came here to discuss with you the reform of foreign language teaching. Think about how to reform the law. Educational reform, are you willing to go?” I said, “Of course the chairman sent me. I’m just afraid that if I fail, I’ll fail the chairman’s expectations.” The chairman said it doesn’t matter, everything must be tested.He asked again: "How many foreign teachers did your School of Foreign Languages ​​have in the past?" I said: "I can't tell the total, but every department has them. At most, there were more than ten in the English department." Chairman Mao said: "These people Where are you now?" I said, "They are not there anymore. Most of them stopped classes because of the revolution in their schools, and they all returned to China. There were also a few who supported the faction and were arrested." The chairman said, "Oh! Solve it." I wanted to talk more about the issue of foreign experts being taken away, but the chairman didn't seem to want to go into it, so he changed the subject and asked me: "Do you think it will be necessary to invite foreigners to teach in the future?" I said: "At least for Foreign language teaching is absolutely necessary." I stated my opinion carefully.Chairman Mao nodded and said it made sense, and said: "The school should start recruiting new students, and it can also selectively invite some foreigners to teach." However, Chairman Mao said: "But we must invite some foreign workers and farmers. My stubbornness came up again, and I said, "That won't work. The students we train will be engaged in diplomacy, teaching, and training talents in the future. Therefore, teachers are required to have a relatively high level of education, at least college or higher." At the same time, we need to learn literary works, which cannot be taught by purely foreign workers and peasants. Besides, in terms of spoken language, especially the British, the pronunciation of workers is different from that of highly educated workers. Therefore, we still need to invite intellectuals.” Chairman Mao looked at me talking excitedly and said with a smile: "Okay! We won't argue today. My teacher Zhang is still a 'literary school'!" Chairman Mao still remembers one day in 1963 after finishing learning English , the "argument" that happened when I was with him for dinner.Chairman Mao said at the time that learning a foreign language should use political articles as textbooks, but I said it should be literary ones.Chairman Mao said, let’s make a compromise, seven parts politics and three parts literature.I say it's better to reverse it, seven points to literature and three points to politics.Probably at that time Chairman Mao completely regarded me as a junior, the daughter of his old friend, so he didn't care about my dispute with him, but found it very interesting, he said: "You are really a 'literary school'! "Seven years later, Chairman Mao still remembered that I was a "literary school". Until then, Chairman Mao's memory was still amazing.

Later, Chairman Mao assigned me a task, asking me to report the conversation he had with me to Yang Dezhong and Premier Zhou Enlai and ask them to help implement it.Chairman Mao agreed to my request, and immediately went to Hubei Shayang Cadre School to carry out educational reform work with the school's large troops after the preparations were completed.Chairman Mao repeatedly told me that I must make good arrangements for my father's life before leaving.He said that he would give me half a year to complete the education reform plan, and prepare to recruit new students again, and enter the school in the fall of the next year.I should also organize teachers to start writing new teaching materials.

After leaving Chairman Mao, I first went to the home of 8341 political commissar Yang Dezhong in Zhongnanhai.I reported Chairman Mao's instructions to him, and he said that he would do his best to assist, and was going to send several cadres from Unit 8341 to Shayang with me. After several meetings in Beijing under the guidance of Premier Zhou, we took the train to Wuhan and went to Shayang in mid-July. Unit 8341 dispatched several competent cadres to accompany me.For the first time in my life, I was traveling alone with a group of soldiers, and they took good care of me along the way.

At that time, traveling itself was a very difficult task, and the only means of transportation from Wuhan to Shayang was by car.But we don't have a small sleeping car, we can only take the big truck to Shayang.During those two years, I traveled back and forth to Beijing several times by taking this kind of large open cargo truck with no cover or cover.The journey was long, and it took seven or eight hours to reach the Shayang Cadre School.In summer, the high temperature in Hubei reaches more than 40 degrees, and the truck is driving under the scorching sun, which really burns people out; in winter, it is extremely cold, and sitting on the truck with the bitter cold wind, no matter how thick cotton-padded clothes and shoes you wear, you will feel tired. There is a feeling of freezing.We don't have a decent place to live either.There is a reception point in Wuhan, in a chaotic guest house.You are lucky to find a bed there.After going all the way to sleep on a bed in this dirty guest house, it feels really similar to living in a five-star hotel now.When we are unlucky and the hostel is full, we have to go all over the street to find a place to live.I remember one time when I went back to Beijing, I searched for a place to stay in Wuhan until after ten o'clock in the evening.Finally, a public bathhouse was found to take us in. They put a hard board on the bathtub, spread a thin mattress, and gave each person a set of dirty quilts and pillows that had been used by an unknown number of people.But even so, I was satisfied at the time, at least there was a shelter from the wind!Thinking about those difficult years now, I really don’t know how I spent them.However, people at that time really had the spirit of enduring hardships and standing hard work. Whether it was called personality cult or faith, as long as it was Chairman Mao's instructions, they would go on even the most difficult journey, and they really didn't feel bitter!

Like many "May 7th Cadre Schools" at that time, Shayang Farm was originally a labor camp for reforming criminals.In order to run a cadre school, some ex-convicts who had served their sentences and stayed in the field to work were moved to a nearby piece of land.These people are called "newcomers". When I first arrived in Shayang in July 1970, the Military Propaganda Team arranged for me to live in a small room in the headquarters of the First Brigade.This is undoubtedly a very special preferential treatment.It takes about half an hour to walk from the headquarters to the Second Brigade where the English Department is located.The hut I live in seems to be a masonry structure, and a large room next to it is an office.The two rooms on the left were also used as reformation offices.There is a ditch opposite, and beyond the ditch is the residence of the Department of Eastern European Languages, so I rarely saw my colleagues in the English Department at that time, but I often saw "comrades" such as Li Zhaochu and Yin Tongsheng from the German Department.

My hut couldn't be more shabby.Dirt ground, mud plastered walls.A door, a window by the door.There is only a small bed, a table, and a chair in the room.It was the scorching heat of July at that time, and the hut was like a stuffy tank, with a temperature of at least thirty-seven degrees.The teachers in the surrounding dormitories moved their beds to the yard at night.Even then, it was not possible to fall asleep until after midnight.I couldn't move to the courtyard to sleep, so I had to sit outside the house for most of the night. There were many mosquitoes outside the house. Fortunately, I brought anti-mosquito medicine from Beijing. But the worst thing was the heavy rain.Once it rained heavily, not to mention the roof leaking, because there was no drainage facility, the water in the yard began to pour into the house, and finally the washbasins placed on the ground were floating on the water.The bed was almost flooded too.In the entire brigade, only the row of houses at the headquarters are brick houses with steps, which are relatively high and are not afraid of flooding.Political commissar Sun Zefu sent security guards to take me to his office outside his residence and then relieved me of the siege.The next day, the water receded, and the muddy floor of my small room was drenched with footprints.People sleep in this damp room, and the days are over. The reform of foreign language teaching began in such cadre schools.The Military Propaganda Team set up a leading group for education reform, headed by a leftover political commissar Wang from the Navy Propaganda Team.He is a good man, but after the 8341 Military Propaganda Team entered the hospital, the former Navy Military Propaganda Team had no power, and everything was decided by the leader of the 8341 Military Propaganda Team.I was appointed as the deputy team leader.Various departments also sent representatives to participate. I remember that we held many meetings to unify our thinking.When entering August, the textbook group began to write new textbooks.The crisis in my relationship with the 8341 Military Propaganda Team also began. In order to ensure the party's leadership and the political and ideological quality of the textbooks, all the textbooks compiled must be approved by the 8341 Army Propaganda Team.And none of the leaders of the 8341 Military Propaganda Team knew a foreign language.Therefore, all the compiled textbooks had to be translated into Chinese and submitted for review. There was a problem with the first batch of textbooks submitted for review.Sun Zefu and other leaders of the 8341 Army Propaganda Team brought me in to discuss the political and ideological issues of the teaching materials.They said at the beginning that this was the first time to recruit new students after the "Cultural Revolution", and that it must embody the great achievements of the "Cultural Revolution" and the principles of Mao Zedong Thought, Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, and so on. Then, they pointed out that the political, ideological, and class nature of these newly compiled textbooks are very weak, and they should strengthen their understanding and recompile after unifying their thinking. I ask them to cite specific examples.They said: "For example, there is a class on family members, which introduces 'this is my father', 'that is my mother', brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, etc. But people are class-oriented, revolutionary Soldiers have parents, and so do reactionaries. You only talk about parents and brothers, isn’t that blurring the class nature of people?” I asked them how to highlight this class nature.They said: "You should at least explain: my father is a worker, or my mother is a farmer." I said that this is a textbook for new students, and that the future students will be workers, farmers, and soldiers without any foreign language foundation. , we must reasonably control the vocabulary.I can consider their opinions, but the first thing to consider when compiling teaching materials is the scientific nature of foreign language teaching. The 8341 military propaganda team was very disapproving, and then pointed out that our textbooks taught three meals a day and three meals a day.They say that teaching students in isolation what to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and what to eat at each meal completely eliminates the content of political ideas, at least for example, "After dinner, we have a heart-to-heart activity and help each other." What is even more unacceptable is that they requested that the appearance of tableware such as bread, butter, and knives and forks be deleted from the three meals.This, they say, is a bourgeois way of life and cannot be incorporated into textbooks. This kind of discussion makes people laugh and cry, and it completely violates the scientific nature of foreign language teaching.I tried to explain to them the vocabulary of beginners, and I also tried to convince them that in Western countries, capitalists eat bread and butter as their staple food, workers and peasants also eat bread and butter, there is no class here, even the language itself, Stalin also said But there is no class.This blew up the pot even more.In those days, who dared to say that there was no class in anything? ! The 8341 Military Propaganda Team insisted that the first lesson for freshmen should be "navigating the seas depends on the helmsman, making revolution depends on Mao Zedong Thought".They said, "How can I fail to learn just a few words?" The problem of teaching materials has not yet been resolved, and soon there is the problem of school buildings.At that time, before going to the cadre school, the advance infrastructure team only built dormitories and a small number of offices.At this time, there is a need to recruit students across the country. The new students and the original students who are already in Shayang must attend classes in the Shayang Cadre School. The problem of classrooms is a top priority.I proposed to make a plan to immediately build a batch of simple classrooms.Unexpectedly, this proposal was met with opposition.The military propaganda team said: "We must carry forward the style of Yan'an. At the beginning, the students of the Yan'an Anti-Japanese University all carried horses and went to class in the open air, and now the Yan'an atmosphere must be restored. Resuming classes is not a full restoration of the old education system. Why do we have to use classrooms? Students can Classes are held outdoors!" I asked them what to do if it rains?The summer in Hubei is rainy. Do students and teachers have to brave the downpour to attend classes?They said: "You can go to the dormitory for class when it rains." Our dormitory is a place to rest, and there are washbasins, towels, and clothes to dry. It is impossible to have classes in this environment, not to mention that there are often more than ten people in a dormitory. If someone is sick, how can you feel at ease when there are patients groaning while you are in class?However, the military propaganda team attributed all these problems to the "bourgeois way of running schools". I couldn't bear it anymore. I said, is the success of our revolution because everything goes back to the old days when we lacked food and clothing and had nothing?Isn't the purpose of the Communist revolution to get rid of poverty and enable the people to live a prosperous life?Today we are not the Yan'an of the past, why should we metaphysically imitate Yan'an? I could not persuade these simple soldiers, who at that time were completely dogmatically pursuing the model of the so-called complete revolution.I ended up telling them that I could never agree with them.I said this is called "a scholar meets a soldier, and the reason cannot be explained". Although I had a heated argument with the 8341 Army Propaganda Team, our relationship was still very friendly in the early days.After the debate was over at the meeting, after the meeting, they still crowded together to eat a big pot of rice.This was not easy in the era when the fashion of "buttoning hats" prevailed.In order to influence them, I figured out a way.I said to Sun Zefu: "I can't convince them because they don't understand foreign languages. If they learn a little foreign language, their views may change." I suggested that after dinner, an English class should be set up for the military propaganda team, with me as the teacher. Sun Zefu readily agreed, and enthusiastically supported, and took the lead in signing up.So, the foreign language class of my military propaganda team opened, and there were many students, most of whom participated.Three times a week, classes are held in the conference room of the headquarters of the Military Propaganda Team after dinner.It should be said that they studied very seriously.I gradually forgot that I was teaching English classes for this debate, and I really liked these very serious, hardworking students, which is probably a feeling I developed over the years as a teacher. If everything goes on like this, maybe we can find some common ground with the military propaganda team.However, it was an era in which class struggle was the key link after all.This attitude of Sun Zefu may have caused controversy within their 8341 Army Propaganda Team.From around mid-September, I clearly felt that the atmosphere was getting tense.Finally one day, Sun Zefu sent a guard to call me to his own office.When I got there, he wasn't in the house.A report on the problems in the teaching reform of the School of Foreign Languages ​​was placed on the table.I don't think it's a secret document, because I'm the deputy head of the education reform team, so I thought it was a summary, so I read it casually.To my surprise, there are many comments next to this document, which generally say that the two differences of opinion in the current educational reform are new trends in class struggle. Intellectuals who have not been reformed are trying to use the educational reform to attack Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line and resist The leaders of the military propaganda team dispatched by Chairman Mao wantonly carried out series activities in an attempt to fully restore the revisionist line in the field of foreign language teaching...etc.The last part of the report is full of struggles, saying that only by mobilizing the masses and fighting against the countercurrent of restoration can the educational reform proceed along the track of Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line. For many years, whenever I think of this incident, I guess that Sun Zefu deliberately "forgot" this report on the table, but he went out and was "accidentally" seen by me.Judging from the series of unfair treatment he received after he was unsuccessful, replaced, and sent back to Shandong shortly after he was finally evacuated from the School of Foreign Languages, perhaps Sun Zefu did not really object to our opinions at that time.And when their internal differences sharpened, he deliberately let me see their internal report to give me a warning.For this reason, although I have never asked him these things, I have a vague feeling in my heart that Sun Zefu is a good soldier who can understand intellectuals.It's a pity that good people often have bad rewards, and his ending is not good.After he was replaced, it was heard that he had a heart attack and was very dangerous.Later, he was sent back to an island in Shandong to serve as the political commissar of an army stationed on the island.I received a letter from him when I first arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but then I heard nothing from him. When I saw this warning, I immediately realized that something was wrong with me.Although I have the status of "imperial envoy" and was sent by Chairman Mao, once the masses are "mobilized" and the factions of the original two factions are added, I am afraid that I will be in Shayang where "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away". It's hard to fly with wings.After discussing with my friends, I decided to return to Beijing to report to Premier Zhou immediately. Because of my special status at that time, and the "anti-restoration" movement had not yet been launched, when I proposed to the military propaganda team that I wanted to report back to Beijing, although they were very reluctant to let me go, they still agreed. Unstoppable.Under the circumstances at that time, I could only "thirty-six strategies, and the best strategy is to go", but I left to come back and implement the education reform work instead of just walking away! I left Shayang on September 30. There was a truck going to Wuhan that day, and I could take a ride.Unexpectedly, a tragic event happened on this day.After breakfast, out of courtesy, I went to bid farewell to the military propaganda team, but found their rooms empty.I wandered around the corridor for a while, and saw the correspondent Xiao Dong running back in a panic.I asked him what happened, and he said that Wu Daosheng, a teacher in the English department, hanged himself in the woods! Wu Daosheng was one of the most talented middle-aged lecturers in the English Department at that time.I remember that he graduated from the former Nanjing Central University, and he seemed to be the first group to join the North China Revolutionary University and came to Beijing from the south.His life was a tragic life.He is talented, but he was classified as "extreme right" in the anti-rightist struggle.He was sent to reform through labor. It is said that in the natural disaster years after the Great Leap Forward, Wu Daosheng endured the heaviest labor of moving stones.About four or five years later.He finally returned to teaching at the Institute of Foreign Languages.But at that time, his family was broken, and he lived with a son in the small dormitory in the first room of Building 1. After the "Cultural Revolution" started, I was criticized myself, so I don't know what Wu Daosheng's situation is.Perhaps the rebels at that time wanted to catch "live tigers" and were not very interested in "dead tigers" like "rightists".But after the military propaganda team entered the hospital, he was named and accused of instigating the student rebels behind the scenes.In Shayang, he was in the second team of the English department, and I heard that he was also ordered to explain the problem.Perhaps it is not surprising that he took this last step, because fate was too unfair to him, and he lost too much. I am not familiar with Wu Daosheng, but I participated in the rehearsal of a Shaw short comedy "Augustus Does His Bit" ("Augustus Does His Bit") when I was in the fourth grade, and Wu Daosheng was our director.Not only does he have a high level of English, but he also knows drama very well and is a very good director.After he came back from labor reform, I taught the same grade in the same teaching and research room as him.I often ask him some questions in preparing lessons, knowing that his knowledge is very solid.It's a pity that he only stayed in the world for more than forty years, and a considerable amount of time was spent in suffering. As Wu Daosheng's student and colleague, I do not have close contacts with him.Later, in the 1980s, his son, out of unreasonable but understandable resentment, regarded the party members among the English department teachers at the time as responsible for his father's suicide, and inexplicably felt a kind of resentment towards me as well. hatred.But how could he be blamed for that?He should have had a happy family. His parents are both talented and good at living.At the beginning of my admission in 1953 they were the leading teachers in the English department.However, successive political campaigns ruined this supposedly happy family of intellectuals, and in the end it was really "broken family".It has been twenty-seven years since Wu Daosheng passed away in the woods of Shayang.During these twenty-seven long years, probably no one has written a eulogy for him.Although I can't be called his friend, I still want to use this text to mourn a knowledgeable but unfortunate intellectual. I hope that such things will be like the misfortune of my classmate Wu Pu, and will never be in our life. Reappear in life! I took the train from Wuhan on National Day and hurried back to Beijing.After returning home, I waited for a few days before seeing Comrade Yang Dezhong and Premier Zhou Enlai.I reported to them our dispute with the military propaganda team on the issue of education reform.At that time, my purpose was just to ask Premier Zhou to say a word, to ask the 8341 Army Propaganda Team to be calm, to respect intellectuals, not to label them indiscriminately, and to grasp "new trends in class struggle" at every turn.I never expected Premier Zhou to attach so much importance to the issue of foreign language teaching reform. He used the teaching reform of the School of Foreign Languages ​​as an example to conduct a careful dissection and analysis, thus pointing out the direction for the national foreign language teaching reform. Premier Zhou was busy preparing to receive Pakistani President Yahya Khan at that time.But he instructed that he would personally listen to the reports of both parties in the dispute, and ordered the main leaders of Shayang's 8341 Army Propaganda Team to return to Beijing to participate in the report.In addition to me, our side has also transferred back several other key teachers who participated in the education reform.The two sides in the debate were evenly matched, and gathered in Beijing, posing the momentum of a decisive battle. At that time, almost all colleges and universities in Beijing were transferred to the "May 7th Cadre School".Only Peking University, for some reason, recruited some freshmen to study in Beijing.Premier Zhou arranged for us to go to the Department of Western Languages ​​of Peking University to listen to the English class.Except for us and the personnel of the 8341 Army Propaganda Team, Premier Zhou said that he was busy and didn't have time to go in person, but he sent his representative, I think it was Dr. Zhang to attend the lecture.Premier Zhou said he would listen to our report when he came back from the class. Those of us went to Peking University to attend lectures every day for about a week.At this time, Premier Zhou had finished receiving President Yahya Khan and informed us that we were going to have a meeting.Around late November of this year, Premier Zhou called us to have a meeting in the Xihua Hall conference room every day. He actually spent a whole week listening carefully to the opinions of our teacher representatives and the 8341 Military Propaganda Team.After listening to the opinions of both parties, Premier Zhou said that he wanted to listen to the lectures of Peking University.But he didn't have time to go to Peking University in the morning, so he transferred a class from the English Department of Peking University's Western Language Department and their teacher to the Xihua Hall at night to give a complete class in front of Premier Zhou.The prime minister listened so carefully, and often took notes.Key leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also called to these meetings.I guess these leaders are really unwilling to put aside their busy diplomatic work and sit there every night listening to these foreign language teaching issues that they have no interest in and our arguments with the 8341 Military Propaganda Team.I remember that Guanhua also came to attend several meetings.I could see he was bored, smoking a cigarette and staring at the ceiling. After Premier Zhou listened to the lectures of Peking University students, he personally asked the students.The questions he asked were all the simplest questions about world geography and history, and the students' lack of basic knowledge was surprising.For example, Premier Zhou asked a student which continent Chile was in.The students answered hesitantly: "In Europe." Premier Zhou frowned his bushy eyebrows and remained silent. The students saw Premier Zhou's displeasure, so they said again: "In Asia!" The students sat down and said to everyone earnestly: "Many of the foreign language talents we have trained will serve as important diplomatic jobs in the future, and some will be teachers. With such poor knowledge, they can only shout slogans. How can we do that?" Zhou The Prime Minister also said, "The problem is reflected in the students, but the root is in the teaching itself. What students should learn and how teachers should teach. Therefore, students cannot be blamed. Their foreign language and international knowledge is a blank slate. How do we educators train them to become useful talents." After more than ten days of investigation and research, Premier Zhou decided to express his position.In fact, we were already very confident that Premier Zhou would support professional teachers like us from his investigation methods and interrupted comments.If this debate does not use coercive measures such as political labeling and beating, but allows for fair debate, respect for science, and convincing people with reason, we will definitely win.The 8341 Army Propaganda Team was doomed to fail because they were inherently deficient. They knew neither foreign languages ​​nor teaching. How could they be scientific?Since the middle of the "Cultural Revolution", Chairman Mao asked them to go to the localities to participate in the "Supporting the Left", relying on the glorious banner of the guards around Chairman Mao, wherever they went, they were praised and admiring. Praise, everyone bowed their heads and obeyed orders, because they represent Chairman Mao!As a result, they have developed a sense of pride and cannot listen to different opinions. The 8341 Military Propaganda Team has done many good things in the School of Foreign Languages.It's just that on the issue of education reform, they have entered a completely unfamiliar scientific field.Due to the limitations of that era, it is impossible for them to think that they should also humbly ask intellectuals for advice on the issue of educational reform.As a result, a school issue was brought before Premier Zhou, who made the decision. Premier Zhou's statement at the last meeting was very clear.It is a pity that I can no longer find the records of that year, but his general opinion is that foreign language teaching should follow objective laws, and learning a foreign language must start from the three language elements of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, scientifically compile teaching materials, and proceed sequentially.Premier Zhou also emphasized the role of intellectuals, emphasizing that the 8341 Army Propaganda Team should unite intellectuals and listen to their opinions with an open mind, instead of rejecting them, which is often called a "new trend of class struggle." At the meeting, the 8341 Army Propaganda Team also admitted their shortcomings in their work, saying that they would definitely complete the education reform after returning to Shayang.We held meetings in Beijing for a few more days before going back to Shayang, Hubei. Premier Zhou talked with me alone for a while after the meeting.He asked with concern how my father was doing and whether the family arrangements had been made.I said everything was arranged and I asked him to rest assured.The father has hired someone to take care of her, and the daughter has been transferred to the school affiliated to the school with the help of the 8341 Military Propaganda Team stationed in the School of Foreign Languages, where she can stay.Premier Zhou asked me again if I still wanted to go back to Shayang.He said that I don't have to go back, and that I can leave it to them to handle the educational reform once my thoughts are unified, and I can report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.I said that I would still like to go back to Shayang Cadre School.The chairman gave me the task of foreign language teaching reform, but I haven't finished it yet, so I don't want to give up halfway.Premier Zhou also agreed. I returned to Shayang Cadre School for the last time at the end of November this year.At that time, the climate in Hubei was already very cold, and it was already winter in the blink of an eye.Although there is no major controversy about the education reform, the progress is still not satisfactory. The leader of the 8341 Military Propaganda Team probably had a grudge in his heart, so the relationship between us became much colder.Once, when the debate was fierce, the top leader they sent to replace Sun Zefu said to me angrily: "You can still sue us, at worst, invite Premier Zhou to Shayang, and we will line up to welcome you!" I am speechless, and I don't understand why we all want to start a new stage of foreign language teaching for one purpose, but we care so much about our personal opinions.I understand that I am too serious, and many things are the brand of that era, which is beyond my ability, so later on in many things, I have to muddle along and try to find a compromise.So my last two or three months in Shayang was very leisurely and detached.At the end of March, Zhang, the political commissar of the 8341 Military Propaganda Team, informed me that they had received instructions to return to Beijing immediately, formally transfer from the School of Foreign Languages, and report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My sandy life started so hastily, and ended so hastily.