Chapter 24 The Case of "The Song of Nanjing Educated Youth"

Among the many songs of educated youth, "Song of Nanjing Educated Youth" has the greatest influence and spread the most. "Song of Nanjing Educated Youth" reflects the extremely complicated feelings of Nanjing educated youth when they went to the countryside.It is the most direct reflection of the social trend of thought at that time, and has a broad social and psychological background.It twists and turns reveals the deprivation of life, the helplessness of fate, the restraint of vitality, and the resulting sense of loss, depression, confusion and disillusionment. "Song of Nanjing Educated Youth" lyrics and music: Ren Yi

In the blue sky, white clouds are flying, beside the beautiful Yangtze River is the lovely ancient city of Nanjing, my hometown.Ah~ the rainbow-like bridge goes straight up to the sky and crosses the Yangtze River. At the foot of the majestic Zhongshan Mountain is my lovely hometown. Farewell to my mother, goodbye to my hometown, the golden student days have been transferred to the annals of youth, gone forever.Ah~ how difficult the road ahead is, tortuous and long, and the footprints of life are deep and shallow in remote foreign lands. Following the sun rises and returning with the moon, repairing the earth is a glorious and sacred duty, my destiny.Ah~ I embroidered the earth and the universe red with my hands, a happy tomorrow, believe it will come.

Farewell to you, dear girl, wipe away your tears, wash away your sorrow, wash away your sorrow.Ah~ the person in my heart bid farewell to the far away place, left the hometown, the stars of love will shine forever. Lonely love, where there is no bosom friend, the friendship in the past, now part ways, each side.Ah~ The scene of parting is vivid in my mind, how can I not be sad, meet and run to the road of freedom. The original song has only three stanzas, but it was increased to seven stanzas during the dissemination process.The most widely spread is the third paragraph, "follow the sun to rise, follow the moon to return, and repair the earth heavily", "use my hands to embroider the red earth and the red universe, believe that a happy tomorrow will come."

This song was brought into the barracks by the educated youth who joined the army after 1971, and was circulated among the urban soldiers of the army (most of them went to the countryside).In Shijiazhuang × Army, the song was called "My Hometown". In Nanjing Tangshan Artillery School, the educated youth in Nanjing introduced this song to the military camp again, and the song was called "Lovely Nanjing".The criticism of the song and the imprisonment of the author still cannot stop the spread of the song. Ren Yi (1947-) graduated from the 66th class of Nanjing No. 5 Middle School.Since childhood, he has a wide range of interests and loves art.When I was in elementary school, I participated in the famous art troupe in China: Nanjing Little Red Flower Art Troupe, and learned to sing.In middle school, he participated in the Nanjing Middle School Student Art Troupe and learned erhu and guitar.In middle school, because he was an activist, his classmates called him: "Number 11". Number 11 is sodium - the most active of the chemical elements. During the "Cultural Revolution", in February 1970, Ren Yi was arrested by Zhang Chunqiao and sentenced to 10 years in prison for writing "The Song of Nanjing Educated Youth".

On December 26, 1968, the anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birthday, the educated youths from the Fifth Middle School of Nanjing who went to the countryside took a truck across the newly built Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and arrived at the place where they jumped in the queue: Jiangpu County, Jiangsu Province.Ren Yi and others were assigned to a production team in the commune.Later, Ren Yi's educated youth spot became a frequent gathering place for educated youth in the commune. When they first went to the countryside, the educated youth believed that it was necessary to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, and they worked very hard.Because Ren Yi is willing to work hard and work hard, he earned 9.7 points for work points, which is considered high in the local rural areas.However, soon, the educated youth began to have doubts. The educated youth seemed to bring a new burden to the countryside, and the peasants did not welcome them.

Almost all production teams cut corners when building houses for educated youths. Generally speaking, seven beams are needed to build a house for educated youths, but only five beams are used to build a house for educated youths.At that time, there was a jingle among the educated youth: "A few wooden beams, mud paste into a wall. A handful of rotten straw, build a big thatched house." At the time of the summer harvest in 1969, among the educated youths in the commune where Ren Yi worked, there was a feeling of disappointment after being sent to the countryside.Ren Yi posted these two quotations from Chairman Mao on the door of the educated youth spot:

It is necessary to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants Serious problem is educating farmers All the educated youths in the commune often came to meet at Ren Yi's educated youth spot. The educated youths were very depressed and felt that their future was bleak.At that time, many of the educated youth were playing the guitar.The guitar was a symbol of the bourgeoisie during the "Cultural Revolution". Ren Yi played the guitar when he was a "Happy Sect" in the later period of the "Cultural Revolution". During the "Cultural Revolution", many families auctioned their guitars for fear of ransacking their homes.The guitars of Ren Yi and others were all bought in auction houses, the price is cheap, but the quality is good. In the summer of 1969, due to the general sense of loss, more and more people played guitar at the educated youth spot, and the educated youth even called it "the hometown of guitar".Everyone got together and played guitar and sang.There is a song called "Return of the Wanderer" that the educated youths sang very emotionally:

"The wanderer returns, the lover departs." "My heart is extremely desolate. Why am I living? I don't dare to think about how I should live, and I don't want to think about it. Where is the future?" One night in late May 1969, the educated youths of Nanjing No. 5 Middle School gathered again in the small hut of the educated youth household where Ren Yi lived, and sang the old songs in turn.After singing, everyone still felt empty in their hearts.At this time, one of Ren Yi's friends, Tang Youlong, stood up and said to Ren Yi: "Workers have workers' songs, farmers have farmers' songs, Ren Yi, you can write a song about our educated youth."

His words touched Ren Yi greatly.That night, Ren Yi wrote "My Hometown" with his guitar in his arms, and worked all night.At dawn the next day, it was finally finished.He wrote down the singing requirements on the song score: "deep, slow, and homesick." Then, he noted: "Nanjing Fifth Middle School collective lyrics and music." This song "My Hometown" had a prototype. In 1964, a group of graduates from Nanjing No. 5 Middle School volunteered to go to Xinjiang.On the Gobi Desert, some of them composed a song called "Tarim, My Second Hometown".The song was passed back to Nanjing, and the students in the Fifth Middle School were very moved after listening to it.Ren Yi made a relatively large modification on the basis of this song, and made the rhythm more complicated, with 2/4, 3/4, and 1/4 beats.To make it better express the homesickness of the educated youth, the lyrics are also refilled.When Ren Yi wrote "Farewell to my mother, goodbye to my hometown, the golden student days are gone forever... It is my destiny to repair the earth...", his heart was very heavy, and at the same time he felt that he had spit out There was a lump in my chest, and I had a very complicated mood at that time.

The song "My Hometown" was copied immediately after it was written, and it spread among the educated youth at an astonishing speed.After the summer harvest, Ren Yi heard someone singing this song on the ship back to Nanjing, so he walked over and deliberately asked, "What are you singing?" Those people answered him disdainfully: "You look like Educated youth, why don’t you even know this song, it’s called "Song of Educated Youth"!" When Ren Yi wrote this song, he did not dare to call it "Song of the Educated Youth", because there is neither lofty ambition nor grand ideal here. , non-agricultural, non-military, and non-academic special classes have a strong sense of loss.At that time, this kind of emotion was absolutely not allowed to be expressed publicly. It was only allowed to sing praises to leaders, to sing praises to go to the mountains and to the countryside, and even to express joy.The reason why Ren Yi's song is so popular is that it expresses people's situation and true emotions in a melancholy tone.

Once a group of Shanghai educated youths sang this song on the train to Heilongjiang.An educated youth in a county in Jiangxi actually sang this song in a singing competition before the meeting.At that time, some friends of Ren Yi imitated Lenin's comment on "The Internationale" and said, "With this "Song of Educated Youth", you can find friends everywhere, find food, and find housing." In August 1969, a shocking news came. Ren Yi had a classmate named Zheng Jianfeng, who was a little handicapped and hunchbacked, so he was spared the trip to the countryside. Among Ren Yi’s classmates, he was the only one who stayed in Nanjing, so Zheng Jianfeng’s home naturally became the contact point for educated youths returning to the city.Zheng Jianfeng is very skillful and loves to install semiconductor radios. One day when he was debugging, he suddenly heard a song written by Ren Yi on the Moscow radio station. He was very surprised and rushed to find Ren Yi to tell him secretly, and asked Ren Yi Tune in again at the same time the next day. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the next day, Ren Yi came to Zheng Jianfeng's house. The two hid in the hut and secretly dialed the semiconductor radio to the frequency of the Moscow radio station. Sure enough, they soon listened to Moscow's singing.The Soviet Union called it "The Song of China's Intellectual Youth". It used a small chorus of male voices and accompanied by a small band, and the effect was very good.At that time, Ren Yi was stunned. This was the first time he heard the effect of his regular singing of this song. He didn't expect it to be so contagious. At the same time, he also realized that the singing of Moscow Radio Station had actually put him to death. .He has an inescapable guilt. Later, the more Ren Yi listened, the more frightened he became, feeling that a catastrophe was about to come.Zheng Jianfeng was also worried about Ren Yi, but he kept comforting Ren Yi and advised him not to be nervous.Zheng Jianfeng also suffered bad luck later, and died in the "One Strike Three Antis" movement.Because he once sent more than a dozen semiconductor radios to his old classmates who went to the countryside, one of them was arrested for "listening to enemy stations", and Zheng Jianfeng was involved in the review.His health was not good, and he was frightened, and soon he fell ill and died. Ren Yi's premonition was soon confirmed. A month later, the large criticism columns on the streets of Nanjing were filled with articles criticizing this song. It came out with the voice that Dixiu Fan wanted to sing." Perhaps the author hadn't been identified yet, and at that time he was only criticizing the song, not the songwriter. Ren Yi was so terrified that he almost became a frightened bird.He immediately returned to the educated youth spot and burned all the texts, including the letter from his girlfriend.She jumped in line at another place, and the two often exchanged letters. At that time, both of them had doubts about going to the mountains and going to the countryside, and they resonated in many ways, but the relationship between the two has not yet been clarified.Along with his girlfriend's letters, there was also a "Bible", which Ren Yi took from his grandmother. If the "Bible" was copied out, he would be charged with a crime. Ren Yi waited for the bad luck to come. He dreamed countless times that he was arrested. The disaster in his imagination was more terrifying than the disaster in reality. For a while, Ren Yi hardly dared to sleep.He really didn't want to suffer in this kind of terror any longer. One day in October 1969, he carried a schoolbag with washing utensils in it, walked to the entrance of Wawaqiao Prison in Nanjing City by himself, and said to the reception staff: "I am Author of "Song of the Educated Youth", please arrest me." The man looked at Ren Yi strangely, and said: "You can come here if you want. If you want to catch you, you must have instructions from your superiors. Now you go back first." When 1970 rolled around, the situation was even more tense.Slogans were plastered everywhere in Nanjing: "What should be controlled! What should be shut down! What should be killed!" There seemed to be a bloody smell in the air.On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Ren Yi was arrested.This is according to an instruction of Zhang Chunqiao: find out this person quickly and arrest him. Previously, Ren Yi had sensed that the atmosphere around him was getting more severe, and he left Nanjing on the 11th day of the first lunar month. He didn't want to be arrested at his grandmother's house, so he quietly returned to the educated youth camp in the countryside of Jiangpu County.Four days after returning to the educated youth spot, it was the Lantern Festival.It was on this day that Ren Yi began his nine-year prison life. On the night of February 19, 1970 (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month), soldiers with live ammunition broke down the door of the educated youth camp.The thatched house was surrounded on all sides, and the bright beam of the flashlight outside the window swept around.Ren Yi didn't know if the classmates Huang Ligao, Qi Ke, and Chen Jianzhong who were sleeping next door woke up. His suitcase was opened by the soldiers, but they couldn't find anything, because Ren Yi had burnt all the text before. It was ridiculous to say that he boiled it A pot of water.A soldier found Ren Yi's guitar and shook it vigorously, but he couldn't shake anything, so he broke the string in disappointment, and the A string broke with a dull sound.He said anxiously: "This is his kid's criminal tool." "Bring your toiletries and come with us!" Ren Yi raised his handcuffed hands, gently took off the prepared schoolbag filled with toothbrush, toothpaste, hand towels and a change of clothes, put the gloves on his head, and stepped out of the gate of the educated youth point, thus solemnly ending the The historical task of "accepting the re-education of poor and lower-middle peasants". In the middle of the night, the car turned a corner near the Nanjing Inner Bridge, suddenly slowed down and drove quietly into a gate.The heavy iron gate opened with a bang, as if a thunder had exploded in the sky, and the eardrums were hurting...Ren Yi suddenly woke up: Isn't this the "Baby Bridge"?The well-known saying of Nanjing people, "If you enter the Wawa Bridge, you will die", which has been passed down for some time, flashed into his mind. Ren Yi was strictly body searched, and all his belts and shoelaces were removed inside and out, supposedly to prevent suicide. "Sign!" The person who arrested Ren Yi showed his arrest warrant. "Press the fingerprints and write for several hours." It was still a majestic voice and an expressionless face. "Take it, you are not allowed to tell your name in the future, this is your code name." The guard said and handed to Ren Yi a one-inch wide and two-inch long double-layer cloth sign with black characters on a white background, with block letters printed on it. Number: 3427. From February 19, when Ren Yi was arrested and imprisoned, to August 13 when he was sentenced, during these five months, he was brought up for interrogation every day, and often at night.The interrogators censored the lyrics of the song word by word, and only said that "the depth of life is in a remote foreign land". They tortured Ren Yi for several days, and they must force him to admit that what he wrote was not "depth", but "deep trap". .Ren Yi refused to admit it because he really wrote "deep and shallow".Although it is a word difference, but at this time the weight is very different.Regarding "depth", Ren Yi can still criticize himself, because the intellectual youth still has the incompleteness of the petty bourgeoisie that has not been reformed, and they do not have the indomitable and down-to-earth spirit of workers, peasants and soldiers, so their steps are deep and shallow. Shallow, and isn't "deep sinking" a kind of slander for going to the mountains and going to the countryside?Although this is only a one-word dispute, it is related to Ren Yi's fate, so the atmosphere of the interrogation process is very serious. In order to conquer the fortress of "Deep Trapped", the task force threw dozens of versions of "Song of the Educated Youth" in front of Ren Yi. It is estimated that they were searched from all over the country, including mimeographed, typewritten, carbon paper, and others. It was hand-copied in various styles, and many of them were indeed written as "deeply trapped". Perhaps people thought this word could better explain the situation of educated youths in the circulation, but it was this word that made Ren Yi confused at the time. You have to die. Even during these five months, they pulled Ren Yi to "accompany him" three times.The atmosphere of the "Public Judgment Conference" at that time was horrific, and each detainee did not know what fate would befall him. Without legal protection, a negligent negligence might lead to death. According to the interrogation of Ren Yi by the special case team at that time, it seems that Ren Yi was also guilty of decapitation.The terrifying atmosphere of the movement was enough to make all those who were dragged to the public sentencing conference feel that the end is coming.However, with the increase in the number of "accompanying tied up", Ren Yi's experience tells Ren Yi that people who are going to be sentenced to death have to tie their trousers with a hemp rope before they are pulled out. It is said that it is to prevent them from losing control after hearing the sentence. Incontinence.Only this detail can foretell the fate of a person, and a person is sentenced to death without any notice at that time, and there is no appeal at all. It was in this atmosphere that Ren Yi was dragged to three public judgment meetings, and his psychological endurance was strengthened each time.What stimulated him the most was the meeting held at the Wutaishan Stadium in Nanjing on April 28, 1970, where the main culprit of the "2.12 Counter-revolutionary Case" that caused a sensation in Nanjing in the 1970s was pronounced.The first culprit was Chen Zhuoran, and there was another accomplice, surnamed An, who was Ren Yi's elementary school classmate. When Ren Yi saw him on this occasion, Ren Yi almost cried out in shock. They were all high school students in No. 8 Middle School of Nanjing City, and later went to northern Jiangsu to join the team as educated youths. The misfortune of their families and their personal experiences made the resentment they had accumulated in their hearts for a long time possible to erupt at any time. On February 12, 1970, "Xinhua Daily" made an exception and published the afternoon edition, with the editorial "Resolutely Suppressing Counter-Revolutionaries" in boldface at the top, which heralded the beginning of another great terror and great suppression.But there are still rebels after all. These two educated young people cut out the words in the newspaper with scissors, used these words to form the so-called "reactionary slogans", and then glued them on the paper... That night, one of them stood guard and the other wore a With gloves on, these more than 60 slogans were pasted on the main streets of Nanjing.The content of the slogan includes "We want real Marxism-Leninism! Martyr Zha Jinhua is immortal!" and so on.Zha Jinhua was the first person to be shot in Nanjing during the "One Strike, Three Antis" campaign. Just because he organized a Marxist-Leninist group and raised some doubts about the current policy from the viewpoint of Marxism-Leninism, this serious young man He paid the price with his life. After these slogans appeared, the city of Nanjing suddenly exploded, the public security bureau was in a hurry, an emergency meeting was held, and the arrest warrant was issued. youth.Two months later, the case was still broken because an insider tipped them off in order to protect himself. At the public sentencing meeting, Ren Yi saw that both of them looked very calm. When Chen Zhuoran saw the informer, he cursed loudly: "One day I will settle accounts with you!" Suddenly he couldn't make a sound , the guard tightened a nylon rope around his neck, and Chen Zhuoran was so strangled that his eyeballs would pop out.This is the new instrument of torture in the 1970s. On this day, Chen Zhuoran was shot and executed at the age of 20, along with 10 other people.Ren Yi's elementary school classmate was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but the informer was released on the spot.This is the policy of "the problem is not the size, the key lies in the attitude" at that time. It was at this sentencing meeting that the deputy director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee presided over the public sentencing. When he read out the verdict and shouted "death sentence" at the top of his voice, the hearts of all the people in the audience seemed to be lifted up. Waiting for the words "Immediately", the deputy director slowly opened the lid of the teacup and took a sip of tea. The sound of him opening, drinking, and closing the lid came from the microphone, and then he said calmly, " The execution will be postponed for two years, and it will be pulled down." People's hearts were relieved again.It is not clear what kind of psychology he has for such an astonishing and heart-wrenching pause. During the five-month interrogation of Ren Yi, it was commonplace to drag him out to criticize him every now and then.At least 30 criticism meetings were held against him. He is the so-called "a typical example of class struggle in the ideological field."The biggest scene was the one held at the Nanjing Gymnasium. In order to eliminate Ren Yi's pernicious influence among the educated youth, he was dragged to Jiangpu County, where the queue was located, where he was criticized commune by commune.However, it is not so convenient to hold a meeting to criticize Ren Yi among the educated youth.When the members of the small team read the critical draft, there were often people booing from the bottom. There was no atmosphere and effect they wanted to create and achieve in the venue, so they could only take a formality and retreat hastily. The educated youths have great sympathy for Ren Yi.Once, after Ren Yi's criticism meeting, many educated youths flocked to the front, and someone signaled Ren Yi to go to the bathroom.There, they blocked the view of the guards and stuffed 80 yuan and 50 catties of food stamps into his jacket pocket. The educated youth at that time were all poor people.I don't know how many people gathered the 80 yuan, but Ren Yi never knew them.These actions made Ren Yi feel very warm. He was already very desperate, and he felt that it would not be a pity to end his life at any time.But the sympathy of the educated youths immediately made him feel that there is still hope for living. On August 3, 1970, Ren Yi was dragged to participate in a provincial public sentencing conference. This time, Ren Yi was also among the people sentenced.When Ren Yi was read in the verdict, he could hardly believe his ears: "...sentenced to 10 years..." Before that, Ren Yi had already prepared for the worst, thinking of everything from death penalty to life imprisonment, But I didn't expect to give myself a 10-year life. 10 years was considered a light sentence in the era when people's lives were taken lightly.Ren Yi couldn't help poking a prisoner standing next to him with his arm, and asked, "Am I the one who got the 10-year sentence?" Be silent. From August 3rd, Ren Yi left Wawaqiao Prison and the "West 29" cell, where he was imprisoned for 65 days and nights, and was taken to a labor camp to serve his sentence.What awaited him there were more than 3,000 dark and long days and nights.