Chapter 34 "Journey to the Century": Shaking Deng Xiaoping

The political film "Journey to the Century" brought Qin Xiaoying a reputation, but little is known about the tortuous process of his writing. The political turmoil at the turn of the spring and summer of 1989 made the Chinese Communists face the most severe test since the reform and opening up.This ideological confrontation had a profound social and historical background, and from the very beginning it showed the sharp opposition between bourgeois liberalization and the Four Cardinal Principles.After the turmoil subsided, the trend of thought in China that denied the Four Cardinal Principles was curbed.But at the same time, the "Left" trend of thought was on the rise again. Some people suggested that "the reform and opening up should be closed, and it is time to focus on class struggle." The question of "whether the SAR should continue to operate" was raised.People's minds are in turmoil.

At this critical moment, Deng Xiaoping emphasized in his speech on June 9 that the line determined by the "Twelfth National Congress" cannot be changed, and he clearly insisted on focusing on economic construction, the four basic principles and reform and opening up. In June of this year, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the Party elected Jiang Zemin as the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, realizing a smooth transition from the second-generation leading collective to the third-generation leading collective organizationally. In November, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Rectification and Deepening Reform", proposing that it would take three years or a little longer to basically complete the task of governance and rectification.

Against this background, in order to unify the thoughts of the Chinese people, deeply analyze the theory of the Four Cardinal Principles, summarize the experience and lessons of 100 years of socialism, and continue to adhere to the policy of reform and opening up, the high-level central government intends to carry out the Four Basic Principles in the form of TV specials. Principle education, and handed over this task to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which is at the forefront of reform and opening up. In September 1990, the relevant departments of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone recommended Qin Xiaoying as the chief writer of this feature film, and Chen Difang as the chief editor and director.Comrade Deng Liqun, an authority on theory of the older generation, was invited to serve as the general counsel of the film.

Qin Xiaoying was transferred to the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1985. Before that, he worked in the World Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences for five years. Participated in large-scale academic research activities of "African History" and "World Modern History". After the age of 30, he served as the deputy director of the editorial department of three magazines, "World History", "Foreign History Knowledge" and "World History Trends". His achievements are obvious to all.At this time, he has passed the "year of no doubt".

When it was confirmed that he was the editor-in-chief, someone mentioned the story of Qin Xiaoying "struggling" against Hu Sheng at the Academy of Social Sciences. Not long after Hu Sheng became the dean of the Academy of Social Sciences at that time, he invited several young scholars to understand the thoughts and spiritual outlook of young researchers through heart-to-heart talks. Qin Xiaoying was also invited.After listening to the Secretary-General's introduction, Mr. Hu pointed to Qin Xiaoying and said, you are an "old comrade", and you have worked in the hospital for so many years, what's your opinion?

Qin Xiaoying, who is not afraid of tigers as a newborn calf, immediately answered: "Yes! I think the academy should solve four problems at present: one is that the theory is divorced from reality; the other is the serious phenomenon of seniority; the third is that my country's academic research is deeply influenced by the views of the Soviet Union. , rigid thinking; fourth, there is no channel for academic achievements to be disseminated to the public, and scholars do not pay attention to dissemination work.” The venue was suddenly silent, and the atmosphere seemed tense.Hu Sheng said that when I first took office, I didn't know the situation yet, but I did understand one thing, that is, young people should not be impetuous, but must endure loneliness.A scientific worker must not be afraid to sit on the bench and eat cold pork.This incident was widely circulated, and it got out of shape when it was passed on, and it turned out that Qin Xiaoying "raised trouble" against the dean.

However, in the eyes of theoretical seniors like Deng Liqun, Qin Xiaoying is a young scholar with emancipated minds, brilliant talents, deep feelings for the party and deep thinking about society, and he is qualified for the writing task of such a significant TV film. At that time, Qin Xiaoying made two requests to Deng Liqun: one was not to involve the "August 9th" incident, and the other was to discuss the four basic principles head-on. Qin Xiaoying's idea was that under the circumstances at the time, this kind of TV film should not give the audience a chilling feeling, but should be good at reasoning, and convince the audience through mature theories and a large number of vivid historical facts, so as to have depth .

Deng Liqun agreed with Qin Xiaoying's idea. "Journey to the Century" is a political film, which focuses on explaining major theories. It is not as interesting as documentary works. How to make it not boring, how to make it lively and visible, is in front of Qin Xiaoying. a puzzle. With his solid theoretical foundation, rich historical knowledge and extraordinary imagination, Qin Xiaoying boldly uses dialogue, historical materials, theoretical elaboration and poetic philosophy to blend and promote each other, making the whole film full of vivid points of view, giving People have a refreshing feeling.For example, "Wisdom" begins with a conversation between a man and a woman: "What is the quality of a man?" "Strength." "What is the quality of a woman?" "Where are your shortcomings?" "I have everything that people have." Just when people feel a little puzzled, the commentary tells people that this is not a psychological test, but an interesting conversation between Marx and his daughter more than 100 years ago . After "Journey to the Century" was completed, it was sent to Deng Xiaoping, Wang Renzhong, Deng Liqun and other high-level central officials for review, and most of them were quite satisfied with the first draft.It is said that Deng Liqun shed tears during the review, and Deng Xiaoping finished the review in only one week despite his busy schedule, without changing a single word.

Soon, the post-production of the TV film was completed and it was broadcast on CCTV with the approval of relevant departments.Under the strong request of viewers at home and abroad, CCTV arranged a rebroadcast.