Chapter 53 Chapter Seven: Xie Sizhong, Scholars and Officials in Zhongnanhai

Xie Sizhong was born in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province on April 23, 1946. His father died when he was one year old, and his family lived in Xi'an relying on his mother's hard work. After liberation, the government gave them flour and cloth, and two older sisters were adopted by social welfare agencies. .Because life in the city was unsustainable, at the end of 1950, the mother dragged her son and daughter back to Wanrong, Shanxi, where they had been away for more than 10 years.There is only one step-grandmother in my hometown, who has not been in contact with her for many years, and was classified as a "landlord" during the "land reform". At this time, it is even more difficult to ask for help.

Xie Sizhong went to school at the age of 6. Because his family was too poor to afford textbooks, he borrowed old textbooks used by his first-grade students.At that time, the school required each student to prepare two writing brushes, one thicker for writing in upper case and one thinner for writing in lower case; and he only had one big case pen used by his sister, and when writing in lower case, he used the tip of the big case pen to carefully brush Write.Because he was afraid that the teacher would blame him for not preparing the brush as required, he wrote the calligraphy with extra seriousness; on each sheet, there were many capital letters "circled" by the teacher with a red pen, and many small letters were "circled" by the teacher with a red pen. "Point melon seeds" next to it, that is, point the dots shaped like melon seeds, which means that the writing is good.

When he was 12 years old, Xie Sizhong went to a county town more than 10 miles away to go to middle school, and has lived independently since then.At that time, the family was still struggling. In order to save money, he brought his own dry food for a long time and entered the school's "water stove" - ​​paying two yuan a month, and only drank the boiled water in the cafeteria; almost three meals a day were steamed buns soaked in boiled water, and then put Some salt, not even pickles.In winter, the steamed buns were frozen and could not be broken by hand, so they smashed them hard on the corners of the brick wall by the door, picking up the small pieces scattered on the ground and putting them into a bowl filled with boiling water. It's getting cooler.In summer, the steamed buns will soon grow green hairs, and he rubs them with his hands before eating them; sometimes they even become moldy and turn into white loose things, so he has no choice but to eat them like that.

Since he was in junior high school, Xie Sizhong began to use vacations and spare time work-study programs; sometimes he worked as a small worker on a construction site, and sometimes collected acacia seeds to sell.Just after graduating from junior high school and taking the entrance examination, he and a small partner went into the mountains to mow grass. When they were hungry, they ate dry food and drank the rainwater accumulated in the depression with their hands. In the evening, the two of them used a wheelbarrow to transport the cut grass out of the mountain. At night, I slept with my clothes on the kang of a classmate's house nearby.After a vacation, the lawn mowing was sold for more than 30 yuan, which settled the study expenses after high school.

Looking back on the hard life of childhood, Xie Sizhong wrote in the book "Quality and Destiny": "I deeply feel that poverty is a precious spiritual resource in life, from which we can learn many things that cannot be learned in books-from In a sense, it is an indispensable spiritual calcium for children’s growth. It is precisely because of the hardships of childhood that no matter what kind of difficult environment I am in, I have never retreated due to material poverty.” Xie Sizhong has excellent academic performance since he was a child. After graduating from elementary school, he could have been recommended to go to middle school. However, because his family did not understand the relevant policies and regulations at the time, he took it for granted that his family background was reported as a "landlord" according to his step-grandmother (until 1984, he was in the Ministry of Construction. When I joined the party during work, it was clear from the organization that I could temporarily fill in it as "unmarked"), so I had no chance of being recommended.Since then, he has carried a heavy ideological burden on his back.Thankfully, he has always maintained a strong drive, thanks to his mother's teachings since he was a child, and later a middle school teacher's influence.

When he was in junior high school, Xie Sizhong not only memorized Bai Juyi's poem chanting Ling Xiao, but also wrote it on the wall of his home with a brush.The general idea of ​​this poem is: Ling Xiao is a plant that cannot stand on its own, and often climbs to other plants to "swell the sky", but when encountering strong winds, it often cannot avoid "the morning is the flower of the clouds, and the evening is the ground." The sad fate of "woodcutter".The reason why he likes this poem so much is that he feels that he is "inferior" and has no social relationship to cling to, only relying on self-improvement and self-reliance.

When Xie Sizhong went to school, there was no nine-year compulsory education. The elimination began when he graduated from the fourth grade of primary school and went to junior high school. After graduating from high school, he went to junior high school. Graduating from junior high school and advancing to high school——Because the country is in a difficult period and the enrollment ratio is reduced, the local admission rate is only more than ten percent.As a result of this layer upon layer of elimination, he was the only one in the class who graduated from primary school to go to college. After entering high school, facing more intense competition, Xie Sizhong studied harder.His Russian grades are lagging behind in several subjects. In order to catch up, he usually keeps his Russian textbook rolled up and stuffed in his trouser pocket. Whenever he has a moment of free time, he takes it out to read; the pages are turned soft and thin, It's fluffy and almost stuck together, and it can only be peeled off by melting the candle and dripping it on the side with a hard edge; Roll up laboriously.In the mid-term exam of the first semester of the second year of high school, his Russian score was 100 points and he was the best in the class.Since then, he has kept this score until graduation; after each exam is handed in, the teacher read it in class and posted it at the back of the classroom as the standard answer.

After graduating from high school in 1964, although Xie Sizhong changed his application for liberal arts to science and engineering, he still got his first choice—Tongji University. He went to Shanghai on the coast of the East China Sea and started his university life. Xie Sizhong majored in urban construction engineering at university.Through the first two years of basic course study, he has completed the basic training of science and engineering and has a certain scientific literacy; especially the course of advanced mathematics has benefited him a lot.During the two school years of study, his advanced mathematics score has been maintained at 5 points; it has been many years since he joined the work, and he has selectively done the "Advanced Mathematics Problem Set".He wrote in his book "Quality and Destiny":

Mathematics, with its rigorous reasoning and high accuracy, has cultivated my logical thinking ability and in-depth thinking habit, so that I can finally figure out a clue whenever I am troubled by the chaotic world.Mathematics is a kind of gymnastics to train thinking, and it is a study of wisdom in life.My benefit from mathematics is not only in life, but also in literature.In the eyes of many people, literature and mathematics are almost insulated or even contradictory—literature contains thinking in images, and mathematics contains thinking in abstraction.My experience wasn't exactly like that.It is true that most literary works focus on describing the spirit of objects, but superb conception, thorough analysis, reasonable layout and accurate description all require a certain amount of abstract thinking ability.

In the summer of 1966, when Xie Sizhong was about to enter his third year of university, the "Cultural Revolution" broke out.Although the issue of his family background had been raised with relevant parties at that time, no conclusion had been reached; therefore, he was still regarded as a "child of the five black categories" and was rejected from the door of the "Red Guards" organization.Due to depression and depression, he tried his best to stay away from schools and crowds to avoid sports, and became a "free and unfettered faction".At that time, the best way to go out was to use the "big series" to go out; therefore, when free rides were available, he traveled around alone; later, when the free rides stopped, he and a classmate carried their bags and traveled together , starting from Shanghai, passing through Jiaxing, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Zhuji and other places, walking through Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces until the stop of the "big series".

During the "Great Series" outing, although Xie Sizhong traveled hundreds of miles a day, he was full of interest, touched the scene, and wrote many poems.For example: In November 1966, he wrote a poem "Viewing the Sea" on the coast of Dalian: "The waves flatten thousands of hectares of blue, and the waves produce thousands of piles of snow; Ferry wrote a poem "Looking at the Yellow River": "The yellow water has gone completely, and it seduces me with savage feelings: there are grass huts on the bank, and I lie on the sunset with my hair scattered." After returning to school after finishing the "big series", Xie Sizhong, under the guidance of a friend engaged in art work, started from copying "Mustard Seed Garden Painting Biography" and devoted himself to learning Chinese painting, focusing on freehand flowers and birds and landscapes; during this period, he also admired many paintings , Calligraphy works, read some art books.Later, due to the requirements of "combat readiness", he had to interrupt his studies and was "evacuated" to the countryside on the outskirts of Shanghai together with other students.Although he has never practiced traditional Chinese painting since then, he has always maintained a strong interest in Chinese calligraphy and painting. In the summer of 1970, according to the distribution policy of "facing the countryside, facing factories and mines, facing the border, and facing the grassroots", most of the last two college graduates were assigned to grassroots units in remote areas.Xie Sizhong was assigned to the Seventh Construction Company of Shaanxi Province in Baoji City, where he was "re-educated by the working class" in the construction team and worked as a small laborer with migrant workers recruited from the countryside, doing some digging, moving bricks, and mixing mortar. The strength of the class works. In the autumn of 1971, because there were no technicians on the construction site, a 45-meter-high chimney was built crookedly, which constituted a major engineering quality accident; the company held an on-site meeting, decided to demolish and rebuild, and appointed Xie Sizhong to continue to do small work At the same time, responsible for the construction technology of the project.For Xie Sizhong, who has no construction experience and has to do small jobs, this is indeed a test.Due to his dedication and rigor, after the completion of the project, the vertical error was actually zero when measured by instruments, which became a good story in the company for a while; he himself was soon appointed as a construction technician because of this, among the more than 40 college students assigned by the same batch Be the first to end "re-education for the working class". At the beginning of 1972, after accepting the appointment, Xie Sizhong left Baoji City and the small family he had just formed, and came to the construction site of the Lueyang Iron and Steel Works in the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains.The life on the construction site is already hard, but because it is located in a mountainous area, it is also monotonous, and there is almost no cultural life.The breakfast and dinner in the canteen on the construction site are always the same, with steamed buns, cornmeal porridge and the same cheap pickles; there are very few meat dishes in Chinese food, and meat is eaten only about once a month.When working in the mining area, he once lived in a simple shed built with mats and linoleum on the hillside. Weeds grew overgrown in front of the bed, moss stood on the wall outside the window, and he could only see the sun for five or six hours a day. Despite the hardships of life, Xie Sizhong and the workers around him get along very well.He respects the workers very much, and often teaches them to read the blueprints and teach them the knowledge of building construction; the workers also respect him, not only supporting him in work, but also caring for him in life.He wrote in his book "Quality and Destiny": Since I was sensible, I have lived in the countryside for a long time. Whether it is the social status of the family or the economic situation of the family, I am at the bottom of the society. Therefore, I have been looking up at everything in the world since I was a child... In other words, he became a "society's favorite child" - among his peers at that time, there were still very few who could go to college; however, this kind of common people's consciousness formed in the life of the bottom society has been unforgettable.After graduating from university, I lived in the construction team for 10 years and got along with the workers day and night. Although this experience was full of ups and downs, it strengthened my civilian consciousness and enabled me to be in harmony with the people around me no matter what environment I was in. The crowd is integrated, no matter what position they are in, they are not burdened by their duties, and they can always live freely as an ordinary person. Xie Sizhong stayed in the Qinling Mountains for more than three years. In the summer of 1975, due to the construction of the terminal building of the Capital International Airport, construction personnel needed to be seconded from the company, so he was selected as the technical supervisor of the project—equivalent to the current engineering supervisor.At that time, construction technicians required to take up this position must have never had any engineering quality accidents; he has been in charge of more than 20 industrial and There has never been any engineering quality accident in civil construction projects. During the more than four-year-long construction process of the terminal building project of the Capital International Airport, the handover of each process and the coverage of each concealed project required technical supervision to be present for inspection. Proceed to the next process.Due to Xie Sizhong's dedication and rigor, during the entire construction period, there have never been any engineering quality accidents in the projects that he signed and accepted; after the completion of the terminal building project, the quality was rated as "excellent", and he himself was rated as "" Advanced worker". After the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, Xie Sizhong went to the site to inspect the disaster situation of the buildings. Discussion on the Seismic Performance of Masonry", published in the national academic journal "Building Technology".In view of his construction technology level and scientific research achievements, he was promoted from engineer to senior engineer. After the terminal building project was completed in the autumn of 1979, it aroused widespread concern in the society and was well received by all parties.At that time, the State General Administration of Urban Construction (later reorganized into the Ministry of Construction) selected and transferred cadres from the management personnel responsible for the construction of the terminal building; recommended by the company's leaders, the General Administration sent people to investigate, and Xie Sizhong was hired for commissioning in early 1980. tune in. This job transfer means that Xie Sizhong has left the Qinling Mountains and the Northwest. At the same time, he also ended the 10-year stormy life on the construction site that left him with so many unforgettable memories.This job transfer marked a major turning point in Xie Sizhong's life; since then, he has entered the central state agency from a grassroots construction unit, and embarked on the road to politics—although this was something he had never thought of before, and it was not what he deliberately pursued.