Chapter 38 millennium speech

Zhishan wrote to me asking me to write an article about the turn of the century.In the recent period, I have received such requests countless times. Radio stations, newspapers, magazines, etc. have all made such requests to me.However, I declined all of them.The reason is not that such an article is difficult to write, on the contrary, such an article is very easy to write, just write a few big words and stereotypes, add a few false words, and an article is completed without any effort.Such an article will have no effect at all except wasting paper and people's time. However, I immediately agreed to Zhishan's request without thinking about it.The reason is that "Group Words" is a magazine that dares to tell a little truth, and I have a friendship with "Group Words" for many years.It is my honor and my duty to write something for "Group Words".I also think that what I write can more or less reflect the aspirations of ordinary people like me, which will be beneficial to our leadership.There will be no stereotypes or big words in what I write. As for whether all the truth has been told, I dare not say.I can only assure you that I am telling the truth.

In the old days, every new year, there was always a habit of posting new door couplets. The words of the door couplets were beautiful and rich, and the most commonly used one was "renewing the beginning of one yuan, and renewing everything".The confrontation is neat and has profound meaning.But Chinese is a very vague language.Those of us who use this language are often accustomed to it and don't think about it.That is to say, in the above two sentences, do they refer to the specific situation, or are they just hopes?My personal sense of language is that this is just hope.Although the one yuan has resumed, everything in front of us may not be able to be renewed.I want to say now that the century—or even the millennium—renews, and everything is renewed, but I definitely do not mean that there will be a huge change between the first day of 2000 and the last day of 1999.As far as common sense is concerned, that is absolutely impossible. This is just expressing my wish. The characteristics of the 21st century are bound to appear, but they will never be achieved overnight.

What hope do I have for the 21st century? Let's start with the big ones.First of all, I hope for world peace and national unity.But I myself immediately dismissed this hope as impossible.The world powers in front of us, especially the only superpower, have not accepted the painful lessons of the two world wars in the 20th century at all, and still feel very good about themselves.I hope that we Chinese people will not be fooled by rhetoric, work hard, strengthen unity, keep a little sense of urgency at any time, and be ready to deal with all possible foreign aggression and defend our motherland.

The second is hope for our country.The reform and opening up has indeed brought earth-shaking changes to our country, with economic prosperity, political stability, and improvement of people's lives.On the whole, there is indeed a stable and united situation.But this is only one side, and not without its worrisome side.I don’t understand economics, but I read a foreign report on China’s economy from “Reference News”, which said that China’s state-owned economy has brought some troubles to China in certain aspects. I don’t know the details, so I dare not act rashly Add a comment.However, "Reference News" dared to publish it, and there must be a basis for it. Our top leadership team is very clear about this problem and is taking measures.I hope this issue can be resolved as soon as possible as well as possible.

From the perspective of the future of human existence, I have put forward a point of view over the years: since the industrial revolution, the West has gradually formed an insatiable demand for nature, which is the so-called "conquest of nature". There have been serious consequences.Governments all over the world are now attaching great importance to environmental protection issues.But no one has investigated the root cause of this phenomenon.In my opinion, this is a lack of foresight.I have always maintained that the Chinese and Eastern thought of "harmony between man and nature", that is, the idea that human beings should be friends with nature and not enemies, can help the poor of Western thought.I have this kind of thinking, there are people who are against it, and there are also people who are in favor of it.I am convinced.I hope that when the 21st century reaches a certain stage, human culture will highlight the role of oriental culture on the basis of integration, discern and practice it.

There is another thing that worries me, and that is: some Chinese citizens are not of high quality and their morality is declining.No one can deny that the Chinese nation is a great nation.However, behind the greatness there is also the less than greatness, and it is harmful to turn a blind eye.There is no need to cite too many examples, but I will only cite a bad habit of spitting everywhere.This is something that all civilized countries do not have.However, it is commonplace in China and has been repeatedly banned.Not long ago, China celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Beijing Municipal Government and people from all walks of life spent a lot of effort to decorate Beijing with colorful flowers, clean and dust-free. Whoever sees it loves it.However, once upon a time, less than a month after the National Day, many places returned to their old ways, flower beds and grasslands were destroyed and trampled, cigarette butts were thrown everywhere, and spitting was not uncommon.There are also some phenomena of destroying public facilities, even in the beautiful Yanyuan.This kind of destruction does not benefit the perpetrator himself at all, and brings great inconvenience to the masses.I really don't understand what these people are thinking.If there are only a few such people, it will be difficult for any civilized country in the world to avoid them.It's a pity that this is not the case. It seems that the number of people is not too small.This group of black sheep really does not deserve to be part of a great nation.What is the way of salvation?I think that in the past, preaching was mainly relied on, but facts have proved that it is not very useful.In my opinion, there must be severe punishment.Catch you once, and you will be punished so that you cannot turn over for a long time.Only then can it work, Singapore is an example.At this time of renewal of Vientiane, I hope that sometime in the 21st century, this phenomenon will disappear, or at least be reduced.Wouldn't it be a shame if the great Chinese nation could really show its greatness!

I am in the 20th century, known as the "old man of the century".In the 21st century, it is absolutely impossible to become the "old man of the century".However, I don't know how much hope there is for the 21st century.I place my hopes on the 21st century for everything that the 20th century cannot achieve.There are too many hopes, and I can only cite a few mentioned above to summarize the rest.At the beginning of the century, more auspicious words should have been said.However, as I have stated above, I do not speak big words or lie.In my opinion, doing that would be a disservice to "Group Words" and the people of the whole country.In fact, what I said, no matter how unpleasant it may sound, contains auspicious connotations.If those disadvantages are removed, wouldn't it be great luck?I really hope that great auspiciousness will come to our country; I really hope that the country is safe and peaceful; I really hope that the quality of the people is getting better and better; I really hope that the people are happier and happier; I really hope that our country can become a veritable economic and cultural power. , standing majestically among the nations of the world.

November 1, 1999