Chapter 26 never give up the mission

——remember In 1986, exactly 20 years after the disastrous "Cultural Revolution" came to an end, and it was also a full decade when it ended in bankruptcy. A generation records the journey of their hearts.This feeling is like raising a mourning flag at half-mast in my heart.I wrote the overall idea and original intention of this book as "Preface", which was published in the "People's Daily" of that year, and at the same time published in "October", "Wenhui Monthly", "Novelist" and other publications. The first batch of "Cultural Revolution" stories were written and suffered from ugly inner feelings.Although countless readers supported my approach with encouraging letters and asked me to speak for them, it was a pity that it was born at an untimely time. In the unhappy days after publication, it was subtly and inexplicably dismissed by the public opinion circle.So, someone advised me that the only way to write about the "Cultural Revolution" is to wait for the next generation, or to be written by foreigners.Hearing this, I couldn't help feeling a deep sorrow.

Although the "Scar Literature" movement was once a frenzy, the "Cultural Revolution" writing forbidden area has not been completely swept away.Afterwards, invisible ropes quietly surrounded the forbidden area.Maybe it's not the ropes, it's a well-intentioned concern.Worrying that this will increase the weight of people's burdens, making it difficult to move forward; worrying that they will not laugh if they suffer too much; An absurd and ignorant logic in the minds of some people.Because of this psychological logic, every anniversary of the smashing of the "Gang of Four", they kept silent.

China is determined to reform, but the reform came out of the "Cultural Revolution" in reverse, turned around from the precipice of the "Cultural Revolution", and rushed to the bright road of mankind.However, political awakening cannot replace the thorough awakening of the entire nation.So far, many of the things that have hindered the reform are still deeply rooted in the "Cultural Revolution", whether it is the visible system, or the invisible but firmly hidden in people's consciousness, and everything can be seen What is seen is rooted in what is not seen.Our nation may suffer for too long and too deeply, and we always avoid talking about it; but a nation that gives up its lessons is hopeless.Half of the strength necessary for human progress comes from lessons.The self-improvement of any nation requires two kinds of sobriety: facing the world soberly and facing oneself soberly, facing the future and the past soberly, there can be no separation between them; sobriety must be fully clear, and ambiguity will lead to complete confusion .Liquidating the "Cultural Revolution" with literature is not only the need of history, but also the need of reality.The "Cultural Revolution"--the personal experience, the pain, the anxiety, and the solemn national responsibility evoked by these deep feelings are the strongest in our generation of "Cultural Revolution" experiencers.It can only be us who use it to promote social progress and write it down in history.Is there any reason to seal it up, bury it, and leave it to future generations or foreigners to excavate it as an antique?

This spring, I wandered the ruins of the Nazi concentration camp in Madaniek, Poland.Everything in the concentration camp is preserved intact like a cultural relic.The dark watchtower, the gloomy torture chamber, the cold power grids and the towering chimneys of the crematorium made me shudder, as if I was in the bloody atmosphere when fascism was raging 40 years ago.I noticed that the beautifully dressed children who came to visit all stared with innocent eyes, looking in amazement at what their predecessors had experienced.No need to preach, history speaks, neither the blackened mouth of the cremator nor the dark red blood on the human anatomy table will deceive them.When these children walked out of the concentration camp, there was no doubt in their eyes, but they were all silent, skipping and jumping, and fell into the contemplation of adults.The tragedies of history can also sublimate a sense of sacredness, which strengthens people's love and cherishment of justice, kindness, democracy, peace and life itself, hatred and vigilance against evil, autocracy, war and inhumanity, and awakens everyone's respect for It is an unshirkable responsibility for the future destiny of mankind.The warm light green spring light sprinkled on the huge arched stone cover of a tomb for thousands of people.A line of words was chiseled on the hard stone surface with a sharp tool:

"Our destiny is your wake-up call." I suddenly thought of Mr. Ba Jin's proposal to establish a "Cultural Revolution Museum".There is a desire to benefit future generations in this initiative full of the writer's conscience.But it has also been watered down, shelved, and cold-handed because of those ridiculous misunderstandings mentioned above.When Shanghai-based writer Zhao Lihong discovers that the younger generation knows nothing about the greatest tragedy in Chinese history that ended just ten years ago, shouldn't we sound the alarm?Only by letting future generations know everything about the past, will they realize everything in reality more thoroughly, not get lost in the complicated life around them, know what to do and how to do it, and unify their personal life beliefs with the eternal truth of human existence.For these ideas, I take this book as the first "Cultural Revolution" archive of ordinary Chinese people to be presented to the "Cultural Revolution Museum" that will sooner or later be realized.

Originally, I envisioned completing this writing project in two years.At work, I found that this is not a work, but a literary project.With my own strength, I want to find 100 typical characters with the most individuality, profound connotations and differences on the land of 9.6 million square kilometers, and use their spiritual history to present this incomparably profound and vast era Content, how difficult!Moreover, some people have unique experiences, and they may not be willing to speak, or they may not be good at speaking, or they may not be able to provide the unique and vivid details necessary for literature.

Therefore, I want to increase the amount of interviews.By means of screening, continuously comparing various types of typical people from batch after batch of interviewers, and at the same time examining them with a literary perspective, and then selecting them one by one, can the inner stories of these one hundred ordinary people have a profound impact on a generation of Chinese people. The spiritual journey, to make as rich and substantial tolerance as possible.In this way, extra time has to be paid out of my life.What a person can accomplish in a lifetime is extremely limited. If this book can realize my original writing intention as I wish, it will be the greatest satisfaction in my life.

A reader once wrote to condemn me: "You once vowed to write a 'spiritual history' for our generation. Why did you run away without a head? Are you dead? Lost your courage? Or did you go into business?" After reading this letter, I lit a cigarette and smoked until my fingers were burned up. I grabbed a pen and wrote him only one sentence: "I have no right to give up this mission!"