Chapter 76 Impressions of the visit to the UK

It has been more than a year since I arrived in the UK. During this year, I have been to other European countries and many new, beautiful and vibrant cities, such as Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan in the Soviet republics, and Belarus. Minsk, the capital of the country, and so on, after returning to China, I walked a few more places in the country, and everywhere I saw thousands of galloping horses, a brand-new scene that was overwhelming!The old dull England in my mind has long been squeezed into its own thick fog, without sharp outlines.In retrospect today, only its eclipse in comparison with emerging socialist countries.

London was the place I visited 20 years ago, but this time I revisited it, because I just passed by Moscow, and I felt that the streets of the capital of this old empire were much cramped. There are no new residential buildings on both sides of the suburban road, just a series of very small two-story houses.Gradually walking to the city center, from the noisy streets, the tall buildings with blackened masonry... I recognized the former London.Just like seeing an old acquaintance twenty years ago, because I look younger, I feel that he seems to be more than twenty years old. The windows of the shops on the street are still colorful.On the sidewalk, shoulders rubbed each other, some walked, and some wandered in front of the window to look, but not many people entered the store.

We stayed in a hotel nearer to the Chinese agency, which was also very old, and the gray-haired waiters in shiny uniforms greeted the guests with excessive humility.When we entered the room, the lady in charge of cleaning came in to clean up in a hurry, complaining that there were fewer customers, fewer workers, too busy work, low wages, and the residence was in the basement, dark and damp, and could not be seen all year round to the sun!She also said that the owner of the hotel was going to sell the hotel to a Jew soon, and that the old workers were about to be fired.They were all from Ireland and had been in London for many years, but life hadn't changed for the better.She sighed, "When will we have a good life?"

When I read the newspaper in the morning, there is always a thick stack in my hand, but the advertisements take up more than half of the space. The headlines are either cases of theft and murder, or articles that slander and attack the socialist country.In addition, there are some vulgar and decadent short stories.Beautiful and healthy literary and artistic works are really rare.In the UK, newspapers, radio, television, etc. are all in the hands of the bourgeoisie, and the true reports of New China are tightly blocked—the activities of the Chinese cultural delegation in London are not published in any newspaper—so The people are very alienated from the new China.Once, I was invited to a symposium of female journalists in London.During the conversation, I felt that ordinary female journalists have a poor understanding of China, and they are even more inexplicable about our earth-shattering changes.

When it comes to "ancient Chinese culture", among the many "China hands" in the UK, apart from those diplomats and postal and customs service personnel who have been stationed in China, as well as missionaries, rogues, and ronin-style adventurers, there are also There is also a group of literati and scholars.They are very interested in old Chinese literature and art.But what they like are China's old cities, ancient tombs, the camel bells beside the Great Wall, and the midnight bells of Hanshan Temple.For example, Mr. Ace Willie, who is famous for his translation of Tang poetry, would like to visit the ancient Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, rather than the emerging city of Xi'an.It is a pity that no one can reverse history and turn the wheel of the times backwards!

When I visited a British gallery, it gave me another kind of surprise. The Teeter Gallery in London was a place I often visited 20 years ago. Although I don’t know much about painting, those paintings depict real life and are lifelike. , always gets me infected.I went to visit this time and saw the so-called most modern works. The "things" on the screen were neither human nor beast, and the shape of their limbs was terribly distorted, but it gave me pain and disgust.If art is a concentrated and prominent reflection of real life by sensitive artists, then these "creations" seem to just reflect the painful hearts of the authors who are struggling and rolling in hell!

The disparity between the rich and the poor in the UK is particularly evident during this visit.The location of our hotel is considered an upper-middle-class residential area.Mornings are always quieter, and Sundays are especially deserted.When I went out in the morning, I saw newspapers still stuffed in the letterbox on the door of each house, and there were milk bottles on the steps. The owner was probably still sound asleep. I happened to meet a few old people who came out to walk their dogs, walking leisurely on the sidewalk.It became active after ten o'clock, and on the main road leading to the suburbs, small cars one after another crowded together like beetles.There are people who go out for an outing.All kinds of high-end clubs in the suburbs and along the Thames River are crowded with cars and boats, and there are clouds of ladies and gentlemen. On the way back to the city at night, it is even more crowded. It is even easier to wait for a long time at a traffic light.But the situation is very different for those who have no money and no car.Once, we had something to go out, because the bus workers went on strike, and we couldn't find a taxi, so we had to take the underground tram.It was a Sunday, and the underground was another world!Crowded, suffocating, dirty, dark, chaotic streams of people pushing each other.Unexpectedly, the means of transportation used by thousands of working people in London day and night have not changed in the past twenty years!Compared with the bright, magnificent, beautiful Palace of Arts-like underground stations in Moscow and Leningrad, there is a world of difference.

Once, we went to East London to eat Chinese food. We drove by Bank Street and saw a few guards at the gate of the Bank of England. Wearing blue clothes and red trousers with money, they are as airy as the guards of the palace.The driver smiled and told us that the Bank of England was robbed many years ago. Since then, the walls of the bank have not been opened and guards have been sent to guard it.I heard that the big banks on Wall Street in the United States also have no windows, probably because they are afraid of being robbed. Near the Chinese restaurant in East London, the street is deserted and there are few pedestrians. There are some dilapidated houses on both sides, with wooden boards nailed to the doors and windows.These are places that have never been restored after World War II.

We have visited universities all over the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge, which I have been to before, nothing has changed, only this time I feel that the trees are bigger, the houses are older, and the students seem to be less .Graduate students still walk or cycle through the streets in their black robes.When eating in the restaurant, the husband still sits on the stage, and the students sit under the stage.I was once invited to dinner at Niuhan Women's College of Cambridge University. I sat on a stage higher than the podium with the professors, and watched the students come in one by one in black robes, bowed to the stage, and then sat down. , After eating, he bowed before going out.After dinner, a female professor accompanied me for a walk on the campus, and talked about the funding of the various colleges of Cambridge University, all relying on various funds or donations from people outside the school. Of course, there is no talk of planned development, and she smiled Said: "I hope that our students will marry rich people when they go out, so that we can get rich."

In fact, most universities in the UK are "private", claiming that they are not economically controlled by the government.And the students trained in universities are all serving the government, that is, serving the bourgeois regime.Especially Oxford and Cambridge University, most of the students who came out of these two universities were the protectors of the British Empire, and they were originally students from bourgeois families.In these universities, in addition to tuition fees, the annual board and lodging fees are at least 200 pounds or more, and children of working people cannot enter.

The British bourgeois rulers were envious, envious, anxious, and angry about the achievements of New China. While mourning their bosses, they were afraid of the growth of new forces, so they could only comfort themselves with cynicism or abuse.However, the progressive intellectuals and working people in Britain have expressed infinite concern for our various measures and achievements of "seeking the greatest welfare for the overwhelming majority of the people", and they have shown great concern for the happy life of our working people after liberation. Endless envy and encouragement.For example, the miners we met in the workers’ rest homes and clubs run by trade unions in Scotland and Wales asked in great detail about the lives of Chinese working people after they turned over, such as employment issues, housing issues, medical recuperation issues, Regarding the issue of children going to school, etc., women are particularly concerned about the universal establishment of nursery schools and kindergartens, and believe that this is the most fundamental measure to liberate women's labor force.Listening to our introduction, they all smiled, and hoped that they could visit China to see our great achievements. The welcoming crowd in Edinburgh sang folk songs for us for more than two hours, many of which were verses by the great Scottish poet Burns, accompanied by national instruments, all of them sang with fascination, immersed in a rich and cordial atmosphere We, who listened silently, were greatly moved by our local feelings.The miners in Wales also sang many folk songs full of love for their hometown and longing for a better life. The simple, sincere and friendly smiles on their faces are something we will never forget.