Chapter 29 New Year greeting

Dear overseas Chinese and Hong Kong and Macao compatriots: In the years when the construction of the motherland was flourishing, time passed so quickly, and the New Year of 1963 was just around the corner again.In Beijing, the capital of our motherland, I would like to say "Congratulations to the new year!" I feel from the bottom of my heart that the years after the liberation of the motherland are very different from the previous ones. To say "Xin Jubilee" is really "New Jubilee", not a routine, clichéd blessing, because the people of New China, looking forward to the future, Every year really brings new hope, new joy.

I can't finish talking about the joyful things that happened in my motherland in a few days and nights, and I don't know where to start.The length of this New Year's letter is limited, so let me start with the fruits and vegetables that I eat in my daily life. The residents of Beijing are delighted to feel that the supply of melons, fruits and vegetables this year has been particularly beautiful and plentiful.Since the beginning of autumn in 1962, all kinds of melons and fruits have poured into Beijing from the surrounding suburbs like a continuous spring.Watermelons, muskmelons, peaches, pears, apples, grapes, persimmons... on the shelves of stores everywhere, emitting attractive colors and strong aromas.Grapes in particular, are purple like amethyst and green like jasper, with clusters of dense grains covered with a thin layer of hoarfrost.Beijing is not a place where grapes are grown. Usually, most of the grapes we eat come from Shandong, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang. However, this year’s grapes of various varieties come not far from the suburbs of Beijing. (Because I love grapes very much, I am very happy. I heard that the Beijing winery used to purchase tens of millions of catties of grapes from other places every year, but now it no longer needs to purchase from other places.) It and other varieties Peaches, pears, apples... are the same, they are all called "commune fruits", which are the products of the rural people's commune!Since 1958, we have visited many people's communes in the suburbs, heard about their production plans, and learned how many orchards they have opened up and how many excellent varieties have been introduced. of saplings.But our vision is short-sighted after all. It seems that we will be able to eat the fruit many years later, and we will not be surprised until these jewel-like beautiful and fragrant fruits are lined up in front of our eyes.But our peasant brothers have long had this confidence. A folk song in Anhui says:

Planted apricots and pomegranates today. After a few more springs and autumns, the dried tall branches and green fruits will form into balls. The children who came to play at that time, be careful that the fruit bumps into each other. This folk song, re-reading it today, really makes people happy and admirable!As for the vegetables, in the winter of 1962, there were even more green leaves, cabbage, spinach, celery, rapeseed... and many other vegetables whose names I can't name, were everywhere!Many of the trucks speeding on the avenues in the suburbs are the large trucks of the people's communes delivering vegetables to the city; the supply and marketing stores in the city, as well as the streets and alleys, are full of vegetables piled up like mountains.

These vegetables not only supply the city of Beijing, but are also transported to all parts of the Northeast!We are used to seeing and eating, and we are not surprised, but our Japanese friends, Nepalese friends, Ghanaian friends... all talk about it to us with admiration.They envy our good fortune, they praise the power of the people's communes, saying that China's people's communes are like the rising sun.In Beijing in 1962, there was little rain in the summer, and then it was very dry in autumn, but we still sang with drums, and lived a relatively abundant New Year. Fertilizers have increased... Because agriculture has achieved better harvests, our lives are also thriving.As we read the newspapers, we are delighted to see that progress has also been made in other areas of production and construction in our motherland.In just thirteen years, we have already achieved such achievements. On this day when we enter the fourteenth year, we cannot suppress the excitement in our hearts.With great joy, I say to you again, "Congratulations on the new year!"