Chapter 6 Three mailing newsletters to young readers Seven

Dear children: In mid-December last year, I received a letter from a teaching assistant in the Chinese Department of Wellesley College in the United States.She said she would lead a visiting group to Beijing and they hoped to meet an alumni in the People's Republic of China.She also politely said: In order to help them understand China today, the members of the delegation are all looking forward to this meeting with great excitement. Children, Wellesley Women's University is the university I went to when I was studying in the United States in my early years.It is for girls only, and in the 1920s there were about two or three thousand students, all of whom lived on campus.I am a graduate student and could have lived off-campus, but I am a "foreigner" with no home or relatives in the US, so I was put on-campus.I love this campus very much. After returning to China, I often think of it and dream of it. Next to it is a shimmering Weibing Lake. My good teachers and classmates live in the school building by the lake.In recent years, it has joined hands with engineering or science classes of the famous American engineering university, MIT, and established a Chinese department.This was unimaginable half a century ago!

On the afternoon of January 23 this year, I met with my American classmates at Beijing Friendship Hotel! With anticipation and excitement, I entered the living room.I saw dozens of American girls sitting in a large circle. They were not wearing pleated skirts, but trousers; their hair was not combed in a bun, but some were loose, and some were cut shorter. , This is not the attire I was familiar with half a century ago, but isn't that enthusiastic smiling face and excited eyes exactly the same as what I met on campus before? I couldn't help stretching out my hand like meeting an old friend after a long absence, and called out:

"Okay! Girls, how is Weibing Lake?" With this greeting, the whole room suddenly became active, and my reservedness and their shyness disappeared all of a sudden! These college students are all in their twenties, and the oldest is the teaching assistant of the Chinese Department, who is the same age as I was when I came to the United States—twenty-three years old.Among them is a student who celebrated her 18th birthday in Beijing today! Our conversation was lively and rambling.I asked my teachers whether these students no longer knew or only heard those names.In addition to the Guanbi Building, the dormitories I have lived in are still there (a student exclaimed happily: "I live there!"), and the Na'an Pigar Building, which was once described by the famous American poet Whitman The building has already been demolished and rebuilt.Only Weibing Lake is still rippling and leaning against the side of the campus.

They rushed to tell me that they had already visited the Palace Museum and the Summer Palace.They boarded the majestic Great Wall, and they all boarded the highest beacon tower. From the Great Wall, we talked about China's four thousand years of long history and culture, about today's China, China's 900 million people, about the late Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and about the Party Central Committee of China today.The one they know the most is our beloved Premier Zhou. They also talked about the Chinese Department of their university that had been established in recent years. There were Chinese and American professors in the department, and they read the works of Mao Dun, Lao She, Ba Jin and Cao Yu.When I told them that Mao Dun, Ba Jin, and Cao Yu were all still alive and continuing to write, they cheered again in surprise.

In the end, our conversation naturally focused on the friendship between the Chinese and American people. They all believed that China and the United States, the oldest and newest great nations on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, would join hands, learn from each other's strengths, and learn from each other. Great contribution to peace and human progress! This is exactly what I have in mind!I said: "I'm getting old, and I want to do my best for this great cause. But you are the rising sun, and the future world belongs to you, the United States, China, and the young people in the world. You It is our responsibility to make this world a peaceful and beautiful place."

I knew that they would go to the Friendship Store to buy some souvenirs in the evening, and they would also have a meal of Beijing roast duck. After wishing them a happy night, I stood up and said goodbye to them.They reluctantly let me take a few photos with them, and then sent me to the door of the hotel. On the way home, I looked up to the sky and felt that the sky was much higher and wider. The endless poplar branches lined up neatly on both sides of the broad road, although they had no leaves yet, were already turning yellow and turning green.I smell the strong spring breath! Children, the friendship between the people of the world is precious, we should cherish it, nurture it, and promote it.You are the masters of the 21st century. You must unite with the young people in the United States, the young people in Japan, and the young people in Europe, Africa, Latin America and other countries, and unite the efforts of our older generations for world peace and human progress. , continue and develop.

The love is long and the paper is short, I can't say enough, I wish you all the best! Your friend Bing Xin February 22, 1979