Chapter 52 A strip of water to the east neighbor

Japan and my country are friendly neighbors separated by a strip of water.In April, I participated in a delegation of Chinese writers to visit Japan, and I had a particularly deep understanding of this point.When we left Japan at the end of our visit, it only took 100 minutes to fly from Nagasaki to Shanghai!While my heart is still lingering in Japan, my body has already returned to the land of China.I was sitting in the car from Shanghai airport to the hotel, and when I saw signs of Chinese institutions and shops hanging on both sides of the road, I suddenly felt that I had returned to my motherland from Japan. "A strip of water" is really worthy of the name.China and Japan, how "close" and "close" our two friendly countries are!

As early as 1923, when I went to the United States to study, I had been to Japan.Looking back, I have been to Japan ten times over the past half-century-plus.Therefore, I made many Japanese friends, not only scholars, writers, and college students, but also many workers, farmers, fishermen, Japanese soldiers returning from China, and other people.Over the years, I have received countless Japanese friends in China.The people-to-people exchanges between our two countries have always been continuous and have continued to expand and develop. Although it has been more than a month since I visited Japan this time, the voice of friendship between China and Japan still echoes in my ears from time to time.The first is the once-in-a-lifetime grand event of Master Jianzhen returning to China to "visit relatives".Exhibitions of Master Jianzhen's statues were held successively in Yangzhou and Beijing.After I returned to Beijing, I happened to participate in this grand event.This makes me happy and excited.

When talking about Sino-Japanese friendship and cultural exchanges, we cannot help recalling the words of our beloved Premier Zhou, that is, "When drinking water, never forget the man who dug the well".Monk Jianzhen is one of the most determined important well diggers.With his unshakable faith, he made six trips in the twelve years of hard work, and he arrived in Japan, the "country of destiny" with blindness, and completed his great mission. career.Jianzhen and his Chinese and Japanese disciples have established a foundation for mutual understanding, mutual learning, joint creation and common improvement in literature, art, medicine, architecture, sculpture and other aspects of China and Japan.This excellent tradition of friendship and mutual assistance has been passed down to modern times.From the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century, young Chinese students with aspirations went to Japan to study in succession. Superstars in Chinese literature and art circles, such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo and many famous people, all studied or lived in Japan.They have forged a profound friendship with the Japanese people.

Dear Premier Zhou Enlai is one of the most important diggers in the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship.During our visit to Japan this time, we went to Kameyama Park in Arashiyama, Kyoto, and visited the "Premier Zhou Enlai's Poem Monument".This poem stele is made of hard Anma Mountain stone in the eastern suburbs of Kyoto, on which is engraved the poem "Lanshan in the Rain" written by Premier Zhou in his youth.After we presented flowers and saluted, we looked up at this huge stone tablet and silently recited this touching verse.We are really grateful to our Japanese friends for building this monument on this memorable mountain, so that friends from both China and Japan can express their reverence for Premier Zhou to this monument that can represent the turbulent current On the pillar, a little light in the blur, on the poem stele.

At that time, my thoughts flew down from here: Japanese friends had always hoped that Premier Zhou would go to Japan to see cherry blossoms after the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Unfortunately, this hope failed.However, after the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1978, our Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping visited Japan; in 1979, Premier Zhou's wife Deng Yingchao, Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress visited Japan again, and both received unanimous approval from the Japanese government and the opposition. A grand welcome.The Chinese people are not only happy and grateful from the bottom of their hearts, but also deeply understand the kindness and kindness of the Japanese people towards the Chinese state leaders.

The friendship between the people of China and Japan has a long history, with a history of two thousand years of friendly exchanges and cultural exchanges.Of course, history has mainstreams, countercurrents, struggles, and repetitions.Shortly after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 1972, Premier Zhou once pointed out: "We and Japan have a history of 2,000 years, a half-century of confrontation, and more than 20 years of work." The entire history of Sino-Japanese relations has made an excellent summary. "Twenty years of work", every time I think about it, I can't help seeing Premier Zhou's huge and firm figure and footprint in the history of Sino-Japanese relations.Over the past 20 years, with the long-term joint efforts of the people of the two countries, Sino-Japanese relations have progressed despite repeated twists and turns, leading to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan and opening a new chapter in the history of Sino-Japanese relations.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, especially since the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the good-neighborly, friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries have developed smoothly in a wide range of fields.From official to non-governmental, from politics, economy to science and technology, culture, and sports, the exchanges between the two countries have become more colorful and substantial.For example, many cities of the two countries have formed sister cities.This shows that the friendly cooperation between the two countries has developed from the central government to the local government, becoming more and more extensive and in-depth.

During my visit to Japan, I deeply felt that Japanese friends are very concerned about China's ongoing grand cause of the new Long March to realize the four modernizations.They generally expressed their willingness to cooperate in this regard.Some also put forward many specific proposals very enthusiastically. This time, Premier Hua Guofeng's official visit to Japan will definitely be a new impetus, which will push the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship to a new stage and make the friendly cooperation between the two peoples more vigorous.