Chapter 23 Appendix Unforgettable Memories

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of publication I have written literary works for more than 30 years, and there are always many little-known and unpublished stories behind each book, but it is difficult for me to have such an unforgettable memory as the writing time... It has been 15 years. At that time, I was still a "young writer" full of vigor and passion.Comrade Li Keqiang, who was the first secretary of the Youth League Central Committee at the time, was presiding over a student aid work similar to the "Hope Project" to solve the problem of unsustainable academic studies for poor college students in my country's colleges and universities. The implementation of this strategy has made great achievements.They sent a secretariat secretary to ask me to write a work in this regard.So, I started a long interview and writing journey.I first went to Peking University and Tsinghua University. I never thought that thousands of students in these two highest universities in China would face difficulties in their studies because of their poor families!When the teachers from the student offices of the two schools showed me the bags of heavy "family poverty" materials written by so many impoverished college students, I was shocked and my heart trembled. Those bloody and tearful statements shocked me. Tears blurred—unexpected!I only have these words to describe my inner feelings at that time.

Later, when I went to China Agricultural University and University for Nationalities, the real life of impoverished college students once again stimulated me, making me feel overwhelmed and burst into tears.I saw children who went to school hungry because they were penniless. Some of them could only eat a steamed bun a day and insisted on studying. , and even more extreme want to fight against the injustice of reality by committing suicide... At first, I was distressed and sympathetic, but later I felt that I should do something for these children. I buried myself in interviews, carefully investigated and understood, and spent nearly a year interviewing more than 300 parties and more than 40 colleges and universities. More than 300,000 words were written.

After the work came out, my first impression was a sensation I had never felt before: I remember that on the day when "Beijing Youth Daily" reprinted a full-page content, the Chinese Writers Magazine office where I worked was so hot that several phones in the unit were all gone for a whole day. Readers from all over the world talked about the content of the book, including university teachers, parents of students, and even old revolutionaries who retired at home.Almost all of them told me in tears, saying that they never imagined that there would be so many poor children in today's universities who couldn't afford to study. "The country has developed, and everyone's life has improved. Parents have managed to send their children to college. They are the pillars of China's future! We are a socialist country, and we cannot allow these children to drop out of school because of family financial difficulties. Longing for the future..." A female teacher at Tsinghua University said this, and she has two sons who are also studying at university.This female teacher made a special trip to my unit, bought two books, and said that she would let her children read them carefully and let them cherish their learning opportunities.

In those days, it was reprinted and serialized by dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, forming a wave of reading craze.Not only did reporters from various domestic media meet for interviews, but even foreign media from the United States, Britain, Japan, and Australia also came to interview me. The school department of the League Central Committee played a positive role in promoting the influence of the promotion, and they immediately launched the "Helping Poor College Students" activity in various schools.I remember that at that time, I had to give lectures at the university every day, and I gave more than 100 lectures.What I remember most is the night when I gave a report at Nankai University in Tianjin, and more than 850 copies were sent out with signatures alone. I still remember that scene.

Someone said: "He Jianming's film made the people of the whole country shed a rain of tears..." The truth is almost the same.At that time, letters from readers fell into my hands like snowflakes every day, and they were all hot letters, letters of compassion for poor college students and letters of caring wishes.What moved me the most was that many kind-hearted readers offered to donate and provide relief to impoverished college students, hoping that I would match them up... Opening up green channels for impoverished universities and setting up special funds were quickly launched in various universities. Tsinghua University was the fastest. They quickly raised more than 100 million yuan in funds. It has reached tens of millions in more than a year.It is worth mentioning that these charitable funds were donated spontaneously by readers after reading it.After I heard that, I was very pleased.A work can have such enthusiastic social feedback, what else can explain the problem more than this?As the saying goes, the social benefits of literature, isn't this the best proof?

There are too many stories brought out. The lives of the impoverished college students in my book have undergone earth-shaking changes. Some of them have received social donations of up to hundreds of thousands of yuan—of course these students have done very well. Leave the necessary living expenses for yourself, and most of them are handed over to the school, so that more poor students can also get timely help. But at this time, I also encountered a dumbfounding thing: a teacher at a certain university who had received me insisted that I "copied" his "work" (the fact is that I copied the work provided to me by their school party committee. A material introducing students' poverty), so the teacher told a student that I "plagiarized", first attacked me on CCTV's "Oriental Time and Space" program, and later sued me in court .In those days, the newspapers on newsstands in Beijing had news about me almost every day.This disturbance not only hurt me a lot, but more seriously, it affected the upsurge of donating money and caring for poor college students that was forming across the country.For this reason, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the All-China Federation of Students and the Chinese Writers Association came forward and held a special meeting to uphold justice for me.

I would especially like to thank Deng Yong, who was then Minister of the School Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, Zhai Taifeng, Secretary of the Party Group of the Chinese Writers Association, Zhang Jianmin, Director of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, and my colleagues in the Chinese Writers Magazine, as well as Mr. Luo Haocai, the justice. It took me more than a year to win the lawsuit in the end.The second trial finally removed the "plagiarism" hat.Later won the national literary award - Lu Xun Literature Award. I have always said that it is a work that makes people cry. It is first of all a special work that makes me cry.During the lawsuit, my grandmother, who loved me, saw that I was being attacked, and became very angry, and died soon after.In order to clear myself of innocence in court, I was not able to attend her funeral.This lawsuit made me understand many things: you may not be able to make everyone understand your good deeds, and your kind wishes may not necessarily move everyone...

It has been 15 years, and I am comforted that at least nearly ten million poor students have received direct help because of this work and the various relief policies introduced by the state; many readers still clearly remember when they read my work. For example, the old man Bai Fangli in Tianjin that I wrote was finally pushed to the list of "Moving Chinese People"... What makes me most happy is that the poor college students I wrote in the article have all gone to work today. They have already married and established businesses, and some have even become leading cadres, outstanding civil servants, officers and scientists of the People's Liberation Army.

It is gold that shines forever.So is good literature.Its social influence and literary appeal explain everything. It is a milestone in my creative process, which has always encouraged and supported me to persevere on the road of literary creation. In the past 15 years, I have written more than 30 medium-length works, 2 of which won the "Lu Xun Literature Award", 5 won the "Five One Project Award" of the Central Propaganda Department, and 7 were adapted into TV and film works. Writers must rely on their works to speak.In this world now, our people are looking forward to seeing more and better works. I am so self-motivated: talk less, talk less nonsense, write more works, and write more worthy of myself, worthy of this era and our people. work.