Wake up（321）

 

Chapter 56 forced palace

 

321

 

The past in 1978 seemed like overnight. In the minds of Chinese people with normal intelligence, 1978 is an unforgettable memory.

In 1978, amid decades of devastated political movements, a group of honest and courageous people in the ruling party stepped forward to respond to the voice of the people and history, set off a big discussion on the standard of truth, vindicated unjust, false and wrong cases on a large scale, and broke through the productive forces that hampered the development of productive forces. Relationships and superstructures, the future of the country and personal vision are all filled with sunshine... During this year's changes, many ordinary people, especially young people, feel an unprecedented freedom and hope in their daily life.

The Third Plenary Session of the People's Daily made a solemn promise: from now on, as long as there is no large-scale invasion by foreign enemies, modernization will be the central task of the entire party. Other work, including the party's political work, revolves around and serves this central work; there can no longer be any "political movements" and "class struggles" that deviate from this central work and damage modernization.

The 75-year-old Pantou, sitting in a wheelchair, continued to chat with Nanyang Sheng, who came to visit him, about those things in the early days of reform and opening up.

Old Pantou said to Nan Yangsheng: On December 25, 1978, the People's Daily published an editorial titled "Transfer the Focus of the Party's Work to Modernization Construction". I remember that in that year, Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa visited Beijing, fashion designer Pierre Cardin entered Wangfujing, Beijing, and Coca-Cola entered foreign-related hotels in China. In order to cooperate with the intensive negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, the People's Daily published a supplementary article "Soybean and Sino-US Scientific Exchange", introducing that the hometown of soybean is in China and it has achieved great development in the United States. The article is distributed with a decorative painting "The People of China and the United States will continue to be friendly forever." The Japanese movie "Hunting" is here. The prosecutor Du Qiudong, played by Takakura Ken, was framed by the underworld and fled. Mayumi, the rancher's daughter, went from being grateful for Du Qiu's life-saving grace to helping Du Qiu without hesitation. During the siege on the streets of Tokyo, Zhenyou's horse team arrived in time. Du Qiu jumped on the horse and asked Mayumi: "Why do you help me?" Mayumi with long hair answered loudly: "Because I like you!" In the "model drama" in the film, the heroes are all "high-quality" images who do not eat the fireworks of the world, and there are no marriage and love dramas.

A whole generation of young people were shocked and heartbroken by such a bold confession of love.

The fifth issue of "China Youth" magazine in 1980 published a "Letter from Pan Xiao" "The road of life, how is it getting narrower and narrower...". This kind of "tucao" used to be criticized as wrong thinking, and would even be regarded as a reactionary view that would bring surprises to the parties involved. The "China Youth" magazine used this to call on young people to communicate calmly and initiate a discussion on the outlook on life. Sack after sack of letters from readers flooded the editorial office.

"A pen in the party" Hu Qiaomu invited Hu Qili, secretary of the Secretariat in charge of propaganda at the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, to the magazine. Qiao Mu said: "What's wrong with young people talking about their depression and disappointment... This shows that they still have hope and trust in the society. They sighed, or made some wrong complaints. We should not be angry, nor should we It should be ignored, and it should be clear why they are doing this, and seriously help them find where there is hope. What is most needed here is the patience and enthusiasm of the older generation."

On February 17, 1978, an ignorant mathematician occupied two full pages in the People's Daily. This is Xu Chi's reportage "Goldbach's Conjecture", and a woodcut portrait of Chen Jingrun was also distributed. Then, the National Science Congress was held in March. Chen Jingrun and his teacher Hua Luogeng sat on the rostrum together with the party and state leaders. On the rostrum, Deng Xiaoping put forward for the first time a brand-new viewpoint that "science and technology are productive forces", and he took off the label of "white expert" for "nerds" like Chen Jingrun.

At the end of the "Cultural Revolution", when Deng Xiaoping listened to the report of Hu Yaobang, who presided over the work of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he spoke highly of Chen Jingrun: "It would be great if there were a thousand scientists like this in China!" Angry, he instructed Gao Dengbang, director of the State Council's Office Affairs Administration, to resolve it on the spot.

Gao Dengbang visited the Institute of Mathematics in person and said, "I will not leave regardless of the house." On the same day, the Academy of Sciences gave Chen Jingrun an academician's room with four bedrooms and one hall.

Political prejudice and even hostility towards intellectuals within the system is difficult to eliminate for a while.

When Deng Xiaoping's speech at the National Science Conference was circulated among high-level officials, Vice Chairman Wang Dongxing said: "I don't think the level of this manuscript is high. Chairman Mao said so much about scientific work and intellectuals, why didn't he quote it? For example, Chairman Mao said If intellectuals want to change their worldview, they should talk about it!"

The drafting team asked Deng Xiaoping for instructions, and Deng Xiaoping replied: "Don't change a single word!"

During the "Cultural Revolution" period, newspapers changed the words of leaders to boldface to show respect. It was from the National Science Conference that Deng Xiaoping ordered: quotes from Chairman Mao in his speeches should not be boldfaced. The People's Daily abandoned this "deified" layout technique.

More games in the officialdom, emancipation of the mind and the "two whatevers" are unfolding outside the public eye, but every Chinese is deeply aware of the difficulty of removing the old and establishing the new and the boldness of rewriting history.

Lao Pantou said to Nanyang Sheng:

Some people died, he is still alive. I will never forget the down-to-earth statesman, reformer, and man of action Hu Yaobang.

In June 1978, Vice-Chairman Wang Dongxing couldn't stand Hu Yaobang's vigorous redress of unjust cases, and came forward to beat Hu Yaobang and said: "Some cases were decided by Chairman Mao. What power does the head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee have to revise Chairman Mao's decision?"

Hu Yaobang was unmoved, and at the National Work Conference on Complaints and Calls in September, he declared tit-for-tat that "two don't care": "Any false statement, no matter when, no matter what the situation, no matter what level of organization, what is What is decided and approved by people must be corrected in a realistic manner.”

Hu Yaobang's words were not conveyed within the party, but the People's Daily stuffed the spirit of "two don't care" into the "newspaper commentator's article" "seek truth from facts, mistakes must be corrected" on November 15 of this year: "everything False words, any incorrect conclusions and handling, no matter what level of organization or whoever approved it, must be corrected in a realistic manner.” “Cases that are wrongly approved by senior leading organs and leading cadres can be No correction. Our party and country did not have, do not have, and will not have such party rules and laws in the future.”

After the article was published, a call was made to the People's Daily, and the person in charge of the newspaper was asked to answer it.

The call was transferred to the office of Li Zhuang, the deputy editor-in-chief, who called and asked, ""Seeking Truth from Facts, Any Mistakes Must Be Corrected", have you read this article?"

Li Zhuang replied: "I signed it, of course I have read it."

The caller said: "You are also an old comrade, do you agree with the article's point of view?"

Li Zhuang said: "Because I am also considered a veteran cadre, I agree with all the points in the article."

The caller raised his voice: "Does the 'leading cadres' mentioned in the article include Chairman Mao?"

Li Zhuang said in his memoirs that when he heard this, he raised his voice and answered: "Do you think Chairman Mao should not be rehabilitated if he misapproved the case?"

The call was suddenly hung up, obviously out of anger.

In 1978, Lu De, the son of Lu Dingyi, approached Qin Chuan, the first deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, and handed him a letter "Appealing Parents' Grievance and Requesting Two Elderly People to Be Released from Prison". Lu Dingyi, the only college graduate among the more than 30 members of the Central Committee elected by the "Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China", Zhou Enlai and others were college dropouts. Lu Dingyi served as the head of the Central Propaganda Department for 20 years. Since the "Cultural Revolution", the Central Propaganda Department has been overthrown as the "Hall of Hell". Lu Dingyi, his eldest son Lu De, his wife Yan Weibing, his mother, second younger sister, third younger sister, and fourth younger sister were all arrested and imprisoned. The total sentence of the whole family reached 56 years. .

Qin Chuan distributed Lu De's letter to the "Special Issue" of the People's Daily "Compilation of Situations" and sent it to the central leadership and members of the Central Committee in Beijing before the preparatory meeting of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee.

Under the chairmanship of Hu Yaobang, the Central Organization Department made the decision to "liberate" Lu Dingyi.

After Lu Dingyi was released from prison, Qin Chuan visited his home. Yan Weibing's younger sister put a scarf around Qin Chuan's neck and said emotionally, "Our whole family is grateful to you!"

Lu Dingyi's first article after his comeback, "Remembering the Good Premier of the People—Comrade Zhou Enlai", was published simultaneously in People's Daily and Guangming Daily on March 8, 1979. There is a sentence in it that arouses some people's dissatisfaction or worry: "It is now completely clear that Comrade Peng Dehuai's 'opinion' at the Lushan Conference in 1959 was correct. It was not Comrade Peng Dehuai who was wrong, but the one who opposed Peng Dehuai. Comrade people."

The night before it was published, Lu Dingyi specially called and asked: "Comrade Qin Chuan, don't change a single word of this article." Qin Chuan dared to publish it like this when the old minister wrote it. At the time when Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" did not even understand the "Left" and "Right" attributes of what they did, Lu Dingyi pointed out earlier: From the "Great Leap Forward" to the end of the "Cultural Revolution", a leftist trend has actually formed. route.

With the support of old comrades in the party, the People's Daily issued a harbinger of anti-"Left".

After Liu Shaoqi was rehabilitated, Liu Shaoqi's son said to Qin Chuan: "Uncle, I hope that what your generation can accomplish, don't leave it to our descendants!"

Hu Jiwei, Qin Chuan, Wang Ruoshui and others had such a sense of urgency and heroic ambition that they led the People's Daily through the stormy 1980s, making the People's Daily a leader in the hearts of the entire party and the people. unprecedented heights.

Old Pan sighed and said to Nan Yangsheng:

In order to rehabilitate more unjust cases, Hu Yaobang charged in the front, Deng Xiaoping, Ye Jianying, Chen Yun and almost all the old cadres supported in the rear.