作    者：龚如仲（美国）

海外头条总编审   王 在 军     （中国）

海外头条副编审 Wendyh温迪（英国）

海 外 头 条总 编   火 凤  凰    （海外）

图片选自百度

【岁月如重】第二章：大学年代

第三部分：军垦时光

文/龚如仲（美国）

根据伟大领袖毛主席关于“知识分子要到工厂去，农村去接受工农兵的再教育”的伟大指示，我们这些个大学毕业生不能按期毕业，推迟毕业半年后，在1968年的冬天，我被“荣幸”地发配到了河北唐山远郊的一个军垦农场，开始了我的劳动锻炼生涯。

到了军垦农场后，我们这些来自不同院校的毕业生被混编成一个个学生连。由农场的军人担任连长和排长，又在我们中间挑选出学生担任各班的班长  我当时荣幸地被委任为二排二班的班长。军垦农场的生活是极其艰苦的，各个班的十几个小伙子或姑娘们都得分别挤在一间间简陋的营房里，晚上睡觉就头挨着头躺在一个大炕上（炕是中国北方农村常见的睡觉场所，炕由砖砌成，炕底下是空的，可以通过小火烧柴禾来保持炕上的温度，这样有利于对抗北方的寒冷）。每天天不亮，我们就被起床的军号声叫醒，然后像军人一样在几分钟之内完成穿衣、上厕所、迭被子、洗脸、刷牙等事情。之后，再随着一声哨响，就迅速奔向操场，在排长的率领下进行严酷的操练。操练完毕，才前往饭厅吃早餐。而吃完早餐，紧张有序的一天才算真正开始。

我们刚到农场时已是隆冬时节，天气很冷，没有什么农活可干。排长就安排我们这一排的战士清一色的“秃小子”到离营房不远的荒地上挖鱼塘。因为排长说了，“挖好鱼塘，开春放上鱼苗，等鱼儿长大就可给全连改善生活”。排长一声令下，我们就纷纷扛着锹、拿着铲，在荒地上热火朝天地大干起来。

可我们在学校哪里干过如此繁重的工作？加上正值隆冬时节，荒地仍然被冻得结结实实的。我们就那么一锹锹、一铲铲地砍下去、挖出来，不多一会儿，我们就累得气喘吁吁，衣服也被汗水浸透了。等到收工回营，个个都像浑身散了架。然而时间长了，大家也就慢慢适应了。果然是“功到自然成”，没多久，偌大的鱼塘就挖成了。看着那又大又深的鱼塘，我们这些﹁小臭老九﹂们立刻忘却劳累，心里反而充满了小小的成就感，觉得自己离偶像工农兵们似乎近了一小步。

等到冬天过去、初春来临的时候，我们就在排长的带领下，早早地来到稻田旁。那时候，只要排长一声令下，我们就必须立即光着脚，跳进冰冷的稻田里干活去。因为排长说了，“先得松松地，等天暖和了好插秧”。要知道，这时候的稻田的水面上仍有一层薄薄的冰。

说到这里，我倒不是想说我们的排长有多么冷血。排长是一位来自安徽的农村小伙子，才二十出头，他有着超凡的军人素质，为人也实在、厚道。我们也能感觉出来，他也不忍心让我们这些﹁肩不能挑、手不能提﹂的文弱书生们太为难。可是，“知识分子必须接受工农兵再教育”的国策是万万不可违抗的。于是他只能咬咬牙、狠狠心，命令我们那样做了。

可是对于我们，这实在是不堪回首的经历和体验。只要看一眼那薄冰覆盖的水田，我们的心就一下子收紧了。然而作为班长，我又必须起到带头作用。于是我们几位班长就纷纷脱下鞋袜、卷起裤腿、手拿铁锹、咬着牙踏入冰水之中。就在我们的双脚踏入冰水的一剎那，一种难以忍受的冷的痛楚就立即袭遍了全身，似乎有千万根钢针刺进了双脚。这时候我们大家就背诵着“下定决心，不怕牺牲，排除万难，去争取胜利”的毛泽东语录，一边用力挖着淤泥，一边招呼班上的同学也到冰水里来“享享福”。所幸的是，“最高司令官”排长也在冰水中指导我们干活。干了一会儿，也许排长也觉得这冰水实在太冷了，于是他就命令我们收工回营。

初春踏入冰水的经验是不堪回首的，但毕竟不是很长时间地在水中，更何况受罪的也只有腿和脚。而在同样的天气、面对着同样刺骨的冰水，要下到水里去捕鱼，那种滋味您也许就很难想象了。可这样的事我们也确确实实地领教过。

那是我到农场的第二年初春吧，是二月里的一天，排长命令我们班派四个人到鱼塘捕鱼，说是“要为全连加餐”。尽管那天风和日丽，但冰雪刚刚开始消融，鱼塘里的水温是极低的。只要一想到要跳入冰冷的鱼塘里去捕鱼，人人都会不寒而栗。但是“军令如山倒”，我们又岂敢违抗？而且作为班长，我当然得一马当先、首当其冲了。于是，加上另外三个被挑选出来的壮小伙子，我们一共四个人的“捕鱼小组”就成立了。

记得那天我们特意从小卖部里买了两瓶七十二度的“二锅头”，又吩咐班上的同学扛上我们的棉被，就朝着鱼塘出发了。“二锅头”当然是为了给我们这些“勇士们”壮胆和御寒的；而棉被子则是为我们这四朵“出水芙蓉”保暖的。到了鱼塘，我们先是脱掉衣服，每人只穿一条内裤，然后就咕嘟嘟地猛喝几大口白酒（我生平头一回，也是最后一回享用了七十二度的点火即燃的烈酒），接着又倒酒少许于手掌心，在身上猛擦猛揉。之后大家就怪叫一声跳入了水中。

入水之后，我们才真正体会了什么叫做冷，因为其中的滋味远远超出了我们的想象：冰冷的水如利刃般刺入肌肤，我感到全身的血液都似乎凝固住了，头脑也直发晕。在这种情形下，不要说在水下睁开双眼捕鱼（据说，极冷的水中，鱼儿也不活跃，只要努力，是可以在水下徒手捕鱼的），就连在水下的动作都勉为其难（当然，冬泳者可以在结冰的河水中畅游，这是因为他们经过了长时期的锻炼和适应，而我们这些从未接受过冬泳训练的普通人那里消受得起这“冬泳”的“乐趣”）。那一次，我们只是在水中勉强挣扎了一会儿，就赶紧离水上岸了。鱼是没抓住一条，人可差点被冻得半死。

等到我们套上衣服，班上的同学将棉被把我们从上到下紧紧裹住后，我们才慢慢缓了过来。而站在鱼塘边的排长，看着我们这四名捕鱼者只是意味深长地笑了笑，还一边半真半假地指着我们说道：“你们这些大学生啊，就是有点儿太娇气”。我心想，真是我们太娇气了吗？说句心里话，那样的经历也许一辈子都会铭记在心了。

当春天真正来临的时候，金灿灿的迎春花开满了营房四周。不多久，红艳艳的桃花也开了，田边的杨柳也已吐出了翠绿的新叶。这时候，农场上下一片欢腾，大家感到总算告别了令人乏味的冬季，迎来了美丽的春天。

不过随着春天的来临，我们也进入了紧张而繁重的农忙时节。从春到夏、从夏到秋，在两年的军垦生涯里，我记不清插过多少秧苗，收过多少稻谷，也不记得曾挖过多少土方，挑过多少重担。我只记得在农忙的季节里，我们每天披星戴月，一天干十三四个小时的活简直是家常便饭。

经过两年的劳动锻炼，在我们这些“小臭老九”（当时的大学生被社会上戏称为“小臭老九”，而所谓的臭老九就是排在八种敌人之后的第九位。那八种敌人是“地主、富农、反革命、坏分子、右派、叛徒、特务、走资本主义道路的当权派，也就走资派。而在走资派后面就是排名第九的知识分子了。大学生是年轻人，所以就是“小臭老九”了）身上发生的变化也是看得见的：身体壮了，胃口好了，力气也大了，我们离接受再教育的标准越来越近了。然而，要想真正达到接受再教育的“合格标准”，仅凭劳动这一项是远远不够的。从某种意义上讲，劳动只是一个方面，而更重要的还应该是思想层面上的改造。

连领导和排长们深刻领会了这个方针，所以相对于劳动改造，他们对我们的“政治学习”和“思想改造”抓得更紧了。除了每周两个下午的政治学习和讨论，有时他们会对我们来一个突如其来、意想不到的“思想考验”和挑战。

记得在一天深夜，因为劳累了一天，大家都睡得很沉，周围万籁俱寂。突然间，一阵军号声划破了夜空，一下子将人们从睡梦中惊醒。于是大家慌忙起床穿好衣服，就向着大操场冲去。大家一边跑，一边在心中寻思着：“这种不同寻常的军号声，一定意味着有大事或急事发生了”。

等我们来到大操场，就发现连长、连指导员和三位排长已经早早地站在那里。队伍集合后，连长一脸严肃地对大家说道：“接紧急通知，我们所在的唐山地区将有一场极为严重的大地震。连里决定让我们立即转移到安全地区”。说到这里，他停了一下，然后语气更加严肃了些：“现在的问题是，需要有十个人留守在营房保护财产及牲畜。有哪些男同学们愿意留下来”？之后，他特别强调了一句：“留下来的人可能有生命危险”。

一听他这么说，我们都有点懵了。因为大家都还记得：当我们还在大学读书时，河北邢台发生过的一次大地震，死伤了不少人。所以大家都知道留下来将意味着什么。当然也有人心中疑惑了：“一旦地震真的发生，一切都化为废墟，连命都没有了，又谈何保护财产”？所以好一会儿，都没人开腔。

见长时间没人反应，连长有点火了。他大声指责我们这些男生自私、胆怯、没出息。就在这时，有一个外号叫“张大胆”的同学勇敢地站了出来，说他愿意留下。这时候，才见到连长的脸上露出了一丝笑容。紧接着，我们几个班长一通气，觉得这个时候作为干部不留下实在是说不过去了，于是我们几个也纷纷表示可以留下。

就在我们几个傻小子决定“豁出去、撞撞大运”的时候，连长突然换了一种口气，他向大家宣布：“这是一场演习，根本就没有什么地震要发生”（也许连长是个“乌鸦嘴”，若干年后，也就是到了1976年的夏天，唐山果然发生了骇人听闻的大地震）。连长说，连领导这样做的目的，是“为了考验一下大家的应变能力以及应对紧急情况时的态度”。直到这时，大伙儿才把悬着的心放了下来。

就在那天下午，大家破例没有去干活，而是留在营房里讨论问题。记得连里给大家出了这么一道题：“除了天灾外，倘若有人祸发生，比如为了革命需要，你得上战场与敌人面对面地战斗，你的表现如何？你怕不怕死”？据说，讨论这个严肃问题，是为了在我们这些“小臭老九”的灵魂深处进行一次“大革命”。而讨论之时，大家普遍的答案是：“如果有连长和排长在我们身旁，隔着一段距离与敌人开枪交火，我们倒也不害怕，大不了一颗子弹飞来，剎那间结束生命，痛苦是极为短暂的。但我们最害怕的是被敌人抓去当了俘虏，说不定要经受敌人的鞭打、火烙、挖眼、断腿等诸般酷刑。如果真的被敌人抓去当了俘虏，没准儿就只能当叛徒了，因为实在受不了那种痛苦的折磨”。道理很简单，我们这些在和平时期里长大的男女学生从未经历过战火的洗礼，我们怎么可能与刘胡兰、夏明翰那样的英雄人物相比（这两位都是共产党内的英雄，他们被敌方逮捕经严刑拷打后仍然威武不屈，最后被敌方杀害）？尽管这个答案无法使连部领导满意，但学生们“敢于上前线与连排长们共同作战”倒也表明了我们这些知识分子在思想上已经取得了“长足进步”。

等到这场“思想教育运动”告一段落后，连指导员马上写了一份书面报告呈送营部，一来向上级汇报当时学生们的思想动态，二来拿“考验”学生的种种别出心裁的举措向上级表功。没想到，报告递上去后不仅没有得到上级赞扬，反而遭到了营教导员的一通臭骂。据说营领导认为连里的那套考验学生的“奇招”完全是胡闹！教导员说：“怎么可以用这等荒唐的办法去对待单纯的学生娃”？连领导们被批得灰头土脸之后，连里就再也没出现过这一类空穴来风式的演习了。

其实，除了繁重的劳动和常有的思想教育外，我们军垦生活有时候也是快乐而有趣的。农闲之时，排长会组织我们这帮小伙子们练练摔交。我们的二排长可是个摔交的高手，学生们都不是他的对手。每逢国家法定的节假日来临，尤其是诸如国庆或春节这样的重大节日，同学们不仅不用去地里干活，而且全连还会进行聚餐。连里通常会命令炊事班杀上一头猪，或是宰上几只鸡（猪和鸡都是我们自己喂养的），给大家解馋。当聚餐的时刻来到时，往日里严肃的气氛立刻荡然无存。这时候，饭堂里飘荡着阵阵酒香和肉香，军人和学生们济济一堂，大伙儿大碗喝酒，大块吃肉，开心不已。为了庆祝节日，连里头有时也会以各班为单位，组织大家演节目（跳舞、唱歌、演小品）。这时候，连平日里总是“严肃认真、不苟言笑”的连排长们也都会放下身段，扭起了秧歌。

当盛夏将逝、秋天即至的时候，稻田里、鱼塘边总会有大量的螃蟹和黄鳝出没。连里就会组织男同学们去抓螃蟹、逮黄鳝。尤其是水稻田埂里的母黄鳝到了快要生黄鳝宝宝的时候，它们会变得异常凶猛。如果这个时候你把手伸进黄鳝洞中抓捕它们，你可得小心了，因为黄鳝妈妈会狠狠地咬上你一口。除了小心手被咬，我们还得清楚地识别藏在洞中的是不是黄鳝。据排长说，当把手伸进洞中所摸到的“东西”身上不够光滑，而感到它们身上毛毛糙糙时，那肯定是不咬人的水蛇；只有摸上去身上滑滑的，那才是黄鳝。

在那个年代，人们不使用化肥或是杀虫剂，所以农场的生态环境极好。我们出去小半天，就可捕捉到几乎满满一大桶的螃蟹和黄鳝。由于学生去唐山军垦前，当地的驻军大部分是来自安徽北部的农村兵，这些小伙子们似乎天生不爱吃黄鳝，所以农场的黄鳝不仅多，而且个头非常大，往往一条大黄鳝就有一斤多。此外，螃蟹也相当肥硕，三四只螃蟹也有个斤把重。在那个抓蟹捕鳝的季节里，同学们是最为快乐的。因为天天晚餐的时候，我们可以在大饭堂里不仅能吃上特鲜美的清蒸河蟹，而且还能享用到极美味的红烧鳝段，那是一种何等奢侈的日子啊！

就这样，在劳累、紧张、痛苦但又不乏快乐的“接受再教育”过程中，我在军垦农场度过了整整两年的时光。就在两年后的某一天，连长突然把我们召集在一起，然后当着我们的面宣读了来自中央政府的文件：国家决定，立即把我们这一批已经接受了整两年再教育的国家储备人才分配到中央各有关部门，以便我们正式踏上社会、为国效力。就这样，我被荣幸地分配到了铁道部，而且就在我到铁道部后不久，又因为“出身好、思想好、外语好”被派往非洲、参加中国援建坦赞铁路的工作。于是，我的不同寻常的大学生活到此画上了尚算圆满的句号。

***本文选自拙作【岁月如重—兼谈华国锋】之第二章“大学年代”

Chapter 6: Under Reeducation

Posted by Ralph Gong

I never expected this even in my nightmares that the Cultural Revolution could also have incredible impact on us as ordinary university students. We were neither the so-called ‘Capitalist Roaders’, nor the so-called “Bad Elements” who were supposed to have problems with their family background.

One simple fact is that the purpose of launching the Great Cultural Revolution was to target at those who had “the cultural knowledge”, those who were well-educated. University students fell into the category of having “the cultural knowledge”. They were well-educated in colleges. At that time, the Cultural Revolution was gaining momentum, having the intellectuals classified as one of the “Nine Enemies of the People” in China. Those Nine Enemies were: Landlords, Rich Peasants, Counter-Revolutionaries, Bad Elements, Rightists, Traitors, Secret Agents, Capitalist Roaders and Intellectuals.

Fortunately, the Intellectuals were only “enemies” in ideology, defined as “the Stinky Ninth Category”, not the real enemies who should be demoted. The other eight “Enemies” were supposed to be real enemies and must be under rule by fellow citizens. As a result, we young students, naturally among the “Little Ninth Category”, must be re-educated by the workers, peasants or soldiers according to the policy issued by the government.

I, together with my schoolmates, were placed to an army farm and began the time of being re-educated by the soldiers shortly after my graduation.

（1）

After we reached the military reclamation farm that was located in the northern part of China, we started to have a kind of military life.

We boys and girls were separated as male and female platoons. The positions of the commanders and platoon leaders were taken over by the real army men. We students could only hold the positions of the Squad Leaders and Deputy Squad Leaders. I was selected as the leader of Squad No. 4 under Platoon No. 2 in our “Students’ Company”.

The military life was extremely hard. Squad members (about a dozen people in one squad) were arranged to share one simple and shabby room. But in the barracks’ rooms, there were no separate beds available for us to pass the night. Only one big Kang were provided. Taking my squad members for example, all twelve boys were asked to sleep in one big Kang only.

Kang is a brick bed, big and rectangle. It is only available in the northern part of China because it is extremely cold in winter time. Under a Kang, there is a hollow space to burn the coal mildly and slowly inside to keep it warm.

Before daybreak of every morning, we were woken up by the burgle call. We were required to act like real soldiers who must finish everything within a few minutes, including getting up, dressing, going to the restrooms, making up the bedding, brushing teeth and washing faces. When we heard the “gathering whistles”, we must run quickly to the drill ground and stand up in lines. Our platoon leaders, the real army men, would lead us in all morning military drills. It was only after the hard training was completed were we allowed to have our breakfast at the dining hall.

I still remember the extremely cold winter evening when we first got to the military reclamation farm. There was no farm work to do. But for the purpose of “reeducating”, the intellectuals like us must find something to do. And our Students’ Company leaders decided to order some boy students to dig a fish-raising pond in a wasted field not far away from our barracks. The leading person was our Platoon Leader, a young soldier who was about 20 years old. The young soldier said to us: “After the fish pond is finished, we can raise some fish in it when spring comes. Our food treatment will be thus improved since there will be fish to eat.”

Upon hearing the order of “Let’s start”, we, about 20 boy students, immediately began the pond digging project.

But we came to a difficult issue. As students in universities, we had never done any hard laboring before. Using picks and shovels to dig a pond turned out to be a big challenge for us. Plus, it was cold wintertime and the dirt on the ground was freezing hard. When we gave the frozen ground a hard dig, no soil was loosened except leaving a slight trace of digging mark on the ground. We had no choice but trying our best to dig the ground again and again.

As a saying goes: “persistence means victory”, we did not give up, continuing our digging work with determination. But just after a couple of hours of digging, we were all wet with sweat, tired out. When the first day of work ended and we got back to our barracks, we felt as if our bodies were falling apart.

“Constant effort yields sure success”! Several days later, the fish-raising pond was indeed constructed. Watching such a beautiful pond, we forgot about our fatigue immediately and our hearts were fully filled with happiness.

The cold winter of 1968 passed finally and the early spring of 1969 arrived. One early spring day, all the students of our Platoon NO. 2 were ordered to meet in the rice fields. The leading man was our Platoon Leader. He told us to stand in lines and then said: “Please enter the fields and try to loosen the soil so that we can start to plant the rice afterwards”.

Following the Platoon Leader’s instructions, we male students rolled up our trousers and insert our bare legs into the fields. The field surface was still icy. As soon as I put my feet into the icy fields, I realized the water was so cold that I felt as if my feet were being pieced with thousand of steel needles.

In order to fight against the incredible coldness, we all began to recite loudly Chairman Mao’s saying of “Determined to sacrifice, overcome all difficulties, strive for victory”! No matter how hard we tried, but we could not leave our feet submerged in the extremely cold rice fields for a long time. Upon discovering such a realistic situation, our Platoon Leader had to decide to stop this kind of dangerous action. He ordered us to stop the work and to come out of the fields at once. We moved back to our barracks safely.

To put our feet and legs into the icy water of the rice fields for some time was really a hard matter to us. But it could be easily shrugged off the shoulder comparing to another incident: jumping into the cold river water for fishing in early spring. When we worked in the rice field in early spring, only our feet and legs were exposed to cold water. But when we went fishing, our whole body was inside the icy river water!

There was something which happened in the early spring of the second year during my military reclamation farming years. One morning, our Platoon Leader selected four boy students including me to get ready for fishing in the pond, saying that the purpose of doing so was to improve the food quality of the whole Company’s food.

It was a very cold early February morning. On the way from our barracks to the fishing pond, we stopped by the general shop of the farm and bought two bottles of 72-degree Erguotou. Erguotou was and still is a very well-known and popular brand liquor produced in Beijing area. In addition, we told the other members of our Squad to take the quilts of our “Four Fishermen” to go to the fish pond together with us. The strong liquor Erguotou was to help us warm our bodies before and after the fishing. And the four sets of quilts were to wrap us up after we got out of the icy pond water.

Led by our Platoon Leader, we, all the members of our Squad, were marching towards the pond. After we got to the pond, we four “Warriors” took off all our clothes except for the shorts, drank several mouthfuls of 72-degree Erguotou, put a few drops of Erguotou on our palms, use our two palms to rub it hard on our bodies from face to toe. Finally, four “Warriors” jumped into the pond.

You could never imagine what the real cold means unless you yourself actually experienced it: the pond water was like a sharp knife cutting into our skin! I felt as if the blood all over my body was suddenly frozen. And I felt dizzy. Under such circumstances, it was difficult for us to move in the water, let alone to open eyes wide, fishing!

We swam in the pond only for a few minutes before coming out of the water without catching any fish. As soon as we reached the bank, our roommates wrapped us up from top to bottom in quilts in order to avoid “death of coldness”.

It was only after a long while that we four “Warriors” finally felt normal again. At that moment, our Platoon Leader, who was watching us from the very beginning, gave us an ambiguous smile, saying, “You college students are not able to suffer from hardships!” Upon hearing this, I indeed asked myself: “Am I a person who does not dare to undergo hardships?”

(2)

There was, however, also fond memory of the farm.

When the spring time came, the whole farm put on a completely new look: the golden winter jasmine were in full blossom, and the peach trees were giving their most beautiful red flowers to attract people’s attention. The weeping willows around the pond banks were budding in dreamy light green. What a wonderful picture!

The spring season is but also a starting time for us students to get busy with our farm work. In the past two years during my stay in the farm, from spring to summer down to autumn, I could hardly remember how many pieces of rice seedlings I had transplanted or how much ripe rice I had harvested. Neither did I remember how many cubic meters of earth I had excavated when I was asked to join the people who would open up any wasted land in the farm area. The only thing I still remember is that when the farm’s rice harvesting time came, it was very normal for us to work 13 to 14 hours per day in the fields.

Every coin has two sides. After two years of farm work, big changes took place. We, the “Little Stinking Number Nine’, became much stronger physically. Our bodies were full of energy. Our appetite was extremely good. It seemed to us that we were getting much closer to the standards of “qualified re-educated students”.

We were also aware of one fact: changes made through our physical status were somehow not enough for us to be fully reeducated! The even more important task for us to complete was to change our ideology! In order to help us achieve this goal as soon as possible, both our Students’ Company and Platoon Leaders ask us to work hard at our “political study” and “ideological re-moulding”.

Every week, we were asked to spend two afternoons in “political study”, ignoring the fact that our farm work load was really heavy. Besides, some sudden questioning was occasionally launched with the purpose of “testifying and challenging” our ideological re-educating results.

One normal night, we were all sleeping soundly after the whole day’s hard work. It was so quiet around our barracks and nothing could be heard inside the room except a few soft and sweet snoring. Suddenly, a pressing bugle sound broke the quietness of the night, awakening all of us. We got up at once, dressed in the quickest way, rushed towards the drill ground. In the process of running, we thought to ourselves:” This is a very unusual military bugle, and there must be something urgent!”

When we reached the drill ground and lined up, we found that our Company Leader, Company Political Instructor and Platoon Leaders were already there. The Company Leader walked towards us a few steps, and then he stopped and said to us in a very serious way:” We have just got an urgent notice saying that there would be an extremely serious earthquake in our area. And therefore the Company has decided that we would be transferred to a safer area”. “But”, he continued, ”We need to keep a dozen or so people here in order to protect our military camp’s property, and also the pigs and chickens we are raising. Who among you are willing to stay at this dangerous place?” Silence. After a while, the Company Leader added:“ Those who remain at the military camp might have the life threatening situation”.

Upon hearing the remark, we were dumbstruck. We did remember that when we were still at the university, there was a very serious earthquake in Xingtai area, Hebei Province. A lot of people were killed in that disaster. Almost all of us immediately understood what it would mean to us if we would stay at an earthquake area.

There were certainly some smart students who thought differently: “When a serious earthquake happens, all constructions, human beings and livestock would be destroyed/killed. What would be the meaning of letting a few students stay at the earthquake area?”

Anyway, for a long time, everyone kept silence. No one seemed to know what to say or act accordingly.

Realizing the fact that no students would express their decision of staying at a dangerous area, the Company Leader was a little bit annoyed. He began to scold us for our being “selfish”, “meek” and “futile”. Just at that critical moment, a student nicknamed “Brave Zhang” stepped forward and loudly announced that he would be willing to stay. Encouraged by “Brave Zhang”, we, several Squad Leaders, came together and had a brief discussion. When an ordinary student like “Brave Zhang” dared to stay, why not us, we thought. Thus, we told our Company Leader that we wished to stay, too. Hearing this, our Company Leader began to smile, showing satisfaction with our reactions.

But something we did not expect happened. Our Company Leader suddenly changed the tone. He announced to all of us: “This is just a test. No earthquake will happen! I just want to see if you students are strong facing emergency!”

Whatever, our tense nerves were finally relaxed.

On that very day’s afternoon, we did not go to the fields for farming. Instead, we were all asked to stay in our rooms for a round of discussion. I still remember that we were asked a few questions like “in addition to natural disasters, if something really bad should happen, such as man-made calamities, what would you do? Do you dare to fight against your enemies face to face? Are you going to sacrifice your life for the revolution? Are you afraid of death”? Discussion of these serious questions was supposed to deepen the sense of revolution inside intellectuals’ minds and souls. “This is a very serious matter,” our Company Political Instructor stressed before the discussion began.

To these questions, the answer of most of us were like this: “Imaging there is a war between the enemy and us. We are not afraid of gun fighting between the enemy and us if our Company Leader and the Platoon Leader are together with us. Neither will we be afraid of being killed by a gun bullet since the pain of dying through that would be very short. The most terrible thing for us to imagine is that we become war prisoners because our enemies might torture us in cruel and barbarous ways. They might whip us, break our legs or even cut out our eyes. If we could not sustain the pain, we might then surrender to our enemies and become traitors”.

We had been living in a peaceful surrounding ever since childhood, had never undergone any war. How could we compare ourselves with those martyrs like Liu Hulan, an anti-Japanese war fighter who was killed by the enemy when she was only 18 years old? Or Xia Minghan, a revolutionary fighter as well as a communist who was killed by the Kuomintang Regime at the dawn of New China was born in 1949?

Our replies might not have made the Company Leader and the Company Political Instructor feel 100% satisfied, but our daring to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Company and Platoon Leaders on the battle impressed them. They came to the conclusion that we had made great progress in the ideological re-education.

As soon as the discussion was over, our Company Political Instructor sent a report to his superior, the Battalion Political Instructor. In his report, our Company Political Instructor wrote in a detailed way about how we were tested in a so-called earthquake drill, and how we were willing to fight against the enemy together with those real soldiers. The purpose of writing such a report was to enable the Battalion Leaders to praise our Company leaders’ successful work in re-educating us students. But to our Company Leaders’ great surprise, the Battalion Leaders did not praise it. On the contrary, the Battalion Political Instructor criticized our Company Political Instructor badly. We were told later that the Battalion Leaders thought the methods of our Company Leaders “re-educating” us students were totally wrong. “How could you Company Leadingpeople use such ways to fool the innocent and simple-minded students?” In his reply to the report, the Battalion Political Instructor wrote.

Ever since then, the whole Company had been quiet and peaceful for a long time because our Company Leaders no longer dared to use all those ridiculous ways to “test” us students again.

(3)

As a matter of fact, except the heavy farm work and regular ideological re-education, our military reclamation life was sometimes really happy and interesting. For instance, during our slack farming season, our Platoon Leader occasionally would arrange us to do some wrestling activity. Our Platoon NO. 2 Leader was very good at wrestling and none of us students could defeat him.

When official holidays (such as the National Day and the Spring Festival) arrived, we felt always extremely happy and excited because we would not be asked to do any farming work. Besides, we could enjoy good food. The Company Leader would instruct the Kitchen Squad to either slaughter a pig or kill a few chickens for the company’s holiday celebration. It was easy for the Kitchen Squad to do that because those pigs or chickens were raised by ourselves. A big dinner-gathering was always a time when the Company Canteen was filled with happy atmosphere. Soldiers and students would be sitting together, having drinks in big bowels and eating meat by large pieces. To celebrate such important holidays, each individual squad must prepare one or two performances. We would use the canteen place as the “performing stage”, dancing, singing and even playing comedy skits. At such moments, even our Company or Platoon Leaders would swallow their pride, no longer put on serious faces and would even join us for dancing.

Then the summer time came and passed. In the early autumn season, we could find a lot of crabs and eels in the rice fields or the fishing pond. The Company Authority would arrange some male students to catch crabs and eels to improve our food. I still remember that before we left for the rice fields for eel catching,our Platoon Leader gave us a special lesson on how to do the eel catching. He said to us that we must first come to understand the differences between eels and water snakes. “When you put your hand into the hole and touch the creature, you could immediately know whether it is a piece of eel or a water snake. If the creature’s skin is smooth, it must be an eel; if that creature’s skin is rough, it must be a piece of snake”, he said to us. The Platoon Leader also told us to watch carefully when catching female eels because it was the time for the female eels to give birth to their babies. Those female eels became very ferocious. “They might bite your fingers badly when you touch their bodies”.

At that time, people did not use fertilizers or insecticides. The farm had an excellent eco-environment. Normally, after a few hours’ eels or crabs catching., we would easily have a “bumper harvest”. All the eels and/or crabs we caught would become our delicious food at dinner time.

One thing seemed to be very interesting: most of the soldiers at the farm came from the northern part of Anhui Province, and those young men were farmers before they joined the army. They would not eat eels by nature. That was one of the reasons why there were so many eels left in the fields or pond. Those eels were really fat and huge. One eel could weigh almost one kilo. The crabs in the pond were huge, too. What a wonderful memory!

We students thus passed a tired, nervous, painful, but also happy time in the process of our being re-educated. We spent two full years there.

On the very day two years later, our Company Leader ordered us come together, and announced that the Government had made a decision that we as the reserved personnel must be dispatched to some concerned government departments to better serve the country.

As a result, I was selected by the Ministry of Railroads and began my working career. The Ministry felt that I was good at both family background and academic knowledge after my report. They decided to let me go to Africa to work there as an English interpreter for assisting the building of Tanzania-Zambia Railway. My re-education was obviously ended successfully.

(END)

About the Author:

Ruzhong Gong (Ralph Gong), born in Shanghai, China, now living in the USA.

Graduated From the English Department of Universityof International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

Before retirement, President of an USA overseas company under China National Light Industrial Products Imp. & Exp. Corp.; President of a joint-venture company in USA, jointly owned by Australia’s Lief Group Company and China National Chemical Products Imp. & Exp. Corp.; President of an American Brach Corp. under China National Foreign Trade Bases Corp.; Chief Representative in Beijing Office under Trade Am, an American Carpets Wholesale Company.

Author of 6 books, including “My Life—Family, Career & VIPs”, “How to Do Business in Mainland of China”, “My Leisure Time”, “My Leisure Time—Poems & Articles” , “Poems and Essays from Leisure Chamber” and “Flowers By My Side”.

Member of the Chinese Poetry Society (CPS), Free Lance Writer for Austrian Sinopress, and Senior Consultant for Taiwan Caiwei Publishing House.

 龚如仲：生于上海，中国对外经济贸易大学英语系毕业，毕业后奔赴非洲任铁道部援建坦赞铁路工作组总部英语翻译，中国国际广播电台英语部英语播音员、记者，外贸部中国轻工业品进出口总公司出口二处业务员、副处长，外贸部轻工业品进出口总公司驻美国公司总裁（处长）。

有关作品：

自2012年至2016年，台湾采薇出版社出版自传【岁月如重】（该书已被香港中文大学图书馆、美国纽约市立图书馆和澳大利亚国家图书馆作为自传体作品正式收藏），【东西南北中国人---细谈如何在大陆做生意】，【悠然时光】和【悠然时光---如仲诗语】。

 2018年4月，中国国际广播出版社出版【悠然斋诗文选】

 2018年9月，中国国际广播出版社出版【花儿在身边开放】

 2019年4月，台湾采薇出版社出版英文书【My Life—Family, Career & VIPs】

作者现为中华诗词学会会员、中国经典文学网特约作家、台湾采薇出版社资深顾问、奥地利英文网Sinopress特聘专栏作家、北美北斗星文学社副社长、副总编辑。