The broadcast of "We Walked Together - A Tribute to the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up" quickly activated some things deep in our memories, and nostalgia emerged from time to time.
Forty years ago, I was still a primary school student. The first schoolbag I carried was hand-sewn by my mother using my father's old work clothes, and the second schoolbag was put together by my cousin from scraps of scraps.
When I was in junior high school, I went to a town 10 kilometers away from home. I had just learned to ride a bicycle at that time, and my father bought a 26-inch bicycle at the flea market, which was just right for my height of 1.5 meters.
There are only two bungalows in our school that are used as dormitories for boys and girls. They sleep in large bunks and bring their own beds. Basically, there are free combinations, two people per bed, and about 40 students are squeezed into three bungalows.
There is a cafeteria in the school, but it does not have staple food. It is only responsible for heating staple food, making porridge and stews. What I remember most is that we brought dry food home every weekend. Maybe you have read "Carrying Steamed Buns" by teacher Ma Tengchi, "Carrying steamed buns as solid food to go to a school far away from home." I carried the buns on my back throughout junior high school. No matter how busy my mother was, she would prepare dry food for me for the week on the weekends. There were no refrigerators at that time, so winter was okay, but in other seasons, our wowotou often became moldy and hairy. At that time, I only knew that food was precious and could not be wasted, but I did not know that moldy food should not be eaten. I thought it would be OK to steam it on a basket in the canteen.
The scallion rolls made by my mother are still very popular. A female classmate still remembers that the dry food I brought was the most delicious. Materials were still relatively scarce at that time. Grains were the staple food and white flour was a rarity. My family was not willing to eat white flour. They could only eat steamed buns and dumplings during the New Year and festivals. The flower rolls made for me were one-third white flour, which was already very luxurious and often aroused dissatisfaction and jealousy among my younger siblings. Mother often coaxed and comforted them: When you go to junior high school, I will also make flower scrolls for you.
With my father earning a salary, my family’s living standard is slightly better than that of my classmates. Most of the students brought steamed buns with mixed noodles, while the flower rolls I brought became sweet and savory. If there is something delicious, we will basically share it, and my flower rolls are often the first to be shared. I also often eat various flavors of steamed buns from other classmates, including corn flour, bean flour, sweet potato noodles, sorghum noodles or mixed noodles. From a certain perspective, I have eaten "hundred families of rice".
Using a rope to hang up to store dry food was an idea of ??that era. Rats were often infested in the dormitory, so dry food had to be hung on the beams to prevent mold. If the wowotou is hung for several days, it will either become moldy due to poor ventilation, or become as hard as stone if the ventilation is good. Girls often joke among themselves: Our wowotou can be used as a self-defense weapon.
The pain and joy of three years of junior high school life have become indelible memories. When my son was in high school, he asked me about my school life, mainly about accommodation and food. After I described it to him truthfully, he actually said: It’s so good to eat steamed buns. We usually don’t get to eat them. Whole grains are the best for health. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. During the summer vacation, I showed him the old house where his parents lived. He was doubtful: I have only seen it in movies. It turns out that there is such an old house in your village. The place where I studied has been renovated and the original appearance cannot be seen. There were no cameras or mobile phones at that time, so I didn’t leave any photos. It’s a pity.
Seeing the "toolbox" left by my father, my son said: My grandfather was really not simple. He worked as a carpenter, a blacksmith, and a chef. The life of the older generation was what the book said was "self-sufficiency." Be self-sufficient.”
My son is right. If they don’t see it with their own eyes, young people in their 20s will always regard the past as a legend.
After watching "We Walked Together - A Tribute to the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up", I looked for old photos again and finally found a family photo from my junior high school days. I was probably only 14 years old. look like. The background of the photo is my old house, with three main rooms and a kitchen. I remember that my father used his weekends to make the adobe roof, and a family of six lived there. My home has Taiwan Semiconductor, so it has become a gathering place for neighbors. Every night, more than 20 people come to my home to listen to storytelling such as "Yue Fei's Story" and "Yang Family General".
There were no televisions at that time, let alone smartphones. I remember that in the 1980s, the whole village had its first television set, which was placed on the street for everyone to watch together. At that time, for families with good economic conditions, the most expensive dowry for a daughter's marriage was "three turns and one ring": a watch, a sewing machine, a bicycle and a tape recorder.
What impressed me most was the transportation. Because my father works in the city, the "Big Golden Deer" bicycle is his special means of transportation, which he bought with his bicycle ticket. During the planned economy period, food stamps, oil stamps, meat stamps, cloth stamps, etc. were closely related to our lives, and it was difficult to live without "tickets". After the reform and opening up, a market economic system was established, and the relationship between supply and demand determines the direction of the market. China's economy is developing rapidly and people's living standards have been greatly improved. The slogan "If you want to get rich, build roads first" won the hearts of the people, and construction and transportation developed rapidly. The rapid rise of Shenzhen, Xiamen, Zhuhai and Shantou Special Economic Zones has brightened people's eyes and hearts.
Nowadays, cars have entered the homes of ordinary people, and traveling by train and high-speed rail has become people’s first choice and normality. Our experience of traveling for days and nights to carry out construction projects in remote mountainous areas has completely faded away. The high-frequency traffic of morning and evening trains and high-speed trains has made the earth smaller and the space larger. Convenient transportation has brought people closer to each other. The distance between people, cities and cities.
This year, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge we participated in successfully crossed the Lingding Ocean, connecting Hong Kong to the east and Zhuhai and Macau to the west. It is the first large-scale cross-sea transportation project jointly constructed by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao under the framework of "one country, two systems", and is also the longest in the world. The cross-sea bridge project is known as the "project of the century". As a witness to China's great achievements in development, as an eyewitness and beneficiary of the great improvements in people's lives, and as an ordinary builder of beautiful China, I pay tribute to China's reform and opening up!
As a member of China Railway Construction, I am proud.
How can we forget those years that are getting farther and farther away.