A stroll down the XuJiaHui Park was like tracing an impressionist painting come to life. The breath of air flirted with the aroma of summer blooms; a canvas of cobblestone stretched under a canopy of sycamore leaves. Each stone, with its rough and uneven surface, silently witnessed the march of time and whispered the tales of history under decades of transformation.
On a paved pedestrian walkway, beneath the ancient tree, a figure stood out — An old man appeared around his 60s. His white polo shirt gleams against his tanned skin; the traditional locks dangle gracefully from his belt, each one a relic of times gone by. His fists arc powerfully through the air, exhaling a series of rhythmic grunts far from feeble.
Scenery at the XuJiaHui Park
His story began in the flux of the “Cultural Revolution” in the late 1960s. Entitled as an “educated youth” like many of his peers, he shared the collective fate of the 68’ graduates sent away to the countryside.
The winds of the revolution not only stirred political activism but also redirected the paths of countless young youths. As a Shanghainese, he was assigned to go to Heilongjiang while his classmates were scattered across the vast expanse of China.
“Once we got there, we stayed for ten years,” He reminisced about his decade-long commitment to Heilongjiang due to national strategic importance.
“From farming the earth to factory labor, from community offices to urban institutions, I’ve been there and done it all.” He firmly stated in a mix of pride and bitterness.
Bathed in the lingering light of a northeastern evening, with the high latitude at Heilongjiang forcing the sun to fall early below the horizon, he recalled the work song that farmers used to sing:
“Early morning at half-past three,
by evening nothing you can see;
Three meals are eaten in the field,
Crawling ten miles and never yielding”
After the strenuous years of cultivating the fields, he then became a company commander for 3 years. Before our curiosity took hold, he elucidated that farms and corps were one unity in the same management calibers.
He went back to further narrate his work experiences, “Then I drove a tractor for a year, did agricultural statistics for another year, and became an English teacher when the college entrance exam (GaoKao) resumed in 1977.”
When mentioning teaching English, a smile played on his lips as he recounted a question that the school’s principal once asked, “Who among my comrades from Shanghai can teach English?”
With a rudimentary knowledge of English from his education in Shanghai, he confidently self-assured,
“The simple greetings like ‘Good Morning’ And ‘GoodBye’ and some basic present tense, I had them all at my fingertips!”
His tone travels up and down, laced with traces of a blend of nostalgia and local dialect, bringing his past to vivid life. His face was overflowed with elated disposition - so animated as if we could see the flashbacks of his memory.
A pause was there as Grandpa calmed down from the excitement. He returned his glimpse to the remarkable transformation post the reform and opening policy.
“The reforms and opening up brought significant changes, look at the highways and how nice these houses are. Back in our day when renting a place, we only had an average of 3 square meters per person.”
However, the light of progression and prosperity was shadowed by challenges.
“Back then, we didn’t have much to ask or eat - but we had fewer health problems”
He lamented the prevalent “diseases of affluence”, an outcome rooted in indulgence in the new generation. His discourse further meandered through contemporary issues, such as housing reforms and pension concerns until he suddenly paused, and raised a question:
“Are you content with your life? Maybe content, but not joyful?”
He smiled again gently in a bit of pompousness with his pupils filled with curiosity yet already expected to know the answer.
“Your generation is facing more pressure and competition as you enter the society. You must be clear about what you should do at each stage of life,” he advised, in the wisdom of an elder, who lived in a time of life more linear and predetermined but sought to resonate with our modern noises regardless.
“I’ve participated in all the movements and I wondered why we triumph. He summed up his narrative in an introspection of the past,
“Our methods were various, and the struggles were brutal”, he asserted - as a testament to the sacrifices and endurance of his generation.
As he prepared to leave, he shared a parting message,
“Youth hardships are nothing but a fleeting breeze but hardship in an old age is truly painful.” He patted my shoulder and chuckled,
“That’s about it, I need to go eat with my in-laws.”
His witnesses drive the heartbeats of a nation’s transformative journey. As he held his wife’s hand, departing with serene grace, their combined tales echoed the spirit of countless souls from decades past, bridging disparate epochs.
Grandpa and Grandma