Scenes from a primary school life

When I was in primary school, I was in a very special situation. Somehow, during the Cultural Revolution, the old way of teaching has been quite destroyed. No one seemed to know what the "new way" was. It was just a vague ideological notion then. Teachers were deeply involved in the Cultural Revolution and they did not know what they should teach.

I realized that the primary school I was entering was so different from the one my elder sister went to. The simple stories I remember hearing from her have been replaced by something else as I was to learn soon.

Lesson #1: Long live Chairman Mao!

Every morning, when we came to class, we would read from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book for a few minutes. The first thing we learned to write was "Long live Chairman Mao." This was lesson #1 for years to come.

At that time, it didn't make a difference to me and I did not even realize the changes. I still learned to read and write. But later on, when I started reading my sister's old textbooks, I realized that something was missing from my primary school education.

I remember one story in particular from my sister's books. It was about Kung Rong, a descendant of Confucius. He was the youngest in the family, the one who was loved most. Once his parents gave all the children some pears, with Kung Rong getting the biggest one. Instead of eating the pear, Kung Rong offered it to his brother, saying that as a younger brother, he didn't deserve the best piece.

I remember that story because it crystallized for me the contrast between what was happening in society and the values that I was looking for, even as a child. I believe that communist members and Chairman Mao might have seen the weak points of our society. But what they didn't like, they broke, even when they had nothing to replace it with.

They had the slogans, but they didn't have values. During the Cultural Revolution, in school, we learned skills like reading and writing, but our hearts weren't touched. They taught us to love Mao, but the simple story of Kung Rong touched me much more deeply. Those kinds of stories make sense to me because they were more in keeping with our family life.

Even during the Cultural Revolution, in our family, like in many other families, we were taught to respect older people, to take care of the younger ones. It was just how things were.

Looking back now, I realize that what we lacked was consistent values teaching. Saying "Long live Chairman Mao" doesn't teach any of the values that the Chinese have had for thousands of years. It teaches worship. The teaching and "reform" carried out during the Cultural Revolution were part of the efforts to replace those "old values" with new societal values.

However, it is quite amusing to note that this obvious effort used a lot of the methods and values of Old China which the revolution had called dead or destroyed. After all, destroying an existing value system and replacing it with a new one is not so easy. Many times, people use the old values as a basis for forming new ones.

The slogan "Long Live Chairman Mao" for example, was no different from the obligation of the people in ancient China to acclaim the emperor and wish him a long life. During the thousand years that it has been practised, it has forged a very strong "value of loyalty" that the subjects hold for their rulers. The only difference is that in different historical eras, how "loyalty" is defined and legitimized. In Old China, the emperor represented the will and righteousness of heaven; during the Cultural Revolution, Mao took on the role of people's savior.

A typical day in school

My school day usually began at 8am but I was already in school ten minutes before the bell rung. In addition to the usual chairs and tables in the classroom, there was a big poster of Chairman Mao on top of the blackboard.

At the back of the room, there was a smaller blackboard where samples of students' work are displayed. It was common at that time to have small posters or revolutionary statements on the board. On the back wall of the classroom, hung banners saying "Long live Great Leader Chairman Mao" and under that, "Long live Great Chinese Communist Party."

When the teacher comes in, first thing in the morning, we would all stand up, greet the teacher and sit down only when the teacher asks us to sit down. During the Cultural Revolution, after the teacher acknowledges our greeting, we all looked at the poster of Chairman Mao and began to read from the Little Red Book out loud. I still remember one particular quote, Xià dìng juéxīn/ bú pà xīshēng/ páichú wàn nán/ qù zhēngqŭ shènglì/ yào dòu sī pī xiū/ hăo hăo xuéxī/ tiān tiān xiàng shàng (下定决心、不怕牺牲、排除万年、去争取胜利！；要斗私批修！；好好学习、天天向上) which meant "Be determined/ do not be afraid of sacrifices/ dispel ten thousand hardships/ strive for victory/ fight against bourgeoisie and criticize revisionism/ study well/ make constant progress."

Zhao, in his first year in school, with his sister. (Image: Zhao family photos)

Each class had around 40 students. The lessons were 45 minutes long with a ten-minute break in between. We had four lessons every morning and two in the afternoon. At mid-morning, between the second and third lessons, we had a longer break of between 20 minutes to half an hour.

During this break, most of the time, there were morning exercises. At that time, our school, Hua yuan cun, the No.1 Flower Garden Village School, had a small playground. We were very privileged. I was very proud to be in the 1st Class of the 1st Grade. Hundreds of kids would gather at the playground while our Physical Education teachers led morning exercises.

We had different subjects to study -- literature, counting, morality, politics, geometry and science. Chairman Mao wanted to shorten the duration of the study periods even before the Cultural Revolution. He said that an educational revolution was also needed. As a consequence, while primary school was supposed to last for six years, when I went to school, the time had been reduced to five years. And in those five years, we mostly had classes only in the mornings. What kid wouldn't love that?

Friendships and relationships

Primary school is a place for learning, not only about school stuff, but human nature as well. It was during primary school that I learned important lessons about the heights that human beings can reach and the depths to which he can sunk.

Sometime in primary school, we had a new girl join our class. Kong Qi had transferred from another school and I don't know what it was about her, but from the first moment that she stepped into our class, all the boys fell under her spell. She was just so beautiful, so mature, so different from us.

The boys always ended up talking about Kong Qi, and it was the first time that we talked about girls. At that time, things were different. I couldn't just walk up to Kong Qi and tell her that I really, really liked her. So, I started to organize games that involved both boys and girls. It was only during these games that I would have the chance to touch Kong Qi and not be labelled a hooligan.

Of course, I always told her that I disliked her. Boys will be boys after all. After she moved though, I remember visiting the school she transferred to, half-afraid that she would come out and see me. I never told her I liked her, although she was my first love.

I also had a very good friend, Zhang Yu, who lived in the same building as I did. Because he lived in apartment 6, we simply called him Little No.6. I also got a new nickname, Little Airplane Head, because my head had an unusual shape, with the middle part higher than the sides. I got that nickname in my first year in primary school.

Little No. 6 was the same age as I, there was only one month difference between us. Every morning, we went to school together, played together, and went home together. He was the one I talked to about Kong Qi, although he had his eye on another girl. We discussed not only love, but also serious matters, such as how we can learn from peasants and farmers. We were like little adults, but the important thing was that we kept in contact with each other. We were simply each other's best friend.

Little No. 6 was very smart and quick. One day, while playing table tennis together, we started to argue. Since I knew I could never beat him when it came to verbal arguments since he was so good at it, I had to think of another to win.

During the Cultural Revolution, when signing up for school, there was a section in the registration form that asked for your family roots. You had to write your family's social status, basically what your parents and grandparents did for a living on the form. I remember what Little No.6 had written, and finally had the perfect insult to shut him up. "Little bastard of a landlord," I called him. To my surprise, Little No. 6 did not just shut up. He looked at me and started crying.

That moment was very important to me. I was so sorry for saying that, but I couldn't take the words back anymore. Maybe it was because a reflection of the times that little boys like me could be so mean. After seeing how much my comment hurt Little No. 6 though, I resolved never to use a person's family background to win an argument. I never mentioned his family's landlord status again, but I still feel sorry when I think of this incident.

An early influence

I have to admit that I was probably not a nice pupil. Perhaps the environment had a little to do with that too, as I became a bit noisy and naughty, much like the society that surrounded me.

One of the most influential persons in my life was Madam Chen Shu Qin, my primary school teacher. I was a bit of a rebel, but somehow, Madam Chen, as we called our homeroom teacher, saw beyond that. She was tolerant and patient, always encouraging me.

She always appointed me as a member of the pupils' small committee, gave me responsibilities. She trusted and encouraged me, saying I was clever and had strong potential. Indeed, she had also let me discover some of my own "special" talents by pointing out what I have done "greatly."

I remember vividly the first day we learned the concepts of the straight line and the geometrical point. Madam Chen drew a point and a straight line going through the point on the blackboard. Then she asked our class how many straight lines could go though a point. "One," almost every one in my class answered. "I think there can be more than one," I said, although I was a bit uncertain since it seemed like I was the only one with this thought then. Madam Chen was so happy and she said, "Well, this time, only Zhao is correct. There can be an infinite number of straight lines going through a point."

She would always remind me of this incident and tell me that I could be very special and do greatly. It is true that when I look back to those days, what I thought were "great" deeds, which I was very proud of at that time, were so simple and not at all special, but they were so important in my life. Those simple but "great" deeds which I did then, had forged who I am. Because of Madam Chen, I believed that I could be the best student ever if I only used all my energy towards studying. I could be very special.

There were several activities introduced by the school as part of the reform of the educational system. The first one were military exercises each term. We would all march, hundreds of kids, with our small possessions on our backs, a big pot and a small banner. We marched tens of kilometers until we reached our destination. Then, we would dig a hole in the ground, build a stove, cook food and march back home.

In the evenings, while marching back, we would play a game that the boys took really seriously. A message whispered to the first person would have to be passed on until the end of the line. Then, we would hear if the correct message reached the last person. I remember that I was always afraid to pass the wrong message on, and I immediately whispered the message on to the next person.

The second activity that was introduced around the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s was to give the students a chance to learn more about the farmers, peasants or factory workers. I don't have memories of going to a factory, but I remember going to the countryside, usually during fall, when the harvest was done.

Our trip was to help us appreciate how hard it was to make food. We would go to a field with a little basket, pick any leftover stalks of rice or those that have dropped to the ground and cook our food from what we have collected.

These trips were also a chance to get to know life in the countryside. I was a city boy, and this was the first time that I went to the countryside. Everything was new to me, the grasshoppers, the earthworms, the ducks, chickens and pigs. Of course, that first night, I couldn't sleep because I was imagining all sort of things.

When we came back from school, we had to write a short essay about what we experienced. I simply had no confidence in writing then and I have not been good at it. But the day after I wrote that, Madam Chen read my essay to the whole class, saying that it was really good writing. I was very proud for many days and well-behaved for quite a few days after that.

We have a saying in China that while your parents may have given you life, your teachers and friends form who you are. Even now, when I look back, I realize how big an influence in my life Madam Chen and Little No. 6 were. I can still hear Madam Chen telling me that I could be the best if I wanted to. When I face challenges in my daily or business life, it is her voice that I hear saying that she knows I can do it. And the lessons that Little No. 6 taught me about human nature and what it feels to truly be hurtful to another person helps me make sure that in my dealings with others, I don't do or say anything that is insulting to them or their families.

People sometimes remember only the horrible things that happened during the Cultural Revolution, but the experiences I've had prove that happy things happened during that time too. I was lucky to have those experiences to remember now.