There\u2019s a dis\u00adtinct smell etched in my child\u00adhood mem\u00ado\u00adries; every time I smell it, it brings back mem\u00ado\u00adries. A few win\u00adters ago, I was walk\u00ading my daugh\u00adter to kinder\u00adgarten when I sud\u00adden\u00adly smelled it again. I excit\u00aded\u00adly said to her, \u201cXiaoyin, take a sniff! That\u2019s the smell of my child\u00adhood.\u201d My daugh\u00adter sniffed intense\u00adly, then frowned. It was the smell of incom\u00adplete\u00adly burned coal, and she clear\u00adly could\u00adn\u2019t get used to it.
\n <\/p>\n
My most vivid mem\u00ado\u00adries prob\u00ada\u00adbly begin the year before I start\u00aded ele\u00admen\u00adtary school. That year, my fam\u00adi\u00adly moved with a ther\u00admal pow\u00ader plant con\u00adstruc\u00adtion crew to a piece of waste\u00adland in the moun\u00adtain\u00adous area of Jing\u00admen, Hubei. Before that, we lived in Huang\u00adshi, and before that, in Shashi, and even before that\u2026 I\u2019m told I was born in Jiazi, Guang\u00addong, in 1971. Before I start\u00aded high school, my fam\u00adi\u00adly moved fre\u00adquent\u00adly, and each move meant throw\u00ading away things. So, we jok\u00ading\u00adly said, \u201cThree moves equals one fire, and three fires equal one escape from famine.\u201d By that cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtion, from the time I was born until high school, my fam\u00adi\u00adly had to escape at least one famine and one fire. Because of these fre\u00adquent moves, I spent my five years of ele\u00admen\u00adtary school in three dif\u00adfer\u00adent schools.
\n <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the year before I start\u00aded ele\u00admen\u00adtary school. We were sta\u00adtioned at what is now the Jing\u00admen Ther\u00admal Pow\u00ader Plant, a mas\u00adsive, 600,000-kilowatt coal-fired pow\u00ader plant. How\u00adev\u00ader, it was still under con\u00adstruc\u00adtion, and the con\u00adstruc\u00adtion team mem\u00adbers and their fam\u00adi\u00adlies lived in tem\u00adpo\u00adrary brick build\u00adings with tar\u00adpau\u00adlin roofs. These hous\u00ades were fine when the weath\u00ader was warm, but win\u00adter was approach\u00ading when we moved in. The weath\u00ader was get\u00adting cold\u00ader, and at night, the whole fam\u00adi\u00adly hud\u00addled togeth\u00ader in a room heat\u00aded by a coal stove. One night, my cry\u00ading woke my moth\u00ader. She noticed a strong smell of gas in the room, but she was too weak to move. So she called out to my sec\u00adond broth\u00ader, who was clos\u00adest to the door (I have three old\u00ader broth\u00aders). He was almost com\u00adplete\u00adly exhaust\u00aded, but he strug\u00adgled to the door and opened it a crack\u2026 and the whole fam\u00adi\u00adly escaped.
\n <\/p>\n
That win\u00adter, the snow was heavy, knee-deep, and the chil\u00addren had a blast play\u00ading snow\u00adball fights. But the adults were a bit wor\u00adried because the water pipes had frozen and cracked, forc\u00ading them to melt snow for water. And every night when they brought the chil\u00addren home, they had to apply roast\u00aded white radish slices to their hands and feet, sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly to pre\u00advent frost\u00adbite. But the biggest wor\u00adry was the lack of fuel, which made cook\u00ading and heat\u00ading dif\u00adfi\u00adcult. The entire base was filled with the smell of burn\u00ading coal from morn\u00ading till night. The pow\u00ader plant sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly had plen\u00adty of coal, but the offi\u00adcial rations dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted to each house\u00adhold were very lim\u00adit\u00aded. Steal\u00ading coal was con\u00adsid\u00adered a despised offense, so every\u00adone had to find their own solu\u00adtions. Fathers took the old\u00ader chil\u00addren to chop tree stumps for fire\u00adwood, while moth\u00aders took the younger ones to col\u00adlect unburned coal slag. I felt excit\u00aded and hon\u00adored to be pick\u00ading up coal slag with my moth\u00ader, using a small iron rake. But my moth\u00ader, wrapped in a head\u00adscarf, low\u00adered her head, half cov\u00ader\u00ading her face, to avoid being seen. I lat\u00ader found out that my par\u00adents were intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adals and cadres in the fac\u00adto\u00adry, so they were nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly a lit\u00adtle thin-skinned in some sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions.
\n <\/p>\n
Warmer days final\u00adly arrived, and the sta\u00adtion became a par\u00adadise for the chil\u00addren. Just imag\u00adine: hills and groves, ponds and ditch\u00ades, farm\u00adland and vil\u00adlages on one side, a con\u00adstruc\u00adtion site on the oth\u00ader. Any\u00adthing was pos\u00adsi\u00adble; there were play\u00adgrounds, mate\u00adri\u00adals, and equal\u00adly bored and ener\u00adgetic com\u00adpan\u00adions. For a while, the fac\u00adto\u00adry chil\u00addren played war games. The \u201cene\u00admy\u201d was the vil\u00adlage chil\u00addren, and the \u201cmil\u00adi\u00adtary tar\u00adget\u201d was a small hill at the junc\u00adtion of the con\u00adstruc\u00adtion site and the vil\u00adlage. The two sides often engaged in night bat\u00adtles to see which side could cap\u00adture the hill\u00adtop. On such nights, my broth\u00aders were always watched at home, as injuries were said to be com\u00admon in these \u201cbat\u00adtles.\u201d The games became increas\u00ading\u00adly real\u00adis\u00adtic, and so did the chil\u00addren\u2019s home\u00admade weapons. At first, the adults thought it was just fun, but when they heard that some chil\u00addren had devel\u00adoped a mus\u00adket capa\u00adble of fir\u00ading iron sand, they real\u00adized the seri\u00adous\u00adness of the sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion and imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly inter\u00advened, con\u00adfis\u00adcat\u00ading and strict\u00adly pro\u00adhibit\u00ading the ille\u00adgal man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adture of weapons. This sim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded war final\u00adly came to a tem\u00adpo\u00adrary end.
\n <\/p>\n
I start\u00aded school at the age of six, two months shy of school. At the time, school enroll\u00adment was sup\u00adposed to start at sev\u00aden, but I had to start ear\u00adly. As men\u00adtioned ear\u00adli\u00ader, chil\u00addren found such an envi\u00adron\u00adment enjoy\u00adable, but adults lived in con\u00adstant fear. So the fac\u00adto\u00adry set up a kinder\u00adgarten, con\u00adfin\u00ading the chil\u00addren who could\u00adn\u2019t attend ele\u00admen\u00adtary school in a small court\u00adyard. Sev\u00ader\u00adal fam\u00adi\u00adly mem\u00adbers of work\u00aders who could\u00adn\u2019t work for\u00admal\u00adly guard\u00aded the door, just enough to keep the lit\u00adtle ones under con\u00adtrol. I don\u2019t remem\u00adber how I man\u00adaged to get through each day in that small court\u00adyard, but I do remem\u00adber hat\u00ading it and the aun\u00adties. They would tell each oth\u00ader sil\u00adly jokes only adults could under\u00adstand. We grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly learned many of the swear words, though we did\u00adn\u2019t know what they meant, but we knew nev\u00ader to say them in front of our par\u00adents. I was very small at the time, espe\u00adcial\u00adly for my age, but I was quite smart and was looked down upon by my peers. After some time of think\u00ading, I found a way out of the kinder\u00adgarten, a lit\u00adtle like the prison escape cho\u00adsen by the pro\u00adtag\u00ado\u00adnist in \u201cThe Shaw\u00adshank Redemp\u00adtion\u201d: crawl\u00ading through the stink\u00ading ditch to get out of the court\u00adyard wall. After I suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly \u201cescaped from prison\u201d for the third time, my father final\u00adly decid\u00aded not to send me to kinder\u00adgarten any\u00admore, but on the con\u00addi\u00adtion that I could not leave the house before the adults got off work.
\n <\/p>\n
I kept my promise and nev\u00ader left home. But I also had my own way of killing time. As soon as the adults went to work, I would take out a set of chess at the door, think\u00ading hard, and play\u00ading chess. A few work\u00aders looked curi\u00adous and came over, and grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly more came. Some of them came direct\u00adly to prac\u00adtice with me, and oth\u00aders began to talk and give advice. Of course, most of them were for me, and I just fol\u00adlowed the good ones. After such a long time, I rarely met an oppo\u00adnent. When the \u201cchess art hall\u201d at the door of my house had become a sight in the fac\u00adto\u00adry area, the fac\u00adto\u00adry leader tact\u00adful\u00adly warned my father that if this con\u00adtin\u00adued, the fac\u00adto\u00adry would no longer be a fac\u00adto\u00adry. My chess stall had to be closed for rec\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion. The only place that could take me in was the pri\u00adma\u00adry school, but accord\u00ading to reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions, I had to wait for two years.
\n <\/p>\n
For\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, the near\u00adby pri\u00adma\u00adry school was a makeshift, unof\u00adfi\u00adcial one, per\u00adhaps called the Hubei Provin\u00adcial Elec\u00adtric Pow\u00ader Bureau No. 2 Chil\u00addren\u2019s Pri\u00adma\u00adry School. There had been no pri\u00adma\u00adry school near\u00adby, but with so many adults and chil\u00addren arriv\u00ading to build the ther\u00admal pow\u00ader plant, the chil\u00addren had nowhere to go. Old\u00ader chil\u00addren could board at the mid\u00addle school in Jing\u00admen Coun\u00adty, while younger chil\u00addren had to attend the near\u00adest pri\u00adma\u00adry school. What to do with no pri\u00adma\u00adry school? The answer was sim\u00adple. The con\u00adstruc\u00adtion work\u00aders were incred\u00adi\u00adbly skilled. They eas\u00adi\u00adly built a row of bun\u00adga\u00adlows to serve as class\u00adrooms and offices, com\u00adplete with desks, chairs, and var\u00adi\u00adous sports facil\u00adi\u00adties. All they need\u00aded was a prin\u00adci\u00adpal and teach\u00aders. They heard about a vet\u00ader\u00adan in the area who was well-edu\u00adcat\u00aded and ver\u00adsa\u00adtile, so they invit\u00aded him to be the prin\u00adci\u00adpal. As for teach\u00aders, they first recruit\u00aded fam\u00adi\u00adly mem\u00adbers who were lit\u00ader\u00adate and had a basic under\u00adstand\u00ading of the sub\u00adject. They taught from text\u00adbooks, and then asked the Edu\u00adca\u00adtion Bureau to send reg\u00adu\u00adlar teach\u00aders. I only learned all this lat\u00ader. At the time, all I knew was that I was des\u00adper\u00adate to go to school.
\n <\/p>\n
When I went to reg\u00adis\u00adter that year, I held my father\u2019s hand tight\u00adly, nev\u00ader leav\u00ading his side. When I faced the prin\u00adci\u00adpal, I stood up straight, try\u00ading to look taller. But he seemed to see my age imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly and asked in a teas\u00ading tone, \u201cHow old are you?\u201d I shout\u00aded, \u201cSev\u00aden!\u201d My father smiled and said, \u201cYes, he\u2019s sev\u00aden. He just looks younger.\u201d The prin\u00adci\u00adpal was skep\u00adti\u00adcal. He was hes\u00adi\u00adtant, per\u00adhaps want\u00adi\u00adng to see my house\u00adhold reg\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion or some\u00adthing (that would have been a dis\u00adas\u00adter). Then a teacher (also a fam\u00adi\u00adly mem\u00adber of the fac\u00adto\u00adry) enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly intro\u00adduced me to him, say\u00ading, \u201cDon\u2019t be fooled by his small size. He\u2019s a great chess play\u00ader. Few adults in the fac\u00adto\u00adry can beat him.\u201d The prin\u00adci\u00adpal, intrigued, actu\u00adal\u00adly set up the chess set and invit\u00aded me to play. Now that I think about it, that was prob\u00ada\u00adbly my entrance exam.
\n <\/p>\n
As soon as the chess set appeared before me, my con\u00adfi\u00addence returned, as if I had com\u00adplete\u00adly for\u00adgot\u00adten every\u00adthing around me. I only remem\u00adber the chess set being unique, as I did\u00adn\u2019t seem to rec\u00adog\u00adnize any of the char\u00adac\u00adters. But once the pieces were set up, I\u2019d almost fig\u00adured it out. I must have played that game very seri\u00adous\u00adly, as I still remem\u00adber the first three moves. Although there were many peo\u00adple watch\u00ading this time, no one offered any advice. We\u2019d agreed before\u00adhand: \u201cTouch and move the pieces, and don\u2019t regret your moves.\u201d At first, the game was fast, and the prin\u00adci\u00adpal was still chat\u00adting and laugh\u00ading. But grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly, his moves slowed, and his expres\u00adsion grew more seri\u00adous. After a while, every\u00adone fell silent. I con\u00adtin\u00adued to make quick moves, star\u00ading at the board, wait\u00ading for the oth\u00ader play\u00ader\u2019s move. Final\u00adly, the prin\u00adci\u00adpal checked his watch, chuck\u00adled, and said, \u201cIt\u2019s been so long! This kid is real\u00adly smart! Is this game a draw?\u201d I was still a lit\u00adtle dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00aded, but my father tugged at me with a smile, and I nod\u00added quick\u00adly, and every\u00adone start\u00aded laugh\u00ading. And just like that, I passed the entrance exam.
\n <\/p>\n
From today\u2019s per\u00adspec\u00adtive, it\u2019s doubt\u00adful whether such an ele\u00admen\u00adtary school could even be called an ele\u00admen\u00adtary school. The teach\u00aders had lim\u00adit\u00aded edu\u00adca\u00adtion, teach\u00ading the chil\u00addren only the rudi\u00adments of lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adcy and arith\u00admetic. Their meth\u00adods of dis\u00adci\u00adpline were even more prim\u00adi\u00adtive, some\u00adtimes resort\u00ading to vio\u00adlence. For exam\u00adple, the female teacher who spoke up for me at school (I can\u2019t even remem\u00adber what class she taught) main\u00adtained class\u00adroom dis\u00adci\u00adpline by tying the hands of any\u00adone who spoke or moved around to the back of a chair for about ten min\u00adutes. I\u2019ve always con\u00adsid\u00adered this a rather bar\u00adbar\u00adic prac\u00adtice. Although I\u2019ve nev\u00ader tried it myself, my desk\u00admate, a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly naughty girl, was often pun\u00adished, and see\u00ading her hands behind her back throb\u00adbing made me feel sad. I know the ties were loose and not par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly painful, but the pun\u00adish\u00adment was sim\u00adply humil\u00adi\u00adat\u00ading. How\u00adev\u00ader, I remain con\u00advinced that the teach\u00aders who resort\u00aded to such harsh mea\u00adsures at that ele\u00admen\u00adtary school were actu\u00adal\u00adly kind-heart\u00aded and loved the chil\u00addren, includ\u00ading those who were often pun\u00adished. They sim\u00adply did\u00adn\u2019t use the right meth\u00adods. Com\u00adpared to the harsh tac\u00adtics they used against their own chil\u00addren at home, their teach\u00aders were extreme\u00adly restrained and tol\u00ader\u00adant. Out\u00adside of class, the chil\u00addren had a good rela\u00adtion\u00adship with them. We even dared to play pranks on the teach\u00aders, like some\u00adtimes wav\u00ading dead snakes to scare them. All we got in return was a burst of weird screams fol\u00adlowed by loud laugh\u00adter and scold\u00ading; no one took it seri\u00adous\u00adly. That school and its teach\u00aders felt like home and fam\u00adi\u00adly to us.
\n <\/p>\n
When I was in third grade, my par\u00adents relo\u00adcat\u00aded to Wuhan, and I trans\u00adferred to Hangkong Road Pri\u00adma\u00adry School, just across the street from home. Ini\u00adtial\u00adly attend\u00ading school in the city, I felt com\u00adplete\u00adly out of place, and I dis\u00adcov\u00adered that many of the things taught there were com\u00adplete\u00adly unfa\u00admil\u00adiar to me. My first Chi\u00adnese exam score was abysmal, so my home\u00adroom teacher asked my par\u00adents to attend. My father went that time, and he assured and kind\u00adly told the teacher that I was a bright and reli\u00adable child, but that my pre\u00advi\u00adous school\u2019s teach\u00ading was lim\u00adit\u00aded. I remem\u00adber my home\u00adroom teacher, whose last name was Zhou. She was incred\u00adi\u00adbly kind and under\u00adstand\u00ading. She did\u00adn\u2019t say much, and it seemed she did\u00adn\u2019t do any\u00adthing spe\u00adcial for me, but I always felt she took spe\u00adcial care of me. She and the rest of the class treat\u00aded me very well, and I was reluc\u00adtant to leave after a year.
\n
\nWhen I was in the fourth grade, my fam\u00adi\u00adly moved from Han\u00adk\u00adou to Wuchang, and I trans\u00adferred to Zhuo\u00addao\u00adquan Pri\u00adma\u00adry School, where I stud\u00adied until I grad\u00adu\u00adat\u00aded from the sec\u00adond year.
\n <\/p>\n
My ele\u00admen\u00adtary school years were like this for five years. Start\u00ading with our next class, the sys\u00adtem grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly switched to a six-year sys\u00adtem. My mem\u00ado\u00adries of ele\u00admen\u00adtary school are quite mixed, but I\u2019m vague about exact\u00adly what I learned, and it\u2019s like\u00adly I did\u00adn\u2019t learn much. What I do remem\u00adber clear\u00adly are the many fun games, the many won\u00adder\u00adful play\u00admates, and the many secret plea\u00adsures we did\u00adn\u2019t need to, or did\u00adn\u2019t want to, share with adults. Back then, adults wor\u00adried very lit\u00adtle about us. Just remem\u00adber to come home for din\u00adner before dark, get a decent report card on your exams, and avoid any major mishaps out\u00adside (and don\u2019t tell any\u00adone about any minor ones when you get home), and you\u2019ll have a good life. So, as far as games were con\u00adcerned, I felt like I had a lot of time, a lot of vari\u00adety, and play\u00admates were always avail\u00adable. The world seemed much more open.
\n <\/p>\n
My daugh\u00adter is now in third grade. She\u2019s a very smart and reas\u00adsur\u00ading child. I often talk to her about my ele\u00admen\u00adtary school days. I want to tell her: No mat\u00adter what you do in the future, no mat\u00adter what your future holds, I just hope that when you look back, you\u2019ll remem\u00adber that your ele\u00admen\u00adtary school days were just as joy\u00adful as mine.
\n
\nBei\u00adjing, April 2009<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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