Portrait of Youth Thinking Times ｜ From Pan Xiao’s narrow life path to Wei Xiang’s enough belief
age
The vast number of young people should shoulder the historical mission, strengthen their confidence in advancing, be ambitious, be wise and virtuous, become great talents, and shoulder great responsibilities, and strive to become new people of the times who can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation, so that youth can bloom brilliantly in the unremitting struggle for the motherland, the nation, the people and mankind. -On April 19, 2021, the Supreme Leader’s speech during his inspection tour in Tsinghua University.
Young people all over the country should keep in mind the Party’s teachings, aspire to national rejuvenation, live up to their youth, the times and the people, and strive to run hard on the track of youth and strive to run out of the best achievements of contemporary youth! -On April 25, 2022, the Supreme Leader’s speech at the discussion between teachers and students of China Renmin University.
The vast number of young people should strive to be new people of the times who can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation, and forge ahead bravely in the torrent of the times to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. -On April 25, 2022, the Supreme Leader’s speech at the discussion between teachers and students of China Renmin University.
From Pan Xiao’s narrow life path to Wei Xiang’s enough belief
A red boat, coming in the long river of history; A single spark condenses into a light beam that illuminates the darkness. The Communist Youth League founded by the Communist Party of China (CPC) has gone through a 100-year journey. These 100 years are the 100 years in which China’s young people continue to struggle and triumph, and the 100 years in which China’s young people use their youthful self to create a youthful China and a youthful nation. From the footsteps of a hundred years, we heard the magnificent stage of the new-democratic revolution and the cry of the May 4th Movement. We saw the socialist revolution and construction stage in full swing, and the first youth commando team in China sweated profusely. We feel the "rush and try" bred by young students in the "Challenge Cup" in the tide of reform and opening up; We have been brought to the new era by the innovative mechanisms of "creating Beijing" and "unveiling the list" …
How can a youthful boat avoid drifting like a boat without a rudder? At the conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of the May 4th Movement, the answer given by the Supreme Leader General Secretary seemed to illuminate the road: that is, young people should "aim high, and then they can stimulate their potential to forge ahead". A word "ambition" tells the story of young people’s thinking about their ideals and interpretation of their responsibilities. If we use the former as the warp and the latter as the weft, please allow us to focus the historical coordinates on two young people who are separated by 37 years. Although they are in different historical conditions, they are all struggling to find a new starting point in their life journey; Although they have different experiences, they have all experienced great hardships and even hardships of life, and finally gained a completely different understanding of life. From their life, we can touch the interactive cases between youth and the times, and feel the deep affection between youth and home country.
The ideological collision across the times
In May 1980, a long letter signed "Pan Xiao" was published in China Youth magazine. The letter described the pain and trauma of life with heavy, bitterness, depression, sincerity and anger. As soon as it was published, it triggered a nationwide discussion on the outlook on life.
The letter tells the story of Pan Xiao, the author who was full of beautiful hopes for life (it was later proved that "Pan Xiao" was made up of the names of two young people at that time), who was hit by "the ugly and ferocious face of life", but still persisted in "seeking the answer to the meaning of life" and all kinds of puzzles in the process of seeking. For the first time, the letter put forward the ethical proposition of "subjectively for yourself and objectively for others" and sighed that "the road of life is getting narrower and narrower".
The fifth issue of China Youth in 1980 published a screenshot of a letter signed "Pan Xiao"
This discussion has aroused unprecedented enthusiasm. China Youth was released on May 1, and began to receive letters from readers participating in the discussion on the 14th. On the 17th, it rose to 100, and on the 27th, it broke through 1,000. By June 9th, it had received more than 20,000 discussion papers in less than one month. This discussion marks young people’s independent thinking about life. The People’s Daily published a commentator’s article praising the discussion as "touching to bring out what is deep in the minds of young people and have a truly gay talk", and Xinhua also affirmed that "only by understanding young people can we help them, and only by seeking truth from facts can we solve problems". Of course, there are also a lot of voices that raise Pan Xiao’s letter to "a new trend of class struggle", and some even write letters to abuse the editorial department as an "arsonist".
Let’s push the lens of history to the cross-century year of 2017-Wei Xiang, an 18-year-old from Dingxi, Gansu Province, who suffered from both lower limbs disability and lost his father since childhood, is about to knock on the gate of Tsinghua University with an excellent score of 648 in the college entrance examination. However, when communicating with the Tsinghua Gansu Admissions Team, Wei Xiang took the initiative to send a letter to the Tsinghua Admissions Office, telling his experience of struggling to study for more than ten years and being blessed by a mother’s love. He also "sincerely hoped that Tsinghua University could help my mother and son solve a humble abode, which was only for my mother and son to take care of". Tsinghua’s Admissions Office immediately wrote back to him publicly, saying that he would properly solve his worries, and encouraged at the end of the letter: "We want to say to the thorny students on the way to school: life is really bitter, but please believe it enough!" This true inspirational story, once reported by Beijing Youth Daily and its public number "Education Roundtable", immediately made thousands of netizens cry, and the number of hits reached more than 8.7 million in less than two days. The discussion of more than 20,000 netizens in the comment area was touching-some praised Tsinghua’s professional ethics as "tearful" and at the same time was even more moved by "the perseverance of this student and his mother"; Some people can’t help crying after reading this article, paying tribute to Wei Xiang, a classmate who is constantly striving for self-improvement! Pay tribute to Wei Xiang’s mother! " ; Some said, "I’m crying, I believe there are many enterprises that can fund Wei Xiang to complete his studies"; Some say, "After reading two lines of tears, it gives people a kind of spiritual strength that comes from the inner generate" …
If thinking about ideals is the spiritual nirvana of young people, then open-minded discussion is always an effective way for young people to educate themselves-whether it is the discussion that "practice is the only criterion for testing truth" and "how to contribute youth to a bright China" or the discussion triggered by inspirational young people like Wei Xiang in the new era, although the carrier is different because of crossing the times, they are all "immersive", and the nature and communication of them are.
Pan Xiao’s "Three Bitterness" and Wei Xiang’s "Three Blessings"
If we look at "Pan Xiao" and "Wei Xiang" again today, standing on the historical coordinate system, we can see the different characteristics of the times brought by two young people who love thinking, that is, "Pan Xiao’s three sufferings" and Wei Xiang’s "three blessings".
Pan Xiao’s first pain is "the pain of hitting a wall." In order to seek the meaning of life, he reads books, but always from concept to concept, and can’t find the realistic response outside books; He asked for advice from others, but he always felt empty and irrelevant, and felt that his colleagues around him covered everything up with real interests.
Pan Xiao’s second pain is "the pain of retreat". He often thinks but can’t, so he "hides in a small building and becomes unified", uses concepts to solve concepts, and uses books to solve reality, so he sends out the soul torture of "whether to believe in books or eyes".
Pan Xiao’s third pain is "the pain of direction". After the psychological trauma in a special historical period, on the eve of the era when ideological imprisonment has not been completely broken and seeking truth and being pragmatic has not become a common practice, the life confusion that Pan Xiao pondered hard is essentially the projection of the depression of an era on a young individual. His "pain in direction" bears a deep brand of the times.
On August 23, 2017, Wei Xiang reported to Tsinghua University.
Wei Xiang in the new era has "three blessings" correspondingly. The first is "the blessing of integration". A disabled person seems unable to participate in the sports meeting, but Wei Xiang has become a "queue commander" waving flags in a wheelchair. "We don’t want him to feel that he is different from others." Wei Yajun, the head teacher, vividly explained the connotation of "equality" in the sense of pedagogy in an interview with Beiqing Daily-that is, the integration of disabled and healthy people, love like water and the melting of barriers.
The second is "real blessing". There seems to be no earth-shattering "event" in Wei Xiang’s youth-his face is stuck on his mother’s back and he goes to class in the rain; He solved a physics problem and shared it with his classmates. He repeatedly pressed the button at the bedside to feel the song "Grateful Heart" … These things are more "real" only because they are "small". "The one who gets the most can have the least." Wei Xiang never retreats. On the way to study and forge ahead, what he grasps every day is real love, real endeavor and real accumulation.
The third is "the blessing of gratitude". It is a kind of "nurturing grace" for a single mother to send her son Wei Xiang to school for 12 years. It is a kind of "kindness to know when you meet him" for students to silently replace Wei Xiang’s bench with an armchair; The head teacher who is good at discovering and exerting Wei Xiang’s specialty is a kind of "Bole Grace" … When the seeds of gratitude gradually sprout in his heart, upward goodness is the direction of his growth.
What does the two young people’s thinking about the times show?
Looking back at Pan Xiao and Wei Xiang on the historical time axis, they walked alone in their respective times, and their portraits of the times outlined through their own thinking and practice were very different.
The trajectory of life can’t go beyond the conditions of the times. Pan Xiao didn’t go to college, but he longed for the moistening of knowledge. She has no experience, but she especially wants to have a mature life. Wei Xiang, though born in a miserable land, knocked on the door of Tsinghua through his unremitting efforts; He is not good at words, but in the educational atmosphere of "making people believe enough", "he has lived in a way that makes people respect and worship". Historical materialism tells us that everyone must plan life and create history under the conditions of his own times. Youth is the most sensitive barometer to mark the times. This "sensitivity" is manifested in Pan Xiao, that is, his doubt is essentially that young people get rid of rigid superstitions and make their own independent thinking about life. As the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized in its congratulatory message to the 11th National Congress of the Communist Youth League in 1982, "under the new historical conditions … our party and country need the youth’s consciousness and struggle more than ever before". On Wei Xiang, however, he demonstrated the exemplary strength of the new era with hardship and tenacity, and with great love and ordinary life practice.
The trajectory of life can’t go beyond the stage of the development of the times. Pan Xiao’s discussion on outlook on life was once compared to the "spiritual first love" of a whole generation of China youth. The first love may be sincere, but it is often immature; The first love may be urgent, but it is often short-lived. At that special stage of the times, Pan Xiao was trapped in the cross-examination of "narrow" and "wide" life paths. In the new era, what Wei Xiang has done is to "grope in the struggle, observe the changes in the world, people’s worries, and realistic contradictions, and find the true meaning of life, life value, and career direction" (Supreme Leader: Speech at the 100th anniversary of the May 4th Movement).
The trajectory of life can’t surpass the guidance of the times to young people. Pan Xiao’s confusion is essentially the confusion of the times. On the eve of the fog of ideological imprisonment, the young people who are longer than thinking inevitably have a "vacuum" of thought; However, for Wei Xiang today, the times have provided him with a broad stage for struggle, and he has also realized himself on this stage. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader has dialectically discussed the relationship between "big" and "small" many times when explaining young people’s ideological cultivation: the so-called "big" refers to the overall situation when planning, and the so-called "small" refers to the spirit in doing every little thing well, completing every task and performing every duty. There is a saying that small things should be done as big things, "the one who gets the most can have the least." Looking back on the process of disabled youth Wei Xiangqin’s dream interpretation of Tsinghua, it vividly shows that all the young people in the new era who dare to "dream" and "pursue dreams" are all accomplished in the logic of the times of "big" and "small".
It is the torrent of the times, creating unique opportunities and opportunities for each generation of young people; Let the portrait of the times always bear witness to the youth of each of us!
review
Actively engaged in the magnificent new-democratic revolution, the socialist revolution and construction with enthusiasm and unremitting exploration, extensively participated in the vigorous reform, opening up and socialist modernization, and made great efforts to make achievements in the new era of Socialism with Chinese characteristics. Under the leadership of the Party, groups of outstanding youth representatives have emerged at every stage in the past 100 years. They are all vanguard forces for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This paper collects some representative cases from various historical stages to provide dinner for readers.
The first stage: actively participate in the magnificent new-democratic revolution.
Gao Junyu, the first secretary of the Beijing Socialist Youth League
After the May 4th Movement broke out in 1919, Beijing became one of the important birthplaces of China youth movement, which opened the curtain of China’s new-democratic revolution and opened the glory of Beijing youth movement for a hundred years. Groups of aspiring young people stand at the forefront of the times. In November 1920, the Beijing Socialist Youth League was established, and Gao Junyu, the head of the Student Union of Peking University, was elected as the first secretary.
"I am a sword, I am a spark. I would like to live like lightning, and I would like to die like a comet. " This is a poem written by Gao Junyu, and it is also a true portrayal of his short and magnificent life. As a teenager, Gao Junyu cared about society and had a strong interest in political issues. Gao Junyu was later admitted to the English Department of Peking University. On May 4th, 1919, Gao Junyu took an active part in the students’ patriotic demonstration.
In October, 1920, Li Dazhao established a communist group in Beijing, in which Gao Junyu participated. In January, 1925, Gao Junyu attended the Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opened in Shanghai. In March of the same year, he died at the age of 29 because of the ineffective excision of sudden acute appendicitis. In his short life, he wrote magnificent poems of responsible and ambitious young people to promote the progress of the country and the times.
The second stage: the socialist revolution and construction with enthusiasm and unremitting exploration.
Hu Yaolin, captain of the first youth commando team in China
After the founding of New China, everything needs to be done. If you want to catch up, you should "work harder" in economic construction. As a new force, young people actively participate in construction and help all ambitious plans become a reality.
In 1953, China’s first five-year plan was implemented, and Beijing youth devoted themselves to large-scale economic construction with great enthusiasm. On October 15th, the Soviet Union Exhibition Hall (now Beijing Exhibition Hall) started construction and will be completed within one year. The construction period is tight and the task is heavy. According to the principle of voluntary participation, the Youth League Committee of the work area selected 18 young members to form a woodworking youth commando team, with Hu Yaolin as the captain. This is the first youth commando team in China.
The establishment of the commando team greatly inspired the young people’s sense of responsibility and glory. Hu Yaolin’s youth commando team increased the production efficiency by 146%, and under their leadership, other woodworking groups also increased the production efficiency by more than twice on average.
The youth commando team has created a working method for the youth league to work around the center of economic construction, which has formed a vigorous upsurge of production assault competition among the youth in the capital and the whole country, highlighting the responsibility and responsibility of young people at this historical stage.
The third stage: extensive participation in the vigorous reform, opening up and socialist modernization.
Youth Civilization actively serves the economic construction and social development of the capital.
After entering the development stage centered on economic construction, young people make their own contributions with their unique enthusiasm.
In the Beijing subway station in 1980s, only Fuxingmen Station was full of young people, who were enthusiastic in service and conscientious in work. In order to give full play to the exemplary role of youth in the service work in the capital, Fuxingmen Station was jointly named "Communist Youth League Station" by the Communist Youth League Committee and the subway company on May 4th Youth Day in 1985. Fuxingmen Station has successfully established a municipal and national youth civilization number, which has trained a large number of young talents for the subway industry.
The leading role of the "Communist Youth League Station" provides ideas and examples for other fields. In the 1990s, the Youth Civilization Campaign was launched by the Beijing Communist Youth League Committee, and all kinds of youth civilization collectives at all levels played an important role in engineering construction, window service, urban operation, material supply, public security and fire fighting, medical and health care, scientific research and production, service guarantee and other industries. For example, the No.682 train set of No.1 Road of Kesi Branch of Beijing Public Transport Group, Beijing Hall of Beijing Hotel Catering Department of BTG Group, Dujiakan Toll Station of Jingkai Expressway Management Branch of Shoufa Group, Team A 1 of Beijing West Railway Station ticketing workshop of Beijing Railway Bureau (bilingual), Beijing International Conference Center of Beichen Group, and special maintenance team of Tiananmen Square of Jindu Company of Beijing Urban Construction Garden Group, etc. All kinds of youth civilization groups in Beijing have become a youth banner for the Communist Youth League to serve the capital construction, promote the development of the industry, promote the growth of young people and carry forward the civilized fashion.
The fourth stage: Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s new era of making great efforts and high spirits.
Emerging youth, a new force in the development of the capital in the new era
With the continuous development of China’s economy and society, the emergence of new economic formats has spawned a large number of emerging youth groups with flexibility and flexible employment, and they are becoming a new force in the process of profound changes in the economic and social structure. Beijing has also become an important gathering place for emerging youth groups.
In their respective posts, emerging young people have made great contributions to building Beijing into a world-class harmonious and livable capital. Chang Kai is a delivery clerk at the Meituan take-out Wangjing Station, and also the first batch of "alley stewards" of "Beautiful Morning Knight of Meituan". In addition to completing his own food delivery work, he also reports the problems in urban governance to the competent authorities at any time in combination with what he saw and heard while walking around the streets. Like him, there are thousands of people who have registered as "alley butlers" as a courier takeaway brother, helping the urban governance level in the jurisdiction to a new level. Dong Jianyong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Street Dance Committee of the Chinese Dancers Association, combined street dance with Chinese excellent traditional culture, and also stepped onto the stage to celebrate the "great journey" of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
In the first half of 2021, the Communist Youth League Committee conducted a survey on the situation of emerging youth groups in Beijing, and connected with relevant departments to promote the issuance of "Several Measures on Strengthening the Work of Emerging Youth Groups in Beijing" in the name of the Office of the Leading Group for Party Building Work of the Municipal Party Committee. At present, 25 units are steadily promoting the implementation of various measures.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Lei Jia
Photography/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Hao Wei
Editor/Peng Xiaofei