An ordinary rural youth made an unexpected decision in the 60s of the 20th century, that is, he gave up the opportunity to go to Peking University and chose to return to his hometown to work as a farmer.
At that time, only a dozen years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the whole country was doing its best to build socialism, and the country needed more talents to contribute to the strength of New China.
At that time, college students were a desirable, enviable, and noble identity, and every young person, whether in rural or urban areas, was striving to be able to enter a university.
In such a trend of the times, what is the reason for Dong Jiageng to make such a decision?
Dong Jiageng's name was actually changed by himself later, his original name was Dong Jiageng, which has the same name as the famous patriotic overseas Chinese leader Chen Jiageng, and this name was given to him by his parents.
Perhaps in this name, mixed with his parents' expectations for his hard work, I hope that he can contribute to the construction of the motherland like Tan Kah Kee.
In February 1940, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Dong Jiageng was born in a poor rural area in Yancheng, Jiangsu, and suffered from the war.
Finally survived the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he was still young at the age of seven or eight, and his parents thought that his children would be able to go to primary school, learn knowledge, and serve the country, but they did not think that Chiang Kai-shek launched a civil war, and the people of the whole country were once again involved in the war.
After the liberation of Jiangsu, Dong Jiageng's family was allocated land, a primary school was built in the village, his parents had their own farmland, he also had school, and his life was developing in a better direction.
In 1957, Dong Jiageng graduated from junior high school, as a rural background, he wanted to apply for a normal school to continue his studies, after graduation, he wanted to become a teacher, but fate seemed to play a joke on him, unfortunately he was still a few points away from the admission score, just like that, Dong Jiageng's desire to become a teacher was shattered.
He was very frustrated that he had lost his direction in life at this time, and he didn't know where to go, so he went home to work to help his parents relieve a little pressure.
When he was working, Dong Jiageng seemed to be more handy, and his mentality was slowly adjusted, he was with the villagers every day, learning agricultural knowledge, exercising labor skills, and also won the third-class model in the process of water control, such an honor is a great encouragement for a teenager who is only 17 years old.
In that era when labor was the most glorious, it was glorious to be able to obtain the title and honor of model workers.
Dong Jiageng's mentality also slowly calmed down, he did not give up studying because of farm work, in more than a year, in addition to doing farm work, he just held textbooks to study knowledge.
In 1958, after a fierce ideological struggle, Dong Jiageng, who mustered up the courage, once again took the entrance examination, and this time rekindled his fighting spirit, which was inseparable from the encouragement and affirmation of his family and fellow villagers.
This time, he did not disappoint himself, nor did he disappoint his parents and fellow villagers, Dong Jiageng was admitted to the local key middle school - Longgang Middle School High School with excellent results.
After more than a year of experience in the countryside, Dong Jiageng's mentality is more mature than that of his classmates, and he has performed very well in school in both academic performance and other aspects.
To this end, he served as the class leader and secretary of the Youth League, and because of his outstanding performance, he was also set up by the Education Bureau as a pacesetter to catch up with and surpass Suzhou Middle School.
Such outstanding students, whether in school or in the countryside, are shining, and finally, Dong Jiageng was recommended by the school to join the party and became a glorious member of the Communist Party of China.
He knows how important it is for children from rural families to study hard, so whether it is eating or resting, he will squeeze out time to read books and learn knowledge.
Such a hard work made him rank among the best in the college entrance examination and became an outstanding graduate of Longgang Middle School, and therefore, the school decided to send him to the Department of Philosophy of Peking University to continue his studies, so that he could better serve the construction of New China after his academic success in the future.
This is an opportunity to go to a top university in China, and it is the highest university that all students dream of entering, what choice will Dong Jiageng make?
Such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, presumably in front of everyone, will not hesitate to grasp it, just when everyone thought that Dong Jiageng was a college student this time, he made a decision that surprised everyone.
He did not write the name of Peking University in the volunteer book, but wrote eight characters, which became the direction of his future life, that is, "return to his hometown to work as a farmer and be determined to cultivate".
Under the persuasion of the school teachers many times, Dong Jiageng did not waver in the slightest, which is enough to see how strong his determination to farm is.
In order to show his firm belief in farming, he changed his name "Jiageng" to "Jiageng".
Such a decision is just an ordinary choice for Dong Jiageng, he chose what he likes to do, in Dong Jiageng's eyes, this is a correct decision.
But what he didn't expect was that his decision attracted the attention of the whole society.
In the year when he gave up studying at Peking University and chose to return to his hometown to work as a farmer, the newspaper "Xinhua**", the organ of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, published his deeds.
The title of this article is called "Consistent Goals", which is also the best evaluation of Dong Jiageng.
In fact, when he was admitted to high school, he told the township chief that after completing his studies in the future, he would still return to his hometown, pick up a hoe again, and work hard in the fields.
His decision was ultimately understood and supported by his teachers and classmates.
On May 4, 1961, Dong Jiageng left his alma mater, Longgang Middle School, returned to the countryside after a long absence, and returned to the production team in Yancheng County.
However, as the parents of the peasants and the villagers in his hometown, there was no way to understand Dong Jiageng's decision.
His mother hopes that her son can become a high-level talent of the country, and it is the common wish of every mother in the world to hope that her son will become a dragon, and it is in this kind of thinking that she gradually becomes dissatisfied with her son's decision, and even angry.
She would even count Dong Jiageng down, feeling that Dong Jiageng gave up studying at university and returned to his hometown to work as a farmer, which was a sign of no success, and felt ashamed.
In the face of his mother's decline, Dong Jiageng was not depressed, but patiently explained to his mother that if he didn't work once, he would do it twice, and after countless times of patient persuasion, his mother finally accepted this fact and gradually understood her son's ambitions.
As a prospective college student who gave up college, in the eyes of the villagers, Dong Jiageng is already a well-deserved college student, and everyone does not treat him as a farmer at all in their daily interactions.
During a labor, Dong Jiageng was sent to the city by the production team to load manure, and then pulled it back to make manure, and he was accompanied by three members.
After arriving in the city, one of the members felt that Dong Jiageng would meet his former classmates when walking on the street carrying a dung burden, and he was worried that Dong Jiageng would lose face, so he asked Dong Jiageng to stay on the boat alone and not get down, and the three of them just went.
But Dong Jiageng didn't think so, he said that carrying the dung burden is also labor, as long as it is labor, it is glorious, and there is nothing unseemly.
Dong Jiageng's consciousness and style of doing things have won the respect of the members.
Just like Sun Shaoan in Lu Yao's "Ordinary World", Dong Jiageng's down-to-earth, hard-working, and energetic spirit has won him support in the production team.
Coincidentally, on the street that day, the worries of the members of the club actually happened, just when they were walking on the street with a dung list, Dong Jiageng met an old classmate who had not seen him for a long time.
Dong Jiageng put down the dung burden, wiped his hands, and talked with his classmates, through conversation, Dong Jiageng learned that his classmates were not admitted to university, but they were unwilling to engage in agricultural labor at home, such an idea was extremely wrong in Dong Jiageng's opinion.
Therefore, Dong Jiageng patiently told this classmate the truth of taking root in the countryside, and encouraged the classmate to bravely take root in the countryside, engage in agricultural production and labor with peace of mind, and contribute to the construction of socialist China.
In the end, under the persuasion of Dong Jiageng, the classmates decided to stay in the countryside and engage in agricultural production with peace of mind.
Although Dong Jiageng gave up the opportunity to study at university, it does not mean that he has given up studying, in addition to work, he will still use the rest and meal time to learn about agriculture, politics and other aspects of knowledge, not only he has to study, he also drives other members to study, and encourages members to "learn endlessly, and do a good job in agricultural production also needs knowledge."
Dong Jiageng's simplicity and deeds of taking root in the countryside have been highly valued by the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, and for a time, he has become a model for the whole society to learn from.
In 1963, Dong Jiageng, as a representative of the intellectual youth, attended the symposium held by the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee in Nanjing for the representatives of the intellectual youth to go to the countryside, and his speech was recognized by the provincial leaders.
So, in the next few days, he was arranged to give a report at the Great Hall of the People in Nanjing.
In the face of more than 1,000 people, Dong Jiageng was very nervous, but fortunately, the report was very successful, and after listening to Dong Jiageng's report, nearly 700 of these more than 1,000 young people asked to give up their studies and take root in the countryside, and he set an example for the vast number of young people in Jiangsu, and also found the direction of their life struggle.
In 1964, the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Youth League of China was held in Beijing, and Dong Jiageng spoke at the congress as a representative.
He said: "The process of combining the educated youth with the working peasants is a process of self-transformation, the basis for changing the backward appearance of the rural areas, and the way to temper oneself into a new type of socialist peasantry. ”
The leaders who attended the conference included Peng Zhen and others, and the leaders mentioned Dong Jiageng in their speeches at the conference, and praised him for his spirit and courage to join the agricultural front, and he was an outstanding young man who practiced the instructions.
At this meeting, Dong Jiageng was elected as a member of the Communist Youth League.
In December of the same year, Dong Jiageng participated in the Third National People's Congress as a deputy to the People's Congress of Yancheng, Jiangsu Province and deputy head of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress.
And after the opening of the conference, Dong Jiageng was stopped by a staff member and told him not to leave after the meeting, and there were other arrangements.
It turned out that four representatives, including Dong Jiageng, Xing Yanzi and Wang Tieren, were invited to attend the 71st birthday banquet of ***.
After the meeting, the four of them were led into a small banquet hall, and in the banquet hall, there were **, Dong Biwu and other **leaders, and after they communicated with **leaders for a while, ** walked into the banquet hall.
Under the arrangement of ***, Dong Jiageng sat on the left hand side of ***, which was the closest he was to ***.
** At the banquet, he said that this was neither a birthday nor a birthday celebration, but a dinner and chat with workers, peasants, and representatives of the People's Liberation Army with his own manuscript money.
During the meal, ** and Dong Jiageng chatted enthusiastically, which made Dong Jiageng feel the approachable side.
Dong Jiageng, as an outstanding representative of the country's intellectual youth, was received by the best and became a happy event in Jiangsu Province.
In the days that followed, Dong Jiageng was still engaged in agricultural production in the countryside, but the former scenery was no longer there, and it was still that land that accompanied him.
In 2000, Dong Jiageng retired from the post of vice chairman of the CPPCC of Yandu District, Yancheng City, but he still served as the vice chairman of the District Poverty Alleviation Association, serving the working people.
In 2005, he was recognized by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions as enjoying the treatment of a national model worker, and his deeds were included in the "Heroic Model of the Republic", which means that Dong Jiageng's people and things have left forever traces in the history books of the Republic.
In 2009, someone asked why Dong Jiageng, who was already in his old age, chose to give up Peking University on May 4 and return to his hometown to work as a farmer.
He said that because that day was the day when he delivered a speech entitled "The Direction of the Youth Movement" at the meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the "May Fourth Movement" during the Yan'an period, returning to his hometown on this day means that the direction of his life has been very clear.
Dong Jiageng once summed up his life in this way: "The reason why it was not short-lived was because no matter whether it was smooth or negative, sinking or floating, the ideal and belief of striving for the realization of communism has never wavered. ”
Sixty years ago, the young man who gave up studying at Peking University in order to take root in the countryside is already an old man in his twilight years, but his deeds will always inspire young people and play a powerful role in the development of the times.
Xinhua**: The goal is always the same
New Farmer Dong Jiageng".
Learn from Dong Jiageng and take the road of revolution