44 years ago, at a historic meeting, Deng Xiaoping made a decision, and China ushered in the spring of respecting knowledge and talents.
Source | Excerpted from History of Oral Reform (I), edited by Chi Fulin, published by Guangdong Economic Publishing House in May 2019.
Text | Liu Daoyu (then member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Education and Director of the Higher Education Department)
Edit | Mi Su
On April 15th, 1977, I reported to the Ministry of Education. Because I thought it was a temporary loan at that time, I couldn’t stay long, so I stayed in an office on the second floor of the office building of the Ministry of Education. It is both an office and a bedroom, with a wooden bed, a pair of bedding, a wooden desk, two water bottles and a washstand.
I didn’t expect that a month later, the Central Organization Department officially appointed me as a member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Education and the Director of the Department of Higher Education. Although I was very reluctant to be a Beijing official, I couldn’t help myself, so I lived here for two years and worked as a "temporary worker" for two years.
At that time, I led six departments and units, namely, the First Division of Higher Education, the Second Division of Higher Education, the Third Division of Higher Education, the Division of Science and Technology, the Graduate Division and the Textbook Office, and my scope of responsibility was equivalent to the "half of the rivers and mountains" of the Ministry of Education. At that time, among the 11 members of the leading group of the Ministry of Education, only I went from the university, and only I was familiar with the situation of higher education.
A symposium of more than 70 people from the old, middle-aged and young.
After his comeback, Comrade Deng Xiaoping volunteered to take charge of the work in science and education. He was determined to set things right in science and education, realize the "four modernizations" and let the country catch up with the advanced world level. Where to set things right? He is going to hold a meeting to solicit the opinions of experts. Later, he also said at the meeting: "The purpose of inviting you to attend this symposium is to invite you to study and discuss together, how to make scientific research better and faster, and how to adapt education to the requirements of China’s four modernizations and catch up with the advanced world level."
Deng Xiaoping’s office informed the Ministry of Education that this meeting will be attended by 15 well-known experts from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, and the meeting time will be from August 4 to 8, 1977. As a member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Education and the Director of the Department of Higher Education, I was appointed by the Ministry of Education to be responsible for selecting the list, and initially selected 16 people. Finally, the Academy of Sciences also selected 17 people, a total of 33 people, plus the heads of relevant ministries and commissions in the State Council and journalists, a total of more than 70 people attended the forum.
At that time, there were two considerations when determining the list: first, they must be well-known scientists and educators, and they must dare to tell the truth. For example, Yang Shixian is the president of Nankai University and a famous chemist. Su Buqing is a professor and president of Fudan University, a famous mathematician, and so on. Second, at that time, I also considered that there must be some young people on the list, following the combination of the old, the young and the middle, so some young people like Wen Yuankai, who was still in his early 30 s, and Zong Qingsheng of Sun Yat-sen Medical College attended the meeting.
▲ From August 4 to 8, 1977, a symposium on science and education was held. The picture shows the participants taking a group photo. Figure/History of Oral Reform (I)
Wu Mingyu of China Academy of Sciences and I, representing China Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education respectively, formed a meeting secretary group, which was responsible for meeting minutes, briefings and the living problems of the delegates. The delegates were notified by both of us, and I personally picked them up at the airport. Of course, most of the delegates came from Beijing, so my pick-up task was not very heavy.
You can talk about overthrowing the "16-character" policy and resuming the college entrance examination.
The symposium began at 9 am on August 4. Comrade Deng Xiaoping made an opening speech. To tell the truth, at that time, at the beginning of this meeting, everyone was still worried and worried, and they didn’t necessarily dare to speak at the beginning. So Comrade Deng Xiaoping repeatedly inspired us to speak freely. He said, "The Gang of Four has been shattered, and there will be no more" catching braids ","wearing hats "and" beating sticks ".If you have any problems, I will be responsible." After repeated mobilization by Comrade Xiaoping, everyone began to speak and gradually became active.
Yang Shixian, the president of Nankai University, is a very important national leader in pesticide research. He said: "The building of the State Science and Technology Commission has been occupied by the army, and the Science and Technology Commission has been dissolved. How can such a big country do without scientific research, science and technology commission and science?" He demanded that the occupied State Science and Technology Commission building be returned to the State Science and Technology Commission as soon as possible, and that the State Science and Technology Commission be restored. At this point, Comrade Deng Xiaoping interjected that it should be withdrawn and the State Science and Technology Commission should be restored. In this way, you said something to me, and slowly everyone’s thoughts were liberated and their speeches were enthusiastic.
The second speaker was Professor Su Buqing, President of Fudan University. Su Lao was witty. He expressed his views in a grumbling way and spoke very well. He said, "Comrade Xiaoping, Su Buqing is an authority on mathematics in the world, and people call us the school of differential geometry of Su Buqing of Fudan University. I used to have a mathematics research institute with 18 young and middle-aged professors. People said it was the "eighteen arhats" under Su Lao’s door. Well, the "Cultural Revolution" decentralized all these arhats. Now that I am army of one, how can an old man do scientific research? There is no assistant. "
Comrade Xiaoping asked: "Are you still in China? Did you get it back? " Su Lao said that now their thoughts are all messed up, they are not coming back, and some of them have changed their careers. After listening to Su Lao’s speech, Comrade Xiaoping immediately pointed to the minister of education next to him and said, Su Lao’s assistant was transferred from Su Lao to whoever he wanted. How can scientists not have assistants? Comrade Xiaoping was resolute and solved the problem on the spot.
As the director of higher education department, I feel a little anxious, because no one mentioned the resumption of the college entrance examination. Before the meeting, I made a survey: how should we start to bring order out of higher education? At that time, workers, peasants and soldiers went to universities and managed them, and Mao Zedong Thought was used to transform them. At that time, the students of workers, peasants and soldiers all regarded themselves as reformers after entering the school, taking intellectuals as the object of transformation. At that time, university enrollment was recruited from workers, peasants and soldiers, and there was a "sixteen-character" enrollment policy, namely, "voluntary enrollment, mass recommendation, leadership approval, and school review." It’s said that it’s voluntary registration. What’s the use if you apply and the leader doesn’t approve it? So these "sixteen words" become four words: approval by the leaders. The leader decides everything, which leads to the rampant wind of entering through the back door at that time. Whoever the leader wants can get on, and whoever is not allowed to get on can’t get on. For example, there is a famous writer Xiong Zhaozheng. In 1976, he was an educated youth in yingshan county, Hubei Province. The masses had recommended him to go to college, but when he arrived in the county, the county party secretary disagreed: "You will go next year, and my son will go this year." This was the case at that time.
Before the meeting, I went to Shenyang and Tianjin to make an investigation, and later I went to Shunyi County. Deputy Director Jiang of the Revolutionary Committee of the county said to me: "Although the university has resumed enrollment, our workers, peasants and soldiers still do not have the right to go to college, because the’ 16-character’ enrollment policy is the back door policy, so we strongly demand that the college entrance examination be resumed. We workers, peasants and soldiers are not afraid to take the exam. Do not believe you, before the Cultural Revolution, it was our workers, peasants and soldiers who went to college.
Yes, when I was in college, college students from rural areas accounted for about 70%. At that time, the educational level of the children of workers and peasants recruited by universities was seriously uneven. Most of them graduated from junior high school and even had primary school education. There were very few high school students, because they all went to the countryside. At that time, it was said that "no class brothers should be left behind", so there was no way to teach in university. Some students couldn’t even learn elementary school things. If you want him to stay behind, everyone has to wait for him, and the university will become a middle school and a primary school. This situation is impossible to cultivate qualified talents. So I always remember the words of the deputy director of Shunyi County Revolutionary Committee, and I must resume the college entrance examination.
▲ The picture shows the college entrance examination admission ticket in 1977. Figure/History of Oral Reform (I)
▲ The picture shows the invigilation certificate of the 1977 college entrance examination. Figure/History of Oral Reform (I)
But the meeting has been going on for two days, and no one has talked about this issue. Associate Professor Cha Quanxing, a representative of Wuhan University, came to see me in the evening. He said, "I have been sitting for two days without speaking, and I have been listening. Others have said what I want to say, and I don’t know what to say." He came to ask for my advice, because we are both teachers in the chemistry department of Wuhan University, and I am also the secretary-general of the conference. I said, "Although everyone speaks well, there is one problem that everyone has not talked about, that is, to overthrow the’ 16-character’ policy and resume the college entrance examination." In fact, it was very risky to ask this question at that time. Maybe it would be labeled as "counter-revolutionary" because the "two estimates" have not been overthrown. But I have always been very courageous, I dare say. I said you would talk about this problem, and he agreed.
That night, Associate Professor Cha Quanxing made serious preparations. In his speech, he said that before the founding of People’s Republic of China (PRC), he relied on money to go to college. In the 17 years before the "Cultural Revolution", he relied on points to go to college. Now he relies on power. The masses say that "learning mathematics and physics is not as good as being a good father". His remarks aroused strong resonance among the participants, and everyone spoke in succession, such as Wu Wenjun, Wang You and Tang Aoqing, who all seconded them.
Liu Xiyao was then Minister of Education. Comrade Deng Xiaoping asked him how to resume the college entrance examination this year. Liu Xiyao said, if you want to change it, you have to postpone it. Now it’s August 6th. The enrollment meeting from June 29th to July 15th of that year has already been held in Taiyuan, and it was arranged according to the "16-character" policy. The enrollment report has been sent to the State Council. Comrade Deng Xiaoping said, "Since there is still time this year, we should resolutely change it! Take back the original enrollment report and rewrite it according to everyone’s opinions. Enrollment involves millions of young people going to the countryside, so we should come up with a way to select outstanding talents without causing fluctuations. Key schools should recruit students in a unified way. This year, I am determined to enroll students as required, and the students recruited must meet the requirements. " The Ministry of Education said that we would change it this year.
There was a lot of resistance, and Deng Xiaoping made a second decision
On August 13th, the second national conference on college enrollment was held, which ended on September 25th and lasted for 44 days. In the case of disputes at the meeting, Deng Xiaoping talked with Liu Xiyao and others again on September 19th, asking the Ministry of Education to take the initiative and end the enrollment meeting as soon as possible. This is Deng Xiaoping’s second decision on resuming the college entrance examination, which shows that there was still great resistance at that time.
In 1977, we resumed the college entrance examination before the Cultural Revolution, and unified the proposition, unified the examination and unified the admission scores in full accordance with the practices before the Cultural Revolution. Resume the college entrance examination and recruit new students, but at that time, our teaching plan was still aimed at workers, peasants and soldiers, and the teaching materials were all for college students of workers, peasants and soldiers. What should I do? I made a suggestion to the party organization, saying that we must immediately convene a conference on teaching work in colleges and universities to re-study and formulate new teaching plans and syllabuses, otherwise we will not be able to teach students who are recruited in a unified way. At that time, time was tight, so I proposed to report to the State Council immediately. The State Council also attached great importance to this meeting, saying that it would be very important. He arranged for us to have a meeting at Beidaihe the State Council Guest House, which was sealed as a "comfort zone" during the Cultural Revolution. We personally unsealed it and cleaned it.
▲ The picture shows Deng Xiaoping’s handwriting on August 18th, 1977 in the Instruction Report on Postponement of Enrollment and Freshmen’s Starting Time issued by the Ministry of Education. Figure/History of Oral Reform (I)
The meeting was to form the enrollment work plan and syllabus after the resumption of the college entrance examination. At that time, we were afraid that we could not control it and our opinions could not be unified, so we only informed 15 schools to participate, plus two educational research institutes of Beijing Normal University and Shanghai East China Normal University, with a total of 35 participants. The official meeting was held from August 12th to 18th, which started and ended on the same day as the 11th National Congress of the Party.
The meeting had a heated debate, but in the end, we unified our thoughts. To formulate a new syllabus, we must eliminate the "left-leaning" ideology and adhere to the "three basics" (referring to basic theory, basic knowledge and basic technology) and "four natures" (referring to scientificity, systematicness, integrity and rigor). Finally, we have formulated a satisfactory Meeting Minutes. On the day of the symposium, we took to the streets with the residents of Beidaihe Town to celebrate the successful conclusion of the 11th National Congress of the Party. The syllabus that was finally adopted has basically been used to this day.
If there is no college entrance examination, this group of people will be buried.
According to statistics, in 1977 and 1978, more than 600,000 students were enrolled. At that time, there were still 8.6 million educated youths in rural areas, and only a few lucky people were admitted to universities. These are the real outstanding people. In the 1980s, the school atmosphere was very good, not "you want me to study" but "I want to study by myself". People who didn’t cheat in exams consciously took exams and consciously studied, because it was very difficult to get the right to go to college, and they cherished this opportunity.
I think it is very remarkable to restore the unified college entrance examination in the contemporary era and benefit the future.
▲ The picture shows that in February 1978, the first batch of college students entered the university gate after the resumption of the college entrance examination. The picture shows the class of 1977 in Tsinghua University. Figure/History of Oral Reform (I)
The first meaning, although it is neither reform nor innovation, is that it is remarkable to overthrow the 16-character enrollment policy in that special situation without overthrowing the "two whatevers" and "two estimates".
The second significance is to save a large number of young intellectuals, most of whom have now become the pillars of the country and become the backbone of academia, politics, economics and business.
We have a first-class professor in Wuhan University and a famous mathematician named Li Guoping. His son is an educated youth. He is extremely happy to be hired as a barber in Wuhan, because there is no food and not enough to eat in the countryside, and he is extremely happy when he comes back as a barber. Later, he took the college entrance examination in 1978 and was admitted to the history department of Wuhan University. Now he is a famous historian.
I have a student named Xie Xiang. Later, she was the director and vice president of the reporter department of China Youth Daily, and she was also a class of 1977. After she returned to the city, she was a textile worker in Xiangfan. She was happy to be a female worker. Her mother asked her to take the college entrance examination, but she resolutely refused to take it: "I won’t take it. I am a working class." And she was going to mention the workshop director, and she didn’t even want to take the college entrance examination. Her mother personally ran to Xiangfan cotton mill and said, "You have to take the exam, or you have to take the exam. If you don’t take the exam, you won’t be my daughter." She was forced to take the exam, and finally she was admitted to the Chinese Department of Wu Da University. After graduation, she was assigned to China Youth Daily, and she was promoted to vice president.
If there is no college entrance examination, this group of people will be buried. Therefore, I joked that the resumption of the college entrance examination enrolled students of grades 1977, 1978 and 1979. They are talents who jumped out of the cracks in the stone and will certainly be able to take on great responsibilities in the future.
Thirdly, the resumption of the college entrance examination has made the social atmosphere and learning atmosphere look brand-new, which is of immeasurable significance and swept away the past "useless reading theory" and "unlucky teaching theory" At that time, many professors in our university sold their books as waste paper, thinking that it was impossible to teach in this life. Although my books have not been sold or burned, I’m ready to switch to carpentry. After the resumption of the college entrance examination, a number of students with high school and junior high school education have entered the university, and teachers cannot teach them without improving their teaching level. Therefore, the style of teaching and study has taken on a new look, teachers are running forward to and from work, and the lights in the laboratory are bright day and night. Everyone cherishes this hard-won good situation and throws off their arms to get back all the time delayed by the Gang of Four. That was such a state of mind at that time.
Therefore, without the "cultural revolution", we don’t know how seriously education was affected; Without putting things right, we don’t know how important it is to put things right. This is why I have such a strong complex for reform.
History of oral reform
Editor Chi Fulin
Guangdong Economic Publishing House, published in May 2019
This article is excerpted from History of Oral Reform (Volume I). In the form of oral history, the series selects interviews with more than 90 reform decision makers, well-known reform experts and grassroots practitioners in the process of reform and opening up, and objectively records the precious reform history in the 40 years of reform and opening up around more than 70 reform events.
The book is divided into three volumes, namely, ideological emancipation, rural reform, economic system reform, opening to the outside world, enterprise reform, urban reform, fiscal and taxation financial system reform, social and cultural system reform, administrative system reform and democracy and the rule of law. Show the brilliant achievements of reform and opening up with a unique perspective and narrative method.
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