Qian gang

It seems to be the first time to observe my nation, my compatriots and my planet from the perspective of disaster. This is cruel and brand-new. Such an amazing disaster, such a terrible catastrophe, such a huge death and sadness, I can no longer think with normal norms; Those beautiful and sad things, those kind and heartbreaking things, those hard and trembling things … all human qualities are inclusive.

This is my Tangshan.

This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

Temporary detention center

"Dadada! ……"

"Dadada! ……"

In the early morning of "7.28", a series of rapid gunfire echoed over the ruined Tangshan detention center for a long time.

Several soldiers who had just come out of the ruins were bleeding on their heads. A machine gun fired into the air. Nervous and harsh gunfire issued a series of harsh warnings. Ahead, the prisoners emerged from the collapsed cell and stood in a pile under the warning of gunshots before waking up from panic. At a loss, at a loss

The wall that pulled the power grid collapsed!

"Stop! Nobody moves! " The bleeding machine gunner roared, and his long-term military quality made him still loyal to his duties at this special moment, shouting over and over again: "No one is allowed to step out of the original fence and take the fallen power grid as the boundary!"

The heavily guarded detention center, which used to have two gates, has now become a piece of flat land. The iron gate was lying in the dust, the watchtower was smashed into a pile of rocks, and almost all of the more than 200 prisoners, guards and guards were crushed between the broken walls. There is no sound in the cell where the heavily armed criminals are held; Most of them were killed because of the inconvenience of movement. There was a lot of noise in the women's prison, and all the women prisoners were alive.

About one hundred people emerged from the ruins; Their horizons suddenly widened. At this moment, they looked at what they hadn't seen for a long time in amazement, but it was no longer the same: the shadowy coal mine derrick, the top of the Phoenix Mountain ... the familiar streets and houses were completely unrecognizable. Everywhere is black ruins, a mess, a desolate. If there is no sky where bullets roar, people will even think that the small world of the detention center surrounded by iron drums no longer exists. This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

"Don't cross the line!" The wounded sentry was still howling in the gunfire.

The prisoner who has not forgotten his identity stood trembling and did not dare to move a step. Outside the cordon, several guards are stumbling around, scrambling to pick and carry people.

From another world around the detention center, an increasingly strong cry for help was finally sent to this special world. Women's cries and children's cries, like foam waves, like an island where prisoners stand, surround the landing boundary.

There was a little commotion among the prisoners. Several people were whispering something, and then three people pushed me to the cordon. After the silence, a man finally got up the courage and shouted to the guard:

"Judge!"

The guard called the judge didn't hear the hoarse and trembling voice at all.

"Judge! ! "

Three people shouted together, which attracted attention.

"What are you doing? ! "

"Everyone recommended us, recommended us ... to ask, can, can you go out and save people ..."

The cries for help around are even more sad.

The guards and security forces immediately held emergency consultations. This is a special case, what else can be weighed? There are still so many people whose lives are still unknown, and saving people is overwhelming. And there is a powerful rescue team ahead. This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

The prisoners were divided into three groups.

"Listen!" The guard loudly announced the discipline: "If you go outside, you can only save people honestly. This is your chance to make up for it. Whoever wants to run will be suppressed on the spot! "

For the first time since they went to prison, the prisoners stepped on the fallen power grid.

This is a special rescue team supervised by bayonets.

The wounded soldiers are holding the wounded soldiers, and the wounded soldiers are struggling to save the lives of dying ordinary people on the ruins: first, the cadres and their families in the detention center; A little further away, people in small streets and alleys will be there. The prisoners, like all the rescuers on the ruins, are in a hurry. They seem to have forgotten their identity. Like all rescuers, they carefully carried out the injured child and helped out the unconscious old man. Whenever the bodies of the victims are pulled out, I can't help sighing. Very clear! They tried their best to pry, move and move. His hands were covered with blood, and his face was covered with sweat, rain and mud. You will also shout a tweeter when lifting heavy objects.

"quick! There are still people crying over there! "

"quick! Lift a door panel! " This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

"come on This old man is dying! "

Several prisoners gathered around Master Gao, the cook in the detention center, only to find Master Gao livid and seemingly dead. But they still held a glimmer of hope. A young prisoner arrested for theft gave him artificial respiration again and again until it was determined that Master Gao was dead. They found a towel to cover Master Gao and ran to a place where there was a cry for help.

Throughout the day, the rescue team under the bayonet never stopped. The prisoners work hard in silence, and people can only hear a few people talking occasionally:

"Worse than Haicheng!"

"Why is there no forecast?"

"Well, my family doesn't know how to ..."

In fact, bayonets can't control these prisoners scattered on the ruins, but the prisoners have not forgotten an invisible warning circle.

It was not until dark that the Tangshan Public Security Bureau prepared to escort the prisoners to other places that the guards found that three prisoners were missing. After saving the people around them, three prisoners risked their lives to go home to save their parents and sisters. Two of them took the initiative to surrender to the public security bureau and returned to the detention center after handling their homes. Another one is busy on the ruins of his house, and the motorcycle of the Public Security Bureau has arrived.

This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

Residential area for the blind

In that disastrous day, Tangshan was blind and deaf for a period of time. However, on the endless ruins, a strange blind team came. They grabbed each other's skirts, carrying worn-out huqin and sanxian on their shoulders, and their facial expressions seemed so calm and cold. Where are they from? Where are they going?

Someone recognized the drummer Zi Xisheng.

It is extremely difficult for the blind to save people in the ruins. Zisheng led them, followed the cry for help, lifted thick plastic plates one by one, touched the bodies of the injured people over and over again, and carried out the collapsed houses. In this rescue team for the blind, the only discerning person is the husband of a blind woman, who is a cripple and keeps shouting and pointing out directions to Zi Sheng and others. The more they dig, the more serious the situation becomes: so many bloody wounded, so many cold bodies! They groped, searched, and carried the injured healthy people down from the dormitory for the blind to the residence for the healthy people. ...

Blind people feel those disastrous days with hearing, touch and taste.

When they were ready to transport the body, they followed the suffocating smell from the wind and found the assembly point of the body. When they want to make a fire, they smell smoke in the air and find coal and firewood. The noisy noise took them to the center of the street and lined up to receive relief water and rice. The rumble of the engine of the air plane let them know that the medicine was being sprayed, so they stopped looking up and talking with their mouths open. They are extremely sensitive. Even when they eat in the disaster relief forces, more than one meter of porridge can make them immediately realize that the rescue forces are in trouble.

"No, no, we don't eat!" Zi Xisheng put down his work and said to an officer, "You are short of food!" "

"ah! Even if we don't eat, we can't make you hungry! "

Zixisheng was walking on the ruins when he stepped on something. "..." The long echo of strings. The sound immediately made the air on the ruins tremble.

Ah, that's it, that's his beloved Sanxian, his life.

An ancient string first trembled in the ruins.

This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

Under the scorching sun in August, their footprints were covered with ruins and ruins. On the shoulders, there are broken and cracked musical instruments pulled out of the ruins, wrapped with ropes and glued with tape, just like bloody bandages on their heads and arms. They are wearing shorts and vests, and some people even go barefoot. One by one, they grabbed one at the corner and walked on the road burned by the sun. There are no traces of sadness and melancholy on their faces. In this turbulent land, they seem so quiet and sober. ...

This is another decision made by Zixisheng: there is a great disaster from heaven, and people can't collapse. We should restore the propaganda team, sing songs and inspire Tangshan people to fight against earthquakes and provide disaster relief!

This scene seems unbelievable. Under the broken wall, next to the ruins of the body being cleaned up, in the groans of the wounded, suddenly, the musical instruments with inaccurate tones came. Perhaps, the music flowing from the blind seems more charming! The ruins echoed with magical melody. Whispering something, like a long and quiet airflow, silently penetrated this frightened land that had just escaped from the black disaster. People who are also listening silently seem to feel something in this melody. The power of tenderness? A force of wisdom? I can't tell you that it is a force that penetrates a bloody heart. Perhaps, the blind man, the string, itself is an extraordinary power. Everyone in Tangshan seems to have got something from this music, which has been integrated into a whole, because every heart is still alive, just like this melody. It is this living thing that allows these people who have suffered disasters to breathe and survive.

Zixi's desolate voice echoed on the black ruins for a long time:

It's 1976,

On July 28,

There was a strong earthquake,

The center of the earthquake is in Tangshan.

Many houses were destroyed by the earthquake,

Many people were crushed in the ruins.

..... This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

Anecdote of "Ark"

In the sea of disaster, people once imagined such a ship: after thousands of people in Qian Qian were swallowed up by the bad waves, it was still drifting in the waves and spinning in the whirlpool; It has become a common life support for some people, protecting these survivors from disasters. Is this the "Noah's Ark" that people often say?

This is a story about the Ark.

It is the most common type of earthquake-proof shed in Tangshan: four bamboo poles in front, four bamboo poles in back, two bamboo poles on top and a plastic sheet. The shed is ventilated on all sides. How many people live in this kind of shack in Tangshan in August?

It is also the most common "big family" in Tangshan: after the earthquake, 6 families lived together for 2 1 person. I drink porridge in the pot and sleep on the wooden floor. Old people, young people, women and men share joys and sorrows.

During the period after the earthquake, this "big family" was recognized as the "head of the family" and was a fat aunt. Because before the earthquake, her family lived in Room 5 of a dormitory building for cadres in the new city, people used to call her "Aunt Room 5" and her husband "Uncle Room 5".

"Aunt Wu" told me that she would never forget the night of "July 28": when several scarred dormitory survivors gathered in this shed in the wind and rain, the drafty shed became so warm. A driver with a family of four, a retired worker with a son and an unmarried daughter-in-law, a young worker with a sister-in-law who just lost his wife, two cadres and an orphan ... At that time, there was still a family that had not been rescued. People in shock are sighing softly around a small candle with flickering flames.

"Uncle Wu, will Tangshan really sink?"

"no!" This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

"Uncle Wu, what can we do?"

"Don't be afraid! Everyone is together and helps each other! "

Someone got some leftovers from somewhere and put them on a broken glass; Found another rusty screwdriver. You take a bite, I take a bite, and the glass plate is passed from one person to another.

No one fell asleep that night. In the distance, there are barking dogs, gunshots and red lights on fire. On the way, the fleeing people crowded out of the city, and only heard the chaotic footsteps mixed with crying, which made a whole night.

"Sit down, children! Nobody runs out! " The hot "five-room aunt" said to the children of each family: "Listen to the aunt!"

At that turbulent moment, "Aunt Five Rooms" became not only the children's, but also the backbone of everyone. At dawn, several able-bodied men were listening to her arrangement.

"You guys pick things on the ruins! ..... You go and find some slats to make a fire! ..... You go and find something to eat! ..... You, you go to the puddle behind the popsicle factory to get some water! "

This "big family" began an extraordinary life in an orderly way. People send rice, water and firewood to Aunt Five Rooms, and Aunt Five Rooms arranges meals for the whole family.

"Let's have porridge today!" This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

"One person eats a handful of peanuts today!"

"ah! It can be improved today! "

Uncle Wu actually picked up a ham, a dried salted duck, a basket of fresh eggs and several bottles of good wine from his own ruins.

"Aunt Wu" immediately made a decision: to serve wine to the big men who smashed the bodies; Duck and ham, cut into pieces and stir-fry; Eggs for frail retired workers and young workers suffering from dysentery.

But the young worker who lost his wife was crying.

The dead wife was pregnant for six months, and the scene of her being smashed to death was terrible. Young workers crouched beside the ruins, not eating or drinking, just crying. He said to his sister, "Brother can't live any longer! I want to go with your sister-in-law. You take your brother and go to grandma ... "

"Don't cry," Aunt Wu came to persuade him. "This is a natural disaster. You're not the only one. Everyone is in trouble. Please relax! We must hold on and live well! "

"Great aunt! What's the point of my living! She died miserably, miserably ... "

"I know. Let's go to her funeral tomorrow ... "

At that time, the feelings were ordinary and sincere, and the whole "big family" was moved by the cries of young workers.

On the day of burying his wife, Aunt Wu asked her two daughters to look after the body. She and Uncle Wu dug a hole together.

"Aunt," the young worker said in a hoarse voice, "she doesn't have shoes yet ..."

"I see," Aunt Wu said to the young woman worker when she saw her barefoot. "Don't worry, I'll get it right away!"

She took her daughter to the ruins and looked everywhere. I finally found a pair of semi-old women's leather shoes. She carefully put it on the female corpse herself.

Those days were bitter and warm. Every morning, the "five aunts" arranged the work to be done that day, then let the dolls collect firewood and let the young girls make a fire to cook. She arranged all the recipes: what the hard-working people eat and what the wounded eat, she planned them all.

Everything in the shed belongs to this big family. People share joys and sorrows. Eat a pot of rice and drink a pot of water evenly. Someone tore open his own sheets, and the driver's wife sewed three pairs of shorts with them and distributed them to naked women. This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

At night, when people trudge on the ruins, the first thing they see is the smoke column curling up in the kitchen. That is their home, that is their emotional sustenance. This shed is a warm whole. Whenever it rains, people who have the strength compete to go to the air outlet and the leaking place, leaving the dry place for the wounded. This shed is a pure whole again. People crowded into a bunk bed, drivers and couples in their thirties pulled up curtains, retired workers' sons and fiancé es lived together, and at night, women who were afraid of dead bodies urinated in the shed ... everything was as natural and normal as a family.

On the third day after the earthquake, someone heard someone knocking at the door under the ruins of the dormitory. As a result, the whole "big family" took urgent action to save the family wholeheartedly. The men took turns working on the ruins, and the "five-room aunt" prepared porridge, eggs and salt water for the survivors in the shed. When the little brother and sister who were crushed under the rubble were carried to the shed of the "big family", their eyes widened in surprise!

What an enviable family this is!

At that time, no one around Wuyi thought of the disintegration of this big family.

Things seem to start like this again: when people pick up their private property from the ruins, those private properties pile up higher and higher in front of their respective "bunks" and the emotional bond of unity begins to collapse. What is full of vitality is the tenacious "private" concept.

"This is my house!" This information is transferred from Qilu Language Network-/

"You are blind, this is my home!"

The "big family" is in chaos. People become so strange, so alienated. You will argue about a handful of salt, and you will argue about the collision on the floor. "My" and "My Family"; These words divided the atmosphere of the "big family" into pieces.

The "big family" finally disintegrated.

The bamboo poles supporting the "big family" were removed; Plastic sheets that have become so old after sun and rain are thrown aside; The first floor was also demolished and the stove was knocked down. However, the ruins left traces of a big family. A square flat land, the surrounding drainage ditch, kitchen waste ash, sawdust ... all belong to the traces of history and human life.

The survivors of the earthquake picked up their surviving belongings and left silently. They have lived here, but they can't live like this for long. Impossible, this has been ruthlessly proved by life. They left, but almost everyone cast an attached glance at the ruins of the "big family" from a distance.

Yes, they won't forget that there was once a "home" to avoid the wind and rain; There have been "instructions" that make people feel warm; There's the broken glass with the leftovers and the curling smoke column. ...

(1) from the people's liberation army literature and art No.3, 1986.