I would like to dedicate this document to my sister who is celebrating her eightieth birthday
My sister’s nickname is Dongdong. She was born in the winter of December 1940. She was the first child of her parents. Her father is 21 years old and her mother is 17. The whole family is very happy because she was born in winter and her father named her Dongdong. The baby name is quite nice and easy to pronounce.
My grandfather’s name is Tao Gengyin, and my grandma, Mrs. Tao Liu, only has two children, one is my aunt Tao Xiuying, and the other is my father. My father is an only son and has only one sister. Happy to have a granddaughter, my sister Dongdong is loved by my grandparents, grandparents and parents. It is said that my grandparents gave me a lot of eggs, rice, noodles, rocking nests and other things.
Sister Dongdong has been very beautiful since she was a child. Her oval face and big black and white eyes are very cute. When she was about ten years old, she became even more graceful, especially the two long hairs on the back of her head, which were deeply loved by her grandma and praised by her neighbors.
In the past, Gyoto Island was a large market for timber trade. The wharves along the Yangtze River were filled with wooden logs. The logs even fell into the middle of the river one by one, and a lot of wood was piled up on the shore.
At that time, the people of Yingyingzhou burned stoves to cook, and the women and children brought shovels to chop tree bark to make firewood. Sister Dongdong was taken to the riverside by her grandmother and mother to cut tree bark since she was a child.
The bark carries water. She seems to have gone to school a few years later than my brother, which may be due to the preference for boys over girls. It seems that Sister Dongdong entered the first grade of primary school when she was more than 12 years old in 1953. At that time, my brother was already wearing a red scarf in school, but Sister was still very happy. Bi Jin went to school and met classmates such as Xiang Ye Xiefen and Xu Liuying. They are all female students in the first grade of elementary school in their teens. The primary school is called Guadi Primary School, which was converted from a Catholic church. It is not far from my home and is a ten-minute walk away. The teachers include Xiao Zhongcai (from Mianyang), Teacher Gu, Teacher Zhu, and Shu Bangying.
In 1958, my father’s employer, Wuhan National Cotton Factory No. 1, was recruiting workers. My father asked Sister Dongdong to join the work. At that time, Sister Dongdong was over 17 years old and had dropped out of school in fifth grade but not yet 18 years old to work as an apprentice. , and at the same time, his father also introduced Wang Changhong and other neighbors to work in the No. 1 National Cotton Factory.
My sister’s job at the No. 1 National Cotton Factory seems to be a spinning tour. She walks dozens of kilometers every day watching the production of looms, and she works three shifts in the morning, noon and evening. It is very tiring and hard. .
My home is at No. 24 Guati Back Street, Yingyingzhou, Hanyang District (later changed to No. 55 Guati Main Street). It is more than ten miles away from the No. 1 National Cotton Factory. There were no buses at that time. Sister Dongdong You can only go to work from home and walk along Guadi Shiban Old Street, passing through Yangsi Street, Qianlong Street, Xianzheng Street, Xima Chang Street and Qingchuan Street for an hour and a half to work.
Later, there was a No. 24 bus on the embankment, but it could not reach Qingchuan Street. Later, it was inconvenient to get a No. 6 bus, so I still had to walk to work. Thirty years of Lu Yunhe Yue, Feng And rain, and thunder and snow!
In order to prevent oversleeping and being late, the family bought a wind-up alarm clock. My sister must set the alarm clock in advance before going to bed. Sometimes during the day, my sister went to bed after working the night shift, and some of our younger siblings were fooling around so much that she couldn't sleep. She was so upset that she beat the wooden house on the bed. When we heard this, we knew we were wrong and quickly calmed down so that her sister could be quiet. environment to sleep.
Only my sister who has experienced it firsthand knows how harmful working three shifts is to my body and family life!
In the early summer of 1989, my sister suddenly came to my office at Wuhan Bus Factory and said that she had retired. I was sincerely happy. After thirty years of service and thirty years of hard work, sister, you have worked so hard. , wishing her to get rid of the hard days of working in three shifts! ! !
In December 2020, it was my sister Dongdong’s 80th birthday. I discussed with Y Yamei not to do birthday celebrations, but just to make her happy in her hard-working life. I asked sister Yaya to book the program. , I bought more than ten crabs at the Yellow Crane Tower Liquor, and I happily spent the whole morning with my sister's children.
I wish my sister happiness in her future life from the bottom of my heart!