Zhang Langlang was born in Yan'an in November 1943. He graduated from the Art History and Art Theory Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1968.

He once served as a teacher in the Art History Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and an editor of the academy journal.

Later, he served as general manager of "International New Technology" magazine, vice chairman of "China Art Newspaper", and columnist of Hong Kong's "90s".

Published anthologies "From Hometown to the End of the World" and "Old Stories of Dayabao".

Currently a researcher at the Princeton China Society, he also teaches Chinese language and culture at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State.

? 1. In the 1970s, I heard that many people were living in thatched huts and under oil lamps across the country, full of ideals and full of profound thoughts.

I am writing, painting, singing, and dreaming about literature and art.

They are all idealists of all kinds, at different levels and under different circumstances.

People who are interested in literature are almost all this kind of people.

They ponder and create, trying to live out their lives and find meaning.

? Maybe they just missed the mark and inadvertently did a lot for the inheritance of Chinese literature and art.

? At that time, it seemed to be a culturally barren time on the surface, but their activities gradually formed a cultural undercurrent, intersecting and surging underground.

Therefore, it was only in the 1980s that there was such an epoch-making cultural group boom.

? Maybe because I like to write, I once organized a literary salon and talked freely after drinking and tea, so I went to jail at that time.

It can be regarded as an indirect "contribution" to cultural inheritance in that era.

Probably, as the old man Lu Xun said: If we can't sprout buds, can't we be the soil for geniuses to grow?

In those years, I was indeed at the bottom of the earth.

? At midnight at the beginning of the 1970s, like many young people, I stayed up late under an oil lamp.

However, most people are in rural areas and on farms.

And I was in a cell.

No matter how cold the room is usually, the stove must be on fire tonight.

Perhaps, this means things may turn around in the coming year.

You must have never seen the stove we have here.

This is an all-earth stove locally called "Sweeping Wind".

The "Sweeping Wind" does not have a furnace, a grate, or any other necessary metal accessories for a stove.

The entire stove is made of adobe.

With years of experience, local people know how to use the special structure inside the stove to create space, and there are also different vents at the bottom of the stove.

No bellows are used, the wind comes naturally, hence the name.

"Sweeping style" is a specialty of the local poor.

On New Year's Eve, the "sweeping wind" was powerful and the fire was red.

? That was in the prison in Raoyang County, Hebei Province.

?I have never been to this place before.

This is a county in the Hengshui Prefecture. It belongs to an old revolutionary area and was once one of the most active areas in the anti-Japanese war. The fellow villagers still remember the heroes like Lu Zhengcao and Cheng Zihua who showed their swords here.

We, a group of Beijing political prisoners, were sent here, as decided by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief’s No. 1 Order at that time.

At that time, the whole country and all the people were preparing for war.

? You have to prepare, so we Beijing prisoners were prepared to become Raoyang prisoners.

? At that time, our party's posture and mentality in dealing with the situation were exactly the same as when we defended Yan'an.

“Be prepared” is multifaceted.

It must include necessary preparations for cultural people who have problems in their minds.

When defending Yan'an, just prepare an ax for Wang Shiwei.

There are too many Wang Shiwei at this moment, and it is impossible to prepare all axes.

? As a result, groups of people like us were escorted out of Beijing.

Among these people who have something wrong with their minds are the "big and small Liu Mazi" Ying Ruocheng and his wife Wu Shiliang, Yang Bingsun, the concertmaster of the Central Orchestra, singers Liu Bingyi, Zheng Zuocheng, Wang Peng, etc.

Of course, this also includes unknown people like me and Lao Qi.

Putting these restless and unreliable guys in the old base will be beneficial to wartime management.

This region has a revolutionary tradition.

? Later, I heard a local veteran cadre tell me that during the war against Japan, their regular task at night was to "dig out nests," which meant to eliminate dissidents.

In the middle of the night, several young men from the county brigade went to someone's house, covered the eyes and gagged the target person, and pulled him out of the village.

His crime was announced, and then to save bullets, he processed it manually.

One time, they went to a certain village to look for a suspected traitor, but they took out his wife before they could find anything.

In order to fight against traitors, even if this wife is thrown into a dry well, their prestige will be destroyed.

Before throwing it into the dry well, the young people "touched" it with their hands.

Xiao Wang is short-sighted and rushes to touch it.

The other team members laughed and said, "Blind man, look clearly, that's your aunt!" Many people in those villages are related to each other.

Xiao Wang said: I don't care, what I touched was a traitor!

Everyone shouted in unison: We can do it, but you can't. Traitors are traitors, and we can't mess up the generations.

? Hearing this, I understand.

People here don’t care if people like us have experience.