When Lei Fen finished his studies
in the senior primary school in 1956, a nationwide movement of agricultural
collectivization was surging forward like a spring tide, and the industrialization
of the country was being pushed forward on a large scale. Life with all its
richness was beckoning to every young person, and many took up jobs in industry
and agriculture after they left school. Like a fledgling bird Lei Feng was
anxious to try his wings, so he took a job as a messenger in the local authority
offices, dispatching letters and notices and helping to compile statistics,
charts, and forms. Whenever there was some work which he thought he could
do, he would always volunteer to do it, so everyone was pleased with his work
and attitude.
Later, at the age of seventeen,
Lei Feng was transferred to work in the party committee office of Wangzheng
county, where he began a new life. During the day he worked hard and in the
evening he attended a spare-time middle school run by the county government.
"The party has rescued me from the depths of misery and enabled me to lead
such a comfortable life," he often thought to himself. "How shall I repay
its kindness?" He provided the answer by the excellent way he worked-taking
good care of public property and making himself a driving force in the office
for the sale of government bonds. It was not surprising that his comrades
later cited him as a model worker.
Lei Feng worked under Zhang,
secretary of the county party committee, a friendly and kind man to whom he
became very attached.... Once, when he accompanied Zhang to a meeting, he
saw a screw lying on the road. Thinking it a useless thing, he kicked it away.
When Zhang turned round and saw what he had done, without saying a word he
bent down, picked it up and put it in his pocket. Lei Feng was surprised.
"What does a party secretary want with a screw?" he wondered. Several days
later Lei Feng was about to send a letter to an agricultural machinery plant
when Zhang handed him the screw and told him to send it to the workers there.
"Ours is a poor country," he said. "We have to work hard to build it
up. A screw is a small thing but a machine can't work if it is missing one.
Remember, drops of water go to make a stream and grains of rice fill a bin."
Lei Feng stared at the secretary with wide-open eyes. From that time
on he never squandered a single cent and deposited all his savings in the
bank....
In 195 8 Lei Feng had begun to
study Chairman Mao's writings regularly. He had made it a rule to study one
hour every morning and in the evenings up to ten or eleven o'clock. Every
spare moment at work in the coal yard of the Anshan Iron and Steel Company
he would study Mao's Selected Works. After joining the army he had managed
to complete volume three while boiling water for the amateur cultural troupe.
Then the army leadership called on the men to "study Chairman Mao's works,
follow his teachings, act in accordance with his instructions, and be his
good soldiers." Lei Feng took this call to heart and wrote it down on the
front covers of his copies of Chairman Mao's works. But where the authorities
had asked the men to "study Chairman Mao's works," he added "every day" so
that he would study them more diligently. Lei Feng's job as a driver often
took him to various places, but wherever he went he always carried a satchel
containing different essays by Chairman Mao, which he read at every opportunity.
Soon his comrades describes his satchel as a "mobile library."
About this time one of his comrades
grumbled, "There's so much work to do we haven't got enough time for out personal
affairs or even rest". Lei Feng did not agree, and to encourage himself to
work and study even harder he wrote this passage in his diary, which he remembered
from a book he had once read:
How do you put a screw into a
piece of wood which is perfectly smooth and has no holes? You use force and
screw it in. Then just as a screw has to be forced and screwed in, so when
you study you should bore firmly into the subject.
It was with this spirit that
Lei Feng was able to complete Chairman Mao's Selected Works, from volume one
to four. Among the many essays he read over and over were: "In Memory of Norman
Bethune," "Serve the People," "Carry the Revolution Through to the End," "On
Practice," and "On Contradiction." Some of the volumes were so worn that the
edges of the pages were tattered and frayed, but he still kept reading them
over and over again, and every time he read them he got something new out
of them. As he read the essays he marked them in all kinds of ways, with lines
and dots, with blue ink, and with red and blue pencil. He also made brief
notes interpreting various passages. Once he came to this passage in the essay
"Rectify the Party's Style of Work": "Every party member, every branch of
work, every statement, and every action must proceed from the interests of
the whole parry; it is absolutely prohibited to violate this principle." He
underlined this passage heavily with a red pencil and wrote in the margin:
"Take this to heart!".
Lei Feng found an inexhaustible
source of strength and wisdom in Chairman Mao's works, and he gradually came
to understand the meaning of life, of revolution, and of the laws of social
development. He learned how to treat one's enemy and one's comrades, and what
attitude one should take toward work. He felt he could see things more and
more clearly, that his vision of life was broadening, and that a big new world
was opening up before him.
Following the teachings of Chairman
Mao, Lei Feng gradually became a dedicated proletarian fighter. This is what
he wrote in his diary:
"After having studied volumes one, two, three, and four of the Selected Works, I feel most deeply that I know how to be a man and the purpose of my life... I think one should live to make others live better".
Lei Feng studied Chairman Mao's
works in three ways. He applied what he studied as he went along; he studied
and applied creatively; and he used Chairman Mao's teachings to remold his
ideology and guide his actions. Whenever he came across a difficult problem
in his life, he would immediately turn to Chairman Mao's works to draw strength
from them.
One day Lei Feng drove up to
the barracks with a truckful of grain and the comrades came out to help him
unload it. Among them was Old Wang who belonged to Lei Feng's squad and was
known for his great strength. He could carry a sack of grain weighing more
than two hundred catties and run falrly fast with it. As Lei Feng was small
and unable to carry such a heavy load, he and another comrade stayed on the
truck and passed the sacks down onto the shoulders of the rest of the men.
When Old Wang's turn camee, he leaned against the truck and teasingly said
to Lei Feng, "If you're a better man than I am, why don't you come down and
carry a sack?"
Lei Feng did not reply. Then
Old Wang added, "Ah, I knew all along that you didn't have the guts to compete
with me. Of course not -you're so small!".
"Stop trying to needle me," Lei
Feng replied calmly. "We need people to carry the sacks and we also need people
to hand them down from the truck. Let's see if you can carry as much as I
can move. How about that?" Lei Feng had not meant to challenge him, but his
pride had been hurt by Old Wang's cutting remarks about his size.
That night he reread the essay
"In Memory of Norman Bethune" by Chairman Mao until he camee to this passage:
"We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people".
When he read the passage, everything
seemed to fit into place and he began to see things in a new light. No longer
did he have a feel'ng of wounded pride or a brooding sense of grievance. "Although
I'm small, I'll do my best," he pledged, "to emulate Comrade Bethune's spirit
of utter devotion to others without any thought of self."
A few days later the men decided
to collect fodder in the mountains. Their plan was to set out after breakfast
and return in the early evening, taking their lunch with them. After breakfast
the thought suddenly crossed Old Wang's mind that it would be a nulsance taking
lunch with him, so he ate his quickly before they set off. As soon as they
were in the mountains the men set to work quickly and diligently, collecting
grass and hay. At noon they sat on the mountain slope in twos and threes and
began to cat their lunch. Lei Feng opened his lunch box and was about to eat
when he saw Old Wang sitting by himself w'thout any lunch. "He must have forgotten
it or lost it on the way," Lei Feng thought to himself. Offering his own lunch
he said, "Come on, take this." Old Wang looked at the lunch box, then at Lei
Feng, shook his head, and refused to accept it. "Take it," Lei Feng said as
he forced the lunch box into old Wang's hand. "You'll be able to work
better on it."
"If I take it, what are you going
to do?" said Old Wang, handing it back.
"My stomach is a bit upset and
I don't feel like cating," Lei Feng replied. Then he walked away pressing
his hand against his stomach as if it hurt.
Holding the lunch box in his
hand, Old Wang stared into space as Lei Feng slowly went away. Then he thought
to himself, "Imagine, I actually said he's a small fellow and can't do anything
big. I'm a big fellow all right, but I've never given my lunch away to anyone."
. . .
Because Lei Feng earnestly studied
Chairman Mao's writings, worked hard, remained loyal to the party and the
revolutionary cause, and because he made strict demands on himself, he was
given the honor of membership in the Chinese Communist Party on November 8,
1960. It was the greatest day in the twenty-two years of his life. With
gratitude he wrote this in his diary:
"November 8, 1960, I will never
forget this day. This is the day when I had the honor of being made a member
of the great Chinese Communist Party, thus realizing my highest ideal. Oh,
how thrilled my heart is! It is beating wildly with joy. How great the party
is! How great Chairman Mao is! Oh, Chairman Mao, it is you who have
given me a new lease on life! When I was struggling in the fiery pit of hell
and waiting for the dawn it was you who saved me, gave me food and clothing,
and sent me to school! I finished my studies in the senior primary school,
put on the red scarf, and then was given the honor of being admitted to the
Communist Youth League. I took part in the nation's industrial construction
and later becarne a soldier in the armed forces of the motherland. It was
under your constant care and guidance that I, a former poor orphan, became
a party member, a man with some knowledge and political consciousness.
Now that I have joined the party,
I have become stronger and my vision has broadened. I am a party member and
a servant of the copla. For the freedom, emancipation, and happiness of mankind
and the cause of the party and people, I am willing to climb the highest mountain
and cross the widest river, to go through fire and water. Even at the risk
of death I will remain forever loyal to the party..."
In Lei Feng's company there
was a man named Xiao jiao who had enlisted at the same time as he. Xiao never
complained about his work or drill, and his behavior was exemplary in every
way. His only flaw was that he lagged behind In his studies, being particularly
backward in arithmetic, which often gave him a headache. Gradually, however,
he became resigned to the situation, a fact which soon began to worry Lei
Feng. Once when Lei Feng was helping him with his arithmetic, Xiao said, "I've
had little education. I can't get the hang of all these things --addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division."
Trying to boost his confidence,
Lei Feng told him, "Nothing is too difficult if you have the will to do it.
Where there's a will, there's a way. To a revolutionary no difficulty is too
great to overcome." Later he got hold of a copy of an old newspaper which
carried a story describing Chairman Mao's concern for the education of soldiers.
Showing it to Xiao he said, "Look, here's a story written 'ust for you!"
"Just for me?" Xiao Jiao was
puzzled.
"Listen to how really concerned
Chairman Mao is about our studies!" Lei Feng said as he began to read the
story, explaining it bit by bit in the hope that this would encourage his
comrade. Xiao Jiao listened attentively, nodding his head from time to time.
When Lei Feng had finished it, Xiao decided on the spot to buy some pencils
and exercise books as soon as possible.
"You don't have to bother with
those things," said Lei Feng, handing him a fountain pen and an exercise book
which he had anticipated he would need.
Xiao Jiao was moved by Lei Feng's
generosity but hesitated to accept the gifts. "If you give those things
to me," he told Lei Feng, "what are you going to use?"
"Take them, I've got more," smiled
Lei Feng. "If you want to be a part of the modernized Liberation Army, you
must get an education."
Grateful to Lei Feng for his
help and encouraged by the interest he had shown in him, Xiao Jiao began to
study arithmetic with much more concentration and initiative. And whenever
he camee up against something he could not grasp, he would go to Lei Feng
and ask him to explain it. Checking up on his progress, Lei Feng asked him
a few days later to solve a number of arithmetical problems. Running his eye
over them Xiao Jiao was sure they were casy. Then he took out his pen and
got to work on them. A few minutes later he had answered all the questions
correctly. Lei Feng's eyes lit up. "You've made marvelous progress,"
he said with a broad smile.
"But without your help I wouldn't
have gotten anywhere," Xiao Jiao acknowledged....
(EBREY, Patricia (ed.), Chinese Civilization,
New York: The Free Press, 1993, pàgs. 442-446)
