Memoirs of Growing up in China – A Story About My Sister’s Adventure on the Mountain//中国回忆录 --关于我姐姐的爬山历险记

Hi, Steemit friends. I hope you continue to enjoy reading my stories of growing up in China.
Stemmit的朋友们，你们好！我希望你们继续喜欢阅读有关我在中国的成长经历的故事。

In 1969, the relationship between China and Soviet Union worsened. The top leaders of the Chinese government were concerned that Soviet Union might use nuclear weapons on the big cities of China. As a protective measure, all cadres at the South West Bureau (the highest government administration bureau in South West of China) where my father worked were instructed to disperse among the big mountains in west Sichuan for several months. School age children could follow their parents to the mountains and continue their study in the temporary schools. While I was too young to join my father to the mountains, my two older sisters went with my father to Wen Chuan, the mountainous area in northwest of Sichuan.

My sister Xiaofeng was twelve and my sister Xiaoling was ten at that time. They were very happy and excited to travel to the mountainous area because it would be a new adventure for them. The most important thing is that they were able to relocate to the big mountains with all of their friends at school. Both my sisters went to the elementary school specifically for children whose parents worked for the South West Bureau. They had the same group of friends since they were in the kindergarten.

My Sisters Xiaofeng and Xiaoling in the summer of 1969. A photo taken at home in Chengdu.
我的两个姐姐小枫和小玲，1969年夏天在成都家里的留影。

Before the cadres and their children arrived in Wen Chuan, many makeshift houses were set up at the foothill outside the county government. When they arrive there, each household was assigned one room. During the weekdays, the grown-up were busy with their task, attending to different meetings, while the children went to the temporary school half-heartedly because they were in a new environment and they had no mood to sit in the class to listen to the teacher repeating political slogans. Sometimes the children got too restless and the teacher would dismiss them early. After the school, none of the children were supervised by grown-ups and they were expected to hang out together around the residential area or go back to their makeshift housing and do their homework quietly.

One day, the class was dismissed in late morning, my sister Xiaoling and several of her friends, children between ten years old to twelve years old were enticed by the tall mountain in front of them and decided to climb the mountain and explore new boundaries on their own without notifying any grow-ups. They climbed for about two to three hours and stopped in the middle of the mountain to join some locals who were working in their field attending the turnips. The children were hungry and thirsty and the locals offered them some fresh, watery and sweet turnips from their field. After their hunger and thirst were pacified, the children were running in the field, shouting and laughing, having the greatest time being free in the beautiful big mountain.

When they realized it was getting late, they started to go downhill. My sister Xiaoling wore a pair of shoes that had plastic bottoms and the road downhill underneath her feet was very slippery. At one point she could not stop herself and started tumbling down the mountain at full speed. Luckily for her, her rolling body was caught and stopped by a tree in the middle of the mountain. The other children were all scared and called out for help. The villagers who offered them the turnips were not far from them and came to Xiaoling’s rescue. The local villagers all carry a bamboo basket with a pointed bottom. The basket was used to transport things and the pointed bottom was used as a brake when the person carrying the basket needed to stop in the middle of the hilly road. One villager climbed down the hill and stopped several times on her way down by squatting down and the pointed basket worked as an effective brake. She managed to stop and reach out to Xiaoling. She pulled Xiaoling up and helped her climb back to safety. Xiaoling had a bleeding nose from the fall and she was crying while walking down the hill with her friends and the villagers. The woman villager held Xiaoling’s hand the whole time, but she had to sit down several times using the pointed bamboo basket as a brake because Xiaoling’s shoes with plastic bottom made it impossible to her to walk steadily and she could not help herself from running down. Eventually the woman villager became too exhausted and she had to yell out to a man villager to help Xiaoling. The children and the villagers arrived at the bottom of the hill safe and sound right before dark. My oldest sister Xiaofeng was overjoyed to see them. She had been waiting for them for hours. She was too scared to say anything to my father. She yelled Xiaoling’s name multiple times and when there was no answer, and when she saw it was getting dark, she was frightened and started to sob sitting on the steps at the bottom of the mountain.

My father and the parents of the other children were worried about the whereabouts of the children. They were asking around, not knowing that the children went up to the mountain on their own. When my sisters arrived at their dormitory, my father saw Xiaoling’s bleeding nose, and found out that she had an accident while coming down the mountain. Instead of comforting my traumatized sister, he asked her to stretch out her hand and he slapped her hand, which was his usual way to punish his children. He wanted to warn her to never go up to the mountains on her own.

If it was not for the tree in the middle of the mountain, Xiaoling might not have survived this outing. Although this story was uniquely my sister’s story, it is actually a typical story of how some children died from accidents because of lack of supervision from their parents during that time period. I personally know several families who lost their children to drowning in the rivers or reservoirs because their young children went swimming with friends without grown-ups supervision when they hardly knew how to swim.

I am very grateful that nothing serious and tragic happened to my sister from her experience of exploring the big mountains in Wen Chuan in 1969.

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中苏关系在1969年进一步恶化。中国政府的最高领导人担心苏联会在中国各大城市使用核武器。作为防备措施，我父亲所在的西南局（当时西南地区最高行政单位）得到指示将所有的干部都疏散到四川西部的大山里几个月。学龄儿童可以跟随父母疏散，可以在大山里临时学校继续上学。我因为当时年龄太小不能随我父亲去大山里，我的两个姐姐随着我父亲去了四川西北部的汶川山区。

我大姐小枫当时十二岁，我二姐小玲十岁。她们因为要去大山里开始新的生活而感到非常兴奋。更重要的是，她们可以和她们学校的朋友们一起搬到山里去住。我两个姐姐所上的小学是西南局子弟学校，她们的同学都是从上幼儿园时就一直在一起上学的孩子们。

在这些干部和他们的子女达到汶川前，县政府为他们在县城外山脚下一片空地里搭起了临时住房。到达后，每家人分配一，两间住房。在周日的白天，大人们都帮于干工作，参加各种会议，孩子们必须去“上学”，但在这个新环境里，他们都懒心无肠地在教室里听着老师不断地重复各种政治口号。有时候孩子们如果实在烦躁不安，老师会提前放学。放学后孩子们都没有大人照看，大人们要求家里的孩子们放学后在宿舍区一起玩耍或回到自己的房间里安静地做功课。

一天，老师提前下课，孩子们在早上就放学了。我二姐小玲和她的几个年龄在十岁至十二岁之间的朋友们被她们眼前的高山所吸引，决定去爬山，探索新的领域。在没有告知任何大人的情况下，孩子们就出发了。爬山两，三个小时后，她们都累了，停在半山腰看见当地的山民在他们的萝卜地里干活。孩子们又饿又渴。山民们给她们吃了地里的水分又多，又甜的新鲜萝卜。饥渴问题解决后孩子们在地里欢快的奔跑，高声喧闹，大笑，享受在美丽的大山里自由自在的感觉。

当孩子们意识到天色已经晚时，他们开始往山下走。我二姐小玲脚上穿了一双塑料底的鞋子，下山时走路很滑。走了一截路后她刹不住自己的脚，摔倒在地。摔到后整个身体全速往山下滚去。幸好她的身体被半山腰的一棵树给拦住了。其他孩子都吓坏了，他们高声呼救。给孩子们吃萝卜的几个山民离他们不远，他们主动过来帮助小玲。当地的山民们每人背上都背一个尖底的竹背篓，背篓可以装东西，背篓下的尖底可以当走山里时所需要的制动器（刹车）。其中一个山民爬下山，在途中她几次坐下来，背篼底部帮助她停稳，她伸手抓住了小玲，将她往山上拉，把她安置到安全的地方。小玲身体碰到树上时开始流鼻血，她和山民及她的朋友们往山下走时边走边哭。把她救上来的那个女山民一直拉着她的手，好几次必须坐下来稳住小玲，因为小玲的塑料底鞋子太滑，走一会儿她又止不住往山下跑。那个山民被弄得筋疲力尽，最后她只好叫一个男山民来帮小玲。孩子们和山民们在天刚要黑之前安全到达山脚。我大姐小枫看到他们破涕为笑。她已经在山口等了他们几个小时了。她因为害怕而不敢给我爸爸说小玲不见了。她不停地叫小玲的名字，一直没有得到回应。当她看到天马上就要黑了，心里非常害怕，独自一个人坐在山底的石台阶上哭。

我父亲及其他几个孩子的父母都在心急火燎地找孩子，他们在宿舍区四处打听，完全不知道几个孩子独自上山去了。当我的两个姐姐回到宿舍时，我父亲看到小玲脸上的鼻血，了解到她和其他几个朋友独自上山和小玲摔下山的事情后，他非但没有安慰受到很大惊吓的小玲，反而叫她把手伸出来，按照他惯用的管教孩子的方法，在小玲手上扇了一下，以此作为惩罚，告诫她以后再也不要独自上山去。

假如山上没有那棵树，小玲那天可能就没命了。虽然这个故事是关于我二姐的独特的故事，但这个故事却很有代表性。在那个年代因为没有父母的照看小孩子出事死亡的事情很普遍。我自己就知道好几家人在那个年代失去了自己的孩子。这几个孩子都是因为没有在大人的照看下独自和自己的小朋友一起去河里或水库里游泳而被淹死的。他们当时都不怎么会游泳。

我很庆幸1969年我二姐小玲去汶川的大山上探险时没有发生重大或悲剧性事故。