Black Camera - Walking Through Youth (A Reflection of the Fates of 100 Youth Laborers)

Author: He Ming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Zhao Liyuan
I will never be able to return to Beijing in this life. I hope my children will understand me when they grow up. After I die, if my ashes are sent back to Beijing to be buried with my parents, that will be enough to satisfy me.
Zhao Liyuan is a woman born in Beijing in 1952 and a 1968 graduate from Beijing No. 50 Middle School. When the movement to send urban youth to the countryside began, Zhao Liyuan, who was originally supposed to stay in Beijing, came to the Luoya Valley Production Brigade of Wanhua Mountain Commune in Yan'an County in early January 1969, following the request of a close friend, with a complex mix of emotions. Due to the poor water quality in the village, many local people suffered from serious illnesses. The relevant departments in Yan'an County transferred Zhao Liyuan to the Yanhe Production Brigade of Liulin Commune as a revolutionary youth who had served close to Chairman Mao. The following year, during a major adjustment of the youth workers, she was transferred again to the Liushuipo Brigade's Liushu Lane Production Team. Although she moved to three different villages in two years, the agricultural work she did remained largely unchanged. She always worked ahead of the women in the fields.
By the end of 1972, Yan'an County began recruiting workers. The head of the village thought she had adapted quickly to re-education and recommended her to become a worker first. However, her application was rejected within a few days of being submitted, and subsequent recruitment attempts also failed during the political review. She believed it was because of her strong personality and blunt speech, or perhaps because she had offended a village official, which led to her receiving several more years of re-education than others. The repeated failures in finding a job completely shattered her confidence, and she felt that fate had destined her to stay in the countryside for a long time.
To find some support, she made friends with Guo An, a youth worker from Yan'an, in the village. From then on, he helped her, cared for her, and protected her. She fell deeply in love with him and married Guo An in early 1974.
In early 1976, Zhao Liyuan was hospitalized due to illness. According to regulations, she should have been sent back to Beijing, but Guo An, to keep the family together, secretly dropped her approved relocation certificate for returning to Beijing at the Nanshi Police Station in Yan'an County. She did not return to Beijing and became a married urban unemployed youth, spending her days at home taking care of her children.
By the end of 1978, Yan'an County recruited workers again, and she was finally hired by the Comprehensive Company and assigned to the department store as a collective-owned salesperson. During this period, she worked diligently and was often recognized as an advanced worker. Soon after, she became the head of the department store.
In 1986, according to relevant regulations, all Beijing youth workers employed in collective-owned units were eligible to transfer to public-owned positions. However, the company leadership, citing the reason that collective units could not have public-owned employees, demanded she be transferred. While she was in a state of anxiety, she accidentally injured herself, resulting in a herniated disc and hospitalization. After recovering, her job had already been taken by someone else. Unable to find a position in a state-owned unit, she became unemployed once again.
Over the next decade, she had no job and no salary. She submitted countless written applications to various departments, requesting work to ensure a normal life, but to this day, she has received no resolution and no attention.
Zhao Liyuan said, "My husband has worked in Yanling County, over a hundred miles away from Yan'an, for many years and rarely comes home. He feels unbalanced because I have not earned any money for the past ten years. In the past two years, our marital relationship has faced a severe crisis. If he stops giving me living expenses, I will be unable to survive. Over the years, I have truly tasted what it feels like to be dependent on others."
She also said, "In this life, I will never be able to return to Beijing. I hope my children will understand me when they grow up. After I die, if my ashes are sent back to Beijing to be buried with my parents, that will be enough to satisfy me."
Interviewed on September 30, 1995, in Yan'an
Revised on May 2, 2006