Thunderous memories

Author: Liu Dong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: This is a great work that truly portrays the spiritual and emotional worlds of middle school students. It consists of 12 reportage short stories, which were published as leading articles in the magazine Children's Literature from 1998 to 2004 for a span of 7 years. Almost every story is accompanied by comments and analyses from the editor, delving into the ideological content and writing techniques of each piece. The titles of the short stories are all two-character long. Silence, Trembling, Long Skirt, Game, Solitary Journey, Dead Knot, House, Butterfly, Friend, Misfortune, Contract, Dismissal. Below each two-character title is a shocking and gripping real-life story, which is the result of the author interviewing dozens of young people in their early twenties over these seven years. They were asked to recall the most unforgettable and impactful events from their middle school days, events that had changed their lives and continued to resonate with them throughout their journey. From this valuable and extensive material, the author selected 12 extraordinary and typical stories of adolescence, writing them as a series of "interview novels," creating a new perspective and expression form within the genre of reportage literature. Due to the depth of its content and the uniqueness of its genre, this series caused a great sensation and attracted significant attention within the field of children's literature in China, especially among middle school readers. The Oral Record of Middle School Students—Echoing Memories compiles these 12 outstanding works under the title "The Oral Record of Middle School Students," releasing it as a book with a fresh face and new meaning. Especially under the current context where the Party Central Committee shows such care for the education of minors, the advantages of the book's content and genre are becoming increasingly prominent. The three elements of this book—growth, pain, and oral record—represent its positioning, connotation, and expression techniques.
Growth—The personal accounts are all from young people in their early twenties, not far removed from adolescence. Their restlessness, full of aspirations and confusion, is still palpable, making it easy for them to connect with middle school students in their early teens (the main readership of this work) without any barriers. At the same time, they have just completed a crucial transformation and, looking back, their wounds are still fresh, their memories vivid, and the lessons they've learned are significant. They provide references and lessons for growth. Therefore, this book is suitable for middle school students to read while reflecting on themselves, and it is even more suitable for thoughtful middle school students.
Pain—The connotative element of this book is "pain." However, we feel that the term "pain" may not be entirely fitting, as it cannot encompass the astonishing setbacks, heavy blows, eternal failures, and irreversible growth experiences during adolescence. If we call it pain, it must be "echoing pain"—buried deep in memory, sharp at the slightest touch, and lasting a lifetime. If we rate the connotation index, it would definitely be five stars for pain.
Oral Record—This is a different kind of oral record. The protagonists all use the first-person perspective, "I." It breaks away from the traditional model of documentary literature, which always tells others' stories from the outside, instead narrating the stories in the first person of the protagonists, hence "oral record." Yet, it differs from the old-style "oral record." Since the stories are told by "I," but are still creative works by the author, the author treats the real-life themes and material of the interviews as if writing a novel, making appropriate adjustments to the structure and characters, and adding a touch of fiction to make the plot more vivid, the characters more individualized, and the drama more intense, while also portraying the inner psychology of the characters in a profound and incisive way, bringing readers greater enjoyment and excitement. For example, the author adopts a very clever creative approach, including something like a creative note at the end of each work, which honestly tells the readers which parts of the story are fictional while also sharing the author's insights from the interviews and creative process. These notes not only serve as a guide but also respect the essence of documentary literature, uphold the principles of authenticity, and add a touch of brilliance, making the stories seem even more believable and enhancing the literary impact, achieving unexpected effects in the writing of "documentary literature."
The practical and social significance of this collection of works is self-evident. Many young readers wrote to the author and editors after reading this series, expressing their admiration and stating that they had gained precious insights and reflections on life, relationships, youth, and growth. The echoing memories of the twelve protagonists are, for them, events that have already occurred, but for the broader middle school readers, they are events that are happening or may happen. Their experiences and reflections provide real and fresh growth experiences for young readers. Currently, strengthening the ideological and moral education and quality education of adolescents, and improving their comprehensive qualities, have become a social consensus. However, how to improve the comprehensive qualities of minors and enhance their ideological and moral cultivation remains an unavoidable issue. Although Liu Dong is not an educator, as a writer, a responsible and mission-driven children's literature author, he has provided a literary and vivid interpretation of this topic in a unique way, which may also be one of the reasons why this work was recently selected as one of the hundred outstanding books recommended by the National Press and Publication Administration for adolescents to read during the summer vacation.
Story One: Silence
Lin Xi, a witty boy like a noisy frog, teased his classmate Lü Hao and his teacher Xiao Cai until his close friend Song Changwei died tragically due to Lin Xi's unreliable wit. This changed Lin Xi, turning him into a silent stone. The story tells how a growth setback can completely change a person.
Story Two: Trembling
A female student, who had never traveled far, took her first flight on an airplane but witnessed a scene she shouldn't have at the airport, casting a shadow over her heart and causing psychological issues. Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably, forcing her to stay home and receive treatment for a period. The process of healing her psychological trauma was truly "echoing," not because of the outcome but because she felt the growth during the treatment.
Story Three: Long Skirt
In a fashion vocational high school, three girls who thought of themselves as extraordinary took a classmate named Xiao Xiaofeng, who was somewhat awkward and timid, as an experiment to prove their own worth. They actually didn't like him but feigned friendliness. As he gradually became more outgoing under their "kindness" and even won a third prize in fashion design, he grew more confident and expressed his love for one of the girls. She, however, slapped him hard, revealing that they had been using him as an experiment. The result was that Xiao Xiaofeng nearly drowned in an incident during a swim.
Story Four: Game
A female middle school student, who felt deeply hurt by her parents' divorce, decided to play a game to get revenge on her father. She made her male classmate constantly call her father's house to find his new wife. Eventually, her father's second marriage failed due to this game. In this game, her father couldn't handle the repeated failures of divorce and died of illness. Only then did she realize the extent of the harm she had caused her father, but it was too late to undo it.
Story Five: Solitary Journey
A boy named Li Cheng's parents divorced, and he lived with his father, stepmother, and half-sibling Xiao Guo. His mother, who was seriously ill in another place, secretly gave him a huge sum of 100,000 yuan. Li Cheng guarded this secret joy but struggled with whether to use the money when Xiao Guo became seriously ill, torn between happiness and pain. Under the pressure of loneliness, his heart gradually matured, and he finally remembered to care for his mother, who had silently loved him. He embarked on a journey to Harbin, and miraculously, his mother did not die from her illness. This miracle brought Li Cheng immense comfort, and he grew up during his solitary journey.
Story Six: Dead Knot
This is a story about a high school student named Guo Peijun who, after struggling to attend a county high school from a poor rural background, was caught gambling with two men and a woman. Already feeling inferior, he fled the school on his own. During his escape, he worked at an entertainment city but ended up getting involved in a murder case. He finally returned home to visit his parents, only to find that his father had broken his leg after falling down a mountain. All these events taught him many lessons, and he eventually returned to school, surrendered himself, accepted punishment, and started a new life. (The meaning of the title is that in the process of growing up, one shouldn't cut the rope just because it's tied; instead, it should become a "dead knot.")
Story Seven: House
After his mother's death, Guo Kai was sent to live with his grandfather, and the family began to fight over the house, which made Guo Kai feel very uncomfortable. His uncles and aunts were unhappy about it, and while his grandfather was alive, the children fought over the house, making Guo Kai mature in the process. However, his grandfather never expressed an opinion on the matter. After his grandfather's death, everyone was surprised to learn that he had given the right to dispose of the house to Guo Kai, who was just turning 18. This unexpected decision made many people reflect. First, Guo Kai's father gave up his claim to the house, allowing Guo Kai to exercise his rights as an adult and leave the house to his sister, who was unhappily married with a child named Xiao Wen. Everyone was delighted, and throughout the process of handling the matter, Guo Kai experienced unprecedented joy in growth.
Story Eight: Butterfly
Middle school students make friends (same-sex friends), and sometimes it's not until something important happens that they realize their true interests and the kind of friends they should make. Butterfly tells just such a story. "I" was beaten up by some students from another school, and classmate Chen Zhen stepped in to help. Later, "I" and the sports star Chen Zhen became close friends, often exercising together, even playing mahjong and fighting. Although "I" realized that my interest lay in reading and novels rather than gambling or fighting, I endured it for the sake of friendship. But one day, Chen Zhen asked me to fight with him, and although I said nothing, I didn't go. As a result, Chen Zhen was injured, and our friendship broke. "I" then realized my true interests and the kind of friends I should have, but both of us had paid a price for this friendship.
Story Nine: Friend
This is a story about the friendship between three girls. Yang Ling was a disabled, divorced, timid, shy, and kind girl. Li Nan and Jia Min were very individualistic but also kind. For two or three years, they had been carrying Yang Ling to and from school. The three of them were very close friends. However, because a boy gave Yang Ling a song on a radio program called "Starlight Love," they met the radio host A Mei and were invited to do a program about how they had been carrying Yang Ling to school for years. Everything was smoothly prepared, but when Li Nan and Jia Min enthusiastically prepared for the program, they ignored Yang Ling's anxious and fearful emotions. On the day of the recording, Yang Ling's tension and fear reached their peak, and no matter what, the program couldn't be filmed. This event fundamentally destroyed their friendship. Although all three reflected on themselves, teenage friendships are so fragile that after Yang Ling transferred schools, the three of them never continued their friendship.
Story Ten: Misfortune
A girl was severely injured in a car accident. Fortunately, the driver, Deng Wenqing, was rich and treated her well, forcing her to withdraw from school for a year. During this time, she often went to dance halls and played electronic games with a girl named Jiang Zhongzhong, completely changing her former study habits. In fact, this car accident brought her true misfortune—she owed Jiang Zhongzhong 5,000 yuan and had to borrow from Deng Wenqing. Later, before taking the college entrance exam, she blackmailed her parents to give her the money. She grew in this matter and eventually realized her dream of entering university.
Story Eleven: Contract
Zhang Wei accidentally met a young man named Zou Ling in the county. Zou Ling liked Zhang Wei and actively pursued her. One day, he waited for Zhang Wei in a heavy rain and took her home, moving her deeply. From then on, they became friends. Zhang Wei's parents had passed away, and she lived with her grandmother, who was very poor. Zou Ling's father was a businessman with a wealthy family. Zou Ling helped Zhang Wei a lot, even willing to pay for her tuition. This made Zou Ling's grandmother very worried. Zhang Wei, with a pure heart, wrote a "helping agreement," promising to marry Zou Ling or return the money to him. Then, she focused on preparing for the college entrance exam. After the exam, Zhang Wei was bound by this contract, but Zou Ling gradually lost interest in her over time and eventually ended the relationship. Although Zhang Wei also failed the college entrance exam, both of them started new lives. Zhang Wei had attempted suicide but was afraid of death, and she eventually survived with strength.
Story Twelve: Dismissal
"I" was a famous class leader in my senior year, a bridge between teachers and students. Not only was I a good student but also very capable, admired by both teachers and classmates. Our class welcomed a new physics teacher named Cong Shuyuan, who was passionate and wanted to teach well to gain the approval of students and teachers. However, due to his lack of experience and inability to understand student psychology, his students' physics scores dropped, leading to their opposition. During a class observation, the students made things difficult for him, and he never taught them again. "I" recalled the scene and felt sorry for the teacher but also sighed at the students' lack of mercy.