Wang Xiaohui My Visual Diary Life in Germany for Fifteen Years

Author: Wang Xiaohui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: No flowers, no wedding dresses, no rings, no ceremonies, no guests or banquets, no well-wishes from friends, because no one knew, and no one could know. Only a crudely printed and flashy marriage certificate with a bright red background and golden double happiness characters, featuring photos of me and Yu Lin. Those were two young and naive faces, looking like siblings, smiling sweetly. This was all my memory of my only "big happy day" in life. The rest was the seemingly endless packing, because there was so much to bring. It was the night before I left for Germany to study in September 1986. In the early 1980s, opportunities to study abroad were much rarer than they are today, especially for obtaining government scholarships, which was even harder. When I was a sophomore at Tongji University in Shanghai, two classes in our architecture department each selected one student to study German in preparation for a selection a year later to send one student to the Vienna Academy of Arts. At that time, I and another student named Yu Lin from the other class were chosen, which was how we happened to meet. Yu Lin was called by the department head at the time a "rare and exceptionally talented" student, and later the academy's president also said, "A talent like him only appears once every seven or eight years." His design assignments and paintings were always displayed in the department corridor's showcase as examples for everyone to admire, naturally making his name quite well-known among his classmates. In my memory, he was tall and slim with a childlike face, always smiling, and his movements subtly exuded a kind of cleverness, as if he didn’t talk much. When students encountered difficulties in their studies, many of them were willing to seek his help. It was said that he was kind, modest, and happy to help others. Some designs would score much higher after just one of his revisions. I never went to him for help, but whenever I visited his classroom, I would always see classmates standing by his desk asking for his assistance. I felt he was nothing like some high-achieving students who were selfish and conservative. When I learned I had been selected to study German full-time, I was so happy that I gave all my textbooks to my classmates, determined to study German well to go abroad for my studies. Meanwhile, he continued to sit in his usual seat in his classroom, working on the "old class" assignments. This made me feel a bit ashamed and regretful, because I had been too reckless and hadn’t considered the possibility that something might go wrong and I wouldn’t be able to pursue my studies. We didn’t formally get to know each other until we started learning German. After studying for a few months, for some reason, the study-abroad spot was given to students from the foreign languages department. Since we were the "Class of 1977" students, who were the first to be admitted after the Cultural Revolution, and only six months younger than the "Class of 1978," and our German studies had been delayed by a full year, we were eager to catch up with the "Class of 1978" curriculum and graduate school exams. So, like scattered soldiers, we attended classes and studied in both grades, almost inseparable from each other. The older classmates who were more familiar with us would often make some friendly jokes about us, calling us a "golden boy and girl couple." But we were just clueless, always rushing to prepare for one exam after another. That year, I didn’t go to Vienna, but it brought me and Yu Lin together. We had such a happy and joyful time studying together. Because we were so busy, we didn’t have much time or leisure to "stroll under the flowers and moon" or "cherish each other tenderly." Instead, we were more like carefree children. To make up for the missing six months of classes, I had to painfully give up many of my hobbies, like watching movies, reading novels, sewing, and even the newly allowed ballroom dancing. The only things I didn’t want to give up were travel during holidays and activities with the student photography association, because I loved photography almost to the point of obsession. Back then, I would take many photos during holidays and spend whole nights in the darkroom developing and enlarging them. Without professional books or a teacher to guide me, I wasted a lot of film and photo paper. If I hadn’t wasted so much, perhaps I wouldn’t have what I have today. P3-P5