True Love Like a Song: Memories of 1950s China

Author: Huang Xin Yuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-01
Features: Simplicity in the 1950s. Back then, there were few movie reels, and several units had to "run" for films. An usher, braving the cold wind, was cycling while "running." In the night, two middle school students called him, "Uncle, there's a woman sick here." A woman was squatting on the ground. The usher hesitated for a moment and made a "win-win" decision: carry the woman to the hospital himself while the students ran to deliver the film reels. Strangers to each other, the woman didn’t worry that a man would take her anywhere, and the usher didn’t worry that the students would fail to deliver the reels to the screening venue where thousands were waiting.
Cleanliness in the 1950s. Prostitution, gambling, and drug use were banned, and everyone paid attention to hygiene. Naturally, people's hearts were also pure.
Harmony in the 1950s. While the living standards were low, the quality of life was not. A few friends could organize a basketball team, name it, print it on the jerseys, and if you were confident enough in your skills, you could challenge professional teams. But this was not the only feature of the 1950s era. Those ten years saw a leap in economic development and the emergence of one construction miracle after another, enough to rival any period of the People's Republic. Those ten years cleared the ruins and laid a solid foundation. Those ten years, we were friendly with the "Soviet" big brother, but we strictly upheld the nation's dignity and independence. Those ten years, the prestige of the Communist Party was unprecedented. Without such prestige, none of those things could have been accomplished.