My childhood was spent in the dormitory area of Guangzhou Paper Factory. I have three sisters. In that era when having more children and more daughters was considered a heroic mother, our number of sisters was relatively small. My father can be said to be a pioneer in the Guangzhou paper mill. In the early days of liberation, he worked in a Guangzhou paper mill.
At that time, each paper mill employee could be assigned a dormitory. There are single dormitories, group dormitories, and staff dormitories. Those with family members can be allocated larger houses. There are kindergartens, hospitals, canteens, elementary schools, football fields, basketball courts, clubs, and fully equipped living facilities within the dormitory area.
My family lives in Special C District, which is a two-story building with six rooms on one floor. There are several areas for staff dormitories such as A, B, C, D and so on. The area outside the factories and dormitories is farmland. There are grass seedlings, jasmine flowers, frangipani flowers, and fish ponds. Guangzhi Zidi Primary School has a large garden area next to the school building. Primary school students often go to the garden area to play games and hide-and-seek.
I went to kindergarten when I was a child, and the teacher who taught my class was named Aunt Zheng. She is now over eighty and still alive. Later, he attended Guangzhou Paper Mill Children's Primary School, and his first class teacher was Teacher Bi Fengyi.
Later, our family moved to District C, which was a row of eight houses with Soviet tile roofs. There is a yard in front of the house.
Dad laid a piece of wood across the branches of the big tree in the yard, and then tied two ropes. The ropes were tied to a wooden board, and he made a swing for us to use as a toy.
Sometimes my father would move two bridge stools, put a bed board on top, put two bricks on the bed board, and put a bamboo pole on the bricks. Think of it like a ping pong table. Play table tennis with us.
When summer comes, my father will take my brother or sister and me to the South Stone Pier for swimming on his bicycle. Dad often says: "You don't have to learn other sports, but you must learn swimming. You can save yourself and others' lives when necessary." Dad is our swimming coach.
After dinner, my father would usually move a bench and set up a chess set in the middle of the yard to wait for the scheduled workmates to play chess. Just like that, generals, chariots, horses, artillery, soldiers, elephants, and pawns were all in a melee, and it was difficult to distinguish them. I often watched the battles from the sidelines, and over time, I learned a little bit through my ears and eyes.
We go to bed on time at nine o'clock every night. The house we live in is not spacious, just a small room separated by wooden boards and a wooden bed. Under the bed were baskets of dried tree bark. That's for making fire for cooking. It is the bark peeled off from the raw material wood used in paper mills and distributed to employees.
Dad always tells us stories when we go to sleep. Journey to the West, Flowers Through the Looking Glass, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, 1001 Nights, Revenge of Mount Cristo, Robinson Crusoe, Seven Friends of the Snow Maiden, Sinbad the Navigator, etc. His stories are too numerous to mention. It goes on every night. On nights when he wasn't playing chess, he would let us move a canvas chair, sit in the middle of the yard and tell us stories. The neighbor's children were also sitting around, listening intently.
Every Sunday, as long as the weather is nice, my father will take one of us to ride a bike around the city, take us to get to know the streets in the city, or buy some gadgets to take home. At that time, the children in our dormitory area called the urban area (over Shangxiajiu and Beijing Road) Guangzhou. Where we live feels like a country place. Dad rides a bicycle made in England, made by Lai Li. At first, they bought us a children's car assembled with two wooden boards and two wheels. Later, we bought a 24-inch bicycle, which was a bit special because it used foot brakes. At that time, bicycles were considered high-end daily necessities.
We, born in the 50s, encountered national economic difficulties for three years after we were born. After that, we encountered the unprecedented proletarian cultural revolution. Material life is quite poor. When they were in primary school, most children didn't wear shoes, and they couldn't wear shoes until they were in middle school.
Went to school. When get out of class was about to end, we put the table tennis rackets behind our waists. When the bell rang, we rushed out of the classroom and grabbed the table tennis table. Everyone scores seven points, and whoever loses will be laid off. It's the next person's turn to fight.
After school, we would walk home hand in hand with the neighbor’s children. In the streets and alleys, we jumped rubber bands, jumped big ropes, jumped grids, grabbed stones... and had a great time.
During the winter vacation and summer vacation, we will be divided into study groups by class under the guidance of the teacher. Students work in study groups, finish their homework at a classmate's house, and then play together.
This is what happened in my childhood...
In childhood, our parents were our big friends, and the neighbor kids were our little friends. Our childhood is happy and our old age is happy. Because we are always surrounded by a group of friends who grew up together and relatives who care about us.