Diana Chen

The interview report to Liu Huannong

Today, we come to one village at the foot of Mount Zhu to interview a veteran cadre Liu Huannong. He used to be the Ministry of Police Station. Mr. Liu still send out remaining energy after retiring, participates in the contribution of the Hope Project actively, help to run the primary school in the village. On the way, the guide was saying to us constantly: "This is the primary school which Mr. Liu mobilizes the veteran cadre to contributes money in. It’s the best house in the village. ""This is a family of a student who continue his education by Mr. Liu’s subsidy. " A short while later, we reached Mr. Liu's home. We got off the car and entered. The one that heave in sight is the scene of the Chinese countryside courtyard: the red tiles and white wall, planting several kinds of vegetables in the courtyard, several kinds of wild flowers, give somebody the feelings of safe and being indifferent to fame or gain. Entering the room, we really got a surprise——Chinese painting and calligraphy works are fully stuck on the wall*It is joyful to find out that the life of the Lius is very happy and pleased. After everybody had sat down, interviewing begins. Mr. Liu did and self-introduction to us first . Mr. Liu: My name is Liu Huannong, which means calling peasants to make revolution. I am 83 years old, the same age as Chinese Communist Party. In these 83 years, I experienced the flames of war. We can say, my childhood is the period living in hunger and cold , My youth is the period full of the flames of war, my middle age is the period full of full of frustrations, and now, the days in my old age, is comfortable. In this period, however, we can't forget the past. Lenin has said, forgetting means betraying . Q: Can you talk about your general idea of the Opium War first? Mr. Liu: Told from the past story, the ancient civilized country, China, begin to be invaded by the capitalist country Britain 160 years ago. The first step of foray is to preach, wearing the coat of the religion to plot other things. The second step is to engage in trade, exporting the opium into China. The third step, is the war. 300 years ago, the Britain has build the capitalism, and intend to invade other countries. But Qing government is so corrupt at that time. After the Opium War broke out, Lin Zexu has did very well in Guangzhou, but Qing government send him away. After that, the government began to negotiate. In 1842, the government signed
, giving Hong Kong to Britain. From then on, China was forced to signed more than 1100 unequal treaties! What I realized most deeply, is that dropping behind means getting beaten. The western countries is capitalism already and China’s still feudalism, it’s simple that China’s going to be invaded. So now , we must develop the productivity and make the country stronger and stronger! Q: You mentioned Lin Zexu just now, then what little story can you tell us about him? Mr. Liu: After Lin Zexu was degraded, he came to Xi'an. At that time Xi’an is going to build a forest of Steles, so the people in Xi’an let Lin Zexu inscribe the name of the forest in a stele. Lin Zexu has removed left-falling stroke of " tablet " word. He says, the left-falling stroke is like a knife, the knife is for killing, so we must take this knife away. At that time, the knife for killing, referred to the Qing Government. It is obvious that at that time, Lin Zexu had already realized that if you want to save China, you must ** the Qing Government! Put down Yet there is a piece of wisdom of Lin Zexu's. At that time, Lin Zexu's son was a small officer in the capital.In the letter given to his son,Lin Zexu said: You can not do the job of officer, but you must do a real human. That is to say, you must has a clear conscience. Now, Communist Party has appeard , and the Chinese people have stand up, so the tragedies like the Opium War will never appear again. Mao Zedong has let Chinese people stand up, Deng Xiaoping has made Chinese people rich, Jiang Zemin has got China stronger. China has stands up, and the future of China is hopeful. I am full of confidence in the future of China! (Talking about this, the old man laughed happily) Q: China has got prosperous now, but we can't forget the past. Can you tell us what the Opium War has affected your family? (Hearing this question, Mrs. Liu can't help inserting several sentences) Mrs. Liu: I remembered that when I lived in my grandmother’s, one household of my neighbour’s smoke opium. The more he smoked, the poorer he was. The poorer, the less he could afford to smoke. As he had become addicted to the opium, he couldn’t stop. If he stop smoking, he would be not able to stop dropping tears and snivel. This man is thin and looks yellow, just like a stick. Finally, he died in this way! The Britain’s purpose is to poison Chinese people. To sell opium is a matter that can kill two birds with one stone: making money and getting Chinese to lose their fighting capacity. Robbing bullion and silver by the treaty makes China, the agriculture country, become poorer and poorer. The poorer, the easier it is to invade. So one after another, the western countries come over to invade China, forcing China to sign the unequal treated unconditionally. I lost tears when I saw the materials! (Tears appeared in Mrs. Liu‘s eyes and her voice begins to be hoarse) We can do nothing! China hadn’t his own industries at that time. If there’s no Communism Party and Chairman Mao, otherwise China will really become colony! Mr. Liu: Come back to the opium. I remembered that until my teens, the teacher in the village was still smoking the opium. Smoking opium is still very much general at that time. In those years, if you need to ask the teacher to do something, you must give him opium to eat and wine to drink first. I couldn’t bear it in my childhood so I decided to study. I needn’t ask him to do anything afterwards! The opium had **give a harmthe Chinese people very cruelly. So we can't forget the past. The saying "the asia patient****“ is related to the opium. Before and after the Opium War, the opium has really poisoned Chinese people. …… Q: The opium caused so great injury to people so that certainly evoked popular indignation at that time! Then when the Opium War broke out, did the Chinese people support? Mr. Liu: Of course! An important reason for which Lin Zexu can keep out foreign country for such a long time is that Guangdong People supports him very much. So, the ** support the Opium War (1840-1842) very much, but Qing Government is too corrupt and incompetent. They only want to surrender wholeheartedly. Q: Qing Government didn’t resistance, but Chinese people had resisted initiatively. The famous example is Sanyuanli War against Britain. Thus, the ****’s strength is very great. But why didn’t the fights succeed? Mr. Liu: The people lacked the political party to lead at that time. Without leader of political party, only **** cannot succeed. If there was a political party that could really lead Chinese people's war at that time, perhaps the history of China will be rewritten. Q: What’s your view on the ? has cede Hong Kong to Britain, but Hong Kong has already **return now. what’s your feeling? Mr. Liu: Our civilization of 5,000 years were developing well in the past; While reaching the Qing Dynasty, the government was corrupt and incompetent, closes the country to international intercourse, so Great Britain soldiers take the chance to invade China. Where the soldiers came, where was robbed. Apart from plundering the money and valuables, they even cede territory to be the king. It is a large humiliation for China to cede Hong Kong to Britain! Since 1842 to 7 years ago, Hong Kong had been away from homeland for 100 years! Hong Kong’s **proves that China is stronger! So we must develop the productivity and make the country stronger and stronger! Q: As we all know, From the Opium War on, China turns from prosperity to declines. It is the ***of China's history. However, If the Opium War didn’t happen, the Qing Government will go on closing the country to international intercourse and will not develop capitalism, China cannot know the world either. Perhaps China will fall behind the world for more years. What views do you have to the Opium War? Mr. Liu: If the Opium War didn’t happen, the other countries will come, too. This is an law of historical development. Besides, the Chinese people are oppressed and exploited for a long time, they will finally resist the government, like Sun Zhongshan etc. As to the time, the U.S.A., set up the capitalist country only more than 200 years ago; Japan had just became strong during the War *; So it’s hard to say the effect on time. In a word, since the corruption of the Qing Government has already revealed out, it will be overthrown sooner or later. The Opium War is the existence of history, is the great turning point of China. We must remember the history firmly. Q: The Opium War is far from us, but its influence still exists so far. However, people now just treat it with the kind of attitude towards remote historical story, but not the bloody fact beside ourselves. The Opium War just exists as a kind of knowledge now, few people really feel bitter to this. In the face of people’s thinner and thinner historical idea, what realistic meanings do you think the Opium War has now? Mr. Liu: The Opium War is far from us now, but it still has great education meaning to us. Lagging behind means to be attacked, is the deepest historical lesson that we draw from it. In addition, though the Opium War had passed for many years, but up to now, its influence still exists. The Hong Kong issue comes from the Opium War. Now, Hong Kong has been back, but the Britain still wants to make it their colony again. On the other hand, Britain provokes the Opium War to exports the opium to China in a large amount, making the Chinese **greatly. Now the severe situation of banning drugs in China is also partially caused of the Opium War. Of course, the banning drugs work of China has been already more and more perfect, we believe, this kind of situation will not exist for a long time. In a word, as the beginning of China's modern history, the Opium War not only has great historic significance, but also is influencing nowadays world. We must remember this history firmly, and not forget national humiliation! The interview is over, but we are still immersed in the emotion of reviewing historical vicissitudes. After a long time, we stood up, reluctantly left this pleasant farmer’s garden. …… If you fall behind others, you will be beaten

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