Peking University, December 6, 2018: People’s Daily has been covering news on PKU for years. To look back on PKU’s changes and development over the past 40 years since China’s reform and opening-up, we selected some pieces from those news items. Here is one covering students’ reflections on their winter vacation social practice, originally published in People’s Daily on February 20, 1978:
A clearer picture of both the society and myself
Tan Jun, member of PKU Youth League, reflects that he has exposed his romanticism to the society through his winter vacation social practice. He and several other “lecturers” from PKU went to the rural areas of Beijing and observed impressive progress in improving the farmers’ living conditions. Through their interaction with local farmers, students became aware that most of them are too immersed in campus life to grasp a true sense of the life of the general public. Without first-hand experience in China’s reform and the ten-year domestic chaos, they have yet developed a vision to recognize the preciousness of the contemporary peace.
No more juvenile daydreaming
Wang Lishi, a student from the Department of Philosophy, acknowledges that he has abandoned much juvenile daydreaming thanks to the social practice activity during winter vacation. In the past, he often blamed politicians and his senior relatives for their conservatism in obstructing university students’ demonstration for greater social change. Now, however, Wang has changed his ideas. He came to realize that essentially, this is a question of “should or should not” rather than “can or cannot”. The university students’ ideas, novel as they may be, are often too airy. The only responsibility that a university student shoulders is to study: acquire professional knowledge, study the thoughts of the world’s greatest thinkers, and understand the society. In the winter vacation, Wang also proposed that the local education bureau at his hometown should provide a scheme for undergraduates to have a chance to help rural middle school students with their homework. Although it remains far from mature, the proposal has managed to arrest attention of the local government considering its potential good of improving rural education and informing undergraduates more about China’s realities.
Pragmatic method alloyed with scientific attitude
Wang Qiang, from the Department of Economics, went to Guangxi Province in winter vacation. He noticed that the policy formulated by the central government turned out pretty much in line with reality. In his view, the central government has shown its economics acumen regarding the principle that reform proceeds by steps, not by leaps. Xiong Bo, a chemistry student who went to Taiyuan City, said that he learned from local intellectuals that knowledge shows no value without an integration into practice.
Written by: Wang Xi
Edited by: Huang Yadan, Xu Liangdi
