69年底的时候，全家随父母下放到郊区农村。离城里大概20-30里路。长途公共汽车通到公社（大约相当于现在的乡，镇）。但到住的小队（相当于现在的村）则需步行或坐船。我记得步行好像要20-30分钟。那时好像没有机动船，都是人工摇船。就像下图这样的。大一点的船可坐一二十人。当地百姓和领导摇着船就把一家人还有生活用具送到住的地方。

住的地方应该是当地百姓让出来的。烧饭用草灶，类似下图。燃料是储存的干稻草，要打一个草把才会烧得好，松散的草烧得太快，效果不好。用这样的灶烧菜，最好要两个人配合，一个烧火，一个炒菜。我们原来在舅外婆家就烧过这样的灶，所以我经常会自告奋勇去烧灶。

那年我在城里刚上初一，到了乡下就自己走路去镇上中学上学，也上初一。上什么课大多不记得了，肯定有语文数学之类的。印象最深的是英语课。我们在城里当时好像还没上英语课，什么都不知道。一开学上课，老师要求大家写26个字母，我没有任何概念，好像会写A和B，其他什么都不知道。还问同桌的同学C怎么写，他说就像半个月亮。我和他的这段对话令我印象特别深刻。我从小学到初中都算是功课比较好的，还没有什么上课不会的东西。这个英文字母C可能是我第一个课上不会的内容。

我在小学到中学这段时间里去农村生活过几次。学会了不少东西。摇船应该也是69-70年这段时间学会的。

印像我这次在农村待的时间不长，最多一个学期，后来就随舅外婆及表姐回城继续上学。父母和弟弟去了另外的地方。妈妈带了弟弟去了五七干校（弟弟还小，没有上学），爸爸去了一个果园，继续他们的再教育。

Living in the Countryside with my Parents

We moved to the countryside around the end of 1969. It was probably 20-30 Chinese Li (or about 10-15 kilometers) away from the city. There were a few long-distance bus lines to serve the public transportation to the town. But the only means of transportation from the town to where we lived (which was a farming village) was by foot or by man-powered boat. It would take 20-30 minutes of walk to the town. I don’t think there was any mechanized boat, there were all man-powered boats (see a similar picture below). The one in the picture is very small. Larger ones could carry 10-20 or so people. The village had someone helped us to row a boat that took our family with all the luggage (I am pretty sure it was very simple) to the house we would be living.

The house we lived in must have been loaned from some neighbors. The cooking was done in a typical farm house way, using a stove similar to the one shown in the picture below. The “fuel” was the dried rice stems. In general, you’d better “braid” the rice stems into some formation so it would burn more longer. Loose stems would have been burned too quickly, not very effective. It would be best to have two people cooperate when cooking using such a stove, one doing the fueling and the other cooking. We had such a stove in grandma’s house back in the city, I helped to feed the burning materials which were usually some paper or dried tree branches in the city. As such I’d often volunteer to help grandma to cook in our “new home.”

That was the year I just started junior high school. I’d walk to the school in town (20-30 minutes walk, I think.) I don’t remember the details of all the classes, there must be some math and reading classes. The one I remembered most was the English class. I started junior high in 1969 before moving to the countryside. We didn’t have English classes in the city, so I knew nothing about English. I remember the first day of class in the town middle school, the teacher asked students to write the 26 letters. I had no idea what they were. I could probably write a few. I remembered that I didn’t know how to write letter ‘C’! I had to ask my desk-mate how the letter should be written. He told me the letter would look like a crescent moon. I remember this conversation vividly, even now. I was a very good student in schools, from elementary to junior high. I didn’t think I had anything that I didn’t know from all the school work. This letter ‘C’ was probably the very first piece of school work that I didn’t know how to do.

I went to the countryside for a few times during my youth. I learned many things and techniques in those experiences. I think that was the time (1969-1970) when I learned how to row a farm boat, similar to the one in the above picture.

I don’t think we stayed very long in that village, maybe a semester. My cousin and I came back to the city to live with our grandma as we continued our schooling. My parents and my brother went to different places. My mom took my brother to a re-education farming camp. My brother was young and he probably hadn’t started any school yet. My dad went to a fruit orchid. Both were miles away from the city. They were continuing their re-education.