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【纽约时报】高考：1977
www.nytimes.com : 1977 Exam Opened Escape Route Into China’s Elite - New York Times
译者： Wide-Bridge 2011年06月07日 22:48 原作者： DAVID LAGUE

回到1977年的那场高考，它改变了个人也改变了中国的命运
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2008年1月6日的范蒿仪（左）；1976年（右）：如今事业有成的他正是源自那场高考


北京消息 --- 1977年的秋季，经过文革十年之久的动乱之后，中国恢复了相对平静，像数百万来自城市的其他年轻人一样，安平正在被发配的农村田野里劳作，向贫下中农学习。


两年来，将军的后代安小姐在远离北京的某个公社养猪喂鸡，照料田里的庄稼，她住在没有暖气的宿舍里，而且经常食不果腹。


虽然毛泽东早在一年前已经去世，借用其名义操纵文化大革命的激进分子‘四人帮’也被关押，但几乎没有任何迹象显示，安小姐同其他“上山下乡”的城市知识青年将被允许返回城市。


“我第一次感受到活在这世上不值，”当时年仅19岁的安女士说。“如果你要我继续这样活下去，我还宁可去死。”


然后，时间到了1977年10月下旬，村干部转达了中国将举行自1965年以来第一次全国性大学入学考试的消息，此前不久学术追求还是政治斗争的牺牲品。鉴于十年机会的错失，参加考试者的年龄被放宽到介于13至37岁之间。


对于像安女士那整整一代被发配到农村的人来说，这是第一次让他们有机会可以脱离形同无期徒刑的枯燥艰辛生活。此刻压抑已久的才能与抱负似大坝决堤得到释放，570万人于1977年11、12两月参加了为期两天的高考，这可能已经成为中国现代史上竞争最激烈入学考试。


参试者的录取率为4.7%，大约27.3万人进入大学课堂，同时这77届的大学生被广泛认为是最出类拔萃的。相比之下，由于受益于教育机会大拓展，2007年有九百万应试者参加高考，录取率上升到58%。


三十年之后的今天，智慧与毅力的强强联手已经使该精英集团中不少人成为政治、教育、艺术、商业等领域的领军人物。去年十月，当年被北京大学录取研习法律和经济的李克强被接纳进中共中央决策机构担任政治局常委，他被外界看作是胡锦涛主席或温家宝总理的热门继任者。


“那是非常聪明的一群，对此他们自己也心知肚明，”基地在香港的《中国劳工通讯》研究部主任罗宾·蒙罗回忆道。1978年，当这群新生报到时，罗宾·蒙罗是来北京大学学习的英国交换生。


“他们是10年以来首批被大学择优录取的学生，因此前途无量。”


然而，在当时的1977年，为可能改变他们人生轨迹而备考的时间只有令人几乎绝望的数星期。掐指一算，这些与学校多年无缘的年轻人感到格外得沮丧。那时举国上下，学生们都在到处苦苦搜寻各类教科书，联系曾经教过他们的老师，紧张地背诵几乎忘得一干二净的公式。


目前，安女士正在纽约为一家名为Committee of 100的中美倡议团体工作，担任公共关系部主任。她当时通过夸大背部伤痛骗取了一个月的病假用于潜心复习。


她说，“我必须成功。”


考试不仅检验他们各门学科的水准，而且也考察学生的政治正确性。

文学教授韩西冥近照（左）；1983年，戴眼镜的韩与妹妹在一起（右）



韩西冥现年50岁，目前是南京审计学院的中文系教授。她说，由于自己在江苏省的农村认真学习过官方报纸刊登的党的路线方针，她对政治试题已经有了充分准备。


多年来，各类报纸充斥着对邓小平的批判文章。“这是一个大话题，”她说。“说句老实话，我当时根本不知道为什么邓小平有那么坏。”


实际上，正是由于共产党老将邓小平在四人帮倒台后重新回到北京的权力舞台，才导致了高考制度的恢复和对实用主义的重视，而后者将很快点燃中国数十年经济的爆炸性增长。


这批人中进入权力高层的除了李克强之外，还有湖南省省长周强，外交部党组书记、前驻日本大使王毅，亚洲开发银行副行长金立群。


在77届的学生中，艺术人才也层出不穷，有《大红灯笼高高挂》的导演张艺谋，《霸王别姬》的导演陈凯歌，还有作家陈村等。


“不谦虚地说，这是人才辈出的一代，”50岁的范蒿仪说。他当时获得机会进入北京外国语学院（现在的北京外国语大学）学习法语，这为他以后进入非洲和欧洲拓展生意打下了基础。 “我们都是带着一股子劲儿在读书。”


许多幸运的考生都说，他们当时就感到得到了一次极其宝贵的机会，下决心要充分利用一下。“我们虽然有天赋，但却也非常用功，”文学教授韩女士说。


然而，当时并不是每个人都抓住了机会参加高考。


在多年目睹了特权与机会为高官子弟和出身背景被认同的人员保留之后，许多有条件的考生对考试是否会公平仍持怀疑态度。也有人无法割舍眼前虽然琐碎但有保障的工作而放弃高考。


对于安小姐，渴望逃离农村生活的信念引诱她明知山有虎偏向虎山行。当时农民与学生之间的关系极其复杂，她担心如果自己通不过考试而被迫重新回到农村，遭到去干最脏最累活儿的惩罚。


“他们并不欢迎我们，因为他们不得不把土地让出一部分给我们，”她说。“但同时，如果我们急着要跳出去，他们又会觉得我们瞧不起他们。”


李西岳已经成为当地生产队的一员，干农活非常辛苦，他发现自己无法想象未来的出路。“当我被送往农村时，这项政策已经实施了十年，”50岁的李先生回忆道。通过高考，他为自己在广西大学赢得了一席之地，后来又成为一名作家兼大学讲师。他说，当时的人们认为，农村的艰苦劳动“是正常的”，而“上大学是不正常的。”


尽管如此，他也会在空闲时找时间学习。“问题是，找到有帮助的资料相当困难，”他说。“我甚至会去阅读农用设备包装纸上的文字。”


当高考时间来临时，有些人竟然无法向公社请假。


韩女士被允许回家复习迎考，但是，当她听说自己在某次公社会议上被批评为了追求个人野心而牺牲革命理想时，不禁魂飞魄散。


“我急急忙忙跑回生产队，但我父亲发怒了，他把我拽回了家，”她说。“他不准我与他们有进一步的接触。”


安女士说，她曾经在中学学过法语，但课堂受到政治的冲击，而且时常被军训或下工厂工作所打断。由于信心不足，她去看望了以前的老师，后者让她放心，考官不会提出过于复杂的问题。


不过，这位老师预言，可能会问她为什么想学习法语，同时建议她回答为了服务于革命。


“他们果然向我提了那个问题，”安女士说。最后，她被北京语言学院录取了（该校现为北京语言文化大学），后她又前往法国巴黎的索邦大学深造。


在被文革打断了十年之后，校园生活于1978年又开始了，与往常不同的是，从全国各地招入大学的新生们特别的成熟。韩女士说，她有些在南京师范大学的同学年龄竟是她的两倍。“我有一位同学已是四个孩子的父亲，”她说。


当他们投入与学习时，许多人满怀着理想，渴望为自己和他们的祖国谱写新的篇章。


“这是一个对未来充满梦想和希望的年代，”韩女士回忆道。


一晃三十年过去了，许多人对形势的发展方向表现出极其复杂的感情。他们虽然承认中国的经济发展带来了种种好处，但有些人政治变革的步伐缓慢感到失望。还有人抱怨说，急剧的物质进步酿出了社会的贪婪和玩世不恭。


“许多我们当时甚至都无法想象的事情如今都变成了现实，”作家兼讲师的李先生说。“然而，看到那么多的腐败着实令人痛心疾首，尤其还涉及到不少高级官员。”


BEIJING — In the autumn of 1977, as relative calm returned to China after the decade-long chaos of the Cultural Revolution, An Ping was laboring in the countryside where she had been sent, like millions of other young people from the cities, to learn from the peasants.





For two years Ms. An, an army general’s daughter, fed pigs and chickens and tended crops on a commune outside Beijing, while living in unheated dormitories and going hungry.



Though Mao had died the year before, and the radical Gang of Four, who had directed the Cultural Revolution in his name, were in custody, there was little sign that Ms. An and other “sent down” urban youths would be allowed to return home.



“For the first time I felt life was not worth it,” said Ms. An, who was 19 then. “If you had asked me to go on living this kind of life, I would rather die.”



Then, in late October 1977, village authorities relayed the news that China would hold its first nationwide university entrance examination since 1965, shortly before academic pursuits were subordinated to political struggle. In acknowledgment of more than a decade of missed opportunity, candidates ranging in age from 13 to 37 were allowed to take the exam.



For Ms. An and a whole generation consigned to the countryside, it was the first chance to escape what seemed like a life sentence of tedium and hardship. A pent-up reservoir of talent and ambition was released as 5.7 million people took the two-day exam in November and December 1977, in what may have been the most competitive scholastic test in modern Chinese history.



The 4.7 percent of test-takers who won admission to universities — 273,000 people — became known as the class of ’77, widely regarded in China as the best and brightest of their time. By comparison, 58 percent of the nine million exam-takers in 2007 won admission to universities, as educational opportunities have greatly expanded.



Now, three decades later, the powerful combination of intellect and determination has taken many in this elite group to the top in politics, education, art and business. Last October, one successful applicant who had gone on to study law and economics at Peking University, Li Keqiang, was brought into the Chinese Communist Party’s decision-making Politburo Standing Committee, where he is being watched as a possible successor to President Hu Jintao or Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.



“They were a very bright bunch, and they knew it,” said Robin Munro, research director for the Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin, who was a British exchange student at Peking University in 1978, when those freshmen arrived.



“They were the first students in 10 years let into university on merit, and they were going places.”



But back in 1977, most had only a few desperate weeks to prepare for the examination that would change their lives. The timing was especially daunting for those who had been cut off from schooling for years. All over China, students found themselves scrambling to find textbooks, seeking out former tutors and straining to recall half-forgotten formulas.



Ms. An, who now works in New York as the director of public relations for Committee of 100, a Chinese-American advocacy group, exaggerated the seriousness of a back injury and took a month’s medical leave, which she devoted to studying.



“I had to succeed,” she said.



The examination tested not only academic subjects, but also political correctness.



Han Ximing, now 50 and a Chinese literature professor at Nanjing Audit University, said she felt she was already well prepared to handle political questions from careful study of the party line in official newspapers in rural Jiangsu Province.



For years, the papers had been filled with criticism of Deng Xiaoping. “That was a big topic,” she said. “Actually, I had no idea why Deng was supposed to be so bad.”



In reality, it was the return of Deng, the veteran Communist leader, to a position of power in Beijing after the fall of the Gang of Four that led to the reinstatement of the annual exam, and a return to the pragmatism that would soon ignite decades of explosive economic growth.



Among those who have assumed positions of power, aside from Mr. Li of the Politburo, are Zhou Qiang, the governor of Hunan Province; Wang Yi, party secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and a former ambassador to Japan; and Jin Liqun, vice president of the Asian Development Bank.



Artistic talent to emerge from the class of ’77 includes the filmmakers Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern”) and Chen Kaige (“Farewell My Concubine”), and the writer Chen Cun.





“To be immodest, it was a phenomenal generation,” said Fan Haoyi, now 50, who earned a chance to study French at the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages (now the Beijing Foreign Studies University), a stepping stone to a business career in Africa and Europe. “We had a rage to learn.”



Many successful candidates said they felt they had been given a priceless opportunity, and they were determined to make the most of it. “We were not just gifted, we also worked really hard,” said Ms. Han, the literature professor.



Still, not everyone jumped at the chance to take the exam.



After years when privilege and opportunity were reserved for the offspring of senior officials or people with approved class backgrounds, many prospective candidates doubted that the test would be fair. Others were reluctant to give up the security of even menial jobs.



For Ms. An, the desire to escape her rural life was tempered by the conviction that taking the exam was risky. Relations between the farmers and students were complex; if she failed and was forced to return to the village, she worried that she would be given all the dirty jobs.



“They didn’t like us being there because they had to share their land,” she said. “But if we tried to leave, they would think we looked down on them.”



Li Xiyue was also part of a rural production team. The work was hard but he found it difficult to imagine any other future for himself. “By the time I was sent to the rural areas, this policy had been in place for 10 years,” said Mr. Li, 50, who won a seat at Guangxi University and went on to become a writer and university lecturer. Hard farm labor “was normal,” he said. “Going to college was not normal.”



Still, he found time to study in his spare time. “The problem was, it was difficult to find interesting material,” he said. “I would even read the literature that came with farming equipment.”



When the time came to take the university entrance exam, some found it difficult to break with the commune.



Ms. Han was allowed to return home to study for the exam, but she became alarmed when she heard that she had been criticized at a commune meeting for pursuing personal ambition at the expense of the revolution.



“I ran back to the team, but my father was very angry and brought me home,” she said. “He banned all further contact with them.”



Ms. An said she had taken some French in middle school, but classes were overlaid with politics and broken up by military training and factory work. Less than confident, she went to see a former teacher who assured her that the examiners would not ask overly complicated questions.



But the teacher predicted that she would be asked why she wanted to study French, advising her to say she was doing it to serve the revolution.



“They did ask me that,” said Ms. An, who qualified to study French at the Beijing Language Institute (now the Beijing Language and Culture University) and later at the Sorbonne in Paris.



When the academic year began in 1978, after the lost decade of the Cultural Revolution, it was an unusually mature freshman class that entered universities across the country. Ms. Han said that some of her fellow students at Nanjing Normal University were twice her age. “I had a classmate who was the father of four kids,” she said.



As they began their studies, many were fired by idealism and eagerness to achieve a fresh start for themselves and their country.



“It was a time full of dreams and hopes for the future,” Ms. Han said.



Thirty years later, many express mixed feelings about the direction events took. While acknowledging the benefits of China’s economic development, some voiced disappointment with the pace of political change. Others complained that rapid material progress had fostered greed and cynicism.



“A lot of things we could not even imagine have become reality,” Mr. Li, the writer and lecturer, said. “But it’s painful to see so much corruption, especially among high-ranking officials.”