[Explanation] Watching the news during the day, visiting villages, recording interesting things, and then sorting them out in a notebook... For decades, Zhang Linqiao, a 90-year-old man in Zhejiang, has lived a fulfilling and happy life every day.
From 1950, for 72 years, Zhang Linqiao kept a diary every day, and he persisted in this writing for most of his life.
At the beginning, the content of the diary was more about my own family, such as income, expenses, and daily life.
Slowly began to record the entire village, involving geological climate, population changes, historical events and other aspects, it can be called the encyclopedia of Yanfan Village.
Recently, in Yanfan Natural Village, Yao Shaofan Village, Donghe Township, Zhuji, Shaoxing, the reporter saw Zhang Linqiao.
Although he is gray-haired, he is still a gentleman with a straight shirt. At the age of 90, when he talks about the past in the village, his original intention of writing a diary is still quick in thinking and articulate.
[Concurrent] Zhanglin Bridge
Thinking that some (village) cadres came from other places and did not know the situation in the village. The cadres of the village did not know how many fields, how many people, and how many households there were. They all came to ask me. , I collected everything, including the population, area, geography, and landforms of the village, and searched for the 300-year history of when Zhang’s surname was passed to the village. Collecting them, I thought, since it has been sent for sixty or seventy years, I thought about simply writing a village history, writing about the village history, chores, and family affairs of Yanfan Village.
[Explanation] Follow the old man Zhang Linqiao to the second floor. In the small bedroom, apart from a bed and a desk, the most conspicuous piece of furniture is a cabinet. In the cabinet, a series of handwritten notebooks are classified into file boxes. , neatly.
The old man told reporters that his diary is roughly divided into family history, village history, and materials that record family development and the growth of children and grandchildren.
[Concurrent] Zhanglin Bridge
(Wrote this diary for 70 years) For more than 70 years, (written every day) every day.
Playing with it all, I estimate that there are nearly a million words written in this kind of archives.
[Explanation] Zhang Linqiao told reporters that writing a diary is his hobby.
Although he usually lives frugally, he has spent fares, postage and travel expenses for diaries and materials. Looking back on the past, he proudly said that after the reform and opening up, the motherland, hometown, and villages have changed the most. Can't recognize it.
[Concurrent] Zhanglin Bridge
Like Zhuji, I visited it when I was young, but now I can’t find the place, and I can’t find the station when I go out of this road. It used to be that there was only one bus station in Zhuji, but now it’s inconvenient to take the train. The head (top) is full of tall buildings.
[Explanation] Zhang Linqiao recalled that he was the first middle school student in Yanfan Village after the founding of New China.
After returning to the village, he has worked as an accountant in the production team and brigade for more than ten years, as a substitute teacher, a grain collector, and also worked on a census.
Perhaps it is the rich work experience that broadened Zhang Linqiao's horizons and gave him more opportunities to get in touch with various materials, so his diary is also comprehensive, and some of them are of scientific research value.
[Concurrent] Zhanglin Bridge
There are three classmates and two teachers at Peking University. The Rural Policy Research Office of Peking University. The purpose of coming to Peking University is to win over from Zhuji City. Beijing wants to do a project. It wants to do a project investigation about the production team. From the mutual aid group, there must be continuity. They don't want the information for one or two years.
To be continuous, the materials I left from the mutual aid group and the production team are constantly dropping.
[Explanation] Another wish of Zhang Linqiao is to publish a chronicle of Yanfan Village by sorting out his diary and materials, telling the truth about the changes in the village during the 80 years from 1943 to 2023.
The old man said that he would carry out the diary to the end. After his death, he hoped to donate all the recorded content to relevant departments for safekeeping or reuse.
[Concurrent] Zhanglin Bridge
From 1943 to 2023, I want to write down all the content during this period. This book is about the changes in the village, (for example) how many people died this year, what is the average life expectancy, how many people were born in the village, I jot it down every day.
Anyway, I have always been like this, no matter whether it is useful or not, I will write it down. After the department you need dies, I will still write after the book is published. After writing (department), it can be used, and it can be taken away. Useful.
Shen Yishan and Wu Liujing reported from Shaoxing, Zhejiang
Responsible editor: [Liu Pai]