On October 24, 1984, the People's Daily reported on the sales storm caused by the book series to the future under the title of "A Set of Large-scale Books to Broaden Your Horizons", and praised: "The book series involves many new knowledge that readers are not familiar with, and the author of the book series strives to narrate the depth and fade out, interspersed with many interesting stories and vivid metaphors, which is full of interest to read." ”

This sudden report added fuel to the fire of the already popular Journey to the Future series, and the sales volume increased significantly, and at the same time, it also attracted more people to start reading the Journey to the Future series compiled by Sanlian.

Then, a strong storm of "book series" swept the entire Chinese publishing industry, with Huaxia Publishing House publishing the "Twentieth Century Library", Shanxi Publishing House issuing the "Three Aspects Series", Shanghai People's Publishing House issuing the "New Discipline Series", Guizhou People's Publishing House issuing the "Tradition and Change Series", Shandong Literature and Art Publishing House issuing the "Cultural Philosophy Series", and Zhejiang People's Publishing House issuing the "Comparative Culture Series......

In 2033, the global channel of Phoenix TV, the world's most famous media outlet, will broadcast a large-scale historical review program, which is called "The Fire Stealer". At the beginning of the program, a deep bass was chanting in a low voice.

A person's shadow cannot cover the earth, but some voices can travel far, far away, endlessly, endlessly.

Then, in silence, yellowed photos, video materials, and text materials are flipped over one by one in front of the lens of the TV screen like a slideshow, and people who are familiar with history will find many imprints lost in the historical corridor:

A slender, low-pitched old man spoke crisply in the Great Hall of the People, his arms as clean and neat as the command flag on a Chinese naval aircraft carrier;

……

Several middle-aged men with physical disabilities are holding two kicks in their hands. Under their feet were red firecracker debris. Not far behind them. A cheerful young man and an angular middle-aged man are holding a signboard to install on the wall, on which the golden characters of "Veterans Poverty Alleviation Foundation" are dazzling in the sunlight;

A group of smiling college students passed by the ** city tower, holding a banner in their hands, on which the words "Xiaoping" are clearly visible;

In front of a slightly old-fashioned and antiquated bookstore counter, two long lines of people of different ages and dresses are checking out, and the only thing they have in common is the books in their hands;

……

A young man in a suit pushes a wheelchair. In the wheelchair sat an old man in a tunic with his hair almost gone, and they stood in the middle of a concert hall, behind them sat a group of foreigners in dresses with high noses and deep eyes on the VIP chairs on either side of them, and on the second floor above their heads was a group of performers holding various Western musical instruments;

……

As the camera played, the bass read out as calmly and powerfully as the most famous radio drama "The Rise of a Great Power" on the Central People's Radio in the 80s:

Fifty years ago, the wheel of China's reform set sail, not only sailing along the river, but also experiencing the impact and baptism of stormy waves. And today, when we look back on the journey of reform, we see more than just the ups and downs of the past 50 years. There have also been twists and turns in the past 50 years.

Fifty years of reform began in 1978. It is a transcendence of the great changes in China over the past hundred years. And this "great change unseen in 2,000 years", from another angle, can also be traced back to 1980 when an old man made a speech at a cadre meeting held by the Central Committee......

Looking back over the past 50 years or so, the reform process has been like a great tide, during which there are both the scolding of the tide and the sighs of the laggards, but in any case, they are part of this historical torrent. And this wave is precisely because of their efforts, sorrows, calls, shouts, hesitation, excitement, and tenacity...... And wave after wave, endlessly. After experiencing countless dangerous shoals and canyons, there is the mighty tide of reform today......

Each issue of this column, called "Fire Stealers", has a theme, and the theme of each issue revolves around the people or events that have changed history in the 50 years of China's reform and opening up.

One of the episodes was about the "Towards the Future Book Series". The name of this episode is "Towards the Future, the Reform Journey of a Group of Changemakers".

The introduction of this episode of the program describes it like this-

Reformers are always lonely, especially in the last days, when reformers always become reformed later. The path taken by the reformers is not only their own life choice, but also the path choice of the country, and when the last days come, all the contradictions will be so intense, all the mistakes will be so obvious, and all the reflections will be so profound.

As for why this set of "Yan Sù books" was so popular with the masses of the people at that time, the program analyzed.

On the one hand, shortly after the end of the cultural-great-revolution, there was a general scarcity of books and knowledge. In 1950, China published 27,000 kinds of books, while in 1965 there were only 14,000 titles, in 1967 it dropped to 3,000 titles, in the 10 years from 1966 to 1976, only 8,000 kinds of new books were published in the country, even in 1982, there were still less than 32,000 kinds of books published in the country, and in terms of print volume, textbooks accounted for half of the country, there were too few good books, and readers were generally hungry.

On the other hand, at that time, there was no obvious distinction between elite reading and mass reading, and the differentiation of knowledge and specialization was low, Sartre's "Existence and Nothingness", Nietzsche's "Thus Said Zalastutra", and Freud's "The Analysis of Dreams" were all bestsellers.

At the same time, in this episode of the program, although for some reason, many people, including the producer of the program, have avoided some issues and kept silent, but there are still some scholars and experts in later generations who have commented on the impression in their hearts of this series of books that have been selling well for several years in a row in front of the TV camera.

Scholar Song Wenjing recalled: "When I went to Beijing in 1984, young women in Beijing got off work, and Li Zehou's "The Course of Beauty" and tomatoes were placed in the basket of bicycles; Even the middle school students on the bus had a copy of Heidegger's "Saving Zài and Time" in their school bags......"

Reporter Hu Fayun said, "I remember that in the mid-to-late 80s, when I went to Beijing, my friends recommended this set of books to me as soon as they met, so I searched for several bookstores, and the first one I still remember - "The Limit to Growth", and then I found some more one after another, "Introduction to Wittgenstein's Philosophy", "Rich Poverty", "Creation on Canvas" and so on...... The book is 32k, a little narrower than the current books, and has several covers, some in black and white, and some in other plain colors. Its simplicity just reveals a kind of confidence and atmosphere. It can be said that this was the most influential set of books in China at that time. Part of this set of books is still shining in my bookcase compared to the large, ornate prints of today! ”

Writer Li Tuo said: "One of the characteristics of the 1980s was that everyone had passion. What kind of passion, not ordinary passion, is the passion of carrying forward the past and forging ahead into the future, everyone has such an ambition. "One of the important characteristics of the 1980s was that everyone had a passion for the fact that now that they had been liberated, it was necessary to look back at what the history they had experienced, and then look forward to see where history should go, what we should do, what we could do, what we could do, what we should do, what we should do, what we should do, what we should do immediately."

In the face of Li Tuo's statement, scholar Gan Yang scoffed: "The "cultural fever" of the 1980s may seem incredible to people today: what is 'culture'? What is there to discuss about this nothingness drifting thing? Not centered on the economy, but centered on culture, which shows how pedantic, ridiculous, and unmodern people were in the 1980s! ”

Scholar Wu Guanguan also said: "The current intellectuals imaginatively enter the fantasy space of the "1980s", but they are just showing their hallucinatory satisfaction with "poetry" and "confidence". ”

Yang Shengguang, a well-known scholar of modern history in later generations, took out the official rhetoric: "Towards the Future Series" eventually published 100 titles, and although the original target of 100 titles was achieved, because some of the books published in late 1986 were all stuffed into their (referring to a small number of editors) in different ways, especially after 1987, a small number of books became their positions for negating the four cardinal principles and advocating bourgeois liberalization, and they were temporarily suspended and did not continue in the future.

"That's right, according to the "Publication Reference" report at the time, after the evaluation of the relevant units, among the 100 kinds of books, there are more than 13 kinds of correct views and good quality, 36 kinds of reference value, 30 kinds of problems that do not have strict zhòng tendencies but belong to the introduction of non-analytical criticism, and 21 kinds of strict zhòng problems."

Regarding Yang Shengguang's statement, Wu Ke, who is also an expert in modern history, agrees very much. However, facing the camera, he seemed to have thought of something, and muttered a few times in a low voice, "Or maybe that's why Mr. Govin broke with Long Shao, the editor of Joint Publishing in 1986!" It's a pity that he ...... in the years that followed"

At the end of this episode, no matter what position you stand on, no matter what angle you stand on, all the scholars and experts interviewed have reached a consensus on one point of view.

In the past 100 years, there have been three relatively large enlightenment trends in Chinese society, and the 80s of the last century reached a new peak, which was a "romantic era in China"!

The reason why our generation has never been able to surpass the 80s is because that glorious years gave us the initial edification and polishing. The elders who were sent into exile and ignored were alive at that time. They have given us the legacy of knowing the world, so that we will no longer be ignorant of our conscience. Now, that generation has withered away, and we are not as innocent as anyone else, so no matter how hard we try, we can't reach that high dynasty.

And he's just one.

(To be continued.) )

ps: Make up for yesterday, no, it's the chapter the day before yesterday.

From 7 o'clock in the evening to 1:16 now, it took 6 hours, and the code was less than 7,000 words, which is still a relatively smooth situation.

I'm such a waste material, novels have always been grinded out by time, tears.

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