Original Article: My High School

Original Article: My High School

The 1980s. Northern China.

My high school teachers are the best educators I have ever had in China. My High School was the only high school in the county, and the teachers were all selected among the schools all over the county through tough competitions. They had to score high on the top few in their specialty in the county in comprehensive exams. Each and every of them also had especial teaching skills. Thanks to theirs and my own efforts, I was progressing from narrowly passing the entrance exam, to the top one student at graduation.

And the students were the top 400 out of 6000 junior high graduates. There was only one known corruption case in student enrolment. The Party Head of the High School modified the total mark for his son by 5 marks, and he was discovered. The penalty he received was that he was kicked out of the High School and the Party! His case was reported in local newspapers and broadcasts in the prefecture.

After many years, instead of the routine studies and exams, one thing I always remember clearly is that, on a cold day in the winter, the whole school were taken to the campus of a junior school 5 km away, by walk, to attend a crime sentencing event.

There were a dozen of so convicts standing on an elevated platform and guarded by armed police. One of them would receive a death penalty and be executed soon. He was a handsome man in his thirties. He had a white piece of cardboard hanging in front of his chest with a red cross over name. He was calm and with a smile. Many of his friends were trying to get close to him and pass by him one after another. And he was nodding to each them, with a smile! He was fastened up and a white gauze stripe was cling to his neck and came under his jacket. I think that the stripe was for the convenience of the forensic examiner to check if he was dead after the shot.
After the sentencing, he was carried away to the excitation ground on an open truck, guarded by dozens of armed police with rifles, wearing face masks and white gloves …
I heard that he was a very popular and friendly villager and he had a lot of friends. The person he killed was his father-in-law who made a lot of trouble with other villagers. Once he was bothered by his father-in-law, and he could not endure it anymore, he killed him with an axe. After that, a lot a villagers wrote letters of appeal and sent them to the court to help him to reduce legal penalty. However, law is law. He broke the severest law of laws. Nobody could really help.

This event stands out in my mind, to remind me time and again of the true meaning of the laws. Do not break it, whatever the reason. If you break it, you will be punished. This helps me a lot when dealing with many toughest conflicts in my later life. Whoever I faced in life, bullies, academic bullies, academic assholes, destructive competitors, … Use the brain, physical force only if extremely necessary, but not the deadly force unless for self-defence.

Many thanks to the authorities of my former High School!