passing tiananmen square
2024-09-01
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original title: car passing tiananmen square
huang changjiang
whenever i pass by tiananmen square by car, i will think of an old man. he is a very lovely person.
it was a day more than 20 years ago. beijing west railway station had just been completed. bus no. 52 went from nanmofang station to beijing west railway station. i got on this bus, gave up my seat to someone, walked to the back, and stopped at the rear door. an old man was sitting in the seat in front of me, holding a newspaper.
before i knew it, the bus arrived at dongdan. the old man suddenly sat up straight. i thought he was going to get off the bus, so i squeezed the passengers behind me to make way for him. but he didn't get off the bus. instead, he turned his body to the north side of the road and raised his right hand. he seriously put his palm against his forehead. he was saluting, saluting towards the north side of chang'an avenue.
everyone close to him in the car was looking at him, but he stared out the window without blinking, maintaining his saluting posture all the time. it was not until the car passed tiananmen square, xinhua gate, and the central propaganda department compound, and as if it had waited until it passed the post and telecommunications building, that he slowly put his hand down and turned his body.
as he called out "grandpa", i noticed that a primary school student with a schoolbag squeezed in beside him. "why are you saluting to the north?" he looked at the primary school student and then looked around. he cleared his throat and said, "there is a red wall to the north of chang'an avenue where we are driving, and tiananmen is in the middle of the red wall." he said that he was a veteran who had served in the new fourth army and the people's liberation army and participated in the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea. whenever the car passed tiananmen, he would salute to the north, "on behalf of myself and my comrades."
after that, i often think of the scene of riding the bus that day. since that time i passed tiananmen square, i have a special respect for soldiers. i will ride the bus through tiananmen square again and again, walk along chang'an avenue, and appreciate the ever-changing beauty of chang'an avenue.
source: china workers network-workers daily
