前言
1968年，毛泽东主席发出了“知识青年到农村去，接受贫下中农的再教育，很有必要”的号召，在全国范围内掀起了一个大规模的知识青年上山下乡高潮。在短短的几年里，大约1600万城镇学 生青年下放到全国各地的国营农场、生产建设兵团和广大的农村劳动和生活。1968年11月，17岁的我和比我大一岁的姐姐带着行李，在一片欢送的锣鼓声中融入了一支有1000多名知青的大队伍，乘船从我们原来居住的大城市来到了中国南方水乡的一 个农村当知青，踏上了人生中一段艰辛的历程。我们插队的这个农村地处广东珠江三角洲平原，土壤肥沃，物产丰富，河涌纵横交错，是一个“出门见水”的鱼米之乡。全村总共有600多人，其中有400多个劳动力，上山下乡知识青年16人。总耕地面积有600多亩，主要的农作物是水稻和甘蔗。
这里民风淳朴，中国传统道德文化的影响在人们的思想意识中根深蒂固。由于远离喧嚣的都市，村民们对当时那些时髦的政治活动态度冷漠，毫无兴趣，依然过着祖祖辈辈习惯了的“日出而作，日落而息”的生活。与大城市相比，这里显得那么的平静、安逸。
从大城市来到农村，我们这些知青面临着三个巨大的挑战：第一是过生活关——农村日常生活的衣食住行等条件都比较简陋、落后，无法与城市相比，我们要生存下去，就必须尽快地适应生活环境上的巨大落差；第二是要过劳动关——我们要从一个城市学生变为一个天天在田间辛苦劳作、自食其力的农民，其蜕变过程是异常艰难和痛苦的；第三是要过“前途关”——根据当时的知青政策，我们必须当一辈子农民，上学无望，回城无望，一辈子扎根农村。
正当我们这些知青陷入困境的时候，憨厚纯朴的村民们向我们伸出了援助的双手。在生活上，他们妥善地安排好男女知青分住的房舍，派人带我们到镇上去选购基本的生活用品及干农活的工具等，使我们很快地安顿了下来；在劳动上，他们不厌其烦，手把手地教我们干各种农活，帮助我们逐步成长为一名能干的农民；在精神上，他们经常主动和我们聊家常，对我们无奈离开城市、远离父母和家人的遭遇深表同情，并开导我们要向前看，不要自暴自弃。逢年过节，村里各家各户都不约而同地邀请我们去他们家吃饭团聚，以缓解我们对家人的思念。
村民们无微不至的关心和帮助像春风一样温暖着我们，他们的纯朴、正义感、同情心和追求幸福的热情深深地感染了我们。
我在这个村庄当了4年知青，经历了很多事情，品尝了人生中的酸甜苦辣。在这本书里，我想透过亲身经历的几十个故事，从不同角度向读者讲述40多年前中国南方水乡农村的文化生活、人情风俗以及插队知青的喜怒哀乐。
我插队当知青的那个农村是当时中国千千万万个农村的一个缩影，那里发生的事情在一定程度上反映了当时中国广大农村的实际状况。
我虽然离开那个村庄已有40多年，但一直把她当作自己的第二故乡，思念着那里的一草一木，牵挂着那些曾经朝夕相处的乡亲们。我曾分别在2002年和2010年回到那个村庄与村民们重逢，“有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎”——我们一起畅谈往事，吃饭照相，相见甚欢。
我非常欣喜地看到：经过40多年的努力，村民们的生活水平发生了翻天覆地的变化。如今，村里崭新的小洋楼林立，家家都有自来水——过去靠河水生活的日子一去不复返了，村里创办了灯具厂等企业，大大增加了村民的收入。
最令我兴奋和不可思议的是：我回村时竟然能与本书故事里提到的一些人物在阔别了40多年后又相遇了，其中有“打鸟”里的枪手阿根和阿真；“姓名趣事”里的黄狗女、麻糖发和蔡狗；“打篮球”里的农民高中生蔡锦森；“老知青” 里那个嫁给当地农民青年的阿妹，以及“搭食”里的主人公锦胜等。
40多年过去，弹指一挥间。在回忆、讲述这些故事的同时，我深深地意识到：不管经历过多少艰难曲折，人类社会一定会不断进步，人们的生活也一定会变得更加美好。“青山遮不住，毕竟东流去”，历史的洪流滚滚向前，势不可挡。
容 非
2016年2月于美国西雅图
Introduction
In 1968, Mao Zedong issued his decree: “Educated Youth should go to the countryside to be re -educated by farmers. This is very necessary.” Immediately, an Up-to-the -Mountains- and-Down-to -the-Countryside Movement swamped the country. The goal was to send, within a few short years, about 16 million urban youths to live and work in remote regions, such as state farms, sites of production-construction corps, and rural agricultural areas, throughout China.
In November of 1968, at the age of 17, together with my sister, who is one year older than me, we joined over 1000 young men and women in our region and became zhiqing—Educated Youth. We boarded a boat that would take us to our new home, a coastal water village far away from our family and the city in which we grew up. Amongst a cacophony of celebratory drum beats and gong strikes, we began a challenging life-journey.
The water village to which my sister and I were assigned was located in the Pearl River Delta, an area of bounty, where rivers and streams crisscrossed land masses. It is known as the Land of Fish and Rice, where one saw water everywhere one looked. There were about 600 residents in the village at the time, about 400 of whom were farmhands. Sixteen zhiqing were assigned there. Together, we farmed the 600 mu (about 40 hectares) of farmland and grew rice and sugarcane.
The farmers’ way of life was down- to-earth and they held tight to the traditional Chinese cultural and moral standards. Because the village was far away from the noisy and disorderly metropolises, most of the farmers were not interested in any of the popular political activities at the time. They followed their routine of working when the sun rose and quitting when the sun set. Compared to the cities, life in the village was quiet and peaceful.
However, we zhiqing faced three major challenges in the countryside. The first was the challenge of everyday life: Compared to what we were used to in the city, life in the countryside was backward and primitive. The second was the challenge of physical labor: As students from the city, we were not used to physical hardship. To survive, we had to learn to do farm work and become self-reliant. The process of changing our lifestyle was unexpectedly difficult and traumatic. The third was the challenge of the unknown:According to the policies of the time, we were supposed to be farmers for the rest of our lives, with no hope for ever going back to school or returning to the city. We were supposed to take root in the countryside, to which we had been banished.
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