Page 88 - updated on July

Yu Jihui: “A Stinking Old Ninth – A Tale of the Coal Capital” (updated on July 2020)

unpunished. Will you write a good and impressive

self-criticism?”

“I will,” I promised. Then he let me go.

Back in my bedroom of the dormitory, I

immediately sat down and tried to write a good and

profound self-criticism. I decided to use my writing

talent to move those hoodlums who were armed with

Mao Zedong’s thought. I racked my brains to think

about what to say. I wrote an outline first and then

wrote step by step. I concluded that I made such a

silly mistake because I was a capitalist intellectual

and that I had to reform myself. I had to learn from

the workers. I wrote four pages and used as many

beautiful adjectives as I could. It took me three hours

to finish it. At last I felt happy with myself.

The next day, I held the four-page self-criticism

and stood in front of the students, waiting to be

allowed to speak. I flushed and was trembling all

85