In the 1970s, I Vied for a Spot to Go to the Countryside

"Li Jianhua! Get out here!" My mother's heart-wrenching shouts rang out in the courtyard. I came out of my room to find my aunt by marriage yanking my mother's hair as the two of them wrestled. "Why should my Jianhua be sent to the countryside? Your Li Jianguo is the good student, so why not send him?" My aunt's nails left three bloody scratches on my mother's face. "Let go! Every child is precious to their family. My Jianguo is about to take the college entrance exams!" My mother clutched the notice to her chest, protecting it fiercely. It was the spring of 1975. A notice ordering someone to go to the countryside as an educated youth was tearing our family apart.