Hard times: I worked as a truck driver in the county town

February 4, 1959, the beginning of spring.

Changcheng City, Yi'an County, County Transportation Station.

Because there are coal mines around Yi'an County, a coking plant was built in the county seat. This coking plant is for refining coal and burning coke.

Coke is an important material for national industry, mainly used in steelmaking and fertilizer plants.

It could be said that Yi'an County was at the forefront of a trend, in the latter half of 1958. Townships across the country were reorganized into communes. Then, for national development, factories were built throughout the country, creating a huge demand for steel.

It was impossible to allocate a dedicated transport vehicle to a coking plant. In those days, most county towns didn't have cars. When county leaders went to inspect lower-level areas, they would probably travel by oxcart or bicycle. Only a few well-off counties might have cars.

Considering the transportation needs of important industrial materials in Yi'an County, the special transportation company in Changcheng City, after approval, established a county transportation station in Yi'an County and then dispatched a CA10 Jiefang truck there.

In those days, it was normal for a county-level transportation station to have only one Jiefang truck. Keep in mind that most counties across the country probably didn't even have transportation stations.

The transportation station in Yi'an County is built right next to the bus stop. This bus stop is what the residents of Yi'an County call the county's bus station.

People unfamiliar with the situation might think that Yian County has a bus station where they can take buses to the city center and neighboring counties. In reality, the "bus station" in Yian County only sells tickets and handles some freight transport.

The bus station in Ngee Ann consists of a ticket office, a temporary driver's rest room, and a small parking lot.

The reality is that Yi'an doesn't have its own shuttle buses; it's just a stop for city buses traveling to and from the county seat. The county bus station is just a fancy name; in reality, it's just a stop.

The transportation station established by the special district transportation company currently only has one Jiefang truck. This Jiefang truck belongs to the city's transportation company; the county only has the right to dispatch and use it, and cannot use it privately.

This right to dispatch and use means that even if county leaders need to use the car, they must obtain a usage certificate, rather than county leaders being able to borrow the car simply by showing their face.

The transport station was built next to the bus station mainly so that it could directly use the bus station's parking lot. After all, although the bus station's parking lot was not large, it had a canopy, so cars could park under the canopy to keep out the rain on rainy days.

The establishment of the transportation station was simply a matter of setting up two buildings next to the bus station: one for offices and one for a rest room. The county transportation station was staffed with a standard of four people.

Station manager, driver, station staff, loader.

The station manager of the transportation station is responsible for transfers, approvals, financial management, and external liaison. He has to be personally responsible for everything, at most asking the station staff to assist with some tasks. His salary is 46.5 yuan.

Station staff member, responsible for receiving goods, issuing invoices, and also handling cashier and accounting, earns 33.5 yuan.

Loading and unloading workers, vehicle watchers, and cleaning staff.

As for the drivers, their job is driving, repairing vehicles, and maintaining them. When there are no transport duties, they just lie in the break room.

When the county transportation station was established, a Jiefang truck was allocated to it. Although the ownership of the truck belonged to the transportation company, the allocation right was given to the local county.

The county transportation station serves the county seat, so its expenses are naturally the responsibility of the county seat. Since the county seat is responsible for the expenses, the station's staff are recruited by the county.

Every transportation station needs a driver for its vehicles. Yi'an County isn't a large county in terms of population, but it still has over 100,000 people. Yet, out of those 100,000 people, you can't find a single person who knows how to drive.

In those days, it was quite normal for no one in the county town to know how to drive a car.

The county had originally planned to apply to the city to recruit a truck driver, but it was quite a coincidence. In late January of this year, a former soldier who had joined the army three years ago and then returned home after his discharge came along.

The soldier's name was Jiang Cheng, the second oldest in his family. He lived at No. 59 Jiefang Road, Yi'an County.

Jiang Cheng had a junior high school education and stayed at home for about a year after graduating. Unable to find a job, he joined the army by chance.

Both his personal qualities and family background made Jiang Cheng a perfect fit for military service. Although he was from the south, and given that most people weren't very tall, Jiang Cheng was 1.76 meters tall.

With their good looks and junior high school education, they were among the first to be approved after registration.

Once he arrived at the military base, by a stroke of luck, he was recruited by the motor transport unit because he had a junior high school education, could write and calculate, and could read blueprints.

Then, when Jiang Cheng was eighteen, he became a reserve driver in the army, similar to a car apprentice.

Why did Jiang Cheng turn eighteen after only one year at home after graduating from junior high school? Because in the early days after liberation, the standard age for starting primary school was seven. However, in rural towns and county seats, many people started school late. In some places, teachers even had to inquire about which families had reached the age but hadn't come to school, and then persuade them to attend.

Therefore, the rule is to start primary school at the age of seven, but except for places with better conditions, most people start first grade at the age of eight or nine, and it is also normal for some to start first grade at the age of ten.

Because in first grade, the students in a class may be only two or three years apart in age. This is less of a problem in the lower grades, but in the upper grades of elementary school, it is common to see some students who have developed and grown earlier, and are much taller than some of their classmates.

Jiang Cheng started primary school when he was almost eight years old. Originally, primary school was a five-year system. However, when he started primary school, the system of four days and two days was implemented.

The 4-2 system means that grades one through four are primary school, and after grade four, students have to take an exam to enter higher primary school, which is grade five and six.

Jiang Cheng was already fourteen when he started junior high school. He graduated in three years, at seventeen. It was quite normal to graduate junior high at sixteen or seventeen in those days. Some people started school late, and some even repeated grades in elementary school, so some graduated junior high at eighteen or nineteen.

Getting back to the main point, Jiang Cheng joined the army at the age of eighteen a year after graduating from junior high school, serving three years as a conscript in the army. He was then discharged normally. In order to stagger the discharge time between veterans and new recruits, the army would discharge soldiers who met the discharge requirements two or three months in advance.

According to the principle of returning to where they came from, retired soldiers are discharged from the military. Jiang Cheng, a retired soldier who worked in the automobile industry, returned to Yi'an County, Changcheng in mid-January.

Following the normal procedures for demobilized soldiers, Jiang Cheng would first register at the resettlement office and submit various documents after returning to the county town. Then, because Jiang Cheng is a skilled worker and can drive, and if the county doesn't have cars, he would generally be transferred to work in the city.

From the time a veteran is discharged to the time they wait at home, going through various procedures, it usually takes three to six months before they can report to their assigned unit and start working.

But by sheer coincidence, Jiang Chenggang returned to his hometown county after being discharged from the army, just as a transportation station had been established in the county. The city's transportation company allocated a new Jiefang truck to the county.

Jiang Cheng hadn't even been home for half a month when he was assigned to the transportation station as a transport driver, making him the only car driver in the entire county.