永恒的回忆——写在父亲逝世10周年之际

我们的父亲出生在一个淳朴的农民家庭,简朴的生活培育了他对故土、对人民深厚朴素的感情。他为人正直,性情豁达,襟怀坦荡。在遭遇坎坷时,始终对生活充满热爱和信心。父亲作为中国老一代的土壤学家,为了中国土壤科学的发展和农业生产的进步呕心沥血,经常奔波忙碌在祖国各地。在他主持和参加过的工作中,如西藏和新疆等地的农业综合科学考察、湖南南山牧场的建设和华北黄淮海盐碱地治理等主要工作中,处处体现出他的爱国之心和敬业精神,使我们深受教育,激励着我们永远前进。

EVERLASTING MEMORY:IN MEMORY OF THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF MY FATHER

Our father,Li Lianjie, was a well known educator in his time and a renowned soil scientist. He dedicated his entire life to the advancement of soil science and agriculture technology. His patriotism, dedication to his career, and willingness to go to the most needed and the most desolate places for our country′s development, has left an indelible impression on our minds. For more than half a century, he tirelessly did fieldwork on soil research. He had been to almost every corner of the country. Climbing numerous mountains and wading through rivers in order to collect valuable data for China′s agricultural development. At the dawn of New China, he took up a job as the Agriculture Team chief of the Science Task Force in Xizang. He went there with the "18 ^th Army" to do the first ever alpine agricultural technology research in Qinghai and Xizang. Thereafter, he also went to Xinjiang, northeastern China and Hainan Island, etc. to perform agronomical survey, providing a scientific foundation for the strategic decision in country′s agriculture development. His motto was "No empty talk but real deeds." He believed that scientific experiments should be firmly connected with production practices. He earnestly put his belief into practice. While participating in the transformation of saline alkali land along the Huanghe River and the Haihe River and in the construction of the Nanshan Ranch in Hunan Province,our father, already in his sixties, still worked together with the staff members and farmers in digging trenches,transforming saline alkali land and tilling the experimental fields. Our father was born in a village in Hebei Province. The poor living condition and hardship in his childhood had given him the most down to earth feelings toward the homeland and the people. He always considered himself a "farmer′s son." He used to remind us, "One has to be aware of his own origin." His attitude toward life was: treat others equally, be honest and kind, be passionate, and have full confidence in life. Whether during the "Anti Rightwing" movement, the "Culture Revolution", or any such political movements, our father had remained sincere in serving the country, regardless of how badly he was treated when he was exiled to Hebei Province and northern Shaanxi Province doing all kinds of labor.