Wen Liang handed over the plan for the sports meet and said, "This is the suggestion made by the students. I hope it can get the support of the school."
Zhang Yihan flipped through the book and smiled, "It's a good idea. I personally support it. But there is no precedent for this kind of thing in Qingzhou middle schools. I'm afraid someone will gossip about it. If it gets to Director Zuo's ears, I'll be in a lot of trouble."
The purpose of mentioning Zuo Yuxi at this juncture is self-evident. Wen Liang had no choice but to say, "Hasn't the country always been talking about quality education in the past two years? Last year, it launched a plan for physical fitness activities for primary and secondary schools. I think No. 1 Middle School has the responsibility to set an example for other middle schools and let them see what real quality education is like. As for Director Zuo, she is such an open-minded person, and it's just a small change to the sports meeting. She will definitely not object!"
Zhang Yihan knew that Zuo Yuxi attached great importance to Wen Liang. Since he promised that there would be no problem, there must be no problem. He immediately changed his words and said, "That's good. It doesn't hurt to give it a try. But according to your plan, each class will have to pay an extra sum of money. If we don't increase the burden on students, the funds in the class may not be enough."
Money is not everything, but without money, you can do nothing. Let alone the changes in society that affect the lives of countless people. Even if you want to make some interesting changes in a small school sports meeting, you have to fully consider the issue of money. You can imagine how difficult reform is!
"I've thought about this. Principal, you're going to negotiate with Century Park about free admission anyway, so why not bother two hosts at once and see if they're interested in sponsoring No. 1 Middle School's sports festival..."
"Sports Festival?"
"Sports meet doesn't sound impressive enough. Why not just change the name to Sports Festival so that it looks more formal when soliciting sponsorship?" Wen Liang blinked and chuckled, "Century Park is a place for young people. The reputation of No. 1 Middle School plus the influence of thousands of students cannot be underestimated. I think the other party will not be stingy about spending a little more money to increase its reputation."
As a key high school in Qingzhou, every move of No.1 High School attracts the attention of students, parents and the society. If the sports festival is really held, it will be a profitable business for sponsors. So on the surface, Century Park will bleed even if it waives the admission fee. But if it weren't for the free admission fee, this good thing might not have happened to them.
Zhang Yihan pondered for a while, then said hesitantly: "This, there is no precedent..."
Wen Liang almost spat out a mouthful of blood. There is no precedent. What else can you say? However, Zhang Yihan's worry is understandable. In the era when commercialization is not well developed, the education system cannot be associated with too much money in the eyes of many people. If someone really says that No. 1 Middle School uses students to make money, Zhang Yihan will be in big trouble. "Precisely because there is no precedent, it will appear valuable if it is successful. Of course, precisely because there is no precedent, if it really cannot be done, or if someone has objections in the future, it can also be said that this is just a practical activity to promote quality education. It's a practice, and it's the first time that the Student Union is solely responsible for the operation of the Sports Festival. Isn't it normal to have problems of all kinds?"
The hidden meaning is, if it works, the credit is yours, if it doesn't, feel free to push it onto me. Zhang Yihan made the decision immediately and said, "I agree!"
The old fox nodded, and the rest was easy. While contacting Century Park, each class began to prepare for the program. The unprecedented freedom fully mobilized the enthusiasm and initiative of the students, showing great enthusiasm and creativity. In order to maintain the sense of mystery, some classes even rehearsed in the classroom in the dark after the evening self-study get out of class, and some customized costumes outside the school early and rehearsed very ornamental dances. In fact, domestic students have never lacked talents and the impulse of self-expression, but their nature has been suppressed by the environment and they have become indistinguishable from the crowd.
However, considering the reaction from the outside world, the school still required each class to submit candidate programs and conduct a simple review. As long as the costumes were not too strange and avant-garde, they would not be rejected. But even so, nearly 30 candidate programs were still rejected, many of which were COS comics and animation characters. It is actually nothing in later times (junior high school sports games have begun to have maid costumes and black stockings and white legs), but it was still a bit shocking in 1996.
When all preparations were progressing steadily, Century Park also received good news. They not only agreed to provide a free autumn outing venue for all students of No. 1 Middle School, but also gave each student a T-shirt and sports cap printed with the Century Park logo. In addition, they invested 100,000 yuan to provide all expenses for clothing, props, and prizes for the first "Sports Festival" of No. 1 Middle School, and provided food and medical services during the sports festival.
On October 1, the first "Century Paradise Cup" Sports Festival was officially opened. Deputy leaders of the city's four major teams were all present. The Municipal Education Bureau, including Zuo Yuxi, was present. Principals of sister units such as No. 19 Middle School and No. 21 Middle School were also invited to attend. Thousands of parents of students also came. The scene was spectacular and unparalleled.
However, Wen Liang, the instigator, had no chance to witness all this. At this time, he was thousands of miles away in Beijing, attending the International Communications Technology Equipment Exhibition with a group of subordinates from Chuangtu Technology. This equipment exhibition is very important to Chuangtu Technology, but with Yin, Xi, Chen, Lin and others present, he had nothing to worry about. It was just that someone from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications deliberately made things difficult for Xi Jingwei, and there was a minor problem with the booth, so he needed to communicate with Wan Siwei, so he set off to Beijing. After meeting with Wan Siwei, he solved the problem of the booth, and seeing that he didn't have enough time to attend the opening ceremony of the Sports Festival, he stayed to visit the equipment exhibition.
As the name suggests, the International Communication Technology Equipment Exhibition is not an exhibition in the traditional sense. The exhibitors are professionals, and it is mainly a place for technical exchanges and the display of new equipment. Don’t expect it to be as crowded as the game and animation exhibition, with otakus and beauties gathering. Wen Liang didn’t know much about technology, and he lost interest after visiting a few booths. He was yawning and thinking about going out for a breath of fresh air, but he saw a large group of people pouring into the hall in front. Walking in front of the crowd was the Vice Premier Chen Longqi, who was very popular in the political arena of the Republic! (A few more words here. Not only the International Communication Technology Equipment Exhibition, but also some other exhibitions have been visited by Zhu and Wen many times. However, there are usually special sessions for leaders, and they will be notified in advance. These are omitted in the book, and those who understand don’t need to delve into them.)
Wen Liang had seen Chen Longqi on TV many times, and of course he was aware of the polarized evaluations and interpretations of him in later generations. Putting aside the mindless worship and mindless criticism, from a neutral point of view, this person was one of the iconic figures among the top leaders who wanted to do things, did things, but ultimately failed to satisfy everyone.
There were bursts of warm applause in the exhibition hall. Wen Liang looked at Chen Longqi from afar. Although the two of them had worlds apart in status, at that moment, he seemed to be standing outside the sky, watching the ups and downs of the world with cold eyes.
Power is not to be feared, majesty is not to be boasted, after thousands of years, the final verdict will be made, and the merits and demerits can only be judged by others! (To be continued)