Reborn in 1977

Whether it's more profitable or not, Chen Fan couldn't decide, and Jiang Heng couldn't make a decision alone either.

Current enterprises and institutions didn't have much autonomy. Within the scope of tasks assigned by higher authorities, the leadership of the unit could make decisions with full authority. However, if it exceeded even a little bit, they would need to report and apply to higher levels.

Therefore, no one could guarantee whether the cotton mill could smoothly add a down jacket fabric production line.

Unless they could wait a few more years, after the early 1980s, when enterprises would have much more autonomy, and higher authorities would relax the approval of enterprises importing production lines. Many well-known brands in later generations almost all emerged during this period.

However, Chen Fan didn't want to wait. In just two or three years, various forms of private economy would gradually become active. If they started then, the market difficulty would undoubtedly be many times greater.

Why not occupy the blank market instead of waiting a few years to compete with others?

If the cotton mill could get the approval, that would naturally be the best. If it really didn't work out, he also had a way to secure a down jacket factory.

But then he would have something to say.

In the early days of reform and opening up, not all collectively owned enterprises were "collective shares." Many people with great courage and many tricks used the name of collective enterprises to engage in disguised private operations, putting a collective shell on what was actually a private enterprise.

It wasn't until the mid-1980s that the higher authorities issued documents to clean up these "pseudo" collective enterprises, which reduced a large number of nominally township enterprises.

But they had already made money, and the policies for private enterprises at that time had also become much more relaxed. So, after a makeover, they became the first batch of private enterprises in China.

Then there was the "Year One of Entrepreneurs in '84."

Chen Fan had never thought about becoming an entrepreneur, mainly because he didn't have the mind to manage. However, participating with a share, and then holding a whip, standing beside to urge the talents of Lujiawan to work hard, shouldn't be a problem, right?

Harboring the beautiful dream of sitting at home and waiting for dividends in the future, Chen Fan drove to the provincial capital.

He had left early today, and it wasn't dark yet. Chen Fan thought for a while, considering that the cigarettes in the trunk of the car hadn't been unpacked, he decisively decided not to go to the provincial Writers Association branch for the time being, but to report to the university directly.

As an old key university that had been established for more than half a century, the provincial capital map naturally had the coordinates of Jiangnan University.

After looking at the map a few times, Chen Fan drove straight to Jiangnan University.

A dozen minutes later, in the northeast corner of the provincial capital, he found the university.

Chen Fan parked the car in front of the school gate, bent over and looked inside. Unlike the flatness of Fudan and Peking University, Jiangnan University was located on several small hills. Tall plane trees waved in the wind, and the emerald green glazed tiles in the mountains reflected the sunlight, appearing majestic and grand.

After looking for a few seconds, he restarted the car and drove into the campus.

Then, as expected, he was stopped.

"Identification."

Chen Fan looked at the straight-standing soldier and muttered in his heart, Peking University and Fudan University didn't have soldiers standing guard, but this place actually did?

In fact, in addition to the security departments of various large factories, many units had soldiers standing guard at the gate in these years. These soldiers were dispatched by the local armed forces department. It was only later that the higher authorities issued new regulations, and most units withdrew their guards as required, only retaining soldiers guarding important units such as the government and judicial departments.

Peking University and Fudan University didn't have them, perhaps it was just that the local area hadn't arranged it, and here there were, it was just that the local area had made arrangements, that's all.

Facing the soldier, Chen Fan took out his letter of introduction and admission notice, "Comrade, I'm here to register."

The young soldier took the documents and looked at them carefully, glanced at Chen Fan rather strangely, and then returned the documents to him, "Please register at the reception room."

Such a young graduate student? Even younger than many undergraduates.

Chen Fan looked in the direction of his finger, and there was a small house next to the school gate.

So the reception room and the gatekeeper weren't the same system?

There was no way, he could only get out of the car and trot over with his documents.

Inside sat an old man. The table by the window was piled with letters, and a radio was placed on the corner of the table. The old man sat in the chair, crossed his legs, his head swaying with the Peking opera coming from the radio, and he didn't forget to fan himself with the cattail leaf fan from time to time.

Seeing Chen Fan come in, the old man didn't move, just raised his chin slightly, "Who are you looking for?"

Chen Fan obediently presented the admission notice, "Grandpa, I'm here to register."

The old man threw the cattail leaf fan away, took it and hadn't even looked at it before saying, "What month is it already and you're only coming to register now? You're not very active in going to school."

Then he took another look, "Oh, so you're a graduate student?"

He raised his head and looked at Chen Fan a couple of times, "Not very old, but you've already been admitted to graduate school, then your grades must be very good."

After a pause, the old man grinned and smiled, "Young man, you're here early. Tomorrow is the day for graduate students to register. You came today, and I don't even know who to tell you to look for."

Chen Fan opened his mouth, about to speak, when the old man frowned slightly, thought for a while, and said, "Like this, you might as well go and find the teacher from your Faculty of Arts."

As he spoke, he got up and stood up, waved to Chen Fan, walked out of the reception room, and pointed to an ancient building in the mountains, "See that building over there?"

Chen Fan walked to his side, looked in the direction of his finger, and nodded lightly, "I see it."

The old man returned the letter of introduction and admission notice to him, and smiled, "That's the teaching building of the Faculty of Arts. There are few students now, the whole school has less than 2,000 people, but the campus is big, you can build it as much as you want. Your Faculty of Arts occupies a whole building. You can just ask anyone you find over there and you'll know."

Chen Fan put away his documents, took out a cigarette and handed it over, "Thank you."

The old man didn't stand on ceremony, took the cigarette and waved his hand, laughing, "Don't be polite, you're all intellectuals, study hard and build the country well in the future."

Chen Fan smiled and waved, "Yes. Goodbye."

Then he turned around, left the school gate, got in the car and drove in.

The old man was dumbfounded, the cigarette in his mouth almost fell down, driving a jeep to school? Which unit's cadre is this?

Wait, the letter of introduction just now seemed to be from some production team?

Are the production teams so awesome now?

Chen Fan drove upwards, and entering inside, he could better appreciate the beauty of the campus.

At this time, it was dusk, the setting sun shining on the campus, coating the leaves of the mountains with a layer of red. The roads of the school were empty, in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of later generations' universities.

After turning a few corners, Chen Fan arrived in front of the teaching building of the Faculty of Arts.

He parked steadily and got out of the car, paused and listened. From the teaching building came the voices of teachers lecturing. Other than that, there was only the sound of the wind and the rustling of leaves.

Faced with this kind of environment, he seemed a little unwilling to destroy it.

However, thinking that he was also here to study, he walked in with confidence.

There were no signs in the teaching building yet, and he didn't see anyone he could ask for directions, so he wandered around with his hands in his sleeves.

Unconsciously, he walked to a classroom. Through the glass window, he saw that it was densely packed with people.

On the podium, a gray-haired teacher was lecturing on an introduction to literature.

Chen Fan had read the book for this course.

Or rather, he had read almost all the relevant textbooks for literature-related majors that he could find.

In just a few minutes, he heard that the teacher was teaching the introduction to literature using a textbook from more than ten years ago.

China's university undergraduate system has also undergone several adjustments. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China and in the early years after, there was a period of a four-year system. By the mid- to late-1950s, the undergraduate program was changed to a five-year system.

After many universities resumed classes in the 1970s, in response to regulations from higher authorities, all five-year undergraduate programs were changed to three-year programs, and three- or four-year vocational programs naturally became two-year programs.

According to Secretary Tian of the Nanhushuiyun Company, many engineers at the provincial capital's ship repair factory graduated from two-year vocational colleges. Moreover, almost half of the two-year study period was spent in meetings and studying the 'spirit,' so one can imagine how much they could actually learn.

It's not surprising that such engineers couldn't repair two relatively uncomplicated ship propellers.

Now, with the resumption of the national college entrance examination, undergraduate programs have reverted to a four-year system, with only a few majors such as architecture and medicine retaining the five-year system. Vocational programs have also been changed to three-year programs.

The curriculum, besides a few compulsory public courses, no longer includes frequent meetings, outings, or 'spirit' study courses, and is mainly focused on professional studies.

However, due to the urgency of time, there are currently no suitable textbooks for the four-year system, and the three-year textbooks are too 'low-end.' As a result, many teachers can only dig out their old textbooks and use them as best they can to teach the students.

Despite the limited conditions, both teachers and students are almost bursting with enthusiasm.

The scene before them was the best example.

A classroom that could only accommodate thirty or forty people was crammed with seventy or eighty, and the teacher didn't mind, immersing himself wholeheartedly in the textbook to explain the subject of 'Literature' to the students.

Even though Chen Fan had studied this subject before, and could even recite the textbook, he gained a different understanding from listening to this teacher's lecture.

Indeed, literature is a subjective thing. As long as you delve into it, almost everyone has their own insights. Listening to other people's ideas can also lead to new perspectives.

Just as Chen Fan was engrossed in listening, his ears twitched, and he turned to look towards the entrance of the building, where he saw a young man in his twenties rushing in.

When the man saw Chen Fan, he was first stunned, then stood in place, taking deep breaths.

He was trying to calm his breathing, otherwise it would be difficult to speak.

After all, he was young. In a few seconds, he calmed down, then quietly walked to Chen Fan's side, looked inside, and whispered, "Where are they at?"

Chen Fan tilted his head and looked at him, "Are you late?"

The man glanced at him, "Brother, let's not judge each other. Aren't you here to audit the class too? Why are you talking about being late?"

As he spoke, he took out a notebook from his shoulder bag, pressed it against the wall, ready to take notes, while peering inside.

After listening for a short while, he turned back and chuckled, "Fortunately, it's just started. This part is reviewing the content of the last class."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt something was wrong, looked Chen Fan up and down, "You didn't bring a notebook? How are you going to take notes?"

Chen Fan blinked. Are people so serious about auditing classes these days?

He rolled his eyes slightly, "Oh, I've studied this part before, no need to take notes."

"Studied before?"

The young man looked at him again, "Are you a senior student?"

Then he muttered, "So young, doesn't look like it?"

Chen Fan smiled, "You haven't introduced yourself yet. Why did you come here to audit the class?"

The young man said "Oh," and gave an embarrassed salute, "Sorry. Let me introduce myself, I'm Lu Xiaohua, majoring in computer science, from Fulan, and I'm a freshman this year."

While paying attention to the teacher's lecture in the classroom, he whispered to Chen Fan, "Although school has resumed smoothly this year, many subjects and courses have been abandoned for many years, and the courses that can be offered are limited. So, the favorite thing for students of any major to do is to audit classes all over the campus.

No matter what the major is, and no matter whether it can be counted as credit, we go to audit any class we like.

We even audit classes at other key universities nearby, not just our own school."

Speaking of this, Lu Xiaohua seemed quite proud, "I've audited classes at the Normal University and the University of Science and Technology. They have some courses that are different from ours, and they sound very interesting."

As soon as he finished speaking, he finally realized something and turned to look at Chen Fan, his eyes full of curiosity, "Hey, aren't you a Jiangda student? How come you don't even know this?"

Chen Fan shrugged, "I am, but I just came to register today."

As soon as Lu Xiaohua heard this, his face was speechless, "I say, brother, you're really carefree. School has been in session for almost two months, and you only came today."

While speaking, he couldn't help shaking his head, "I'm afraid you were just studying this course at home like you said. Let me tell you, it's different. You can only learn the superficial knowledge from the textbook by yourself. You have to listen to the teacher, listen to how he infers from one instance to another, and explains the knowledge points thoroughly. Only then can you really learn and master this course."

Chen Fan didn't refute him, but nodded in agreement, "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

After a pause, he changed the subject, "Hey, classmate Lu, I just heard you mention credits. Is Jiangda implementing a credit system now?"

Hearing this, Lu Xiaohua's face showed a smile, seemingly quite proud, "Let me tell you, you've come to the right place at Jiangda. Currently, only Wuhan University and our Jiangda are implementing a credit system.

Wuhan University was the first, and we are the second.

(News published in the Guangming Daily at the end of 1978)

In addition to the credit system, Jiangda also plans to implement a transfer system, a transfer student system, a tutor system, a major-minor system, an elective course system, and a dual degree system.

For example, if you now feel that Jiangda's courses are not good, then you can apply to transfer to other schools, as long as you can pass the school's assessment. The reverse is also true, students from other schools can also apply to our Jiangda, and anyone who passes the assessment can be accepted, and can even transfer into an ongoing class."

Chen Fan's eyes widened as he listened. Were schools already so open-minded these days?

Lu Xiaohua wanted to say something more, when an old man walked out of an office at the end of the corridor.

Chen Fan instinctively looked over there, and Lu Xiaohua also looked back. The next second, he seemed frightened, and quickly stood against the wall. When the old man approached, he bowed respectfully and greeted, "Hello, Professor Xu!"

Professor Xu's hair was almost completely white, he wore black-rimmed glasses, and wore a faded Zhongshan suit, looking very amiable.

He nodded to Lu Xiaohua first, "Hello, student."

Then he looked at Chen Fan, carefully examining him, and a gleam of surprise flashed in his eyes, "This student, what's your major?"

Chen Fan stood upright with his hands at his sides, and replied solemnly, "Hello, Professor Xu, I am a freshman in the Chinese Modern Literature research direction of the Literature major. I came to register today. My name is Chen Fan."

When Lu Xiaohua heard this, his eyes went straight, and he couldn't help turning his head to look.

Was he actually the legendary graduate student?

Professor Xu had a smile on his face, "Well, not bad. I am your tutor, come with me."