Chapter 19 On the 18th, follow Premier Zhou to control the water

In January 1976, we followed Premier Zhou's hearse and slowly marched westward on Chang'an Avenue.Gazing at the millions of people standing on both sides of the mourning mourning in the cold wind, I silently thought, in Chinese history, who has been so loved by the people!We sent Premier Zhou to the Babaoshan mourning hall. Everyone fell in front of him, crying loudly, and couldn't bear to leave for a long time. Ah, in the history of China, who ever made his subordinates miss him so deeply! When I heard that Premier Zhou's ashes were scattered on the rivers and land of the motherland, I seemed to see that the mountains and rivers of the motherland opened their arms to embrace her loyal and selfless son, melting and condensing with him as one.

As a water conservancy worker, I feel a special honor.We once followed Premier Zhou to regulate the rivers and rivers of the motherland. Today, when we govern the rivers and rivers of our motherland, we seem to see the figure of Premier Zhou again, feel the spirit of Premier Zhou, and hear the call of Premier Zhou! In November 1949, less than two months after the establishment of the Central People's Government, Premier Zhou met some representatives of the Liberated Area Water Conservancy Joint Conference headed by then Minister of Water Resources Fu Zuoyi and Vice Minister Li Baohua.I didn't have the honor to attend this meeting, but I heard them describe their excitement more than once afterwards.The Prime Minister said: "The war is not over yet, and the country is in the process of being created." He used the story of "Da Yu controlled the water, but he passed through the gate three times but never entered" to encourage water conservancy workers to eliminate harm and benefit the people.The prime minister's expectations for water conservancy workers let everyone see a major decision of the Party Central Committee: water control will be an important content in the blueprint for creating the country.

This decision was not accidental.On the eve of the establishment of the People's Government, in the summer of 1949, the embankments of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River burst, and the seawalls of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai almost collapsed under the attack of typhoons. Millions of victims were starving for food, and the food supply across the country was very tight.As the prime minister of the first people's government after the victory of the Chinese revolution, how will he solve the food problem of the Chinese people? On August 24, 1950, Zhou Enlai gave a comprehensive answer to this question in his speech "Construction and Unity" at the National Conference of Natural Science Workers of China.He said: "In the national construction plan, standing on the post of scientists, what should we start to do? It is impossible to do everything, and we must start with a few basic tasks." Speaking of basic tasks, he focused on Agriculture.He said: "The first is to implement land reform, liberate productive forces, and then seek development. China is not a country short of food, but the oppression and exploitation of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism have fundamentally destroyed China's rural economy. The current land reform is to liberate the peasants from the shackles of the old production relations. This work will take about two years. In conjunction with the land reform, we must start to do the following tasks. First, build water conservancy. We cannot just ask for To treat the symptoms, we must cure the root cause, and we must repair several major rivers, such as the Huaihe River, the Han River, the Yellow River, and the Yangtze River.” The Prime Minister finally encouraged scientists: “Start with New Democracy and lay down a million years for ourselves and our children and grandchildren. In the foundation of the year, "Yu's merits are not due to Yu'. Dayu's water control has brought benefits to the Chinese nation, and the efforts of Chinese scientists will definitely create greater achievements than Dayu."

Premier Zhou's analysis is based on science.Due to China's specific natural conditions and historical development process, the development of the Chinese nation is inseparable from water governance.So far, in my country's 9.6 million square kilometers of land, about 1 million square kilometers rely on the embankment protection of rivers, lakes and seas, and are often under the threat of floods. The regions where major cities are located.Drought is a general threat to the entire country.Therefore, in the history of our country, water control has often become a major issue of whether the country can be stabilized and stabilized. The legend of Dayu's water control reflects the long-term requirements and wishes of the Chinese nation.

During the 27 years in office of the beloved Premier Zhou, he personally led the water conservancy cause of our country and commanded us to control the water.His footprints are all over the rivers and rivers of our country.The principles and tasks of water conservancy work in each period, and the governance of each major river are all presided over by the Prime Minister for approval.Before the "Cultural Revolution", when formulating economic development plans every year, he had to arrange another time to listen to reports on water conservancy work.He said: "Water conservancy plans are very complicated and require special research." Even in the difficult years of the "Cultural Revolution", many major water conservancy and hydropower projects were still able to make timely and correct decisions under the direct leadership of the Prime Minister.Thanks to his leadership and support, we were able to overcome all kinds of distractions and setbacks and avoid some major mistakes.At present, the main rivers in our country have initially established a flood control system with certain standards. The irrigated area has grown from more than 200 million mu at the beginning of liberation to 700 million mu. Drainage and irrigation equipment has grown from more than 90,000 horsepower at the beginning of liberation to more than 80 million horsepower.It can be said that the appearance of rivers and agricultural production conditions have undergone fundamental changes.The people's government has indeed solved the food problem of the Chinese people that successive Chinese governments have failed to solve for more than a hundred years.

The rainfall received by the land is uneven, and the runoff delivered by rivers is uneven, and this is the case all over the world.In my country, due to the impact of the monsoon, the uneven distribution of water resources in time and space is more significant.Drought will cause thousands of miles of red land and rivers to dry up;Therefore, in Chinese history, there was a dispute over storage and discharge in water control.According to legend, Gun advocated blocking water and failed; his son Yu switched to channeling water to send water into the sea and succeeded. After the flood of the Huaihe River in 1950, Comrade Mao Zedong gave instructions to radically control the Huaihe River. This was the first time that New China proposed radical governance of a river.How to achieve a cure?At the meeting on the governance of the Huaihe River presided over by Premier Zhou, a dispute over storage and discharge occurred.Using the views of modern science and technology, the Prime Minister put forward the policy of "accumulating and accumulating resources to achieve the goal of curing the Huaihe River".Because, simply storing or simply discharging cannot fully meet the requirements of eliminating harm and rejuvenating benefits.The principle of both storage and drainage accurately expresses the natural dialectics of water control and ends the historical debate on water control.It is applicable to the Huaihe River, and it is also applicable to other rivers. This was originally easy for everyone to understand and accept.

However, after 1957, under the pervasiveness of "Left" thinking, some local leaders in the Huaihe River Basin proposed that in order to eliminate harm and rejuvenate profits, all water should be blocked and stored, and summarized as "storage, small, and group" as "three main principles" "Guidelines (mainly water storage, small-scale, and self-management by the masses), even mentioned the height of the two routes, and put the Huaihe River governance plan formulated based on the policy of both storage and drainage into "arrangement, large, and national"" (Drainage-based, large-scale based, and nationally organized) hats.This kind of erroneous formulation is regarded as the only correct policy for water control and is implemented throughout the country.As a result of the implementation from 1958 to 1960, on the Huaibei Plain and the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Plain, water storage and irrigation were emphasized one-sidedly, drainage was not paid attention to, and water was even blocked layer by layer, resulting in serious waterlogging and alkali disasters and water conservancy disputes between regions.By the time of the enlarged Central Work Conference in 1962, this contradiction was exposed violently.At this time, Premier Zhou ordered some of our relevant responsible persons to go to the scene to investigate in person and listen to the opinions of cadres and the masses.After returning to Beijing to report to him, the Prime Minister convened a meeting with the relevant provincial party committee secretaries to correct the mistake of blind command.The Prime Minister sharply pointed out: "I asked the doctor that it is okay for a person to go without food for a few days, but if he does not urinate for a day, he will be poisoned. The same is true for the land. How can we just store up and not discharge!" Then, he put the unscientific "full Water conservancy measures such as "Star", "Bunch of Grapes" and so on have all been scientifically clarified.Under the auspices of Premier Zhou, after a lot of hard work, the blind command of the previous period was gradually corrected, and the water conservancy was back on the road of healthy development.

On this basis, Premier Zhou guided us to further investigate and study, sum up experience, and overcome one-sidedness in thinking and work.In August 1965, we proposed a discussion draft of twenty articles on water conservancy work and reported to him.The situation at that time was: the one-sidedness of focusing on saving has been corrected in actual work.In order to avoid confusion and endless debate on the formulation of the water control policy, we propose a water conservancy work policy during the third five-year plan, suggesting "Dazhai spirit, focusing on small-scale, comprehensive support, and strengthening management."This was to correct the "four-weight and four-light" bias in the actual work at that time, which focused on large-scale projects rather than small ones, focused on backbone and light on supporting facilities, focused on construction and light on management, and focused on engineering and light on actual results.The Prime Minister affirmed this policy, and added at the end that "water conservancy work should better serve the increase in agricultural production." After this policy was discussed and approved at the National Water Conservancy Conference in September 1965, it was welcomed by the majority of cadres and the masses. The "three-five" policy of "big, small, complete, managed, good".Everyone believes that in the future, we can move forward with one heart and one mind, and no longer get entangled in the debate about the "three main" policies.

Unexpectedly, during the "Cultural Revolution", the controversy over storage and venting was picked up again.Some people who don't know the truth think that we are resisting the "three masters" policy with the "three five" policy.Some well-meaning comrades who do not understand the past historical experience demand that we restore the "Three Masters" policy.The Prime Minister instructed the comrades of the Military Control Committee of the Ministry of Water and Electricity at that time: "This issue is very complicated, so don't start a debate." "The three main principles" were changed to "mainly small-scale, supporting facilities, and self-management by communes and teams".After this document was approved by Chairman Mao, the turmoil was considered to subside.

In the water control work, Premier Zhou has guided us more than once to eliminate "left" interference. When exaggeration prevailed in 1958, the leader of a province claimed that the problem of soil erosion in the province had been solved. Premier Zhou led us to inspect a certain distance by helicopter. He said, to look at soil and water conservation, you have to take a plane to see the whole picture, not just the typical ones.During the "Great Leap Forward", due to neglect of quality, an accident occurred at the construction site of a large hydropower station. In response to the blind command style in some places at that time, the Prime Minister told me: "You are a member of the Communist Party, you should be red and professional. In the autumn of 1959, during the climax of "anti-Rightist deviation and motivation", we were also hot-headed. At the National Water Conservancy Conference held in October, we proposed to basically solve the problem within three years. Slogan for flood and drought disasters.When we reported the draft document to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister laughed and said, "To basically solve the flood and drought disasters within three years? It's too aggressive." After repeated persuasion by Premier Zhou, we revised this slogan.

The Yellow River is the river with the highest sediment concentration in the world.From the Loess Plateau in the middle and upper reaches, it carries more than one billion tons of sediment every year, part of which is transported into the sea, and part of it is deposited in the downstream riverbed, forming a suspended river above the ground in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.In history, the Yellow River often broke its mouth and changed its course. The floods reached Tianjin in the north and Huaiyin in the south, which not only caused the loss of life and property of the people, but also silted up and destroyed the water system of the Haihe River on the north bank and the Zhun River on the south bank. worries". In order to control the flood of the Yellow River and develop the water conservancy of the Yellow River, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, foreign experts were hired to assist, and the "Technical and Economic Report on the Comprehensive Utilization of the Yellow River" was compiled in 1954, and the Sanmenxia Water Conservancy Project was recommended as the first phase of the project.Based on this, the State Council submitted to the National People's Congress in 1955 the "Comprehensive Planning Report on Cure the Yellow River Flood Damage and Develop the Yellow River Water Conservancy", which was reviewed and approved.Due to the lack of experience in building large-scale water conservancy projects in my country at that time, Sanmenxia commissioned foreign designs.At that time, the planning idea was that the Yellow River sediment should be mainly intercepted and stored. First, the huge storage capacity of Sanmenxia was used to store it. At the same time, water and soil conservation work was vigorously carried out. It was assumed that the source of sediment could be greatly reduced, thereby maintaining the life of the main and tributary reservoirs.According to this plan, the design water level of Sanmenxia is 360 meters above sea level, and the corresponding storage capacity is 64.7 billion cubic meters. The backwater end of the reservoir reaches near Xi'an, and the Guanzhong Plain needs a large number of immigrants. Although the construction of Sanmenxia started in 1956, its design plan has aroused more and more doubts, and comrades in Shaanxi Province demanded reconsideration. In April 1958, Premier Zhou invited Peng Dehuai and Xi Zhongxun to review the design at the Sanmenxia construction site.After discussion, everyone believed that the mud blocking measures were unreliable, the prediction of siltation was not sure, and the resettlement task was too big.In order to allow enough room, Premier Zhou decisively decided to change the original plan: the dam was designed at 360 meters, constructed at 350 meters, and the initial storage level was reduced to 335 meters to limit the impact of the backwater end and reduce the number of immigrants. In 1960, the Sanmenxia Dam was built to store water.Practice has proved that it is absolutely necessary to modify the original design.The sedimentation situation is much worse than the original design, and the sedimentation part quickly extends upstream, forming a "tail".Although the water level has been lowered, if left unchecked, it may still threaten Xi'an.At this time, there were different opinions from all sides, and there was no consensus.Some totally affirmed that mud storage should continue to be built in upstream tributaries according to the original plan; some completely denied it, thinking that the only way out was to abolish the Sanmenxia Project or even blow up the dam; some proposed various reconstruction plans. In December 1964, Premier Zhou personally presided over a symposium on yellow governance in Beijing, inviting experts with various opinions to participate.The Prime Minister attended the meeting every day, listened to everyone's speeches and debates, and went to Wang Huayun and other executive comrades many times to ask for opinions individually and to formulate countermeasures.At the meeting, most comrades believed that Sanmenxia should be completely rebuilt, but they also worried about the political influence.Premier Zhou taught everyone to have a thoroughly materialistic attitude and to correct any mistakes, only in this way can we truly solve the problem.Finally, the Prime Minister approved the first phase of the Sanmenxia project reconstruction plan.This plan made a fundamental modification to the original design, changing the original water storage and mud retention to flood detention and sediment discharge, that is, an additional sand discharge tunnel was built on the left side of the dam. If there is no need for flood control during the flood season, the gate should be fully opened to allow drainage and drainage. When there is less sand in winter, in order to assist the downstream to prevent ice (flood), the water can be properly stored, and the original high-head hydroelectric generators can be removed and replaced with low-head power generation.This program is referred to as "accumulating the clear and removing the turbid". The first phase of reconstruction was completed in 1968 with remarkable results. The second phase of reconstruction began in 1969 and was completed in 1973, which basically solved the problem of "tailing" of sedimentation in the Sanmenxia reservoir area. In order to study the relevant issues of the Sanmenxia Project, Premier Zhou went to the site three times for investigation and research.When we were accused of each other, the Prime Minister shared the difficulties with us and encouraged us: "History is development. The Yellow River cannot be governed in old China. We must explore the laws, understand the laws, master the laws, and constantly resolve contradictions. One day the Yellow River can be healed. We must have this ambition.” At the conclusion of the symposium on the management of the Yellow River, the Prime Minister asked us to give each of the participating comrades a copy of "Chairman Mao's Four Philosophical Works", hoping that everyone can learn and use Mao Zedong Philosophical thought, analysis and solution to the problem of Yellow River.Indeed, China's sediment experts have greatly improved their understanding of the law of sediment erosion and sedimentation through repeated experiments and research, and repeated practice and summary, and created a set of methods for controlling the use of water and sediment on rivers with many sediments. At the International Symposium on River Sediment held in Beijing in 1980 and the World Conference on Large Dams held in Brazil in 1982, the papers of Chinese scholars were valued by their colleagues around the world. In 1983, UNESCO decided to co-organize the International Sediment Training Center with my country in Beijing.my country's sediment research has been at the forefront of the world. In 1973, when Premier Zhou was seriously ill, he saw the report of the successful reconstruction of Sanmenxia, ​​and asked someone to call me to ask if it was true.Today, when the management of the Yellow River begins to find a way, when we formulate the next stage of the Yellow River control plan, dear Premier Zhou, how much we hope you can listen to our report again! The floods and droughts in North China have always been on Premier Zhou's heart. In 1950, while governing the Huaihe River, the Prime Minister presided over the approval of the construction of the Guanting Reservoir on the Yongding River to control the flood of the Yongding River and serve as a water source for the capital's industry and agriculture. In 1958, Premier Zhou took a long-term view and decided to build the Miyun Reservoir on the Chaobai River after personally inspecting the increasing water demand in Beijing.With his direct care and support, the Miyun Reservoir was built quickly and well, and it took only two years to store water. It not only controlled the flood of the Chaobai River, but also became the main source of water for the capital.Afterwards, controlled reservoirs such as Yuecheng, Gangnan, Huangbizhuang, Wangkuai, and Xidayang were built successively in the Zhanghe River, Hutuo River, and the southern branch of the Daqing River, which are tributaries of the Haihe River. In 1963, after the flood in the Haihe River Basin, Premier Zhou personally presided over the approval of the Haihe River Planning and decided to build a new river downstream to drain the flood into the sea.These plans won the support of the masses and were not interrupted during the "Cultural Revolution".Now, these water conservancy projects have begun to take shape. After the threat of floods has eased, drought has become a prominent problem in North China. Relying solely on reservoirs to store surface runoff is not enough to meet the flood problem in North China. In February 1966, the drought in North China was severe. Premier Zhou personally presided over the Northern Drought Relief Conference, pointing out that drought resistance in the north is a long-term matter, and long-term plans must be made.After the meeting, the Prime Minister convened a meeting of the State Council and proposed that relevant leaders be the leaders of the drought relief teams in each province. He demanded that the drought relief work be continuously carried out, and that the drought relief work be used to promote the development of the entire agriculture and solve the food problem in the north.He discussed with everyone: "Comrade Fuchun, you will be the team leader of Liaoning Province; Comrade Xiannian will be the team leader of Henan Province; the drought in Shanxi is the worst, how about going to Boss Tan (Zhenlin)? Go to Shaanxi in Qiuli; (Lin) Hujia I’m from Shandong, let’s go to Shandong; I volunteered to be the team leader of both Beijing and Hebei Province (Tianjin belonged to Hebei Province at that time).” After the meeting, the Prime Minister studied Beijing’s drought resistance.In March of that year, after the Xingtai earthquake, the Premier led a team to personally inspect the drought situation in Hebei and the Yuecheng Reservoir under construction, and made serious investigations and studies on the governance of the Haihe River and drought resistance in Hebei.Unfortunately, after the "Cultural Revolution" began in May, all work came to a standstill. In 1968, when there was just a little opportunity to work in the fierce turmoil, under the auspices of Premier Zhou, the State Council fully deployed the work of drilling wells in North China, and took this as a major strategic measure to reverse the south-to-north grain transfer.In the next few years, no matter how turbulent the political situation was, comrades such as Li Xiannian and Yu Qiuli, who were in charge of the daily work of the State Council at that time, made specific arrangements to continue construction at a rate of more than 300,000 mechanical wells every year.This is a grand basic construction of farmland on the North China Plain. The state will provide financial subsidies and provide equipment and materials in the plan, and it has been enthusiastically supported by the majority of farmers.Now, there are nearly 2 million electromechanical wells in North China, and more than 100 million mu of cultivated land is irrigated with groundwater, which has greatly changed the agricultural production conditions of ten years and nine droughts. Coupled with the development of the chemical fertilizer industry, the grain output has increased significantly. It reversed the long-term south-to-north grain transfer situation in Chinese history, and promoted the development of rural mechanization and electrification. "Drinking water does not forget the well digger", Premier Zhou is the founder of North China Mechanized Well Construction. At the end of February 1958, Premier Zhou led a large number of cadres and Chinese and foreign experts to inspect the Yangtze River from Wuhan to Chongqing by boat, which lasted for a week.The accompanying leading cadres include: Vice Premiers Li Fuchun and Li Xiannian of the State Council, leading comrades from Hubei, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces, and leading comrades from relevant ministries and commissions of the State Council.Along the way, I saw the Jingjiang embankment and the Three Gorges dam site, listened to the reports of local party and government comrades along the river, and discussed the management of the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges on the boat. The boat arrived in Chongqing on March 5, and the Prime Minister made a summary of the discussion in Chongqing on March 6. This was the preparation for the "Opinions on the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project and the Planning of the Yangtze River Basin" at the Chengdu Conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. As early as the early days of liberation, the issue of the Jingjiang levee on the Yangtze River was on the agenda of the Central People's Government.Jingjiang refers to the river section where the Yangtze River enters the two lakes (Hubei and Hunan) plains after exiting the Three Gorges.The Jingjiang embankment refers to the north embankment of the Yangtze River with a total length of more than 180 kilometers from Zaolingang, Jiangling County, Hubei Province to Jianli County.In ancient times, after the Yangtze River came out of the Three Gorges, the floods diverted and stored in Yunmengze on the north bank and Dongting Lake on the south bank, and then entered the downstream.After a considerable period of time, the sediment carried by the floods of the Yangtze River silted up a large area of ​​land in Yunmeng Lake and Dongting Lake. The people built embankments on these lands and reclaimed wasteland for planting.Since the Ming Dynasty, the Jingjiang embankment was built on the north bank, and Yunmengze was completely cut off from the Yangtze River, gradually becoming the Jianghan Plain.Although Dongting Lake still retains the role of regulation and storage, its volume is also shrinking due to siltation and reclamation.As the barrier of the Jianghan Plain, the Jingjiang embankment is seriously threatened by floods and the situation is very precarious. It breached many times in the Qing Dynasty, causing serious disasters. In 1951, under the auspices of Premier Zhou, it was decided to build the Jingjiang flood diversion project on the opposite bank of the Jingjiang levee, and use part of the land in Gong'an County to divert and store the floodwater. In 1954, when the Yangtze River flooded, the Jingjiang flood diversion project achieved its expected benefits, and the Jingjiang embankment was kept safe.But historically, there have been floods larger than those in 1954, and the Jingjiang flood diversion project alone cannot solve the problem. On both sides of the Yangtze River, about 90 million mu of land is threatened by floods. In 1954, except for the embankment of Wuhan City, the embankment of the Jingjiang River and a few other dikes, the whole river was flooded with more than 47 million mu of arable land and more than 18 million people. flood.Therefore, the flood control of the Yangtze River, like the flood control of the Yellow River, is an issue related to the overall situation of the country. The Sanmenxia Reservoir can be built on the Yellow River to control floods, and the Three Gorges Reservoir can also be considered to control floods on the Yangtze River.In the early years of the Republic of China, Mr. Sun Yat-sen proposed the idea of ​​developing the water resources of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and improving the shipping of the Yangtze River.Before and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang government, with the assistance of American experts, proposed a plan to build the Three Gorges Project.Chairman Mao attached great importance to this issue, and it was with this issue that Premier Zhou inspected the Yangtze River.The basic conclusion after the inspection is that the Three Gorges Project plays a major role in the planning of the Yangtze River Basin. However, due to its large scale, it involves various issues such as flood control, power generation, shipping, and immigration. It is necessary to consider various factors and construction conditions, and carefully decide to launch the project. opportunity.In order to start harnessing the Yangtze River as soon as possible, it was decided to build the Danjiangkou Water Conservancy Project of the Han River first during that inspection.The Han River is the most harmful tributary of floods in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and directly threatens Wuhan. In 1935, the embankments of the Han River flooded and over 80,000 people died.The Danjiangkou Water Conservancy Project can basically control the flood of the Han River, and has the advantages of power generation, irrigation, and shipping.The project started in the winter of 1958 and was completed in 1967 after overcoming many difficulties. In 1974 and 1983, the Han River suffered major floods. The Danjiangkou Reservoir reduced the peak flow of the Han River by 40% and 60%, which saved the downstream floods. Since 1958, Premier Zhou has been entrusted by the central government to personally lead the planning of the Yangtze River Basin and the preliminary work of the Three Gorges. In 1970, after the completion of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, we proposed to go to the smaller-scale Gezhouba Water Conservancy Project in the lower reaches of the Three Gorges to meet the needs of power development.After Premier Zhou presided over the study, he agreed with this suggestion and believed that the Gezhouba project could be used as an actual preparation for the Three Gorges.He submitted this opinion to Chairman Mao at the same time as the different opinion that existed at that time, that is, the opinion to go to the Three Gorges first, and Chairman Mao approved the opinion to go to Gezhouba first.However, in the turbulent situation at that time, as soon as the subordinates heard Chairman Mao's approval, they fired their own guns and started construction. They did not submit the design for approval at all, causing a serious loss of control.After I returned from a visit abroad in early 1971, I was ordered to inspect the work on the construction site, and found that there were still serious problems in the design.Premier Zhou listened to several reports in a row and decided to revise the design.However, in the case of designing and constructing at the same time, the work became more and more passive, and serious accidents occurred in the construction quality.This kind of situation is really unacceptable for such a large-scale project, but since the start of construction has been announced, no one dares to imagine stopping the project. After the Prime Minister learned of this situation, in November 1972, he was ill and convened a meeting to listen to my report.From 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., nurses delivered medicines to him again and again, and other leading comrades begged him to rest over and over again, but the issue was not discussed thoroughly, and the understanding was not unified.In the end, the Prime Minister ordered 9 comrades from relevant parties to re-discuss whether Gezhouba should go up or down, presided over by comrades who did not agree to go to Gezhouba first, and be responsible for submitting a report to the central government.After thorough discussions among the 9 of us, we all agreed that the problems of the Gezhouba project were that the infrastructure construction procedures were not followed, the survey and design work was too rough, the investment estimate was too low, and the construction preparation was insufficient; after fully considering the above factors, its economic benefits are still good It is also sure that it can be completed, so it is proposed to continue construction on the basis of a well-designed design.The Prime Minister agreed with this opinion and decisively decided to stop the work immediately, redesign it, and resume work only after the design was approved.The Prime Minister appointed the above-mentioned 9 people to form the Gezhouba Engineering Technical Committee, with Comrade Lin Yishan as the director, responsible for formulating design plans and solving various technical problems during construction. In September 1974, with the support of Comrade Gu Mu, the design plan was reviewed. With the approval of Premier Zhou, Gezhouba resumed construction at the end of 1974. Since then, the project has progressed smoothly. At the beginning of 1981, the closure was successful. In June, the first phase of the project was opened for navigation and power generation. Since last year, the second phase of the project has had 5 generating units start to generate electricity.Since 1984, the annual power generation of Gezhouba has ranked first in the country's hydropower stations, which has strongly supported the economic development of Central China. When Premier Zhou approved Gezhouba to resume work, he had already undergone the first surgery for cancer.When Gezhouba successfully closed the river, Premier Zhou left us forever.Facts have proved that the Prime Minister's decision to suspend work on Gezhouba Dam for rectification is completely correct. Without the suspension of work at that time, there would be no success in the future.Practice will also prove that Premier Zhou's decision to use the Gezhouba Project as an actual preparation for the Three Gorges Project is correct. Dear Premier Zhou, the grand and arduous task of water control is still before us.We will continue to fulfill your last wish in accordance with your teaching of "walking on thin ice as if you are facing an abyss" and conscientiously!