Chapter 28 27. Shi Laihe - Hold High the Banner and Selfless Dedication

Shi Laihe (1930-2003), male, Han nationality, from Liuzhuang Village, Qiliying Town, Xinxiang City, Henan Province, a member of the Communist Party of China.During his lifetime, he was the Secretary of the Party Branch of Liuzhuang Village. Liuzhuang Village is located more than 10 kilometers southwest of Xinxiang City, Henan Province. Historically, the arrogant and unruly Yellow River has flowed recklessly on this low-lying land and diverted its course many times, causing disasters for the villagers here.When Shi Laihe was very young, he memorized a sad folk song: "The village with a radius of ten miles is the poorest in Liuzhuang. I live in a house with earthen grass and half a year's grain of bran and vegetables. Fleeing from famine requires food, and I sell it to my son."

In the summer when Shi Laihe just served as the secretary of the village party branch, the wheat harvested by Liu Zhuang had not had time to grind and thresh, but it was molded and sprouted by heavy rains one after another. He was drowned by the stagnant water all over the place and died.Seeing that the harvest is hopeless, the villagers are all ready to go out to escape famine.Together with other members of the party branch, Shi Laihe called the masses together, and he said loudly: "Now is a new society, and we can no longer think about fleeing famine and begging for food whenever there is a disaster year. With the leadership of the Communist Party, as long as everyone is united, we can We will be able to overcome this difficulty!" He led everyone to dig ditches to drain waterlogged water, and while replanting vegetables such as radishes, turnips, and Chinese cabbage on the wetlands, he built sideline workshops such as noodle workshops and tofu workshops, and led the masses to leave the village. Mow the grass on the Yellow River beach (the Yellow River diverts from north to south) more than 10 kilometers away from the village to solve the problems of burning firewood and feed for cattle and sheep, and sell them to make money.Due to trying every means to broaden the channels for earning a living, in half a year, everyone was divided 4 times.During the Spring Festival, every family of the villagers ate white flour buns and dumplings.

Historically, due to the many diversions of the Yellow River, Liuzhuang Village has left four criss-crossing deep ditches more than 3 meters deep on the land of only 1.5 square kilometers. Barren beaches with names such as "Toad's Nest".Beginning in 1953, with the progress of the water conservancy project to control the Yellow River in New China, Shi Laihe took the lead in launching the battle for basic farmland construction in Liuzhuang.I have been working hard for 20 years, and I have transformed all the land in the village into high-yield and stable square fields that can be irrigated in drought and drained in floods.

Shi Laihe recognized a reason: "The party leads the people to take the road of socialism to let everyone live a good life. If the masses have not been able to live a good life, it means that we Communists are incompetent." Shi Laihe will never To be a "incompetent" Communist Party member who the masses look down on.Even in 1960, when my country was in severe economic difficulties, the agriculture in Liuzhuang Village still achieved a bumper harvest, with an output of 160 jin of lint per mu and more than 1,000 jin of grain per mu.By the mid-1960s, most of the people in Liuzhuang lived in large tile-roofed houses.Under the leadership of Shi Laihe, they have dug out the "roots of poverty" and solved the problem of food and clothing that has plagued generations in just over 10 years.

In the early 1960s, Shi Laihe had already realized that if he wanted the people to live in a big tile-roofed house with enough food, clothing and warmth, their lives would become more prosperous day by day, and the only way to make money was to plant crops. The effect is not ideal.Although the yield per mu of grain and cotton in Liuzhuang is higher than that of other villages, the potential for continuous increase in production is limited after all.When Shi Laihe thought about it, he first thought of developing animal husbandry.He first took the 90 yuan savings from the village, went to Xinxiang to buy back 3 small cows, and started a dairy farm.After the dairy farm made a profit, he sent people to Xinjiang to buy back 27 mares.After four or five years of breeding, the cows have multiplied to more than 300, and the horse herd has expanded into a large horse farm that can sell dozens of ponies every year.In addition, the Liuzhuang brigade at that time also raised a large herd of pigs and sheep, and the annual income of animal husbandry alone reached more than 1 million yuan.

In 1974, the horn on a tractor of the brigade broke down, and a new one could not be bought anywhere.The two drivers tried to repair it by themselves. Unexpectedly, this repair really fixed the horn.When Shi Laihe found out about this, he was so happy that he patted his thigh.He laughed loudly and said: "Since we can repair the horn, and the horn is not easy to buy, why can't we make the horn?" Shi Laihe started the experiment with everyone while the iron was hot.After dozens of experiments, the "manufacturers" led by Shi Laihe insisted on following the gourd's drawing, and tinkered with the tractor steam horn that screamed loudly.At the beginning, only one pair could be produced per day, gradually increasing to more than 100 pairs per day.Due to the excellent quality of the small speakers produced by Liuzhuang, they soon resounded all over the world.Liu Zhuang also has a machinery factory since then.

From then on, Shi Laihe, who had just tasted the sweetness of starting a business, greatly increased his confidence, so he successively set up food factories, paper factories, starch factories, etc.In this way, not only did Liuzhuang solve the problem of small land, large population and surplus agricultural labor force, it also opened up a successful path for the multi-channel growth of the collective economy. In 1985, together with other members of the party branch, after repeated examinations, he finally resolutely decided to seek benefits from the high-tech field, focus on the development of modern industrial enterprises, and invest in the construction of the largest biopharmaceutical factory producing inosine in the country - Huaxing Pharmaceutical Factory .In addition, in order to provide sufficient energy for large-scale modern enterprises, Liuzhuang built its own thermal power plant.

Liu Zhuang led by Shi Laihe experienced ups and downs from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the beginning of this century, but no matter what the circumstances, Shi Laihe recognized one thing: "The essence of socialism is to let Common people embark on the road of common prosperity. Ever-changing, economic development, so that common people can live a better life.” Some people say that Shi Laihe’s “50-year red flag will not fall down” is a “mystery” ", in fact, Shi Laihe "disclosed the truth" on many occasions: "When you encounter problems, you must have a backbone, and you can't just listen to the wind and rain. Only by seeking truth from facts and proceeding from your own reality can you get good results." Because With this "backbone", Liu Zhuang neither "followed the trend" nor "blow the wind" in previous movements and rural reforms, and never copied the "advanced experience" of the outside world. He always focused on economic construction and insisted on Development does not relax.

Shi Laihe, who has been in charge of the grassroots party organizations in rural areas for more than 50 years, has led the party members, cadres and masses of the village to unswervingly follow the road of socialism, self-reliance, and hard work, making Liuzhuang, which used to be poor and clinking, become famous all over the country. A model of the new socialist countryside.He is a representative of the 13th to 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a member of the Standing Committee of the 5th to 8th National People's Congress, and was awarded honorary titles such as National Model Worker and National Outstanding Party Worker.