Chapter 31 30. Shen Jilan——a rare witness to history

Shen Jilan, female, Han nationality, was born in December 1929 in Xigou, Pingshun, Shanxi Province. She joined the Communist Party of China in 1953 and is a national model worker. Shen Jilan has successively served as deputy director of Jinxing Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry Cooperative, deputy secretary of the Pingshun County Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, director of the Shanxi Provincial Women's Federation, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Changzhi Municipal People's Congress, and the second to fourth executive committee members of the All-China Women's Federation. In 1951, he assisted Li Shunda in founding the Jinxing Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry Production Cooperative, led women to participate in productive labor, and implemented equal pay for equal work for men and women. In 1952, he was awarded the National Agricultural Model Worker for the first time.After 30 years of hard work, Xigou Village has become a model for the comprehensive development of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry in Shanxi Province. In 1983, he won the title of National March 8th Red Banner Bearer. In 1979 and 1989, he was awarded the title of National Model Worker twice.

From being elected as a deputy to the first National People's Congress in 1954 to being elected as a deputy to the 11th National People's Congress in 2008, she is the only one in the country who has been re-elected from the first term to the 11th National People's Congress, and is called by international friends The oldest "member of Congress". As an ordinary rural woman, Shen Jilan was received cordially by Chairman Mao Zedong, was a guest at the home of Premier Zhou Enlai, and took photos with Deng Xiaoping. Comrade Jiang Zemin called her "a rare bird".Hu Jintao, Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, and Bo Yibo even visited her in Xigou Village.On behalf of Chinese women, Shen Jilan also participated in the Second World Conference on Women held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1953, visited Moscow, the capital of the former Soviet Union, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and Berlin, the capital of the former Democratic Germany. Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and other Chinese and foreign leaders cordially received him.

Shen Jilan's home is located in Xigou Village in the Taihang Mountains.The mountains here are stone mountains, and the ditch is a stone ditch. The natural conditions are very harsh.In order to change the poverty in her hometown, Shen Jilan took the "women's army" up the mountain every day before dawn and returned home after dark. After years of hard work, the barren mountain was finally covered with green clothes. In 1950, Shen Jilan contacted more than ten close sisters to join the mutual aid group.Later, together with the famous model worker Li Shunda, she founded the well-known "Xigou Jinxing Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry Production Cooperative", and was elected as the vice president by everyone. Since then, Shen Jilan's deeds have gradually spread throughout the country.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, in the face of the tide of rural reform sweeping the country, Shen Jilan took the lead in implementing the household contract responsibility system in Xigou Village. The total economic income, grain output, and per capita income of the village have all increased significantly . 1953 was a glorious year for Shen Jilan.At the beginning of this year, she joined the Communist Party of China gloriously and was named a national model worker.In April of the same year, Shen Jilan was also elected as the National Women's Representative and attended the Second National Women's Congress. On May 19, Shen Jilan attended the Copenhagen World Conference on Women as a member of the Chinese women's delegation.It was at this meeting that she became close friends with Professor Lei Jieqiong, who was then the executive committee member of the All-China Women's Federation, and formed a sisterhood for nearly half a century.At the National People's Congress in March 1997, after seeing Shen Jilan, Lei Jieqiong, the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, shook hands warmly and said, "Sister Jilan, do you still remember when we changed our shoes in Copenhagen?"

Walking into Shen Jilan's home, people will linger in front of the photos hanging all over the wall.These photos are almost a history of new China, and almost all the national leaders familiar to the masses are in it.In great contrast to this glorious experience, the home of this old model worker is really shabby, with few and old furnishings, even worse than ordinary farm homes. In 1973, Shen Jilan was appointed director of the Women's Federation of Shanxi Province.Unprepared, she always felt that this was inappropriate and refused to go.She said: "I don't have a high level of education, and I don't have experience in government agencies. It is more suitable for me to be the director of the Provincial Women's Federation than to let someone else be." She truthfully reflected her thoughts to the organization, but in the end she still obeyed the organization's decision.After she took office, she didn't need rank, salary, account transfer, special car, and she still participated in labor in Xigou Village... Soon, under her repeated demands, she finally resigned from the official position.

In 1983, the organization listed Shen Jilan as a candidate for the deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Changzhi City People's Congress. She still repeatedly stated that she was not suitable, saying: "I don't know much, so I just need to be a good representative." Finally she was elected.The city wanted to transfer her account, assign her a grade, and provide her with a special car, but she declined all of them.She said: "My household registration is in Xigou, and my level is in the countryside. I can walk and move around. It's not very useful to ask for those." Now, she has been elected as the deputy director of the Standing Committee of Changzhi Municipal People's Congress for four consecutive terms.

Over the years, Shen Jilan went out many times to contact business, took the bus, stayed in the cheap hotel, and ate the cheapest meals. In 2008, the earthquake in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province caused huge losses to the lives and property of the local people. The disaster affected the heart of Shen Jilan, the only deputy to the 1st to 11th National People's Congress in the country. As a typical rural woman, an out-and-out Ordinary farmers and old model workers generously donated the 10,000 yuan they had accumulated throughout their lives to the people in the disaster-stricken area.

So far, Shen Jilan is one of the few most experienced agricultural labor models in New China who are still alive and active in the political arena. She is also the only representative of the National People's Congress who has been re-elected from the first term to the eleventh term. She is worthy of being a historical witness of the growth of the Republic people.