Chapter 17 16. Hongqi Canal: Artificial Tianhe

The Hongqi Canal built in 1969 is one of the most proud projects of the Chinese people during the Mao Zedong era.It is a canal dug out of the cliffs of Taihang Mountain by people from a county town for 10 years.This county named Lin County (renamed Linzhou City after 1994) is located in the northern part of Henan Province, on the east side of Taihang Mountain, at the intersection of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan provinces.The total area of ​​Linzhou City is 2046 square kilometers, of which the area of ​​hills and hills accounts for 86%.This may explain Linzhou people's desire to conquer nature - it is said that one of the two mountains that Yugong had to deal with in Yugong Yishan was Taihang Mountain.The 1,500-kilometer Hongqi Canal has made Linzhou famous all over China, and the Hongqi Canal itself is also known as the "Artificial Tianhe".In the first half of the history of the Republic, there are many feats about man's conquest of nature, and the Hongqi Canal is one of the most amazing feats.

He suddenly sang a song: Split the Taihang Mountains, the Zhang River pierces the mountains, the people of Lin County have great ambitions, and they are determined to rearrange the mountains and rivers.It was Beijing in 2008, and a taxi driver in his early fifties was talking excitedly about the places he had been as a factory transport driver in his youth.He has been to the county town where the Hongqi Canal was built. The river flows along the man-made canal and rushes through the rocks of the mountain.But I am afraid that what impresses him more is that this song sings about the Hongqi Canal and the people who built it, so that he can still sing it from his mouth when he is talking about it nearly 40 years later.Like all the red songs of the era, this one has a simple but catchy melody that, once heard, will leave a lasting impression when you hear it again; The same, it will continue to appear, strengthen the memory of the listener; what's more, in that era, people did not have many choices for popular songs.

This artificial canal built in 1969 became one of the deepest impressions of that era.When Zhou Enlai received foreign guests, he introduced to the visiting guests: "There are two miracles in New China, one is the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and the other is the Linxian Red Flag Canal."Other praises for it include "Artificial Milky Way", "Contemporary Great Wall" and "Eighth Wonder of the World".Even in China, which has mastered the use of cheap labor to produce astonishing structures that leave outsiders bewildered, it is an astounding achievement.Man-made channels either bypass the mountains or pass through the middle of the mountains, leading a river over the mountain barriers to the farmlands that need water.The total length of the Hongqi Canal is 1,525.6 kilometers. In order to build this artificial canal, people have to "flatten 1,250 hills, drill 211 tunnels, erect 152 aqueducts, build 48 reservoirs, 364 ponds and weirs, and build 12,408 various facilities." "The county used a total of 22.29 million cubic meters of earth and stone, which is equivalent to building a road from Harbin to Guangzhou that is 3 meters high and 2 meters wide."

Today it is hard for people to imagine how this artificial Milky Way was built back then.Just like today's tourists go to see the terraced fields built on the mountain in Dazhai, or to see the stepped Panzhihua Iron and Steel Company known as "ivory miniature carvings", we can only admire what people can achieve and create. Architectural marvel, respecting such a foolish effort to move mountains, while secretly wondering what drives people to do it, or is such admirable effort necessary? On this issue, the construction of the Hongqi Canal stems from a county town's great desire for water.

In a booklet "Red Flag Canal" published in 1974, the editor said when introducing Lin County, which is located in the northwest of Henan Province, at the foot of Longli Mountain, the tail of the Taihang Mountains: Stone mountains and steep cliffs and deep valleys. There are more than 7,600 named mountains and more than 7,800 large valleys in the county, and countless unnamed small mountains and small valleys. Hundreds of villages in the county are distributed in these deep valleys Among them, two-thirds of the land is hung on the hillside with pots and bowls. Not only are the mountains high and deep, the land is small and crowded, and the transportation is inconvenient, but the most important thing is that there is a serious shortage of water. There is no water at a depth of tens of feet; by the river, although there are four rivers, Qi, Huan, Xi, and Lu, which run through the east and west, they are all seasonal rivers, which usually dry up and stop flowing. Rise, rush to the ground and destroy houses, and people and animals suffer. In the past, there was a folk song that said: "Drought hopes for rain, and the rain washes away, sweeps away the yellow sand, and leaves stone eggs"".

In Lin County, there are many sayings related to water and water shortage and the poverty caused by water shortage: "Water shortage is as expensive as oil, and it will not be collected in ten years, the rich will force rent debts, and the poor will worry day and night"; Dry land, backed by high mountains and no firewood”; “Daughter-in-law ran down to Sichuan, but daughter-in-law did not go up the mountain”; “If you don’t eat Shanxi food, you can’t pass the time” (Lin County is close to Shanxi, which means that if you don’t flee to Shanxi, you can’t survive the shortage. grain years).There are many local legends about water and water shortage, most of which are tragedies. For example, when a fire occurs, people would rather let the fire burn down the house because of the preciousness of water; or a sick old man died because of lack of water for decoction. passed away.

Later, in an interview with China Central Television, the official Chinese television station, Li Yunbao, the county magistrate of Lin County at the time, described Lin County people's desire for water in this way: "How much do you look forward to for water? You have to bring water when you name your child. It’s called Jinshuiyinshui sweet water, whatever water you want, if you don’t call it this water, you have to try to bring three points of water.” Just like the Yu Gong who faced the two seemingly insurmountable mountains in front of the gate, the best choice for this legendary character seems to be to move; people living in Lin County also have two choices: move out of here, Or like Yu Gong, declare war on nature that seems invincible.No matter which path there is, there are people who practice it.In the Changzhi area of ​​neighboring Shanxi Province, there is a village called "Linyi", where the people living in it are all people who have immigrated from Lin County and suffered from drought.Xie Sicong, the magistrate of Ming Wanli, built a 9-kilometer-long canal for this arid small county, which was later called Xie Gongqu.The idea and practice of diverting water or drilling wells has never stopped.

These two options continue to exist after the Chinese Communist Party, which has always believed in fighting against heaven, earth, and nature, has established a new regime. "As early as when the mutual aid group was established, the whole county launched a vigorous well-drilling campaign. Wells were dug in villages and everywhere, in the valleys, and on the hills. Water was used when it was produced, and it was used if it could not be produced. Let it store rainwater," said in "Red Flag Canal"; at the same time, some people suggested moving from deep mountainous areas to plain areas. The masses moved to the Chengguan area to settle down, and some people took the lead in demolishing houses, selling livestock, and secretly moving down the mountain.”

But obviously the idea of ​​relocation was unpopular in those days.It concerns the self-esteem and political fortunes of a Communist Party official inspired by the belief in invincibility, and overcoming a drought can even develop a support system for an entire regime philosophy, or at least a totem of victory. For Yang Gui, the newly appointed secretary of the Lin County Party Committee, perhaps he never thought that he would create such a new socialist totem, but the drought under his rule is a difficult problem he has to face.Obviously, he can't agree with the "relocation" theory, although many times it seems to be a wise choice.He is tall, 1.85 meters tall, a head taller than most Chinese people. His hair and eyebrows are black and thick, and his nose bridge is as tall as his body. With a firm will, perhaps only such a simple and determined person can create the miracle of the Hongqi Canal later.

Yang Gui, who was born in Luoquan Village, Shibaotou Township, Yuanji County, Henan Province, joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 15 and became the head of the district at the age of 17.He led the armed forces team behind the enemy to entangle with the Japanese invading army on the railway line. After the establishment of the new regime in 1949, he also participated in the suppression of bandits. In the autumn of 1953, the old party secretary of Lin County passed away, and Yang Gui was dispatched to Lin County, which is known for its poverty. In 1958, Yang Gui and the Linxian County Party Committee held an experience exchange meeting in Anzigou, where the water was successfully controlled in Linxian County. Later, someone recorded this memory and said: "The comrades who attended the meeting learned from Chairman Mao's words about 'If you are poor, you want to change. If you want to work, you must do it. The great teaching of "Revolution" discusses the advanced experience of the Anzigou Party branch leading the masses to control mountains and water. Follow Chairman Mao's great teaching that "every county should make an appropriate water conservancy plan in its own comprehensive plan", research and formulate The grand plan of "rearranging the rivers and mountains of Linxian County" was launched. The county party committee issued a call to the people of the county to "launch a thousand Anzigou campaign" - the performance of Anzigou is "from 1954 to 1957. Over the past year, they dug more than 10,000 scale pits, built more than 50 flood drainage channels and nearly a hundred sand pits, dug two dry wells, and dug a reservoir. The dam built more than 60 mu of terraced fields and planted more than 7,000 trees."

However, the severe drought in 1959 made these "movements" seem insufficient. "From spring to autumn, there was no soaking rain. The mountain torrents did not occur, the river stopped flowing, wells and ponds dried up, the bottom of the reservoir was turned into the sky, and the canals became dry canals. Almost all the water conservancy projects built by the people of the county over the years have failed," said the record in "Red Flag Canal". "To build a reservoir, the sky will not provide water; to dig a mountain spring, the land will not provide water. It seems that just going around in the small world of Lin County will not open the situation. Can the outside water be brought in? The water volume of the Zhang River is not small. If Stop the water in the upper reaches and build canals." At the county party committee meeting on October 10, 1959, Yang Gui proposed the idea of ​​diverting Zhangzhou into the forest and building artificial canals. Zhao Hua, the photographer of the documentary "Red Flag Canal", which followed and filmed the ten-year construction process of the Red Flag Canal, was amazed by Yang Gui's idea in an interview with CCTV later: "It's really bold to think of digging a small river on the cliff. , It’s just amazing, full of romanticism.” This project with the unique romanticism of the communists started on February 11, 1960, and almost mobilized most of the adults with working ability in Lin County. Later statistics said that 37,000 people came from the whole county to 15 communes set out to take part in the feat.Large slogans were posted on both sides of the road, "Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains, Transforms China" and "Rearranges Linxian Rivers and Mountains"; middle school teachers and students set up water stations on the way to Shanxi to build canals. A sip of water will give you back a river in the future." During the 10-year period of its construction, it was accompanied by unpredictable changes in the external political environment.From the beginning of the construction of this artificial canal full of romanticism, it was like a political move, in order to say to the three red flags that were popular at that time (the three red flags were the general line, the Great Leap Forward, and the People's Commune, which later proved to be hasty in the general line, and the Great Leap Forward caused a disaster, and the People’s Commune was an unreasonable and inefficient political organization) agreed, and at the same time painted a protective color for their own canal repair. Lin County named this artificial canal "Hongqi Canal".Later, large slogans such as "Resolutely Down with the Great Traitor, Internal Traitor and Great Scab Liu Shaoqi", "Criticize Lin and Confucianism" and "Throughly Criticize Antonioni's Anti-China Film" also appeared on the construction site of the Red Flag Canal. Although they may not know who Antonioni is, or the political opinions of Liu Shaoqi and Lin Biao. But Yang Gui himself failed to escape the sharp arrows from the political storm.He was branded as a capitalist roader and forced to hide everywhere. He once hid in the home of Li Shunda, a model worker in Shanxi who is as famous as Chen Yonggui, and also in the home of several Xinhua News Agency reporters in Beijing.He was attacked as "wearing new shoes and walking the old road" and "Hongqiqu is a living specimen of the theory of productivity".Mu Qing, a well-known reporter, recalled that until 1982, Yang Gui himself had returned to the government. "As soon as the Hongqi Canal was mentioned in Lin County, he was accused of 'Yang Gui's poison'". But in the end, Hongqiqu quickly won the recognition of the entire political party and the country.From Zhou En to Wen Jiabao, everyone praised Hongqi Canal.It was a real victory for the invincible belief of the Chinese Communists, and it also benefited the local people, satisfying the most basic desire for water, and later bringing economic benefits. Yang Gui said in an interview in 2005, "The Hongqi Canal is still the lifeline of Lin County's economy. Its quality is very good. When the canal was built, each village and team contracted a section of the project, and their names were engraved on the stone, saying Well, anyone who is lazy is a sinner in history, so it is still very strong until now." It has become a scenic spot, and a ticket of 60 yuan can bring Lin County 80,000 yuan in tourism income every day during the peak period; at the same time, it has also become a brand.It is the name of a famous cigarette, and it is also the parent brand of many products such as beer, liquor, cement, and auto parts.A product of the romantic era, it is also suitable for living in an economic world that pursues pragmatism.