Chapter 76 Appendices: The Eighty-year-old Old Man has gone through a lot of hardships to create "The Epic of Water Control in China"

Following Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu" in the Northern Wei Dynasty, China has not yet had a complete water conservancy history book.A few days ago, the first book that presents a panoramic view of water control projects in China has been compiled.The book is a collection of articles by dozens of well-known writers such as He Jianming, Jiang Zilong, Zhang Wei, Zhang Xiaotian, Ye Yanbin, etc., with a total of 2 million words. Its compilation is as difficult as building a water control project.It is unbelievable that the editor-in-chief of such a masterpiece of water control is actually an old man in his eighties. He does not care about his physical condition, and he is not afraid of severe cold and heat. team.This amiable and respectable old man is the writer Mr. Cheng Xianzhang. (Cheng Xianzhang used to be the dean of Guangdong College of Literature, a librarian of Guangdong Institute of Literature and History, a visiting professor of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, a visiting professor of Guangxi Normal University, and an expert enjoying special allowances from the State Council.)

The opportunity to select this topic was an accidental conversation between Mr. Cheng Xianzhang and Mr. Yang Qinhuan, Chairman of Guangzhou Meiyan Hydropower Group.In the chat, Mr. Yang Qinhuan mentioned that "in the so-called win-win decision-making of hydropower development, the bigger winners are economically developed regions rather than backward regions. In particular, the cost of conquering nature is expensive, lacks benefits and damages society and society. Ecologically...'.When Yang Qinhuan said that he wanted to compile a plan for an "Epic of Water Control in China", Mr. Cheng felt a huge responsibility.

Since Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu" in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there has not been a complete and ideal book on water control.Strictly speaking, "Shui Jing Zhu" actually writes landscape articles. Although it is also literary, there are very few chapters on water control.Due to the lack of a relatively complete book on water control in China, "Shui Jing Zhu" is still regarded as a classic of water control by many water control practitioners and literati.Mr. Cheng said that although he dared not imagine that a book could be compared to the millennium-old classic "Shui Jing Zhu", writing a book on water control in China has always been his and Yang Qinhuan's wish, and it is also the common wish of writers of this generation.

It took Mr. Cheng three days to write a plan for compiling the book, and Yang Qinhuan planned to complete the compilation of "History of Water Control" in three years with funding from Yang Qinhuan.At first, only a few people knew about it. As the work of compiling the book unfolded, Guangzhou and Beijing media announced the news and contributed to the flames. Everyone was very optimistic about this topic. They couldn’t even believe that this topic with great literary value was chosen by someone like Yang Qinhuan. Planned and proposed by entrepreneurs. In order to find an excellent publishing house to cooperate with, Cheng Xianzhang flew to Beijing to find He Jianming, vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, president of the Writers Publishing House, and reportage writer, to discuss publishing matters, and invited him to be the co-editor-in-chief.

As soon as He Jianming saw Mr. Cheng, he praised his spirit of bravely going to the "flame mountain" in his 80s, expressing that he was deeply moved as a writer.He Jianming highly affirmed the significance of compiling this book, determined that it would be published by Writers Publishing House, and gladly accepted Mr. Cheng's invitation to be the editor-in-chief of this book.Ye Xuanping, the former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, served as the general counsel and wrote the title of the book. With the support of Yang Qinhuan, Cheng Xianzhang, who is nearly 80 years old, led a number of entourages on a field trip all over the country.

On May 12, 2009, the first anniversary after the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake, Cheng Xianzhang led two young assistants Luo Weixin and Cheng Yongfang to Chengdu to inspect Yingxiu and Dujiangyan.Facing Dujiangyan standing alone in the ruins, Mr. Cheng expressed such emotion: "This has also fallen, and that has been destroyed, and the majestic 2,000-year-old man - Dujiangyan, except for the 'fish mouth' that has cracked cracks , still standing like a hero in the waves of the Minjiang River, still nourishing and irrigating the fertile Chengdu Plain. Dujiangyan is a miracle of water conservancy in the world, and people with conscience all over the world pay attention to Dujiangyan. Hello, heroic Dujiangyan.'5·12' You were also in the severe earthquake area of ​​the Wenchuan earthquake, but you stood safe and sound in the rolling river."

When the "July 5" riots in Xinjiang in 2009 had not subsided, Cheng Xianzhang flew to Urumqi with his assistants regardless of his personal safety. On the second day of the "Great Heat", Mr. Cheng crossed the Gobi Desert, went to the Flaming Mountains, inspected the water conservancy project Karez, and felt the enthusiasm of the Uyghur compatriots.Facing Karez, he lamented that "the long-flowing snow water of Karez made oasis appear in the great desert, and the desert Jiangnan, which is rich in melons and fruits, appeared. All the officials appointed by the imperial court and exiled to Xinjiang, such as Lin Zexu and Zuo Zongtang, were very concerned about the construction of Karez. Karez has made an indelible contribution."

Cheng Xianzhang led the investigation team to visit many water control projects such as the ancient canal in Jining section, the estuary of the Yellow River, the Qiantang River, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Huangpu River, the Yalu River, the Songhua River, and the Weihe River. Action keeps infecting other writers to join the writing ranks. During the investigation period, Cheng Xianzhang forgot his advanced age and physical condition, and with a young and hot heart, he ran all over the country despite the severe cold and heat.Everywhere he went, Mr. Cheng never forgot to talk with his writer friends on the phone, and often visited them. His actions moved and inspired the writers deeply.

Cheng Xianzhang is extremely friendly and cohesive. When many famous writers heard the news that Mr. Cheng presided over the compilation, they put down their work and actively participated in the creation of this book, which set off an upsurge in writing the history of water control in the literary world.For example, during Cheng Lao’s trip to Shandong, when he met Zhang Wei, chairman of the Shandong Writers Association, Zhang Wei said, “Just because my brother came to Shandong and we met in Jinan, no matter how busy I am at work, I should write an article.” There are many similar stories, and the team of authors in the book has grown day by day, so that it has finally formed a rare large collection of star writers.

With the kind care of the leaders of the Chinese Writers Association, the full support of the Writers Publishing House, the full participation of the writers, and the joint efforts of the book's chief programming Xianzhang, He Jianming, and editor-in-chief He Ping, the original plan took three years to publish, and it will be published in the near future. Available early.In addition, the responsible editor specially reminds that since the book is a literary work, the authors are all writers and not experts in water conservancy. If there are problems with individual water conservancy professional knowledge, water conservancy experts and readers should be tolerant.

Since ancient times, the relationship between the descendants of Yan and Huang and water has been a process of "revere, use, conquer, harm, and harmonize", and "water control" has been a difficult problem in all dynasties.The writers who participated in the writing showed the readers the great achievements of the famous emperors, ministers and celebrities in Chinese history in water control for thousands of years in different forms of expression and wonderful words.One of the highlights of the book is that it contains both vivid water control stories and detailed introductions of water conservancy projects. It is worth mentioning that the book also reflects the "beauty of harmony between man and nature". The text is beautiful and worth reading.