Chapter 85 "Sunset" and "Laiyang Green"

Before and after the National Day this year, I visited several great new buildings in Beijing, such as the Great Hall of the People, the History Museum, the Military Museum, the Beijing Railway Station, and the Palace of National Culture... Apart from marveling at their magnificence, I am most delighted Compared with the old buildings such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, these new buildings are more quiet and refreshing in tone, so they appear more elegant and solemn.I think the main reason is that the new building did not use the bright red, green and golden painted beams and carved buildings, but used a large number of hard, smooth and clean stones on the steps, columns and ground. On the table, do some extremely exquisite and meticulous "gold and jade" decorations, which contrast with these jade stones, and at first glance seem to be as crystal and bright as Qionggong Yuyu.For example, in the social hall in the Great Hall of the People, the large columns are made of "sunset" stone produced in Northeast China, and the floor is paved with "Laiyang Green" stone produced in Laiyang, Shandong.

"Sunset" is flushed and warm, and "Laiyang Green" is empty and emerald, which makes the hall full of spring, and the atmosphere is very quiet and comfortable. Among the temples and palaces I have seen in China (except for the broken gates and broken columns on the ruins of the Old Summer Palace), jade has not been widely used as building materials.I think that using stones to build a big house is much more onerous in terms of transportation and processing than using wood and bricks.At a time when the people are forced to serve the reactionary ruling class, it would not only take a long time, but also unimaginable to build so many huge stone projects at the same time.Therefore, the beautiful and clean jade produced in our vast land has not been used in large quantities, and the number of stone workers is as rare as a feather.When I was visiting the Great Hall of the People, I heard an introduction: When we started building this Great Hall, we only had one master stonemason, but during the construction process, he took in 80 apprentices, learning while doing, Finally, the stonework project, the Great Hall of the People, which is larger than the building area of ​​the Forbidden City, was successfully completed.

The masonry works of the other great buildings, I think, must be the achievements of this master and his apprentices. This shows that the words in the "Long Live the Mass Movement" in the "People's Daily" are absolutely true: "Once people's revolutionary energy is combined with technological innovation, and the hard work, bravery and intelligence of millions of people are combined, the mass movement The power is inexhaustible." When the people become the masters of the country and build their brand new and beautiful capital with the identity and enthusiasm of the masters, the skyrocketing drive comes!The huge stonework in the architectural plan did not make this "unique"

He worked hard and recruited 80 apprentices who dared to think and do, teaching, doing, and innovating technology... During the process of completing these great buildings, the apprentices may Accepted apprentices.If one apprentice takes eighty more apprentices out and out—of course, there may be more—the number of apprentices is astonishingly large.This astonishing number of masonry radiated to the four sides of the motherland like light and heat.In the near future, every corner of the motherland will emerge: Qionggong Yuyu built for the people to enjoy by using all kinds of beautiful local jades like "sunset" and "Laiyang green".

In the age when the people were the masters of the country, this was not an imagination.While I am writing, maybe in a remote place in the motherland, in a cluster of towering scaffolding, a jade construction project with flying snow and frost is proceeding rapidly! (This article was originally published in "Beijing Evening News" on November 28, 1959, and later included in the collection of essays "Xiaozha Gleaners".)