Background material: Since the solemn vote at the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress on April 3, 1992, the resettlement work has been carried out rapidly with the progress of the Three Gorges Project after more than ten years. In 2003, the Three Gorges Project will open the gates to store water, open permanent navigation gates, and realize the first batch of units connected to the grid for power generation.Therefore, the state requires that before December 31, 2002, all resettlement tasks and reservoir area cleaning work should be completed before the 135-meter submerged water level line.In the following years, the reservoir area carried out resettlement work below the submerged water level of 175 meters.The 16-year immigration of one million people can be called a "world-class problem". This great feat shocked the world and composed a special "national action" in the history of the Chinese nation.What this book records is the panorama of this national action.

This is what I saw and heard in the Three Gorges reservoir area not long ago: In the early morning of June 6, 2002, at the intersection of a mountain village by the river, Grandma Wang Chaozhen was about to leave Shuishi Village where she had lived for 84 years.Surrounding her was the see-off procession of hundreds of people and the loud sound of gongs and drums. Among the countless exhortations and blessings, there were countless parting cries. The farewell flags fluttered in the morning breeze, and the rumbling motors of the passenger car started.The whole village was about to leave, but no one was the first to get on the bus. All eyes were on Grandma Wang Wangzhen.

The eldest son, who is already a grandfather, came over to help his mother into the car, but the mother gently shook the son's hand. "Mom, let's go, the folks are waiting for you, ah!" The son was a little anxious. The old mother ignored it and didn't say a word.Turning her head to search for a bit, she found it: her eyes fell on her one-year-old great-grandson. "Good baby, come, kowtow to the old house..." The old man slowly pressed his great-grandson down, and knelt down on his knees trembling again... "Mom—" the son cried loudly, then knelt down behind him, bowing his head to the ground.

"Grandma—" "Grandma—" Everyone in the village knelt down to leave.Immediately afterwards, there was a pilgrimage-like prayer... "Grandma, the Jiangsu you moved to is my hometown. There is also the Yangtze River there, which is more beautiful than here..." I couldn't help but squeezed over to help the old grandmother Wang Chaozhen up with the villagers, and said this sentence from the bottom of my heart talk. I saw a gleam of light in the eyes of the old grandma, and then she dragged her great-grandson without hesitation, and got into the car without looking back, until she was far away from the riverside town with green mountains and green waters... The shadow gradually became blurred.

I found out it was because of my tears. On July 9, just after 10 am, the scorching sun began to splash overhead. Another small village by the river, another line of hundreds of thousands of people, loud gongs and drums, countless exhortations, blessings and countless parting cries. "What should I do? Commander-in-Chief, it's been more than two hours past the scheduled departure time. If we continue to wait like this, we will delay the relocation of the entire batch of immigrants!" The deputy county magistrate of the commander-in-chief asked for instructions. The commander-in-chief frowned, and saw him pacing back and forth on the stone slab under the big tree without making a sound.Finally, he raised his head again... From yesterday afternoon to this morning, at the same place and in the same direction, he has raised his head almost a thousand times.But the commander-in-chief must continue to raise his head, continue to raise his head to observe the movements on the branches of the big tree...

It was an old locust tree nearly a hundred years old in front of the farmhouse, with intertwined roots.Behind is a mountain full of citrus, and in front is a river that is 100 meters away.Through the branches of the tree trunks, you can see both the rolling river and the boats with the sound of sirens. At this time, there was a small shed covered with plastic sheeting on the branch of the tree, and an old man was sitting in that shed, an old man of the same age as the old tree.Few people in the village know her name, even her son and daughter-in-law can't remember, everyone just calls her "Shui Niang".

It is said that the Yangtze River flooded in the year Shuiniang was born, and the river flooded all the way to her door, and the flood would last for three to seven twenty-one days.Shuiniang's mother died early, and her father and two brothers were swallowed up by the flood, leaving only her and the locust tree in the end. Since then, Shuiniang and Huaishu have experienced the vicissitudes of life together.It was New China that gave her a new life, a new family, and a whole family of descendants. One day her granddaughter told her that the government was going to build the big river in front of her house into a big reservoir.

"How did you build the reservoir?" Shui Niang asked. "It is to prevent the people in the lower reaches of the river from being drowned." Shui Niang nodded, understood. Another day my granddaughter told her that we were going to move, to Guangdong, that is, to the edge of the sea. "Do you have to move?" "We must move, the government said." The water maiden didn't speak anymore. Later the house was demolished.The granddaughter and the others temporarily lived in relatives' homes, and specially prepared a Simmons bed for the "ancestor".

Shui Niang insisted not to go.She told her granddaughter that she wanted to take another look at Dajiang. I can't see it! ——There is a new family in front of the house. "Lift me to the branch of the old locust tree." Old Zong Zong said in a low voice. The children and grandchildren were overjoyed when they heard it, and they even praised the old Zong for his elegance, and said that it is okay to satisfy your old man. A group of people managed to lift the old man to the branch of the old locust tree. They didn't want the old man to become more demented the more he looked at Da Jiang, either crying or muttering to himself.In a word, it's useless to persuade him, but he won't come down.

This can hurt the family, worry the village cadres, and worry the leaders of the town and county.The immigration plan is racing against time, just like mobilization on the battlefield, whoever wants to leave can leave, and can leave when he wants to leave, without delay, just like a military order. After the village cadres called for nothing but no results, the town cadres hurriedly invited the town cadres. The town cadres were thirsty and saw the old man on the tree "stand still", so they had to move to the county leaders in a hurry. What can the commander say to the old man who has spent four days and three nights on the old locust tree. "Who among you, including me, can match Shuiniang's affection for her homeland? Dajiang? Let her take a closer look!" the commander said to the cadres and masses around him with tears in his eyes.

"Catch me, water girl, if you're thirsty, drink the water in the bottle. I specially poured it from the mountain spring behind your house. It's so sweet!" The commander once again handed over a small Coke bottle. The see-off boats on the pier, the gongs and drums to see them off, as well as the sounds of exhortations and parting cries, all gradually stopped, and all eyes turned to the old locust tree. Is it wind or rain?The branches of the old locust tree suddenly moved, and water droplets fell from the tips of the leaves... "I want to come down—" it was Shui Niang who spoke, and then she saw her legs stretched down. "Hurry up, hurry up!" The commander ordered hastily. So, under the old locust tree, there was a "wow" surrounded by an unknown number of hands. The Shui Niang landed safely on the arms of everyone.Then she was like a majestic big Buddha, being hugged and carried to the long-distance emigration fleet.The scene was solemn and grand, comparable to the momentum of the emperor riding in the car back then. The flute of the long-distance ferry blew in unison, and the gongs and drums beat louder and crisper.The long-distance fleet started slowly, leaving a long white wave rolling... I found tears in my eyes again. It was a certain day in April of another year.In Guiping Village on Baojian Gorge, the famous book of war in Xiling Gorge, villager Huang Defa squatted on the ground worriedly and silently. "Let's go, old Huang, the boat is about to sail, why are you still dawdling?" The village cadre came over and urged. Huang Defa wept, lowered his head and said, "I haven't dared to tell my mother about moving out!" "You... what time is this, why don't you tell her the old man clearly?" The village cadre was anxious. Huang De became angry, and stomped on the ground with both feet: "Why don't I want to tell her clearly! But you don't know that there has been a saying in the Xiajiang area since ancient times that 'you don't go out when you are sixty, and you don't stay overnight when you are seventy'! My mother She hasn't left the village once since she entered our Huang's house. Now she is 88 years old, and she sits in the red coffin every day and hums the last ditty tune. What do you want me to tell her? Tell her to move now? Won't she be buried by the Yangtze River after her death? I... I can get out!" The village cadre was silent and could only sigh. "Fat--" "Hey, it's my mother calling!" Huang Defa hurried into the room.The village cadres also followed in. "Mom, what are your orders?" The old mother raised her eyelids and gave her son a dissatisfied look: "Everyone has moved, and you are the only one behind!" "Oh my mother...you know all about it?" Huang Defa, who was in his late fifties, knelt down in front of the old mother and pleaded guilty. "Get up, son." The old mother stood up tremblingly from the small wooden chair, walked slowly to the birthday coffin placed in the center of the main room, and gently wiped the dust on the coffin lid with her hands , and tapped the wood a few times with his fingers, and the coffin made a few crisp sounds immediately. A relieved smile appeared on the old man's face. "Do you know why this longevity coffin is bright red?" she asked the village cadre behind her son. The village cadre nodded: "This is the custom of our Xiajiang family. I heard that in the past only the princes of Chu State used red birthday coffins, but because we are the hometown of Dr. Qu Yuan, we used them to commemorate this patriotic master. He was buried in the big red coffin. Since then, eating rice dumplings, rowing dragon boats and using big red coffins for the elderly on the Dragon Boat Festival have become a custom for people to commemorate Qu Yuan and have been passed down." "You understand, you understand." The old man waved his hand, and then said to his son, "Move, and take my big red birthday coffin!" As he spoke, the old man limped towards the moving team with his little feet go. Suddenly, his son Huang Defa realized what he was doing. He quickly straightened his waist and shouted to the people in the village with a full face: "Come and help me, lift my mother's baby bump!" "Come, come, come!" Murakami's men, young and old, all came to help.Under the sun, the big red birthday coffin appeared particularly eye-catchingly among the emigration team... "Grandma be careful!" "Grandma, let's go!" All the women in the village, old and young, gathered around the 88-year-old Tan Qizhen, calling them affectionately. "Come on, boys, let's go to our new home." "Go, go to the new home!" Another group of mighty migrants bid farewell to the Three Gorges, and their eyes kept shaking until they became blurred again. I found tears still in my eyes...