In the 1960s,Lin county(now Linzhou city)in the mountainous area of Northern Henan province carried out a project that shocked the world.
With simple and primitive tools,100000 people dug a large canal between the cliffs of Taihang mountain to introduce the rolling river from Shanxi to Lin county.Finally,a 1500 kilometer long canal was built,just like a jade belt,from northwest to Southeast,across Shanxi and Henan provinces.
This is the red flag canal,known as the"artificial Tianhe"and the"eighth wonder of the world".In such an era when it is difficult to eat,what force supports tens of thousands of people to dig canals between mountains?How did they realize the assumption that the river completely depends on gravity without large-scale pumping equipment and accurate measuring instruments?Uncle Ku once wrote the article"100000 people from Henan,become the eighth wonder of the world!"Introduced.
Today,let's learn about the representative figure in the construction of the red flag canal-Ren Yangcheng,a hero in danger elimination.
As a member of the danger elimination team,where there is danger,where Ren Yang's achievements appear.Once,a falling stone hit him right in the mouth,and his four teeth lay in his mouth,bleeding.Because his tongue was stuck by his teeth that had not completely fallen off,he couldn't shout and couldn't cooperate with the man who pulled the rope.In order to continue to eliminate the danger,he stubbornly pinned out his four teeth with a steel drill and continued to work on the cliff for six hours.
It is the dedication of countless Ren Yangcheng that created the great project of the red flag canal.
Wen MuQing
Editor Xie Fang lookout think tank
This article is an excerpt from"ten Communists"published by Xinhua Publishing House in March 2021.The original title was"two shining photos",which was originally written on February 26,1994.
Not long ago,Henan's Anyang daily published a news photo,reflecting the scene of Ren Yangcheng,a 65 year old model worker who built the red flag canal at that time,with a thick rope around his waist and a crowbar in his hand,climbing to remove dangerous rocks from the cliffs.Seeing this picture,my mood can't be calm for a long time.A feeling of awe and respect made the image of the old Communist Party member more tall in my mind.
The first time I saw Ren Yangcheng was in early 1966.That year,I went to Hongqiqu,Linxian county to interview.At that time,there was a doggerel on the construction site:"Ren Yangcheng,the hero of danger elimination,reported his name in the palace of the king of hell."
That year,Ren yangchengcai was in his 30s and served as the captain of the site risk elimination team.He appears wherever there is danger.He tied a thick rope around his waist all day,holding a crowbar and hammer,and asked others to send him from the top of the mountain to the cliffs to work in the air,shoot holes and remove dangerous stones.He has been flying around the cliff for many years.His waist is scratched with blood by a rope.He often sticks to his body in blood and flesh,and can't even take off his clothes.His wife often shed tears when she helped him take off his clothes.
Ren Yangcheng is at the construction site of the red flag canal.(information photo issued by Xinhua News Agency)
When I interviewed Ren Yangcheng,the Hongqi Canal Project was basically completed.I asked him if he still had rope lacerations on his body?He said,and.He took off his coat,and sure enough,a thick circle of calluses appeared,wrapped around his waist like a reddish brown belt.I gently stroked the scar with my hand.I couldn't restrain my feelings.My eyes were already full of tears.I held his hand tightly and couldn't say a word for a long time.What else to say?That circle of calluses has explained how much pain he endured and how much dedication he made for the Red Flag Canal!
I put on my clothes for him and said,"Yang Cheng,you have suffered!"In a word,tears burst into his eyes.I was deeply moved by that interview.
In the autumn of 1960,the red flag canal was built to Babcock cliff to pass under Babcock's mouth.There is no blue sky on that place,and below it is the surging Zhanghe River.The local people described it as"babbling cliff is the gate of death.The wind rolls white clouds into the sky.Birds dare not stand and monkeys dare not climb."
In such a dangerous place,the cracked stones kept rolling down due to the blasting.If the dangerous rocks are not removed in time,the canal will not be able to start construction.It was in this critical situation that Ren Yangcheng volunteered to get rid of the danger.When two local old men saw them observing the terrain on the 70 foot high Babu cliff,they wanted to cut down from there and shouted,"it's impossible here!That's the place to see the king of hell.The last one died."
Ren Yangcheng is bent on the project,where can he take care of any danger!He asked his companions to smash the steel pile at the top of the cliff and watch the rope,so he tied the rope and went down the cliff.The cliff was deep and windy.Ren Yangcheng flew back and forth between the cliffs.How many times he nearly hit the stone wall,he wisely swung away.
The people on the cliff were worried about him,and the people under the cliff were sweating for him,but he succeeded in removing one dangerous stone after another.Unexpectedly,just as he looked up,a stone suddenly fell and hit him on the mouth.A piercing pain almost knocked him out.He wanted to shout at the top of the cliff,but he felt numb.He couldn't open his mouth and couldn't move his tongue.With one touch,the original row of upper teeth were knocked down and pressed tightly on the tongue.He took out the steel rod from his waist,inserted it into his mouth and pinned his teeth.Unexpectedly,with his hand,all four front teeth were broken in his mouth.Ren Yangcheng spits out broken teeth,spits another mouthful of blood foam,touches his mouth,and the whole mouth is swollen.
Many days later,Ren Yangcheng wore a big mask and insisted on working between cliffs.
On another occasion,Ren Yangcheng removed the danger stone at the tongtiangou construction site.A bluestone cliff with a length of more than ten feet and a width of more than ten feet stretches out from the Tongtian ditch.The two sides of the cliff are covered with thorny Ge hazel.That day,Ren Yangcheng put the old rope on the bluestone cliff.When he stepped on the cliff and swung hard,Ren Yangcheng was thrown into the thorns because the old rope slipped.Suddenly,a burst of heartache seemed to tear him into countless pieces,and a half inch long Ge needle pierced his whole body.
Ren Yangcheng fell into the thorn nest and couldn't move.Even a slight move would cause severe tingling all over his body.After a long time,he clenched his teeth and struggled to swing out.He endured the tingling pain all over and continued to remove the dangerous stones.
After work at dusk,Ren Yangcheng returned to his residence and said to the landlord's aunt,"aunt,find a large needle and pick out the Ge needle for me."
When Yang Cheng took off his cloth shirt,the aunt was stunned:"ah,boy,why do you call it like this!"She sighed bitterly as she picked it:"how can I pick so many Ge needles?"Yang Cheng said,"then pick the long one."
After a while,my aunt picked a nest.Yang Cheng said,"aunt,take a rest and call your son."
Yang Cheng took off his pants and asked his aunt's son to pick up the lower part of his body.The young man was startled when he saw it and said,"go talk to the leader and ask for a doctor quickly!"Yang Cheng said:"just don't let the leaders know,you can't say!"The young man picked it for a while,and then they picked up the Ge needles tied on his clothes and gathered them together.It was a big pile.
In winter,the construction of the red flag canal is the hardest,and it is more dangerous in windy and snowy days.At that time,the construction site headquarters informed that in order to ensure the safety of migrant workers,the construction was suspended in windy and snowy days.However,Ren Yangcheng is afraid of delaying the construction period and is always worried about the wind and snow.once it snowed heavily for two days in a row.He really couldn't sit still.He quietly led three migrant workers to light a bonfire on the four eyebrows.He asked his companions to watch the rope,so he tied the rope and went down alone.
The snow became heavier and heavier.Ren Yangcheng flew in the wind and snow.Soon,thick snow accumulated on his head and shoulders,and his clothes were frozen into ice armor.From morning to noon,he swayed like a snowman in the mid air.When he finished removing the dangerous rocks and went down to the bottom of the cliff,his fingers were frozen.The companions came down from the top of the cliff to help him untie the old rope.His legs could not bend.The companions helped him to a cave,knocked the Ice Armor off his body with a stick,and made a fire again.It took a while to warm him up.
I wanted to write the story of Ren Yangcheng after an in-depth interview,but it was not long before the"Cultural Revolution"broke out,so it was impossible to talk about it.For this reason,I have been uneasy.For decades,whenever I think of the red flag canal in Lin County,the image of Ren Yangcheng flashed in front of me.I can't forget the calluses around his waist,the Ge needles all over his body,and the sincere heart of an ordinary farmer to the party and the people.
The completed red flag canal.
In the summer of 1990,"China reporter"mentioned my missing for Ren Yangcheng in an article.After seeing it,two young reporters of Henan Anyang daily made a special trip to Lin county to interview and found Ren Yangcheng in the remote gully of Gucheng village,Rencun town surrounded by mountains.
The first-class model worker whose fame spread all over the red flag canal in those days is an old man over 60 years old.At first,he felt a little at a loss about the sudden appearance of the two journalists.When the reporter asked him about the construction of the red flag canal in the past,he only said faintly:"what about the past?"When the reporter relayed my nostalgia for him,his eyes immediately lit up and said,"president Mu still cares about me,a big old man?"Then he said,"if you can see him in the future,you must say hello to me."
In the early winter of that year,the two reporters came to Beijing to meet me.From their conversation,I learned some brief information about Ren Yangcheng over the years:
After the completion of the red flag canal,Ren Yangcheng,as a canal guard,has been guarding the red flag canal.During the"Cultural Revolution",many people and things were turned upside down,and Lin county did not escape the disaster.At that time,the red flag canal was known as the"black flag canal".The people who built the red flag canal became"sinners".Ren Yangcheng and many model workers were treated unfairly.However,he never left the red flag canal and continued to dredge,point and treat the leakage of the red flag canal every day until he retired.
On October 23,2021,aerial photography of the red flag canal in Linzhou City,Henan Province.Figure｜visual China
Ren Yangcheng's hometown,Gucheng village,is located in the deep mountain area of Lin county.The traffic is blocked and the land is barren.The water from the red flag canal can't flow there for a while.In 1987,when Ren Yangcheng retired and returned to his hometown,seeing that the villagers had difficulty in drinking and using water,he took the lead in raising funds and organizing personnel to dig wells day and night.
It's not easy to dig a well in the mountain area.It's full of stones.A well has been drilled to a depth of 15 meters and there is no moisture at all.On one occasion,Ren Yangcheng accidentally fell from the well wall to the bottom of the well,and his ankle bone was dislocated.He sat up with his teeth clenched and endured severe pain.He violently straightened the wrong bone,and then asked someone to pull him up from the bottom of the well with a rope.A few days later,he dragged his injured foot and went down the well with a rope.
When the reporter interviewed him,he was worried about the lack of funds and the inability to drill down to 26 meters.Asked about his life,he wouldn't say anything.According to the observation of the two reporters,he still lives in a dilapidated Adobe bungalow.He sleeps on a wooden board on the adobe.His home is empty,not even a decent piece of furniture.The reporter said that Ren Yangcheng has to go up the mountain every year to open up some wasteland,plant some millet and sweet potatoes,and supplement the rations of the whole family.It seems that life is still very difficult.
Hearing this,I can't help feeling sad.I didn't expect that earth shaking changes have taken place in Lin County after so many years of reform and opening up,and the model worker who has made great efforts for the red flag canal is still so poor.
I told the two reporters that I suggest you reflect to the city and county leaders that you'd better support Ren Yangcheng to dig down the well.We should not let those who build canals to divert water for the people not be able to eat water by themselves.We have the responsibility to help them!
At the time of parting,I specially selected a photo of myself and asked the reporter to transfer it to Ren Yangcheng.I signed my name on the back of the photo and wrote"to Comrade Ren Yangcheng,a hero of the people".
Soon after returning to Gucheng village,Lin County,the two reporters called me and told me:"Ren Yangcheng was very excited when he saw your picture.He cried while watching.He always talked about going to Beijing to see you again."
I said,"I welcome him,but it's cold and he's old.You'd better come with him and take care of him on the way."
In early 1991,Ren Yangcheng,accompanied by two journalists,came to Beijing.
I welcome Ren Yangcheng in the office.As soon as we met,our hands were tightly held together,and each other was very excited.I haven't seen him for more than 20 years.I looked at him from top to bottom.The hero in my mind is still dressed like a peasant in those days,but there are some more wrinkles on his face and white hair on his temples.
In the 1990s,Mu Qing met Ren Yangcheng in his office.
He is thinner than when I first met him,but his eyes are still so bright.He brought me some millet and mung beans.He said he planted them by himself.Although there are patches on the cloth bag,I know from my heart that what is in the bag is the true feelings of the people in the mountains!
We talked for a long time.I asked him if he still had the calluses in his waist?He said:it's long gone.It's all faded.Ask him if there's anything wrong with his foot injury?He said no.In order to let the farmer from the valley see the new appearance of the capital,I specially took him to the top floor of the news building more than 100 meters high of Xinhua news agency.
Ren Yangcheng never dreamed of climbing the tall buildings in Beijing and watching the scenery of the capital.He was very happy.Upstairs,I pointed to the weaving traffic on the street downstairs and asked him,"do you see the mountain height of your Lin County in this building?""Yes,"he said I said,"Yang Cheng,do you dare to let you swing down here with a rope?"He looked at me and said without hesitation,"how dare you,dare!"That look,that tone,just like when I was young.
When Ren Yangcheng came to Beijing this time,I planned to keep him for a few more days and let two reporters accompany him around Beijing,but he stayed for two days and only visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City,so he was in a hurry to go back.Before leaving,I said to him,"seeing that the Spring Festival is coming,I'll bring you some rice and noodles to show my heart.When I go back,I see the model workers in the red flag canal and say hello to them for me!I will visit them in Lin county again when I have a chance."
In the early winter of 1993,I went to Henan to interview with Feng Jian and Zhou Yuan.The original plan was to go to Linxian County after the interview in the West and middle of Henan Province.Unexpectedly,we were trapped in Anyang due to the heavy snow,and the plan to go to Linxian County failed to come true.Later,Ren Yangcheng and several other model workers of the red flag canal heard that I came to Anyang and came from Lin County in the snow.Their deep affection really moved me.
That day,it was snowing heavily outside the window,and the temperature suddenly dropped to more than ten degrees below zero.Early in the morning,Ren Yangcheng and several other old model workers came to my room,including drilling expert Wang Shicun and iron girl team captain Guo Qiuying.More than 20 years ago,I also met them in an interview in Hongqiqu.Everyone was very excited to meet again this time.Guo Ying said,"I'm looking forward to your tears!"I said,"I'm glad to see you for so many years!"
In the living room,I sat on the sofa with Ren Yangcheng in my left hand and Wang Shicun in my right hand.I touched their clothes and asked them,"why don't you wear more clothes on such a cold day?"
They say it's not cold outside in a coat.I think Wang Shicun is very thin.I asked him if he was ill?He said:"the year before last,I had esophageal cancer surgery and recovered well.Today,I'm holding my neck.I didn't expect to see you again."His eyes turned red.
Mu Qing took Ren Yangcheng in his left hand and Wang Shicun in his right hand.When it came to the emotional part,everyone burst into tears.
When I asked about Ma Youjin,Bank of China,Chang Genhu and other model workers,Guo Qiuying choked and said to me that there were only four of the eight model workers who built the red flag canal.Some model workers suffered in the"Cultural Revolution"and left the world unjustly;Live now
