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- Herausgeber: Unicorn
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
The Targeted Poverty Alleviation programme was proposed by President Xi in 2013 and aims to give poor people the resources to lift themselves out of poverty. No fewer than three million cadres have been sent to the least developed areas of the country to educate, inspire and help the most impoverished people with financial support, jobs and business opportunities. The authors of this series of books visited some of the villages that were previously very poor, to document how developments in education, agriculture, health and tourism had created positive change. The authors wrote about what they saw, what they heard, how they felt in these areas and rendered them into touching and vivid stories. The south of Jiangxi Province is the well-known red revolutionary base area. Wang Song mainly describes the five most representative counties of poverty alleviation with characteristics and outstanding achievements –Yudu County, Shicheng County, Xingguo County, Quannan County and Longnan County in his reportage Red, Red Azalea. This reportage is structured with scatters stories in panorama view and renders the poverty alleviation vividly together with the revolution in the past, full of specific details of stories and characters, making it remarkable by its profound thoughts and political speculations, as well as historical depth and global vision.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Chinese Poverty Alleviation Volume Three
Red, Red Azalea
Song Wang
Contents
FOREWORD
Once in a Thousand Years
I
At dawn, a wooden plow stood quietly on the horizon.
The plow has a sharp blade – made of stone, later turned into bronze, and finally into steel. China’s 5,000-year history has been embedded in its aluminum. Dust, sweat and tears filled its cracks. It perfectly combines the power of father and the beautiful curve of mother. Its resounding memory carries the pride and joy of a nation. Every day, the sun sprinkles on it, passes through it and radiates its beauty.
Plow, a symbol of the great strength of the Chinese nation and the sacred totem of 5,000 years of history. History begins with it, dream, revolution, reform and the original mission of the Communist Party of China. A year of a better life for the people and a grand journey towards a well-off society. It’s not easy, but the Chinese people are strong, just like the persistent cattle bending over and working in the hot sun. The Chinese people make plans for the future, no matter how difficult. Technology and machines will be powerful, but this power will never replace the future of the Chinese people.
II
Poverty is the most terrible destructive force in the world. It will destroy peace, civilization, ecology, national dream and people’s livelihood. Poverty eradication is a common challenge faced by all countries in the world.
Since the eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, comrade Xi Jinping has been leading a great campaign to eradicate poverty. The goal is to achieve the first centenary goal of the Communist Party of China by 2020, and the people of all ethnic groups will work together to achieve a well-off society. So far, more than seven years have passed. The most visited areas by 8the general secretary are Liupanshan, Qinba, Wuling, Wumeng and Dabie. The 14 mountains and rivers in the poverty-stricken areas were visited by the people leaders, and they went into the homes of poor households and extended their assistance to change people’s livelihood. They have a close understanding of the situation of the people, explore ways to lift them out of poverty, and promote local leaders to support those in need.
This is an unprecedented ‘people’s war’ in human history and a millennium war of the Chinese nation. In the past seven years, 2.8 million poverty alleviation leaders across the country have gone to poverty-stricken areas, and nearly 1000 poverty alleviation leaders have sacrificed their lives in this difficult journey. Now, this powerful national offensive force and trickling warm water are reaching every mountain road and every farmhouse in the north and south of the Yangtze River. The absolute poverty that has plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years is disappearing from China. A comprehensive and decisive victory is coming. The clock is approaching that exciting moment.
III
The fact is powerful, like temperature. China’s 9.6 million square kilometres of land are engraved with such data:
— In the past 40 years, China has experienced a revolution and reform, and more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty.
— The number of poor people in the world is ten times that of China.
— According to the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, by the end of 2018, the number of poor people has decreased from 98.99 million to 16.6 million. Poverty is reduced by more than 12 million a year, equivalent to the population of a medium-sized European country. The poverty-stricken population in rural areas dropped to 1.7% for the past six years.
— By the end of 2018, 436 people in 832 poverty-stricken counties and 102,000 people in 128,000 villages were lifted out of poverty.
— In 2020, the national poverty alleviation battle has reached a victory. 9
The people deserve all the recognition, without their action and their achievement, China would not be here.
Due to the nature of time and contingency, I made a special trip to Liangjiahe Village in Yan’an at about 10 o’clock on December 18, 2018. I feel the air full of passion and youth. Most of the mountain roads in the village are illuminated by oil lamps. During this time in Beijing, people gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. President Xi delivered a speech to all the people, announcing that the Chinese people of all ethnic groups have entered a new era. ‘Hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, do not forget where we came from, remember our mission. We have come a long way. With the reform and expansion, we are constantly looking forward to a better life. A new era has come, which is a miracle witnessed by China and the world!’
IV
The dream of a well-off society is like sunrise, which has risen on the horizon of the new era.
It’s exciting to be a participant, a witness and a writer in this great parade. After all, I have experienced those difficult years, the confusion of going to the countryside, and the baptism of reform and opening up. Now, when I see mud huts all over the country being cleaned, thousands of poor families are smiling comfortably, and beautiful villages are springing up. I feel warm and proud of the great power of socialist China and the temperature of the country. This is the temperature of original intention, the temperature of oath, the temperature of blood, and the temperature of happiness.
I’ve been walking around China for 10 months, to feel the temperature.
V
This book comes from the extensive field investigation of hundreds of grassroots cadres and farmers in Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Guizhou, Shanghai, Heilongjiang and other places. So, I’d rather call it report than literature. These statements are made 10by village cadres in village committees, rural Kang, fields or farmhouses, and their authenticity is beyond doubt. The process and achievements of China’s poverty alleviation work, the changes in China’s rural situation, and the hardships and efforts of the majority of poverty alleviation cadres are all written in this book. China’s national temperature is in this book. China is rising up.
Historical imagination can never satisfy human creativity.
The imagination of the world is never enough for the creativity of the Communist Party and the Chinese people.
As long as there is a dream, everything is unstoppable.
PREFACE
The Sound of The Sun Landing
Past and present lives of the poverty alleviation and Development Office of the State Council
Aspacial office is filled with a crowd.
Qingjian people, they and their eyebrows have a kind of heroic spirit, serious expression, ten fingers flying, sound on both sides of the wall complement each other, its edge reaches 9.6 million square kilometres of land.
The current here is turbulent, the huge waves are open and magnificent, but it keeps the quiet of the blue sky and the earth. Data and information flows from all over the country have been collected here, showing the ambition, heroic momentum and momentum of ‘Jiangdong, wave and romantic characters’. Every village, every wisp of smoke, every ordinary farmer, their pigs, horses, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, every piece of cultivated land, every greenhouse, every pond, every orchard, are shining in the huge computer space in a digital way. They can cross mountains and rivers like the sea.
The staff here doesn’t care about overtime because it’s their daily work. Four meals a day and a box meal in the evening. Men are happy, women are encouraged not to eat in the middle of the night because some are worried about getting fat. Even if there is little sunshine, the advantage is that they can keep their handsome little faces as white as jade. They fought day and night at all costs. Their faces are calm. They’re boiling inside.
Their eyes are raised high, which can’t be found in any other history. The eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China is the leadership and command of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core. It directly led and promoted the development of the struggle against poverty and the great movement. This is an unprecedented battle in the history of the Chinese nation. 12
These are comrades from the poverty alleviation and Development Office of the State Council.
It is glorious to leave our footprints in the great journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Creating and maintaining happiness is their responsibility. They know that they have gone through the magnificent era of ‘a thousand year waiting’.
Everyone who walks into the hall of the poverty alleviation and development office building of the State Council will see a countdown electronic display screen on the wall of the main hall, with red characters on a black background, silent and shining.
This is a display with a special and profound sense of mission. It is 1.52 metres wide and 3.8 metres high. It has a countdown clock that flashes numbers. There are seven red characters at the top, ‘poverty countdown,’ and in the middle, ‘427 days’ (the day I saw) – from December to 427 days in the next few seconds. It marks the process and rhythm of China’s poverty alleviation and the grand livelihood project of China in today’s world.
It glitters like a silent horn. It shows the pace of mobilization in the new era proposed by the Party Central Committee and the whole nation at the core of Comrade Xi Jinping, and urges the pace and aspirations of the poor cadres throughout the country. By the magnificent moment of December 31, 2020, it will go straight to the historical coordinates of the 100 years since the founding of the Communist Party of China with a higher and more passionate rhythm. At that time, China will announce to the world: one of the ‘two centenary goals’ of the Communist Party of China and one of the goals for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation – the great journey of socialist China into a well-off society in an all-round way and a decisive victory!
On the clock of time, there will always have two big characters: ‘Now!’ (in Chinese, Xianzai).
The office of the leading group for poverty alleviation and development under the State Council is the deliberative and coordinating organ of the State Council and the working department and vice-ministerial unit of the leading group for poverty alleviation and development under the State Council. The leading group, headed by Wang Yang, is responsible for policy formulation, leadership and 13overall coordination of poverty alleviation work of relevant state departments. The leading group is a Reportage Creation project established on May 16 1986, and renamed as the leading group for economic development in poverty-stricken areas of the State Council on December 28, 1993. Many people may not know that the decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to set up a national leading group was related to a remote minority village in Hezhang County, Guizhou Province.
A big hunger, shook Zhongnanhai…
I The deep mountains and ‘tribes’ forgotten by history
In the spring of 1985, Guizhou, known as ‘Sanqing’, suffered from severe drought, and the vegetation and forest dried up.
On the morning of that day, in Pengpeng Village, Hezhang County, Bijie district, a pair of arrogant black feet in ‘tire shoes’ climbed to the top of the mountain, and their rotten trousers were wet by the cold dew. The ‘shoes’ were cut from discarded tricycle tires with four holes on the raised edge and tied to the feet with hemp ropes. The hemp rope was worn out in seven or eight days. After replacement, the bottom of the tire can wear for decades – it still exists. Don’t rope makers grind blood on their feet? No, because the skin of the foot is as thick as the sole of a shoe and as hard as stone.
Drought, crops late and thin, withered head drooping. In order to fall to the ground, village Party Secretary Wen Chaorong and Yi man carried two buckets of water up the mountain. Born in 1942, he is very bold and antique, like a stone carving cut with a knife: deep eyebrows, straight nose, dark and rough skin, with a palm sized work manual and a ball point pen in his pocket. On the slope, Wen struggled to lift two buckets from the cow’s back. Suddenly, a group of thirsty birds flapped their wings and shot arrows into the bucket to drink water. Go away, Wen, wave and yell.
In Paffin Village, the old man always wakes up earlier than the chicken and shouts more fiercely than the dog. A copper whistle forced the villagers to get up early and work. As soon as he heard his whistle, he went mad and the whole village was restless. The villagers go out to gather at once, otherwise Wen Chaorong’s 14thunder will blow people into the cracks in the ground. For months of the year, the village follows the copper pillars at sunrise and rests at sunset. Only when the old man’s whistle rings, the sun will rise, the corn will stick, and life will continue.
Bijie, located in the hinterland of Wumeng Mountain in Northwest Guizhou, is known as ‘the land of three poles’, that is, the natural conditions are extremely poor, the productivity is extremely low, and the people’s life is extremely poor. There are over 20,000 square kilometres in the city, only 8% of them are flat, and the rest are mausoleums. The valley is high and steep, the terrain is broken, and the karst landform accounts for more than two thirds of the whole area. Earlier this year, UN experts visited Bijie to believe that ‘there are no basic conditions for human survival’ and suggested that the Chinese government move residents on a large scale. The locals laughed. So many Chinese people, where to move?
Lark village is located in the depth of Wumeng Mountain, 2,300 metres above sea level, belonging to the alpine region. There are five villager groups in the village, through several connected hills. 730 people from 168 households, including 702 people from 162 Miao households and 28 people from 6 Yi households. There are only five people with primary education, and the middle-aged and old can hardly speak Putonghua. The vast majority of villagers live in thatched cottages and branches, people and animals mixed together. Mountain and steep slopes account for 90%, and the cultivated land is poor and broken. There is no electricity, no road, no school, and no clinic in the village. Drinking water depends on collecting rainwater. To go to school, to see a doctor, to make a phone call, you need to walk down the mountain to the seat of the township government 12 kilometres away. The whole village is almost isolated from the world. In the words of local people, ‘eating is basically begging, drinking is basically using hands, and walking is basically using dogs.’ It has never been enriched in the memory of generations. Because the land is poor, farming is difficult, and the harvest is low, ‘potatoes are not as big as eggs, corn is not as long as the palm, and mice have to kneel and gnaw, plant a slope, and close a basket.’ Wang Xuefang, a skinny villager, told me that he only wore pants when he was 14 or 15 years old. As long as there is no poison on the mountain, his stool is as thin as urine, ‘a bag of fried noodles and ten eggs can be changed into a daughter-in-law.’ 15
At that time, ‘left’ tendencies were rampant, cadres were afraid of mistakes, and the masses were afraid of hunger. It seems that we can’t see the end of poverty, just like Tongzi killed the fate of Fugu village. The beautiful Miao girl (I saw her with her two daughters, only the widow) sang:
A red azalea in full bloom, open in the heart.
The vine root on the mountain is wrapped in her daughter’s hand.
The elder brother went out on the opposite side of the mountain, but the younger sister found it difficult to open it.
The pot loses grain, the wick has no oil, the snow grass, and the rain has no way to go.
Tears in the days on the mountain, which year is over?
Elder brother, you have the heart to shout, elder sister, I walk with you, follow you, die abroad, and don’t look back!
Later, Luo Qiaohua really left and was driven away by poverty and hunger. It was a night of ‘stepping on Huashan’. A miner in the village commanded a group of village Party members to tie her on a horse with a flashlight, which is a popular way of marriage snatching. There is also a local custom that the bridegroom and bride go to bed on the night of the wedding candlelight – in fact, this is a kind of false beat, so that young men and women outside the window can hear its bustle. On that wedding night, Luo Qiaohua was really beaten and cried. The teapot, bowl and plate all fell to the ground, because she was reluctant to give up, because she had a lover in the village. But the young man’s family is too poor, no room, no food, no clothes, cannot live with her, Luo Qiaohua had to accept fate. Four years later, she divorced, led a daughter, held a daughter, afraid to go back – because she didn’t give it to the man and was called out of the house.
If you think about it carefully, the core of the traditional culture of ethnic 16minorities is actually ‘everything for survival’. For example, Miao people’s appellation comes from the expectation of ‘more seedlings in the field’; The Yi People’s appellation comes from Mao Zedong’s suggestion, which means that there is a house above and clothing, food, housing and transportation below. But after a long time, this wish has not come true.
The village is high above the mountains, so it is very difficult for the villagers to see the county and township cadres, because there is no public grain, but they eat relief grain every year, so the cadres have to hide. Wen Chaorong is the only representative of the party and government of Fugu village. Some people call him ‘rule of man’. In this way, the sea sparrow village seems to be forgotten by the world, the ‘tribe’ on the mountain, no one cares, suffering in the world.
II Three’!’ from Zhongnanhai
On December 24, 1978, on that cold and hungry winter night, there were 18 farmers’ representatives in Xiaogang Village, Anhui Province, and 20 families in the village signed a farm agreement with red fingerprints, becoming ‘the first village of China’s reform’. In the same year, several production teams of Dingyun commune secretly implemented the policy of mass production and overproduction, becoming ‘the first township of China’s reform’. By the year 1985, the curtain of China’s rural reform has opened. The enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of farmers has been unprecedentedly emancipated, the grain output has increased year by year, the problem of food and clothing for the broad masses of rural people has been initially solved, the people’s commune has completely withdrawn from the historical stage, the rural development situation is getting better and better, and the national heart is unblocked.
171985 is the year of the ox, as the saying goes, ‘the year of cattle and horses, and the year of good work’. However, many people have not noticed that in Guizhou, where economic and social development lags behind seriously, production and life are still very difficult. Especially in Bijie area, Haijian village, Hezhang County, the high mountains, because of the influence of hail and early frost, the output of corn and potato last year was large, and many families only had enough to eat for two or three months, and the whole village was in a dilemma of lack of food. Wenchaorong, the party secretary of the worried village, had to embark on the endless ‘begging road’ and went to the village and county to help them again and again.
In the view of some local leaders and young people sitting in the office, Wen Jiabao’s behavior is obviously not in line with the good situation of the country’s rural development. As a result, the news wave was first robbed by the disaster relief, and the disaster relief leading cadres became more and more angry. Some people angrily say that the puffer fish village is a bottomless hole. Some people say that when Wen Chaorong studied agricultural villages, he was a ‘red flag’ and could not keep up with the situation after the reform. He had nothing else to eat and wear. Wen Chaorong is a Yi nationality with a short temper. The villagers nicknamed him ‘Fire King’. He yelled at the Township Office, rocked the house and looked straight at Mars. But whatever its purpose, relief food has been delayed. Wen Chaorong had to put on the heavy tire shoes, and then ran down the mountain again and again, walking hopefully. When he came back, there were tears in his eyes.
Finally, one day, an outsider came to the village.
One day in late May 1985, Liu Zifu, a young reporter from Guizhou branch of Xinhua news agency, came to Hezhang County to reflect the good situation of rural reform. On the morning of 29 May, the county sent an old Beijing jeep to take him to HengDi district. It is said that this is a minority village. He was very interested and decided to climb the mountain and take some scenery photos and flowers. Near noon, over the mountain, through a messy forest, Fugu village appeared in front of him.
For a time, Liu Zifu left behind a ‘wooden chicken’. At that time, the first impression of pafen village was that it was lifeless. Every family lived in a thatched cottage, looking wobbly. ‘He recalled’ when he came into the house, they were all 18living together with human beings and animals. When it was broken, he could not avoid the cold. At that time, I was young and started working very soon. I don’t know much about rural poverty in Guizhou. It has been six or seven years since reform and opening up. I am very shocked and sad to see that the villagers of puffin village still live in such houses. Then I went door to door, and it was more serious than I thought.
Miao villager Wang Yongcai’s rice Zengzi cracked and molded. Open the lid on the charcoal fire and cook the wild vegetables. Take a closer look and find a little cornmeal in it. Climbing into the attic, I saw only 27 yams the size of pigeon eggs in the basket, linen skirts and quilts broken like fishing nets. Some little dolls are so hungry that they can’t even cry…
Liu Zifu asked eagerly, are you the Secretary of the village Party branch? Wu Xiuqin, director of the women’s Bureau, said she had to go to the county for relief. Liu Zifu asked again, the difficulties in the village have become like this, and the most senior cadres have not come to have a look? The villagers said that there was no telephone in the village and everything was run back and forth by the village party secretary.
Liu Zifu rushed down the mountain and rushed back to Hezhang County that night. The next morning, Wang Olan, Secretary of the county Party committee, came to see him. Liu Zifu introduced the plight of the village and asked about the food shortage in the county. Mr. Wang said in a heavy voice, why didn’t I see you on the first day? Because I don’t know what to say. I’m afraid you asked me to introduce the good situation of rural reform, but I can’t say it! In fact, the county is on the verge of food shortage, with a total of 12,000 households and more than 30,000 people. We can’t solve this problem on our own. We repeatedly reflect, but time does not wait, the stomach does not wait, we are worried about death! I hope you can help us report to our superiors as soon as possible.
After Wang Lan left, Liu Zifu could not be calm for a long time. Over the past few years, reports on ‘good situation, more grain’ in rural reform have flourished. Some grassroots officials are used to reporting good news but not bad news, so it is difficult for their superiors to understand the real situation at the grassroots level, and even more difficult to hear the eagerness of the hungry people. For a long time, Liu Zifu decided to write an ‘internal’ report, which is the quickest way 19for the hungry to reach the central government, but he should not go without hesitation. As a fledgling young reporter of Guizhou bureau, can this ‘negative’ report go through layer upon layer from editor, director and editor in chief to editor, director and editor in chief? If the review process is delayed too long, the hungry people in Haifeng Village and even Hezhang County can’t wait! Liu Zifu made a bold decision: in order to avoid having a branch outside the festival, he completed the manuscript in Hezhang County. Without going through Guizhou branch, he directly telegraphed the president of Xinhua news agency, which obviously violated the working procedures, but he ignored so many.
There was a blackout in the county at night. Liu asked the hotel attendant for two candles and a book. At about 1 am, he wrote all night. At that time, he wrote a report of nearly 2,000 words. The next day, that is, May 30, he went to the county post office to buy a stack of telegrams, copied a one-word report, and then sent it to Beijing by urgent telegram. An emergency draft costs more than 20 yuan. In the 1980s, the number was not small.
Most of the comrades in the head office are old reporters. They are quick to respond and understand its importance. The manuscript was sent to Mu Qing, President of Xinhua news agency, on his desk (the author, Jiao Yulu, a good example of the Secretary of the county Party committee). After watching it, Mu Qing was deeply shocked and asked, ‘send it quickly!’
Two days later, on June 2, 1985, the new Xinhua news agency was sent to the seats of members of the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, which immediately attracted the attention of the old revolution.
The full text of Liu Zifu’s report is as follows:
More than 12,000 ethnic minority farmers in Hezhang County live very hard, but no one complains about the state.
About 63,061 farmers in 12,001 households had or were about to run out of rice and fuel.
On 29 May, the reporter visited three villagers’ groups in Haique Village, which is inhabited by Miao and Yi Nationalities in Sifang Township, HengDi District, and the county. Meeting 11 farmers, and every household cooks. Luo 20Qichao, a member of Yi nationality, lives in the middle class. Reporter into Luo Qi’s home sees his wife Liang Youlan sad to stay at home. She told the reporter: last year, because of the low temperature, we didn’t collect much grain, so we paid off 200 Jin, which has been cut off. Her husband had to go out to borrow food, and so far, he didn’t know if he was going to land. Last year, the family sold five ducks and more than 200 eggs, earned 31 yuan, and bought salt and oil. She also said: in the face of district and township cadres, they dare not say they will not eat, and they are afraid of attack. When the reporter looked at all her houses, they were worth 100 yuan at most.
When the reporter walked into the Miao family, An Meizhen was so thin that she only had a dry skeleton to support her head. There are four people in her family, husband, two sons and her. The whole family didn’t see oil all year round, and they were tired all year. With three months of salt, four people only have three bowls. They have been out of food for five days.
At Wang Yongcai’s home, a member of the Miao nationality, Wang Yongcai tearfully told reporters that there were five people in his family who had been without food for five months and lived on wild vegetables, not to mention oil and salt. Cattle is the lifeblood of the Miao family, but also had to mercilessly sell vegetables to save people. A cow sold for 250 yuan, no food. Cattle are very cheap, not to mention horses, chickens and pigs. At the edge of his fire, a three-year-old child was lying on the ground hungry, making a weak ‘OK, OK, OK’ cry, which made the mother helpless.
The reporter walked around the Fugu village group on the 9th, and found no oil or rice. What he ate more was corn batter and buckwheat batter, with mung bean seeds mixed in the dry food. Nine families have no activity fee, no animals, no decent beds or quilts, some beds and ponds.
Not far from fugu village group is the school village group. The reporter walked into Zhao Zhen’s home and was shocked. Her clothes didn’t cover her. Seeing the guest coming, she immediately covered her chest with her hand and lowered her head strangely. Her shirt was worn over her chest. Her shame could hardly be covered with a broken skirt like a thread. She showed it to me as she walked up and down. Aunt saw the reporter’s embarrassment, but took the initiative to say: ‘wear three years of clothes, spring, summer, autumn and winter.’ Ah! I 21really didn’t promise, but I’m sorry to meet someone, my aunt’s neighbor is Zhu Zhenghua’s. The shopkeeper was so tired that he said, ‘I finished at the end of last year. For months, I’ve found a liter of gas.’
Miao youth Wang Xuefang took the reporter home and told the reporter: at present, there are 30 families, 25 families whose vegetables are broken, and the remaining five families can’t live for a few days. Due to poor food, insufficient food and insufficient physical strength, young people engaged in production in the group can only work half a day. In addition, the main labor force has to go out to forage, affecting the normal progress of production.
In spite of their poor families, the simple brothers of these ethnic minorities never escaped. No one petitioned, no one offered a helping hand to the country, no one complained about the party and the country, but they blamed themselves for ‘not striving for success’. This scene is very moving.
It is understood that in 1984, Hezhang County produced 183,300 Jin of grain, 396 Jin of grain per capita, with a net income of 110 yuan. Of the 89 townships in the county, 88 are poor. The poverty-stricken area of the county is large, and there is a big gap in funds and grain. Since the Spring Festival, disaster relief funds and grain have been distributed one after another, but the problem remains unsolved. It is worth noting that some district and township cadres are indifferent to the suffering of farmers. Many people have changed from ‘fearing the rich and loving the poor’ to ‘loving the rich and loving the poor’, lacking a minimum sense of responsibility. For example, Haijian village is 12 kilometres away from HengDi District Committee. District cadres also understand the poverty situation in the village, but they do not conduct in-depth investigation and sincerely help farmers out of poverty.
Xi Zhongxun, a legendary revolutionary hero in Northern Shaanxi, once praised him as ‘young and pure’ and the leader of the ‘people’. At the age of 21, he was elected chairman of the Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia Soviet government. At the age of 32, he served as secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council at the age of 46. After the ‘Cultural Revolution’, he went to Guangdong with great political courage to take the lead in carrying out reform and opening up and invigorating the mainland. His economic development has aroused people’s attention, and wave after wave 22of ‘fleeing from Hong Kong’ has gradually stopped. This incident left a deep impression on Deng Xiaoping. All his life, Xi Zhongxun was loyal to the people and listened to the voice of the masses. He once said cordially, ‘everything about our party belongs to the masses.” The country is the people, and the people are the country’ (see biography of Xi Zhongxun)
After reading the report, Xi Zhongxun was very sad and angry. Waving his pen, he explained in the upper right corner of the manuscript as follows:
We blame not only the party and the state, but also ourselves for ‘asking for trouble’ for such a poor life. This is a serious warning to us bureaucrats!! The provincial Party committee is required to set a time limit, take practical measures and do more work in a planned and step-by-step way to change this situation.
Xi Zhongxun uses three parallel ‘!’ In his instructions, this is very rare in the instructions of successive party and state leaders. It is obvious that Xi Zhongxun treated some people in Guizhou in such a particularly irritating way. The masses expressed great concern about living such a poor life, and also criticized the bureaucratic style of Party and government organs at all levels.
On June 2, the relevant departments of the central government will give instructions and relevant reports to the Guizhou provincial Party committee. Guizhou provincial Party committee and government took immediate action. At that time, Zhu Houze, Secretary of the provincial Party committee, held a meeting of the leaders of the municipal Party committee, the city and the state in the local area, conveyed the spirit of Xi Zhongxun’s important instructions, and comprehensively deployed the disaster relief work. The provincial Party committee and the provincial government quickly sent out hundreds of cadres and divided them into eight groups. Under the leadership of the then governor, Wang Qishan went to various places to investigate, direct and organize disaster relief, and properly arrange people’s lives. At this time, Hu Jintao was appointed as the new secretary of Guizhou provincial Party committee by the CPC Central Committee. Before leaving, Xi Zhongxun told him about the serious natural disaster in Bijie, Guizhou Province, and asked for immediate rescue. On his third day in office, Hu Jintao went to Hezhang County and other places in Bijie to go deep into the countryside to investigate the food shortage in the village, and asked the local government to establish a food security system. In other words, open 23the granary. He was unable to reach Fugu village because of heavy rain and road disruption. During this period, the State Council urgently allocated 36 million yuan of disaster relief funds to Guizhou, increasing 500 million kilograms of grain in other provinces. For a time, on the winding mountain road in Bijie, Guizhou Province, relief food kept flowing.
Thousands of Jin of relief grain was transported into the puffer fish village. Puffer fish village was saved, and every household raised fragrant smoke.
III Three ‘stone is hard but bones, the mountain is high but the foot head’
Wen Chaorong, Secretary of the village Party committee, was born poor. As a child, the land reform team came here to send him to school. After that, he put a ballpoint pen in his jacket pocket. From before liberation to after the reform, he witnessed the evolution of the ecological environment in his hometown: due to the increase of population, serious deforestation and soil erosion, the original green mountains and clear mountains gradually became barren mountains, and the grain yield became lower and lower. The arrival of national relief food has made the whole village happy, angry, sad and happy. But what Wen Chaorong thinks about is more emotion and long-term. The party and government have saved our lives, but in the Haitian village, we can’t rely on national relief every year. We should be grateful and strive to reduce the burden of the country. 700 million farmers are making contributions to the country. We also farm, but we eat relief every year. Is it worth it? In the future, we should take a road of self-reliance and self-help!
The villagers asked, ‘how can I get there?’
Wen Chaorong said: first, we should vigorously develop the breeding industry, raise pigs, cattle and sheep, and use livestock and us to increase fertilizer. In the future, we must shit at home and not let fertilizer flow to other people’s fields!
The audience laughs and says it’s done!
Second, vigorously develop the planting industry. Let’s take a look at a dozen mountains around us. In the past few decades, they have been cut into ‘heshantou’. There is no grass or trees here. The mountain torrents have destroyed the crops. 24Since the party and the government have saved our lives, we can’t do nothing and plant trees together. When trees grow into forests, soil and soil keep good, harvest high, we don’t need state relief every year!
The audience laughed. Have you ever thought about talking to a text secretary? Do you think if you hit the bald hill, one blow will turn into a forest?
‘We must not sit and eat state relief every day,’ Wen cried! Stones are harder than bones, and mountains are not high. If it’s too late, you can do it when I die, and you can do it when your son and grandson die, and you can do it tomorrow!
The next day, Wen Chaorong led a group of rags called Hua, braved the cold wind and carried an iron hoe up the mountain. What if I don’t have money to buy saplings? Wen Chaorong decided to be a ‘bandit’. Suddenly, he led a group of young villagers to sneak into the county and stole thousands of pine seedlings from the nursery of the county forestry bureau. The next day, the director of forestry angrily called to the county magistrate there, asking to be arrested by Wen Chaorong. County magistrate said with a smile, if the villagers come to steal saplings, I will give you a big certificate!
The mountain is far away, who can’t carry it every day. In order to save energy and not delay the solar term, Wen Chaorong and the villagers wear rotten clothes every day. For three consecutive spring festival galas, the villagers live on the mountain. When young men and women set fire, they often sing and dance around the campfire with hungry stomachs, and their rotten shirts and skirts dance like flames.
The sun came out from the hillside, and my brother and sister wanted to plant more trees.
Brother dug a hole in the front, sister dug a nest in the back…
Fugu village is really fighting for gratitude and self-help. At that time, there was no theory or policy of returning farmland to forests, but under the leadership of Wen Chaorong, villagers went up to the mountains to plant trees year after year. This is the first spontaneous, conscious and self-financing ‘village run greening movement’ in Guizhou Province. It should go down in history. In the year 1986, 25800 Mu will be planted in the whole village, and 13,400 Mu will be planted in the next three years. In the new century, the state has formulated the preferential policy of returning farmland to forest, so that the villagers can get food subsidies with higher enthusiasm. After more than ten years of hard work, dozens of bare stone mountains have become a lush forest. Greening rate increased from 5% to 70%. In the new century, the total output value has reached more than 40 million yuan, with a per capita of more than 50,000 yuan. The per capita has 15 mu of trees, and the whole village enjoys a subsidy of 248,000 yuan for returning farmland to forests every year. When I went to the Fugu village for an interview, I stood on the high hillside, four wild mountains shrouded in clouds and fog, green, standing tall Pinus armandii and Pinus massoniana. Wen Chaorong led all the villagers to make concerted efforts, which was his lifelong efforts.
Local people say Wen has three treasures: a sickle, a basket and tires and shoes. In 2000, at the age of 59, Wen Chaorong retired, but he still wore tires and shoes, carried sickles and baskets, and climbed mountains to protect the green mountains and the blue sea. Every day, back and forth for dozens of miles, ‘go out of the day is not bright, go home to the moon’, only the little black dog with him.
One day, Wen Chaorong fainted in the forest. Little black dog went crazy and ran back to the village to report the accident. He was tired and couldn’t stand up anymore. On February 11, 2014, Wen Aolong, 73, died, and the villagers cried. On the day of the funeral, thousands of people from several surrounding villages arrived. We strongly ask each village to take out eight people, one from each village, and send our beloved old secretary. The crowd behind him lined up to cry.
Before he died, the old party secretary asked him to be buried on the high slope opposite the forest sea, guarding the vast forest forever. When I went for an interview, I came to the old man’s tomb to hold a memorial ceremony. The U-shaped tomb, painted white, has no name, including an innocent life. The old man’s tires are permanently stored in the world’s only pavan village exhibition hall. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee posthumously awarded Wen Cha as ‘the vanguard of the times’.
The old man and Lin Hai have never been separated! So far forever, in the green mountains and the green sea, in the memory of the villagers, still walking the gray haired old Yugong. 26
Of course, Wen Chaorong did not expect that Haifeng Village called the police in Zhongnanhai because there was no cooking, which made the state and Guizhou province carry out large-scale relief to the victims in Bijie and Hezhang, becoming an important node in the history of poverty alleviation in China. On June 2, 1985, Xi Zhongxun gave an important instruction to Xinhua reporter Liu Zifu, which is also a mobilization order for China to vigorously carry out large-scale poverty alleviation and development in the new period of reform and opening up. On May 16, 1986, after repeated deliberation, the Central Committee decided to set up the ‘State Council Leading Group for economic development in poor areas’, set up special agencies, formulate poverty alleviation standards, set up special funds for poverty alleviation, identify key areas to support, and formulate policies for poverty alleviation and development.
This is undoubtedly a major progress in China’s poverty alleviation and development. On December 28, 1993, the office of the leading group was renamed ‘Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council’. China’s poverty alleviation work rose from the civil administration level to national action, and poverty alleviation work was carried out on a large scale nationwide in an organized and planned way.
IV ‘One, two, three’ – forward into!
Since the eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, general secretary Xi Jinping has stood at the strategic height of building a well-off society in an all-round way, realized the great revival of the ‘China dream’ and placed the poverty reduction work in a prominent position. General Secretary Xi Jinping came to Fuping, Hebei, and saw the real poverty. For the first time, he put forward the goal of helping the poor. The poverty alleviation and development center is the symbol of China’s poverty alleviation and development. The Party Central Committee regards poverty alleviation and development as the bottomline task and landmark indicator of building a well-off society in an all-round way, carries out comprehensive reform and innovation in poverty alleviation system, policies and methods, and carries out a nationwide fight against poverty. The impact of this movement is unprecedented and far-reaching. A great chapter in the history of human poverty alleviation is unfolding in China. 27
What’s wrong with poverty alleviation? What is the standard? The Party Central Committee and the State Council have formulated clear, specific and definite ‘one, two and three’ standards based on the national conditions and realities:
‘One standard’: that is, the per capita annual income of farmers reaches the current national poverty alleviation standard.
Second, they don’t worry about food and clothing. Third, they don’t worry about ‘Three Guarantees’: that is, compulsory education is guaranteed, basic medical care is guaranteed, and housing is guaranteed (including drinking water).
Since the industrial revolution, China has lagged far behind the advanced countries in the world. Since the Opium War, the killing, bullying and plundering of China by Western powers have decreased. China has a population of 1.4 billion, with the vast majority of farmers. ‘One, Two, three’ is the basic guarantee. However, what a great and arduous historical mission it is to fully implement and bring a well-off life to every family! The millennium is like a day – the unprecedented poverty alleviation and development project in human history is a new era in front of the Communist Party of China and socialist China!
This is the top priority of contemporary China and the first livelihood project. This is the essential requirement of a people-oriented socialist China and a solemn promise made by Comrade Xi Jinping as the core and the Central Committee of the whole people and the whole world as the core.
‘One, Two, three’, just like the thunder of the new era, inspires us to keep forging ahead. Forward, in! At this moment, the red numbers on the electronic screen of the Poverty Alleviation Office Hall of the State Council are constantly flashing – all over the country, the decisive battle is in full swing!
YULIN CHAPTER
The first great wall
The place right here is sacred.
The wind across the earth plateau seemed to have opened the most ancient memory of the Chinese race. The long and tragic history passed through the land of the emperor, breaking through the crisscross gullies, and left traces of civilization and growing rings in his memory.
The earth plateau is the golden platform of China. From north to south, it was towering and magnificent, with mountains and thick mountains. Looking around, he saw the tomb of his Chinese ancestor, the Yellow Emperor. Yellow River, the bronze mother river, meandered here affectionately. The Great Wall was like a ridge crossing mountains. It was built here at the very beginning. The first emperor of Qin had unified China, established the county system and established the measurement and balance. This was where the great cause of the Han Dynasty’s territory expansion and the merging of the 36 western regions into Chinese territory took place. From here on, the silk road connecting the two continents began. Mao Zedong led the Red Army to walk twenty-five thousand miles and finally settled down here. In the war of resistance and the war of freedom, Mao Zedong and his ‘the smallest headquarters in the world’ were set here. This was the starting point for leading Yellow River to enter the central region and win the victory of the national revolution.
It’s 5,000 years old. There are so many magnificent historical stories here. It is no coincidence that so many Chinese cultural symbols converge here. This barren and magnificent scenery outlines the Chinese people’s back. With its tenacity, it has cultivated the Chinese people’s indomitable and courageous heroic temperament. A hundred years ago, when a Western priest came here, he wrote such a sentence: ‘we live in a place with an eternal past. Almost all major events in the process of Chinese civilization are closely related to this place, some even have world significance. The more we know about this place, the more awe we have. 29
The earth plateau was the source and foundation of the great spirit of the Chinese race.
This was a magnificent epic. The song was vigorous and powerful. At that moment, in the sunlight breaking through the clouds, the plateau people in white sheep’s belly wrapped in a towel, took a puff of fragrant and spicy dry smoke, opened their copper chests, and solemnly stood up from the dawn. The mothers of thousands of families in the village lit the stove, and also lit up the dream since ancient times. A wisp of green smoke rose from the village. It carried the forest and mountains, and the fragrance of birds and flowers in the sky.
At that moment, I reached the high bank of Yellow River, and the mother river in the deep valley came into view. My heart was close to her warm chest, with deep emotions and non-stop heartbeat. At that moment, he heard the roar of the man from the north, and a piece of sky swam from the river.
Do you know how many bays there are on the Yellow River in the world?
How many bays are there more than ten ships?
There are more than ten poles on several ships?
Dozens of ferry workers to pull the boat?
I know that there are ninety-nine Yellow River bays in the world,
There are ninety-nine ships in ninety-nine Bay,
There are ninety-nine poles on ninety-nine ships,
Ninety-nine boatmen came to pull the boat.
Yellow River is the past, the present and the future. Yellow River is our spirit, strength and blood. Our descendants are eager to see it. We all have great ambitions and a sense of responsibility for our country.
This is an accidental coincidence and the necessity of the times. At about 10:00 on December 18, 2018, I walked on the flat and quiet mountain road in Liangjiahe Village, Yan’an. At the same time, in Beijing, the people’s Congress, 30which celebrated the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up, was solemnly held in the Great Hall of the people. On behalf of all the people of the country, Xi Jinping made a bold declaration on the new journey of the new era of reform and opening up. ‘Hold high the great flag of the society with Chinese characteristics, don’t forget the original intention, remember the mission, and carry out the reform and opening up to the end. We will constantly realize the people’s yearning for a good life, and create a new greater miracle of the Chinese race in the new era! Create a new and greater miracle and leave a deep impression on the world!’
China’s history has indeed come to such a moment.
I Great changes have taken place in Yangjiagou
Yulin, one of China’s famous cities in history and culture, was called Shangjun County in ancient times. Many years ago, it was an important military fortress at the foot of the Great Wall. Yellow River and the Great Wall passed through the city, and the Beacon Tower, which was known as the number one Beacon Tower in the world, was here. Yulin was located in the northernmost part of Shaanxi Province, which was connected to Inner Mongolia in the north, Shaanxi in the East, Shanxi in the south, Yulin in the north, Shaanxi in the north, Inner Mongolia in the north, Yulin in the north, a barren desert in the north, and the Yellow plain in the south. The land was desolate with few wind and rain Gullies crisscrossed and mountains intertwined. According to the local people, Yulin was a city half built on Soil and half built on yellow sand. People also said that the crops are not planted every year. The most exuberant creatures on the earth plateau were only poverty and hunger.
Those days had passed for a long time. Jiang Zhiming, a more than 80-year-old man from the Yangjiagou, still clearly remembered the scene at that time. He was wearing an old grey blue military uniform, riding a white horse and a group of soldiers, passing by his cave entrance. After the rain, the road was very slippery, 31and the horse couldn’t move. He got off the car and smiled, pushing the horse butt with the young soldiers, later people knew that the people in this area opened their affectionate arms and secretly guarded a secret that was closely related to the fate of China. On March 19, 1947, Hu Zongnan led 230,000 soldiers to march forward and occupied the empty city, Yan’an. The radio and newspapers of the national army were very happy. They thought they would completely annihilate the army of the party soon, but the army carried machine guns and wandered around the northern plateau, but they couldn’t find the ‘red hair’. The villagers said seriously, ‘when you came, the pigs were scared away.’ Where did you get these pigs?’
Mao Zedong will never forget his sense of humor. When he left Yan’an, he gave himself a pseudonym ‘Li Desheng.’ He plucked his ashes and said with a smile, ‘Li Desheng’, saying that whoever occupied the justice of the world won. For a long time, Mao Zedong and many top CPC leaders lived in Yangjiagou Village, Mizhi County. The earth mounds here are continuous and the mountain roads are rugged. In the mountain nests hidden by green forests, there are several magnificent black brick houses, surrounded by hundreds of farmers’ caves and thatched houses. These big houses belong to the famous Mahalanobis family in Mizhi County. There were 72 big landlords in the Republic of China. When Mao Zedong came here, Ma Zhuping, an old grandmaster known for ‘not asking politics but only talking about practice’, expressed a sincere welcome and deliberately vacated an idle house for use. Often, when he was tired of work, Mao Zedong came out slowly with a cigarette in his hand and found some villagers sitting on the hillside, talking and laughing, looking very calm.
One night in early winter, Mao Zedong squatted barefoot on the Kang of a cave kiln in the big house, holding cigarettes in one hand and lanterns in the other, and carefully studied the military map covered on the Kang. At this time, Xi Zhongxun, director of the Northwest Bureau, led a young man in a black cotton padded jacket into the cave. He said: ‘Chairman, this is Zhang Junxian, Secretary of Jiaxian County Party committee. He came to Yangjiagou for a meeting and came to see you.’
Mao Zedong hurried down the Kang, put on his shoes, smiled and said, ‘Comrade Zhang, you’ve taken me for decades. It’s great to be the Secretary of the 32county Party committee!’ Zhang Junxian was embarrassed, held the chairman’s outstretched hand tightly and said, ‘where, where the chairman leads well!’
Mao Zedong didn’t forget that when he led his troops to the northern region, the army had eaten up all the food in the past three days. Xi Zhongxun found Zhang Junxian and asked him to find a way. Zhang Junxian asked, ‘how much is it?’ According to Xi Zhongxun, 120,000 kilograms.
It was a huge number for a county with a population of less than 100 thousand! Zhang Junxian thought for a while and said, ‘if we take out all the food in the city, one day will be enough; If you cut corn and wheat in the ground, you can eat for a day; If we kill all the sheep and donkey in the county, we can deal with them for another day!’
Mao Zedong wept when he heard about it. Three days later, the headquarters of the CPC Central Committee was successfully transferred to Yangjiagou Village, Mizhi County. For many days after that, people in Jiaxian County ate Guanyintu with bark and grass roots, and thousands of villages and households could not see a donkey or a sheep; It was also on the Bank of the Yellow River in Jiaxian County that Li Youyuan, a poor man, sang out the great choice of the Chinese people: ‘the East is red, the sun rises, China has a Mao Zedong…’
The red memory was the memory of blood and tears! The dead bodies of the martyrs could be piled up in a mountain as the Chinese party and its army had sacrificed a lot for the people’s freedom; Hundreds of millions of people supported the army. The last bowl of rice was used as army provisions, and the last one-foot cloth was used as army uniform. The last old quilt was covered on the stretcher, and the last one was sent to the battlefield.
On March 21, 1948, Mao Zedong led his troops to leave the Yangjiagou, cross Yellow River to the East and enter North China. The great bugle of freeing the whole country resounded throughout the country.
On July 1, 2017, 69 years later, Zhu Zhaofei, a man from the North stood on the high slope of Yangjiagou and looked at the rows of ancient caves at the top and bottom of the mountain. He recalled the past and was very excited. Under the order of his superior, he would take part in another great ‘people’s war’ in China – a decisive battle to get rid of poverty and attack the weak. This was the Centennial vow of the party, and the solemn promise of the eighteen National 33Congress and Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the party, to the people of all groups in the country.
