[Memory of the Sea] The name of this bridge is "Red"

In July 1952, Chu Feng, a third-year student from Shanghai at Jiangsu Medical College, received a letter from his 17-year-old sister, a female spinning worker at the Sixth National Cotton Factory.

On June 25 of this year, 114 model workers and representatives of advanced producers moved into Caoyang Village, the first new workers' village in New China, on more than a dozen trucks amid the beating of gongs and drums by workers in various factories. Chu Jie's little sister is one of them.

In the letter, my sister proudly wrote that she was rated as advanced in the factory. "Brother, when you receive this letter, you will definitely laugh and jump with joy... When you come back from the summer vacation, you don't want to live in a dilapidated shanty anymore. Our family has been moved to the workers' own big family - —Cao Yang Xincun.”

A few days later, when Chu Feng took the No. 56 bus from Huxi Grand Zither to Caoyang New Village, white walls, red tiles, and brand-new houses appeared in front of him. After getting off the bus, Chu Jie walked to the village "with infinite glory and pride" and found his new home among trees, flowers and plants.

In the past, their family still lived in a low thatched hut. "When it rained outside, it also rained inside. There was a smelly ditch in front of it, and there was also a smelly ditch behind." My sister is unemployed after graduating from normal school and can only sell steamed buns on the street, and my sister is insulted and raped every day when she goes to work in a textile factory. Just three and a half years later, my elder sister was already the director of the night school, my younger sister was the record holder for the least amount of rollers in the factory, and Chu Jie himself was sponsored to go to college.

"My family moved to Caoyang New Village!" The young medical student could not contain his happiness and excitement. "I couldn't sit still before the car passed the Sanguantang Bridge. I stood up and stretched my neck... and passed the cooperative. , small market, flowers and trees... I found the Red Bridge.”

Today, in the renovated Caoyang No. 1 Village, at the border of the No. 2 Work District and the No. 1 Work District of the First Village, the red bridge is still there. The green trees and river in early summer make the bridge appear bright red.

Also in the early summer of 1952, at the same time as the first batch of residents moved in, a photographer from the "Liberation Daily" came to the bridge and pressed the shutter.

"The time has begun." In 1952, Liberation Daily reporter Yu Chuangshuo photographed the moment the clock was installed at the entrance of the newly completed Caoyang New Village.

The 14 photos with the theme of "New Workers' Housing - Caoyang New Village" were taken by Liberation Daily photographers Yu Chuangshuo and Wang Gang. This set of photos was published on the fifth page of "Liberation Daily" on July 6, 1952, which was a Sunday. At that time, the pictorial magazine published every Sunday became a window to vividly display the new life through pictures.

Yu Chuangshuo is 41 years old. Since 1933, when he first borrowed a camera from his classmate Gu Tingpeng at the Shanghai Art College, Yu Chuangshuo has been associated with photography for nearly 20 years.

In 1937, Yu Chuangshuo, who was only 26 years old, went to the front line in North China with his friend Gu Tingpeng as a special photojournalist for three media outlets: "Good Friends", "Times" and the Central News Agency. During the Anti-Japanese War, Yu Chuangshuo traveled to various battlefields and was the first photojournalist in the Shanghai press to use photography to report on the Pingxingguan Victory. He also went deep into the Taihang Mountains to visit the Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Yu Chuangshuo returned to Shanghai and entered the "Declaration". On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was liberated. Shenbao, which had been in business for 77 years, stopped publishing on the 28th. Jiefang Daily was founded, and Yu Chuangshuo became one of the three remaining photojournalists. From 1949 to 1950, in one and a half years, the number of photos he took exceeded the previous three years of work in "Declaration".

In October 1989, Yu Chuangshuo wrote the article "The Beginning of a New Life", recording the night when the People's Liberation Army entered Shanghai - that turning moment.

"Some people in the newspaper office who did not understand the Communist Party or the People's Liberation Army hurriedly packed their bags and boarded the flight to Taiwan. Those of us who stayed behind were excitedly waiting for the Communist Party to send people to take over the newspaper office." A few days later, the comrades who took over the newspaper office When he arrived, Yu Chuangshuo saw Fan Changjiang, whom he had met on the front line in Taiyuan during the Anti-Japanese War. At this time, Fan Changjiang was the first president of the "Liberation Daily".

"When he talked to me, he asked me to stay and work at the "Liberation Daily". He said, everything you are doing now is to serve the people. These words inspired me to take up a new job, and it was very special to work. Be energetic. Together with other comrades, I go out early and return late, going to factories, rural areas, and military units to reflect the new outlook of the people after they have turned over, and to expose the crimes of criminals undermining the national economy. Every Sunday, people can read in the "Liberation Daily." The pictures we took were seen on the Internet and played a great role in publicity and encouragement at the time.”

Photographing the moment when workers entered Caoyang New Village, the first new workers' village in New China, to start a new life was also the "beginning of a new life" for Yu Chuangshuo himself.

There are more than 50 Soviet-style farm buildings in Caoyang Village. Local chronicles show that this kind of house is warm in winter and cool in summer, with good ventilation and lighting. Each small building originally had two floors, and later an additional floor was added, with three rooms on each floor. One large room and two small rooms on the first floor, two large rooms and one small room on the second and third floors. The large room is 22.6 square meters, and the small room is 13.8 square meters. , one family lives in one room, and the kitchen and bathroom are shared on each floor.

At that time, the first batch of residents, model workers, wore red flowers on their chests and underwent "an inspection more stringent than the political review" before being escorted into their new homes.

Yu Chuangshuo focused his camera on an ordinary worker couple.

"The husband's name is Xu Shenhua. He works in the spring factory of the state-owned Shanghai Second Textile Machinery Factory. He is the leader of the model worker Lu Agou group. The wife's name is Kong Aju. She works in the roving workshop of the state-owned Qinsheng Spinner Factory. They already have two children. "

Through the reporter's lens, readers followed the couple and saw that "the environment of Caoyang New Village is very beautiful: there are flat roads and green grassland, a small river flows around the new village, and trees and flowers are planted beside the river and around the houses. "; saw that "Caoyang New Village has a consumer cooperative that supplies workers with various daily necessities. In order to facilitate the workers in Caoyang New Village to send letters and make small-amount remittances, the post office has set up a post office in Caoyang New Village at the entrance of the new village. A temporary clinic has been set up, and three medical workers are here to provide diagnosis and treatment." I saw that "in the middle of Caoyang New Village, there is a Caoxin bathroom. After five o'clock every afternoon, workers and their families come here to take a bath. ". I also saw “As the sun set, Xu Shenhua and Kong Aju’s family, together with Lu Agou and Huang Meigou from Shanghai Second Textile Machinery Factory, enjoyed the cool air and played chess on the grass.” “Comrade workers of Lu Agou group, On Sunday, I went to Xu Shenhua and Kong Aju’s home to play. They held dinner parties together and spent the holidays happily.” “On Sunday morning, the nanny took the children outdoors to play, and Xu Shenhua and Kong Aju studied together.”

The reporter also went to take pictures of the couple's old home before they moved into Caoyang New Village. "At that time, they lived in this small house that was one foot square and no more than seven feet high. Because the house was small, they would cook outside on sunny days. On rainy days, when they cooked inside, the soot would make people's eyes open. Don’t come.”

Now, across the red bridge lying on Caoyang Huanbang, "Xu Shenhua and Kong Aju rode bicycles to watch a movie together." The "28th Gang" at that time was so impressive. The workers at that time wore neat shirts, clean shoes, hair cut short, exposed white teeth, and expressions full of happiness.

This is a "world of dignified life for residents represented by model workers" that is separated from the alleys under the neon lights of the concession where "queues for toilets, coal stoves are replaced, and the sun is missing".

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of Caoyang New Village, based on the photos taken by Yu Chuangshuo of Xu Shenhua and Kong Aju, the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts collectively created a sculpture and presented it to Hongqiao. At the moment recorded by Yu Chuangshuo's lens, the smiling faces of the couple looking at each other were frozen at the bridgehead. The passage of time reflected the red bridge.