Engraving the Peak of Taihang Mountains with Youth and Blood - Written on the occasion of the 54th Anniversary of the Comprehensive Completion of the Hongqi Canal Project, Designer | Hongqi Canal | Youth

July 6th is the 54th anniversary of the comprehensive completion of the Hongqi Canal project. The Red Flag Canal, flowing with the light of ideals and youthful aspirations, is a "spiritual channel" that inspires youth and encourages people to strive forward.

More than half a century ago, under the leadership of the county committee, the people of Linxian County, Henan Province, spent ten years climbing through cliffs and stones, digging thousands of miles of canals, and finally built the "Artificial Tianhe" Red Flag Canal in 1969. They also planted the spirit of "self-reliance, hard work, entrepreneurship, unity and cooperation, and selfless dedication" at the top of Taihang Mountain.

From then on, the 800 mile Taihang Wall stood tall and towering, and the 3000 mile canal water meandered and extended, infiltrating the hearts of the people.

In October 2022, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during an inspection tour in Henan that the Red Flag Canal is a monument, which records the heroic spirit of the people of Linxian County who do not accept their fate, do not admit defeat, and dare to fight against heaven and earth.

Nowadays, more and more people are coming here to seek the inexhaustible source of spirit. For today's communists, the Red Flag Canal is not only the answer to history, but also the beacon of the times, inspiring generations to continue their struggle.

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Youth and blood reflect the Taihang Mountains

"Jiulin County, it's really pitiful. The bare slopes and dry riverbanks, with rain washing away the crops and drought causing the seeds to disappear."

Lin County has been short of water for a long time, and the people are eager for water.

In 1954, Yang Gui was appointed as the Secretary of the Linxian County Committee.

"We are all Communist Party members and cadres, and the principle of Party spirit does not allow us to watch the fields dry and unable to grow crops, and tens of thousands of elderly villagers cross mountains and rivers to search for water and food without being indifferent." County Party Secretary Yang Gui stood up. After multiple investigations, the county committee decided to divert the Zhuozhang River from Pingshun County, Shanxi Province to Lin County, completely solving the water shortage problem in Lin County.

This is a risky decision. At that time, it was a period of economic difficulties, and young Yang Gui was also facing tests in engineering technology and other aspects. "We can sit and wait for the blessings of the heavens, so that our black hats will surely be preserved, but we cannot overcome disasters. It is the people who suffer." The resounding words reflect the responsibility of a young Communist.

History has proven that as long as one conforms to public opinion, one can win people's hearts; As long as you win hearts, you can create miracles.

"Since Yu Gong can move the mountains, why is it difficult for us to build the canal? We have set up Yu Gong's ambition to move the mountains and are determined to split open the Taihang Mountains." When the county committee solicited opinions, the people of Lin County said, "The country has no money, and we need to build it even with our own dry food. This is a great matter for generations to come."

With a hammer, a chisel, and a pair of hands, the children of Lin County fought hard for 10 years, leveling 1250 mountains, erecting 152 aqueducts, and opening 211 tunnels. They dug a 1500 kilometer "Canal of Life" on the cliffs of the Taihang Mountains.

This is the main canal of the Hongqi Canal that winds through the Taihang Mountains. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ang Lee

The Hongqi Canal is both a "Chuxin Canal" and a "Youth Canal". When the Hongqi Canal started construction in 1960, Yang Gui, the county party secretary, was 31 years old, and Wu Zutai, the designer, was 27 years old... At that time, many young people in Lin County gathered at the canal construction site.

Ma Lei's grandfather, in his twenties, went up the mountain to repair a canal. The sky was like a quilt, and the ground was like a bed. He worked hard day and night, and even injured one eye due to blasting rocks. Under the old man's bed, there are still baskets full of hammers and chisels for repairing canals, which are the memories of a generation's youth.

The main canal of the Hongqi Canal bypasses a village. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ang Lee

On July 6, 1969, the Hongqi Canal project was fully completed, and the water supply problem of the people in Lin County was solved.

Ma Lei explained the theoretical knowledge of gliding flight to students at the Gliding Service Center in Linzhou City, Henan Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuan

Nowadays, Ma Lei has become a national paraglider. The more he knows about the Red Flag Canal, the more Ma Lei feels that the dreams of his grandfather's generation are great and romantic.

Paraglider enthusiasts fly in the Taihang Mountains of Linzhou City, Henan Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuan

Is it said that there is no monument, and mountains and rivers are monuments; Why leave a name? The heart is the name. Hundreds of thousands of little-known canal builders chiseled out a sparkling name with their hands - the Red Flag Canal.

Youth legend transcends time and space

The people of Linzhou are inherently unwilling to fall behind, and the Red Flag Canal makes their spine even more straight.

At the beginning of the construction of the Hongqi Canal, there were less than 30 water conservancy technicians in Lin County. But after 10 years of repairing the canal, the children of Lin County designed a hollow dam with "water flowing through the canal in the dam and river water flowing above the dam", and built a bridge with "water flowing under the channel, water flowing through the channel in the channel, and driving on the channel". They created hundreds of engineering and technical achievements, trained and trained more than 50000 stonemasons, and more than 3000 team leaders and technicians who understand technology, management, and leadership.

The technological accumulation and spiritual wealth left by the Hongqi Canal support and inspire generations of young people to continue their struggle and constantly create new development legends.

Tourists are visiting the Hongqi Canal diversion gate in Linzhou City, Henan Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ang Lee

In the second year of Zhang Yizhi's birth, the Hongqi Canal was fully completed. That was July 1969, when the people who had just finished ten years of hard work were full of courage. Under the influence of his parents, Zhang Yizhi also inherited the strong personality of the Taihang Mountains.

Due to poverty, Zhang Yizhi went out to work with his fellow villagers at the age of 16. He is hardworking and inquisitive. In 2012, under the call of protecting the ecology and developing tourism in his hometown, Zhang Yizhi resolutely took over the almost abandoned Wanquan Lake scenic area, turning the barren rocky mountains into a scenic spot with clear lakes and beautiful forests.

This is the Wanquan Lake Scenic Area taken on June 16, 2023 in Linzhou City, Henan Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuan

Li Guangyuan, born in 1948, although only participated in the completion project of the Red Flag Canal, was a typical person with a "Red Flag Canal temperament". The blacksmith shop in the village was facing difficulties in operation. At the age of 26, Li Guangyuan was tasked with carrying dry rations, going to Zhengzhou, Beijing, and Taiyuan to find a way out. He insisted on developing the blacksmith shop into an automobile parts factory. Under the leadership of Li Guangyuan, by the late 1990s, more than 300 automotive parts enterprises had emerged in the northern part of Linzhou.

Thinking big, seeing far, and working hard are the group traits inherited by Linzhou entrepreneurs from their parents. While many people were still immersed in the feast of low-end casting, Li Guangyuan took the lead in transformation, focusing on the booming steel industry and continuously extending the industrial chain, ultimately making the enterprise one of the top 500 private enterprises in China.

In Panlongshan Village, Rencun Town, Linzhou City, Henan Province, Wang Shengyou led the villagers to clean up the rubble and maintain the road. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ang Lee

In 2013, Wang Sheng faced a choice. Wang Zhizhi, the elder brother who served as the Party branch secretary of Panlongshan Village for more than 20 years, suddenly passed away due to a heart attack while rushing to build roads for the village, and the village's "leader" was gone. Wang Sheng has been doing business outside for many years, but in his prime, he lost one arm due to a car accident. Although he was unlucky, he did not sink. The villagers wanted him to return to the village to take over as the village branch secretary after achieving success in his career.

Go back, or not go back? As a party member, Wang Shengyou resolutely shouldered the expectations of the entire village. Through various efforts and efforts, he led the villagers to turn bumpy dirt roads into flat cement roads, and continued to green barren mountains, planting Sichuan peppercorn, walnuts, and traditional Chinese medicine. This not only made the characteristic industries more prosperous, but also laid a foundation for the development of tourism.

Once the ideal spark is ignited, it will surely shine like a vast expanse of mountains and rivers.

The experiences of Zhang Yizhi, Li Guangyuan, and Wang Sheng are a microcosm of the struggles of millions of people in Linzhou. Over the course of more than half a century, the people of Linzhou, with their heads held high, embarked on the four stages of "entrepreneurship": "Battle" Taihang, "Outbound" Taihang, "Rich" Taihang, and "Beautiful" Taihang.

The aspiration of youth will be passed down forever

On June 29th, Ren Yangcheng, a 95 year old model of the Red Flag Canal, passed away, sparking grief.

"I've died five times before, I didn't expect to live to this day," Ren Yangcheng said before his death. Ren Yangcheng was lucky. He once fell off a cliff and hung himself on a tree branch to save his life, allowing him to see the completion and opening of the Red Flag Canal. On the "monument" of the Hongqi Canal are engraved the names of 81 heroes, who have sacrificed their precious lives for this human miracle.

Visitors take photos of the Hongqi Canal water opening celebration exhibited at the Hongqi Canal Memorial Hall. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ang Lee

Wu Zutai was the first person to dedicate himself to the Red Flag Canal. In order to build the Hongqi Canal, he postponed his marriage three times, traveled across the hundred kilometer long Zhuozhang River, and mapped out the first map of the canal line leading from Zhang to the forest. He unfortunately died at the age of only 27 while entering the tunnel to inspect the collapse situation.

Less than two months after the excavation of the Hongqi Canal, Zhang Maijiang's father sacrificed himself on the construction site. After his father's sacrifice, 13-year-old Zhang Maijiang was sent to a construction site by his mother, becoming the youngest person to repair the canal. The Hongqi Canal was built for 10 years, and Zhang Maijiang worked for 9 years. The most precious years of his youth were spent in the construction of the canal.

Tourists are visiting the Hongqi Canal Memorial Hall. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuan

The throat project of the Hongqi Canal, the Youth Cave, features steep mountains and hard rocks. More than 300 young men and women who have undertaken this arduous task have improved their blasting methods during excavation, increasing their daily progress from 0.3 meters to 2.8 meters. "The Red Army is not afraid of the difficulties of expeditions. We have a strong will to build canals. In order to achieve water conservancy, no matter how hard or tiring it is, our hearts will be willing," said the young assault team member on the rocks at the construction site

This is the Red Flag Canal Youth Cave on the cliff, captured on June 9, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hao Yuan

Once, the canal builders integrated life with the canal; Now, successors are pouring their youthful passion onto the summit of the Taihang Mountains.

In the early summer morning, in the town of Shibanyan, the crowd of sketchers scattered throughout the canyons and streams. Yang Kai, the president of the Taihang Mountain Sketching Industry Association in Linzhou City, is from Shibanyan. At the age of 21, he started his career at a rural guesthouse and spent 10 years building the best performing sketching base in the local area. "Back then, the Red Flag Canal was not built to the level of slate, but the people of slate still supported the construction of the Red Flag Canal." Yang Kai, who had just passed his thirties, had the courage to infiltrate into the bones of the people of Linzhou.

With the support of the local government, Yang Kai and others took the lead in organizing loose farmers who had previously operated spontaneously into a jointly operated industrial association, with 141 member units receiving over 1.3 million tourists annually.

"Have you forgotten us?" "We haven't forgotten, we can't forget." At Linzhou Vocational and Technical College of Architecture, 25-year-old young director Liu Fangming and his students are preparing an immersive play called "Where Are You Home?" This play, based on the prototypes of "Emergency Captain" Ren Yangcheng, "Women's Battalion Captain" Li Gaiyun, and others, is a tribute to the youth of canal repair by contemporary youth.

"When Grandpa Ren and Grandma Li were repairing the canal, they were in their twenties and thirties, but they had already experienced the test of life and death on the construction site." Liu Fangming said, "Their youth has passed away, and our youth has taken the stage. We should not forget, nor can we forget, their youth stories. The story of the Red Flag Canal is the spiritual wealth of Linzhou and the entire Chinese nation."

Nowadays, the people of Linzhou are no longer worried about drinking water, but the Red Flag Canal water silently flowing on the Taihang Mountains will always watch the resolute steps of the Chinese people to forge ahead with determination and courage.