Go to Danyang

Danyang is located on the Shanghai-Nanjing Line and can be considered an old city in history. I jumped in line to settle down in Heilongjiang a long time ago. The train passed by it all the time, but I regretted not going down to take a look. It is sandwiched between Zhenjiang and Changzhou, with the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passing through the city.

One thousand fourteen to five hundred years ago, Danyang was the hometown of Qi and Liang in the Southern Dynasty. 12 emperors were born and died here. Earlier, there was a sage named Ji Zi who was the same as Confucius. He was rich in learning, had a sword hanging on his waist, traveled all over the world, and was so trustworthy that Confucius wrote a cross inscription on his tombstone when he heard about his death. To this day, his deeds are still heard in the surrounding area. In a place called Yanling Town nearby outside the city, the ancestors also built a Jizi Temple for him. Historical records say that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, this temple became a scenic spot in the south of the Yangtze River. Of course, today's temple should have been renovated. Today's temple has a cross stele written by Confucius, a stone turtle carved from the Song Dynasty, and a message given by the emperor, etc. The strangest thing is that there are still six thousand-year-old boiling wells in front of the temple. They are three clear and three turbid. The mouths of each well are less than one meter apart, but they are clearly distinguishable. They boil and roll all day long. He also said that the water from the clear well tasted like beer when he took a sip. From ancient times to the present, many celebrities and experts have come here to pay their respects to the well and kowtow to Ji Zi. It is said that Li Bai also came here and recited a poem in praise of the sages, saying: There is a sword in Yanling, worth a thousand gold. Watching the wind and visiting the country, I secretly wish my old friend a deep love. When he comes back, he hangs the pine tree on his grave, knowing his heart forever. It seems like just yesterday, our brother Yu Yongxin, who was traveling to Heilongjiang on the train, talked about this, his eyes lit up, confirming the theory that it smelled of beer. He said that his father was from here, and later went to a Shanghai weaving factory to make a living and became a master coppersmith in the machine repair shop. When he was a child, he and his father came to his hometown and drank water from two wells. The taste was Laozan. We were so envious that we had the opportunity to go home with Brother Yu and drink beer without spending any money.

But it has never been realized. When Brother Yu returned to the city that year, his family sent him to his hometown to get married. He was an honest man and entered a township factory, and there has been no news from him since. As for us, we also live our own lives, and since then we have stopped thinking about having enough boiling water and beer in Danyang.

Unexpectedly, five years later, when there was no news about Brother Yu, Danyang would be heard about again.

That year, I was admitted to a journalism unit. At noon, I stopped in the office of an old literary friend named Zheng and met a very kind old comrade who was 55 years old at the time. She said follow Xiao Zheng and call me Lao Wang. It was later learned that her real name was Wang Xusheng, who had participated in the student movement when she was 16, and later worked as an underground party teacher in the western suburbs of Shanghai as a private school teacher. Hearing that we were fond of copying and writing, she enthusiastically accompanied us to search for materials when King Ji went to Zhuzhai to visit the old comrades there. Later they became very familiar with each other. Speaking of her own experience, she could never forget that at the end of 1948, the organization notified her to immediately transfer to Northern Jiangsu. In the Liberated Area of ​​northern Jiangsu, she studied at the Central China Party School and Central China New College. I remember it was April 24, 1949, the fourth day of the cross-river battle. News came that the Sanye troops entered the city and Nanjing was liberated. She went south with the army and crossed the river at 12 o'clock in the middle of the night from a place called Guazhoudu in Yangzhou. She said, do you know Danyang? At that moment, her eyes suddenly brightened.

Danyang is very important. Roughly two years later, a 65-year-old old comrade named Lao Mou talked about how he got into Jiefang Daily. He recalled with a smile, as if he was never old. This year, I moved to a new department in my work unit that produces newspaper serial novels. Six of the ten people there were comrades over 60 years old. When we chatted and recalled our youth, our eyes became brighter and more vivid.

Lao Mou and a famous writer named Teacher A Zhang, like his old comrade Wang Xusheng, crossed the river and arrived in Danyang in late April 1949, ready to embark on a new journey with a heavy trust on their shoulders. Lao Mou, whose name is Mou Chunlin, was born in Haiyang, Shandong Province in 1923. After graduating from the artillery school of our army long ago, he was injured in the battle and returned to work in the local area. After the liberation of Jinan, he joined Shandong Jinan New Democracy Newspaper with Yun Yiqun as president. Later, together with veteran newspapermen Xiao Mu, Ding Ke and others, we followed the southbound news brigade headed by Yun Yiqun, traveling through Xuzhou and Suqian to Huai'an, where they met Wang Xusheng and Azhang from the Central China New College. The team continued to grow and walked along the canal. Arriving at the Yangtze River at Guazhoudu, we waited for midnight to cross the river. At this time, Teacher Azhang was only in his early 21s. He was admitted to Zhejiang University in 1947. Because he participated in the anti-hunger, anti-civil war and peaceful patriotic student movement, he was blacklisted by the secret service. He organized an emergency transfer to the liberated area in northern Jiangsu. Later, he studied at the Central China New College and prepared to cross the river to take over newspapers in big cities. .

They crossed the Yangtze River and arrived in Zhenjiang. After landing, we marched quickly to the train station, climbed into a truck parked there, and headed to Danyang overnight. At that time, Danyang had more than 30,000 people in the county. They stationed themselves at a place called Jingcun Bridge in the east of the city and began their training to prepare for the takeover of the city to liberate Greater Shanghai.

Many years later, the 94-year-old Lao Mou said: We studied and held meetings there, introduced the situation in Shanghai, and also looked at the map to know where the declaration office was. When Shanghai was liberated, I was among the first to take over the declaration office, together with Ding Ke, Xiao Mu, Song Jun, and Shi Dong. At that time, there was still a war on the north side of the Suzhou River...

Xiao Mu, who was 96 years old at the time, said: In Danyang, we conducted urban education. Chen Yi also made a special report for everyone, clarifying the party's policies and announcing strict discipline. Mr. Chen’s report was also interesting, telling us not to wash rice in the toilet bowl. In Jingcunqiao, where the Jiefang Daily is based, the organizational structure has been initially set up and a trial version of the newspaper's layout has been compiled. Even the launch speech of the Jiefang Daily was written there...

Ding Ke, who was 96 years old at the time, said: Shanghai's "Liberation Daily" is special because its registration was decided by the Party Central Committee to give it to Shanghai. As early as 1941, the party central organ in Yan'an was called "Liberation Daily". Shanghai inherited the registration from Yan'an. When we entered the city, some people doubted that we "country bumpkins can run a big city newspaper"? As a result, the declaration office was taken over on the first day, and the "Liberation Daily" was published and hit the streets the next day...

Wang Xusheng, who was 90 years old at the time, said: At that time, the whole party was advocated to run newspapers. During the training in Danyang, we developed nearly 500 party newspaper correspondents among the 30,000 cadres who took over. After taking over Shanghai, there were 200 to 300 submissions from correspondents every month...

There are also Liu Shiping, Zhang Yingwu, Wu Yichang, Yin Hui, Ye Cheng, Yao Wu, Cheng Min, Ge Xian...

Back then, these seniors who founded Shanghai's "Liberation Daily" dressed like the Sanye soldiers were so unforgettable that they were later included in the Liberation Journal and a public publication called "Initial Intention." In that book, they looked back at the nearly one month of rest, training, study, work and preparation in Danyang, as well as the youth and longing of the years.

In order to trace the footsteps of their predecessors, that year, roughly two years before the book "Original Intention" was written, my colleague Mr. Zhang, who was keen on exploring historical and geographical information and collecting image materials, invited me to go to Danyang with him. .

The day of departure was just before the National Day. It was cloudy in the morning, and the sky seemed a little overcast, giving rise to some hazy and ink-wash mountains. The distant mountains are like daisy. Mr. Zhang has a military background, and he kicks the accelerator in a majestic manner, just like the Zhu Rihe military exercise on live TV a few days ago. Driving the FAW "Heimai" purchased two years ago is like driving a high-horsepower armored command vehicle, driving at 110 kilometers per hour. At a speed of kilometers, it rushed toward Zhenjiang and Nanjing on the G2 highway. At that time, behind my car, there was also a torrent of water, which was very spectacular. More than two hours later, we arrived at the Yidou Village service area, where there were many cars parked. This place is close to Danyang, and all the local delicacies and food items on display are Danyang Fengtan Wine, Color Lens Glass City, Yaorou, Yanling Duck Dumplings, Zhenjiang Hot Pot Noodles, etc. Mr. Zhang looked at the word "Dou" and was stunned and said: If Commander Dou does not retreat, he will definitely go with us. Dou is a cadre transferred from our newspaper to the army, and he focuses on the construction of spiritual civilization every ten years. Today, the day you leave us, this division-level veteran who has transferred to another job, I wonder how you are?

With such comfort, colleague Zhang drove the "Heimai" into Jingqiao Street on the edge of Danyang City before noon, then turned slowly onto the cement road with one lane of the old house in the street, then moved forward and parked in a cement lot. at. However, the surrounding houses seemed to be demolished, with faded black tiles, red tiles, and gray white walls. They were all two-story or one-story village houses built in the 1970s. The purpose of this trip is to find the Wang Family Ancestral Hall here. Danyang was liberated on April 23, 1949. Danyang became the temporary residence of the General Front Committee, the East China Military Region and the East China Bureau of the Communist Party of China. Liu, Deng, Chen Su and others strategized here, trained cadres, prepared supplies, and made extensive preparations for the liberation and takeover of Shanghai. Local history records: Nearly a thousand cadres who were preparing to take over Shanghai's cultural and educational system lived on the roadside 4 kilometers from the old Danyang City to Jinglin. The Wang Family Ancestral Hall in Jingcun Bridge was the training and preparation place for our news brigade of a hundred people who took over the liberation of Shanghai and applied to establish the Shanghai "Liberation Daily". It can also be said that Shanghai's "Liberation Daily", Yan'an's fire, Danyang's delivery, Shanghai's fuel. In May 1999, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai, some old comrades from the News Brigade such as Shi Dong and Wang Xusheng, led by a writer colleague named Xu Yunqian from my former department, went to trace their roots here. They stood at the head of the Jingcun Bridge, looking at the Jiuqu River under the bridge and the surrounding trees, fields and cottages. Do you think half the wall of the ancestral hall is still there?

Comparing the images taken at that time, I was in a state of panic, and as if I was a savior, an old man, not tall, with gray stubble, turned out from a few rows of houses along the old cement road, and he hurriedly stepped forward to say hello. I originally thought that Danyang was under the jurisdiction of Zhenjiang, close to Yangzhou and Nanjing. The old man could understand the Mandarin dialect. Unexpectedly, it is a Wu dialect, which is more difficult to understand than Wuxi dialect. Fortunately, Mr. Zhang was wise. He bent down and spoke in Shanghainese and Mandarin. He said "old uncle" twice and said "liberation" with a picture. The old man finally understood. When I heard that it was from Jiefang Daily who was inquiring about the Wang family ancestral hall, I threw down my broom and enthusiastically led the way. The old man is in his mid-seventies and his surname is Wang. The picture shows how big the Wang family ancestral hall is. In 1949, Mr. Wang was about 6 years old. Unfortunately, he didn’t remember much. He only knew that the Men and Women’s Liberation Army came. At that time, the Wang family ancestral hall had five rooms per room, three rooms in the front, middle and back, with a total of 15 rooms in a circle of walls. Later, he worked as a township government, grain management office and grain warehouse, and the site became the boss. Unfortunately, in 1966, all the old buildings were demolished to build a rice mill and farm implement station. While talking, I came to the ruins of the Wang Family Ancestral Hall, and saw that the courtyard had become an iron and wood processing factory, with no trace of the original. Only a monument was erected in the corner of the gate, with these lines of large characters engraved on it: Danyang City Cultural Relics Protection Unit Liberation The Danyang Municipal People's Government was established in 1949 and was announced in 1999.

The "Old Liberation Daily Site" is located in the former Wang Ancestral Hall in Jinglin Village, Danyang City. Photo by Li Chuyue

"Come and take a photo." Mr. Zhang pulled me to stand aside, raised his SLR, and placed this photo in the place where my senior news brigade was training during the liberation.

We were a little solemn in the courtyard and none of us spoke. After Mr. Wang was discharged from the hospital, he walked along the cement path beside the hospital wall and compared the area occupied by the Wang family ancestral hall. The courtyard walls were mottled, and Old Man Wang shook his head as he walked: The houses were all demolished, and these shacks were all built on the back. Pointing to a gable wall, he said that only in this house, an old wall still remained. If you look closely, you will see small green bricks, layer upon layer, with mottled pits and gaps. There are traces of time in the gaps. A few small grasses are delicate but tenacious, swaying in the breeze.

Wang Musuo, the former Party branch secretary of Jingcunqiao Village, came here after hearing the news. He was already 70 years old that year. When the Nanxia News Brigade came here for training, he was only 3 years old and could not remember anything. He only heard from the elders in the village that everyone who came was They are literate and friendly, and they also sing, and the whole team reports loudly and energetically; but I don't know what these young men and women of the People's Liberation Army stationed in the ancestral hall do all day long. Later I found out that they were going to Shanghai; later I found out that they were going to Shanghai to work on the Liberation Daily.

Wang Muchuo said that their ancestors were the Wang family of Taiyuan, who came here more than 600 years ago. At that time, this place was covered with thorns, towering trees, flat terrain, flowing meandering water, and people's hard work produced gold. It was a good place to stay. So he set up shop here. More than a hundred years ago, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the eighth generation grandson of the Wang family in Jingcunqiao invited the clan members to build the Wang family ancestral hall by the present-day Laojiuqu River.

Standing on the Jingcun Bridge that was renovated by villagers raising funds more than ten years ago, the stone slabs under my feet and the bridge railings beside me, this stone arch bridge is more than ten feet wide and about seven feet long. It was built during the Yuan Zhizheng period. Stone railings and other stone materials are "all original products from our ancestors, and no stones are allowed to be left out. At that time, water for drafts, including the news team's cooking and washing, used water from the Jiuqu River under the bridge." Wang Changsuo said that the water in Qushui was sweet and sweet, with many fish and shrimps. He swam in this river when he was a teenager and young man. Nowadays, green mountains and green waters depend on improvement.

Looking at the Wang Family Ancestral Hall beside the bridge, there was a vague sound: The sky in the liberated area is bright, and the people in the liberated area like it so much... After the training camp, the members of the news team at that time looked out in pairs and wandered by the Jiuqu River. At the twilight of summer in early May Under the circumstances, he hopes to liberate Shanghai and devote himself to the great cause. Finally, on the morning of May 26, 1949, the notice came: the news brigade was going south, aiming for Shanghai, packed up and set off as a team. There seems to be a song echoing in my ears: Our team faces the sun, full of the hope of the nation...

That is our senior, with firm steps and bright eyes...

"Hei Mai" started, goodbye, Jingcun Bridge, along the route that the news brigade entered Shanghai back then, colleague Zhang corrected the direction, and drove out slowly at the 40-mile speed of the stuffed-tank train entering Shanghai back then. Then, he passed through Danyang City with a salute and condolences:

Four years after bidding farewell to Jingcun Bridge. It coincides with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai. On this day, Mr. Zhang was still driving to Danyang.

Mr. Zhang said: Last time I left in a hurry, I didn’t take care of several important places in Danyang City. I want to take a look at it this time. Also, this time I went to Jingcun Bridge to make up some video information for Liberation Daily·Shangguan. The news platform was used to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai.

I brought along Xiao Si and Xiao Yang who were filming the video, and still took the G2 highway. The sky was overcast, with light snow falling all the way. The first stop when entering Danyang City is the Dai Family Garden at No. 5 Baota Lane, Chenghe Road, the former site of the General Front Committee of Shanghai liberated 70 years ago. It is also a coincidence that this day is the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Around Baota Lane, at the end of Zhongshan Road, there are supermarkets, restaurants, and shops with people coming and going, making it seem like a downtown area. The current four-lane road was once a sandy road, and many people wearing Sanye military uniforms were stationed on both sides of the road. On May 3, 1949, Chen Yi arrived in Danyang, and Xiaoping arrived in Danyang on the 6th. They both lived in the two-story blue brick building in Daijia Garden. In the small building, there are also staff offices, combat command rooms, etc. Historical records: The General Front Committee completed preparations for the liberation of Shanghai in eight aspects: ideology, organization, affairs, materials, military, news control, RMB preparation, and social and cultural management. It was the "Xibaipo" who liberated Shanghai and entered the city to take the exam.

The General Front Committee was stationed in the Dai Family Garden in Pagoda Lane, Danyang, and the East China Field Army Headquarters and East China Bureau agencies were stationed in the Hu family's residence. Danyang, which had just been liberated, gathered 8 members and alternate members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, as well as elites from all walks of life in the party, government, military, finance and culture, as well as administrators and more than 30,000 security forces, making careful preparations for the liberation and takeover of Shanghai.

Dai's Garden is now the Memorial Hall of the Former Site of the Shanghai Campaign General Front Committee

In May 2019, three months after we came this time, my colleague Kong Shaoyi, who has a profound study of the history, geography and humanities of the Yangtze River Delta, came here to look for traces and wrote: Someone always asks, 70 years Before, why Danyang? Looking at the map, we can see that this place is located on the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway line, with the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal running through the entire territory, and water and land transportation is very convenient. In addition to its moderate geographical location, Danyang County has small targets, which is conducive to air defense concealment and rapid distribution. In addition, the Southern Jiangsu Anti-Japanese Base Area was once located in this area, which has a good mass foundation and material foundation. Nowadays, due to its location advantage, Danyang City is known far and wide as the "Glasses City". Small glasses have become a big industry. The city is developing and there are many high-rise buildings... The former site of the General Front Committee goes far to the east and is still densely populated with various factories.

It's a pity that the Dawang Temple is no longer there. It was the seventh day after Chen Yi arrived in Danyang. On May 10, he was here to explain the discipline of entering the city and the policies after entering the city to all cadres above the platoon of the directly affiliated agencies. All members of the Nanxia News Brigade also participated in this day's report meeting. Chen Yi, dressed in military uniform and leggings, looked very energetic. He said that everything we say and do when we enter Shanghai has a bearing on the overall situation and we must pay great attention to it. After the troops enter the city, they are not allowed to enter private houses without permission: if they are not allowed to enter, they are not allowed to enter, and neither can I.

On the old site of Dawang Temple, which later became a residential area on Kaitai Road, there is a monument to commemorate it. There is also the East China Financial and Economic Commission, the former site of the Third Field Army Headquarters... On this day, we stopped and walked around the city for most of the day, and then turned back to Jingcun Bridge. The old branch secretary Wang Musuo is waiting for us. He said that he was related to the liberation. When he was 19 years old, he also joined the army and went south, serving as a soldier in Fujian. Accompanied by him, he took photos of the Wang Family Ancestral Hall, Stone Arch Bridge, and Jiuqu River one by one.

It’s better to shake hands when we part ways: your liberated comrades will come again. Mr. Zhang said: I should be able to do it again. This is our relay place.

In May of that year, Master Kong came. Before, he and a young man named Xiang Kai went to Changzhou to visit Lao Mou. 95-year-old Mou told them: I have no regrets after working in journalism all my life. This work is very important, not just for you and me, but also for China and society. Newspapers are like lamps. Kong Shao remembered it. Here, he recalled Lao Mou's sincere words and realized the power of starting over.

In April this year, in the countryside of Danyang, rapeseed flowers and broad bean flowers bloomed in the fields. My old friend, Mr. Liu, a veteran journalist who has been a reporter for more than 30 years and has won many awards, and who has been passionate about painting for more than ten years, brought two young people from the liberation to Jingcun Bridge. In addition to the stone arch bridge that the villagers of Jiuqu River raised money to rebuild at the Wang Family Ancestral Hall, his mind was filled with the overwhelming rapeseed flowers and broad bean flowers that flooded the Jiuqu River bank of Jingcun Bridge. Although the cauliflowers were so beautiful, the goose yellow, purple and white broad bean flowers. Like hundreds of millions of colorful butterflies swooping in, the image was so intense that he resolutely gave up the idea of ​​painting, and instead stubbornly composed a single poem:

He said that poetry expresses aspirations, and when he saw the seven words "former address of Jiefang Daily" on the tablet beside the wall of Wang's ancestral hall, the words of poetry suddenly came to his mind. The poem represented his state of mind at the time and his admiration for the liberation predecessors, although the chanting was not very good; the painting was not enough to express it.

At the end of this article, I suddenly heard that at the beginning of late May, a middle-aged liberator named Qin Hong and a middle-aged liberator named Zhang Wu led their department's 20-year-old new generation of liberators, who were considered to be the fourth generation of liberators, to visit here. The liberation predecessors who set out to draw strength and pass on the fire: