In 2006, a power plant in Tongzi County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province caught fire. It is reported that this is the first power plant in Guizhou Province and the beginning of hydroelectric power generation in Guizhou Province.

In 2006, a power plant in Tongzi County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province caught fire. It is reported that this is the first power plant in Guizhou Province and the beginning of hydroelectric power generation in Guizhou Province.

During the design and construction of this power plant, in order to avoid bombing by Japanese aircraft, the hydraulic turbine and generator of this power plant were built in the basement, which is a unique cave in Guizhou. In order to maintain normal operation, the power plant purchased two generators from the American GE Company.

These two generators are new products in the 1940s. Surprisingly, after 80 years, the two generators are still running normally! Generally speaking, machines have a life cycle. Incredibly, these two generators are like " perpetual motion machine ", witnessing the development and history of this power plant.

What is the story behind this power plant? What kind of history are hidden in these two engines?

Guizhou's first power plant

On May 28, 1879, Shanghai Public Settlement Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau electrical engineer Bi Xiaopu completed an experiment in an old warehouse in Hongkou . He used the steam engine as a power source to drive a self-excited DC generator.

Then, the electricity flowing out of DC generator ignited the carbon arc lamp. You must know that this is the first ray of lightning born on the land of China! In 1982, Lidl raised 50,000 taels of silver and established Shanghai Electric Company. It is reported that this was the first power plant in Shanghai and the country.

Since then, China's electrical industry has started in Shanghai. However, from 1882 to 1936, our country was in the midst of internal and external troubles. During this period, there were frequent wars and social instability. Therefore, although my country's electrical industry started not late, it has always lagged behind other countries.

In 1937, the National Government was invaded by Japanese invaders. Subsequently, the inhumane Japanese created the tragic "Nanjing Massacre" in Nanjing. The Nationalist Government had no choice but to move to Chongqing in order to protect itself. In order to meet the logistical needs of the Anti-Japanese War, many arsenals also moved to the southwest.

In the spring of 1938, the Shilin Arsenal was ordered to move from Guangdong to Rong County, Guangxi, and then to Fujia Long Cave on the outskirts of Tongzi County, Guizhou. In order to speed up weapons production, workers built a simple factory building in an open space.

Later, it moved to Gong County , Jiangling, Shenyang Arsenal . In order to facilitate management and centralize production, superiors merged all arsenals into one, the 41st arsenal. In August 1940, 41 Ordnance Factory officially went into production. The main weapons produced by the

41 arsenal are Czech light machine guns and medium-sized rifles. Although the conditions in all aspects are simple, the 41 Arsenal has been producing intensively. At the same time, the 41 Arsenal factory building is also being completed. It was not until July 1942 that 41 Arsenal was completely completed. The production task of

41 Arsenal is very heavy. After all, the anti-Japanese front requires a large number of weapons. However, there are two problems facing 41 Arsenal. One is the shortage of diesel transportation in the fleet, and the other is the occupation of coastal trade ports by the Japanese army.

In order to fundamentally solve the problem of power shortage, Zhong Daochang, the director of the arsenal, and Yu Dawei, the of the General Administration of Ordnance, hit it off: using Yangjiahe water resources to build a power plant. At this point, Guizhou's first hydroelectric power plant came into being.

Soon, the two of them chose the address of the power plant, which is on the west side of Shangtianmen Cave in Dushi Village, Loushanguan Town. But building a power plant is about more than just a slap on the forehead. Who should be chosen to preside over the construction of hydropower plant ?

Through various connections, Zhong Daochang finally hired Chen Zudong, a member of the Chinese Engineering Society and a member of the Hydraulic Engineering Society, as the chief engineer, responsible for the design, construction, machine purchase and installation of the power plant.

Chen Zudong and Hydropower Plant

Chen Zudong was born in Huzhou, Zhejiang in 1911. In 1933, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing. With the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Zudong came to Taiwan to receive Taichung Hong Kong equipment. After completing the mission, he returned to Shanghai.

Due to the fall of his hometown, Chen Zudong fled to Sichuan with the refugees.For the survival of the country and the nation, to protect the motherland and fight against the Japanese invaders. In 1940, Chen Zudong went to the 41st Arsenal as the director of the power department, mainly responsible for the construction of hydropower stations.

Out of his enthusiasm for the motherland and his tireless work, Chen Zudong began to conduct on-the-spot investigations since he became the chief engineer of the power plant. Later, through his classmates, fellow students, and friends, he contacted five universities including Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Northeastern University, Northwest University, and Industrial University, and together they participated in the design of civil engineering related to hydropower plants.

In order to ensure safety and avoid bombing by Japanese aircraft, the turbines and generators of the hydropower plant were built in the basement.

During war, whoever has more weapons can weaken the other party's combat effectiveness. In order to destroy our combat effectiveness, the Japanese army bombed a large number of arsenals. Many arsenals were built on mountains by taking advantage of mountainous terrain, but they still could not solve the problem of Japanese aerial bombing.

In December 1939, the Japanese invaders bombed the 11th Arsenal. At that time, the Japanese invaders sent out reconnaissance planes and bombers one after another, almost destroying all the workshops of the arsenal.

Therefore, when carrying out the construction of Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant, experts suggest that Guizhou’s local terrain should be used as much as possible for concealment. After continuous discussions among experts, it was finally decided to use Guizhou's unique lava cave as the site of the power plant. The arsenal must be more hidden to avoid being discovered by the Japanese invaders.

It is reported that the overall project of the hydropower plant includes a 300,000 cubic meter reservoir, power rolling dam , open channels and culverts. The generator room is about 500 meters away from the reservoir and is built in a basement of 56 square meters. At the gate of the power plant, Chen Zudong's cousin Chen Lifu inscribed seven characters: Enter the gate of heaven and seize the work of heaven.

The water from the culvert first flows into the forepool, and then the forepool introduces the water into the underground pressure water pipe. In the spring of 1942, the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant officially started construction. Chen Zudong hired eight companies including Shanghai and Jincheng to contract the hydropower plant project. Tongzi County sent migrant workers to participate in the construction of earthworks.

After two years and one month of construction, the main project of the hydropower plant has finally been completed! Chen Zudong was grateful for the workers' contribution to the construction of the hydropower plant, and witnessed first-hand the contribution of the local people to the anti-Japanese war. He spoke from the bottom of his heart and wrote a "Song of Stone" for the workers.

"Sighing stones, descendants of the Yellow Emperor, united as one!"

Later, the lyrics composed by Chen Zudong were engraved on the four horizontal tablets on the reservoir dam. In order to better conceal the location of the hydropower plant, Chen Zudong imitated the landscape pattern of the West Lake and built many landscapes around the hydropower plant. For example, Wanghu Pavilion, Huxin Pavilion and Three Pools Reflecting the Moon.

Although the overall project is completed, the hydropower station is not yet functioning properly. Because the hydropower plant at this time still lacked the most core equipment: generators and turbines. Due to domestic factory production limitations, suitable generators cannot be provided for power plants. Later, the power plant purchased two generators from the American GE Company.

The strange company here is the later famous American General Company. It is reported that the two generators are products produced by the American GE Company in 1942, with a total weight of more than 100 tons, and the machine movement alone weighs 3 tons.

In addition to the generator, the power plant also purchased two hydraulic turbines. The two turbines have a total horsepower of 1,000 horsepower and are both manufactured by American companies.

Generators that continuously generate electricity

Although the power plant purchased generators and turbines with the help of American companies, they encountered difficulties in transportation. The combined weight of the four pieces of equipment exceeds 100 tons. How can we successfully transport the machines from the United States to the power plant?

The domestic situation was extremely severe at that time. Almost all coastal cities were occupied by Japanese invaders, and equipment could not be transported smoothly from abroad to the country, whether by water or land. Later, the hydropower plant used the hump route , and finally moved all the way from the United States to India, and then transported it into the country from India.

Speaking of the Hump Route, it is related to the Japanese attack on the US military base Pearl Harbor in 1941. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army dispatched more than 300 aircraft and dozens of warships to conduct two consecutive sneak attacks on the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese sneak attack severely damaged the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. It is reported that a large number of aircraft and warships were damaged at the Pearl Harbor military base in the United States. In addition, the number of casualties at the Pearl Harbor military base in the United States exceeded 3,000.

Prior to this, the United States maintained a relatively peaceful relationship with Japan. After the Pearl Harbor incident, the United States completely abandoned its policy of appeasement and declared war on Japan.

Since then, the Pacific War officially broke out. At that time, the Japanese army stepped up its attacks on the Chongqing National Government, and on the other hand, it stepped up its efforts to cut off all transportation routes for aid supplies to China. In order to completely cut off traffic routes, the Japanese invaders took turns bombing Hong Kong and Yangon, causing the two places to be completely occupied.

The air link from Yangon to Chongqing was cut off by the Japanese invaders. Subsequently, Myanmar land transportation was also completely occupied by the Japanese army. Even if a large amount of aid materials are raised from all over the world, they cannot enter our country smoothly. Among them, there are generators and turbines that are urgently needed to be installed at the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant.

The transportation and use of generators

Various transportation lines were controlled and damaged by the Japanese invaders, which seriously affected our country's War of Resistance Against Japan. In order to ensure the normal transportation of military supplies, our country and the United States jointly opened a new route.

This route connects India, Myanmar and my country, which is the hump route during and during World War II. The total air transport tonnage of this set of routes reaches 650,000 tons, and the flight time exceeds 1.5 million hours. In order to ensure the smooth transportation of supplies, many American pilots sacrificed their lives on the Hump Route.

It can be said that the hump route plays an important role in the entire history of air transport. You must know that this route not only takes a long time to transport, but also has the most dangerous natural conditions. The Hump Route began in April 1942 and ended in November 1945. This route made a very important contribution to the fight against Japanese fascism.

Ordnance Industry Director Yu Dawei and Deputy Director Yang Jizeng discussed air transport matters with the United States many times in order to ensure that the machines were transported to my country as quickly as possible and smoothly.

Later, Chen Zudong flew to India twice, and negotiated with the US Air Force to fly over the Himalayas on a giant aircraft, and finally airlifted it to Kunming. This flight was personally escorted by Major Carr, an American airport officer, and the generator and turbine were finally transported to Kunming safely. This special journey even broke the record for the highest air transportation.

Later, the generator and hydraulic turbine were transported to Tongzi by land. Subsequently, Engineer Meng Jue installed the generator and turbine.

On April 25, 1945, with the installation of generators and turbines, the power plant officially started generating electricity. Electricity was transmitted to various workshops in the arsenal, and various weapons and equipment began to be produced in an orderly manner.

It is reported that the arsenal can produce 100 Czech light machine guns and more than 200 rifles every day. These weapons and equipment are continuously sent to the frontline soldiers and have become important weapons for defending the country and repelling the enemy.

This was the first hydroelectric power plant built in Guizhou. In the following months, it contributed to the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

In August 1945, Japanese imperialism announced its unconditional surrender. Subsequently, the 41st Ordnance Factory was moved to Chongqing. Subsequently, the Tianmenshan Power Plant was handed over to Tongzi County for operation.

During the War of Liberation, the Tianmenshan Power Plant was taken over by the Guizhou Provincial Government. At this time, the power plant no longer provided electricity for the 41st Military Factory, but instead provided lighting for daily life in the local county. In 1948, the Tianmenshan Power Plant was handed over to Tongzi County by the Guizhou Provincial Government.

In July 1949, with the liberation of Tongzi County, the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant was also destined to be bombed. After receiving an order from the local county magistrate to blow up the hydropower plant, workers at the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant immediately organized themselves to resolutely protect the safety of the hydropower plant.

The workers work together and work together day and night. In the end, the hydropower plant was completely protected. Until the end of 1949, the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant was still working. Part of the electricity is supplied to Zunyi Ferroalloy Plant for smelting and production use.

In the next year, the Tianmenshan Power Plant required extensive maintenance of its units due to improper management and operation.From February 18 to mid-March 1953, maintenance and overhaul were carried out inside the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant.

In 2006, a group of foreign tourists came to visit the Tianmenshan Power Plant in Tongzi County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province. Amazingly, from 1945 to 2022, the two generators continued to generate electricity, which lasted for nearly 80 years.

The former GE Corporation has been renamed American General Enterprises. Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant also became a provincial key cultural relic protection unit in 2006. Later, the hydropower plant no longer worked and was permanently preserved as a cultural relic.

When General Motors learned that the Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant had two generators that had been producing electricity for 80 years, it expressed its willingness to invest one million US dollars to buy them back. However, the Tongzi County Government declined GM's request.

Today, these two generators have already become part of the Tianmenshan Power Plant. They are like an overall monument, witnessing the hard work and wisdom of people in the past. The former site of Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant has become a tourist attraction. In the future, more people will hear stories about Tianmenshan Hydropower Plant and generators.

All this is not only an affirmation of the contributions of predecessors, but also a testimony and commemoration of history.