The Changes of the Flood Control Road Author: Guo Yuxian Picture: Liu Huanmin I was born in 1941 on the banks of the Weishui River, in Xigan Village, Xiamiao Township, Hua County. For nearly a century, I have been living in this lovely land of Huazhou. Looking back on my work exp

Changes of Flood Control Road

Author: Guo Yuxian Picture: Liu Huanmin

I was born in 1941 on the banks of the Weishui River, formerly in Xigan Village, Xiamiao Township, Hua County. For nearly a century, I have been living and working in Huazhou Lovely land. Looking back on my work experience, I have been to Laoshen Mountain, to the Gaotang Plateau, and to the Weihe River Beach. I have seen the flooding of the Wei River, the high mountains and dangerous rivers in Jindui, and the water shortage and drought in Gaotang. It can be said that I have left my footprints in the east, west, north, and south of Huazhou. But my heart is always moving forward along a road. No matter where I go or where I come back from, I long for this road to be a broad road, a road for Huazhou to prosper.

Xigan Village, where I was born and raised, consists of three main lanes: south, north and middle. These three alleys all run east-west, with the South Alley and the North Alley running side by side. The east end of the two alleys is a north-south village road, and the east edge of the middle section of the village road is an east-west alley (also called Dongxiang, commonly known as the alley), my family lives in the first house on the south side of Xitou Road in this alley, adjacent to Cunzhong Road.

Xigan Village Middle Lane

This is the middle road of the village. Going north out of the village leads to My grandmother’s house lives on the underground temple street; Going south leads to Hua County, My family’s several pieces of cultivated land are all in the south of the village, and one is the farthest. The cultivated land is five miles away from the south of the village and connected to the east bank of Huaxian County. After leaving the village from the south or the north, you have to turn or walk diagonally to reach the road to the east of the village leading to Xiamiao Street and Hua County. When I remember, people called it Dongxia Road (i.e. Dongxia Road). Closed to the lower temple). This road has been with me throughout my youth, youth and old age.

Gancun section of Dongxia Road

I remember when I was a child, this road was wide and narrow, inclined and curved; the road surface was also high and low, with potholes and pits. On rainy days, it would be muddy and slippery, making it very difficult to walk. At that time, before dawn, there was already a steady stream of pedestrians on this road. People who got up early started the day's work with hoes, sickles and cages. During the day, this road is even more crowded with traffic and people. There are also people who follow the bullock carts, horse-drawn carriages, and mule carts, carrying cages and poles, and walking back and forth to pick up livestock excrement. The most enviable ones are those rich people's cars. When their oxen, horses, mules pull the double round wheel carts on the road, the bells ring loudly and can be heard far away. In contrast to this are the poor people, who carry handbags on their shoulders, walk awkwardly, leave early and come back late, and are extremely toiled. I don’t know how many times I have walked on this road, but I have never seen a bicycle on the road, nor have I seen ordinary people pulling racks . The most common ones are passers-by walking on this road. This road is now the "Dongxia Flood Control Retreat Road".

Early one morning in the autumn of 1950, when I was less than ten years old, I followed my father on foot from this road to the south, five miles away, to pick cotton in a field very close to the Taiping River. As soon as we entered the area, someone reported that the water in the Taiping River was very large and was almost overflowing. It might burst its banks. After hearing the news, my father picked up the basket, took my hand and ran out of the ground quickly. When we reached the road, we quickened our pace. As I ran, I heard the roar of water. Turning around, I saw the waves of the river rushing north along this road. My father and I ran quickly. When we reached the end of the village, we saw the whole village gathered outside the village. They were digging with tools such as mills and hoe heads, and built a nearly one-meter-high fort in the south of the village. Tuweiti protected the village.

After I entered junior high school in 1956, this path changed slightly. The width of the road has increased, and there are fewer twists and turns and potholes. I remember one time, my father became ill from overwork. I took care of my younger siblings at home, and my little-footed mother took my husband, who was lying on a carriage, to the county town for medical treatment. She went out in the morning and returned home when the sun was setting in the west. Looking at my sick father and tired mother, I shed tears. During the three years of studying at Shaohua Middle School , I spent half a day walking home along this road every Wednesday to carry a few steamed buns. At that time, there were more pedestrians on this road, and bicycles and scooters were also common on the road.

Dongxia Road, Huazhou

In 1968, I became a people’s teacher and taught at Xinglin Primary School. In the autumn of this year, it rained continuously in Huaxian County and the Wei River continued to rise. A large area of ​​Bijia's farmland was flooded, and people along the river evacuated southward. A large number of people who left the temple also retreated southward with their families. In order to protect the safety of my family and children, I set out from Gancun with a pregnant belly of six months, a cane in one hand, and my son who was less than five years old in the other hand. It was very difficult to carry clothes and dry food on my back. I walked on the uneven and muddy dirt road to Xinglin Primary School where I taught. Along the way, I attracted the attention of everyone who passed by me. At this time, the people evacuated on dirt roads, struggling step by step. There were almost no motor vehicles on the road, which made people feel cold and desolate.

Around 1975, this road underwent great changes. The government cut and straightened the road, widened it, and built it into a five- to six-meter-wide urban and rural trunk road, but it was still a dirt road.

In 1983, I was appointed as the deputy county magistrate. In the early autumn of that year, the Weinan Prefecture appointed a deputy secretary to direct the flood prevention work in Hua County. In order to do a good job in flood prevention work, he asked the county government to issue a document to conduct a flood prevention evacuation drill in the communes along the Weihe River in eastern Huaxian County. After the flood control evacuation document was issued, it attracted great attention from the masses. After the drill began, the masses raced against time to evacuate southward. This road carried the retreat of tens of thousands of villagers from Kanggan, Gancun, Xiamiao, Binba, Huijia, Chebao, Yangxiang, Zhoucun, Hucun and other villages. Due to the tight time limit required for the evacuation, the people believed in the government and took as much as they could in order to save their lives and property. Some of the people evacuating were pulling carts, riding bicycles, driving tractors, driving four-wheelers, walking on foot, driving horse-drawn carriages, and driving pigs and sheep.

Huazhou Dongxia Road

In 1984, this road was named Flood Control Road. The Shaanxi Provincial Government attaches great importance to the reconstruction of this road and requires material support from all regions. The asphalt on the road is supported by the Xi'an Municipal Government. After the reconstruction of this road, there are far fewer pedestrians, more bicycles, handcarts, and tractors, and large and small cars are commonplace, but it still cannot meet the needs of traveling from north to south and the rapid development of the commodity economy.

The biggest change in this path came after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In 2019, the government invested 24 million yuan and was implemented by the District Water Conservancy Bureau to expand and repair this 4.6-kilometer-long and 15-meter-wide rural road (including 11 meters for the main lane and two meters for green belts on both sides).

In May 2021, the beautiful avenue paved with asphalt and asphalt to the south of our Xigan Village appeared on the land of Huazhou. This road is comparable to the streets in in Xi'an and Weinan City in the past. There are almost no pedestrians on the road, and bicycles and bicycles are also extremely rare. Electric vehicles and motorcycles of various sizes and colors are the most common means of transportation for the masses, and cars of various brands and grades have become the main force running on this road. These beautiful vehicles speed north and south on the elastic highway. People sitting in cars and riding on motorcycle trailers enjoy the beautiful pastoral scenery comfortably. In the spring, the peach blossoms of thousands of acres of peach orchards are colorful and attractive on both sides of the avenue; in the summer, the bright red, yellow and white fruits hanging on the branches are mouth-watering; in the autumn, the fields present a busy harvest scene. ; In winter, the endless solar greenhouse shines under the sunlight.

Huazhou Dongxia Road

This road is a secondary distribution highway with a daily traffic of up to 2,000 vehicles. How wonderful! How beautiful! According to the actual situation, it is not an exaggeration to say that thousands of motor vehicles operate on this road day and night. It has become a beautiful landscape in Huazhou, completely changing the travel difficulties of the people, and greatly promoting the local people's With economic development and material exchange, people travel without the fatigue and worries of the past. No matter it’s cloudy or rainy, or it’s hot or cold, traveling is no longer as difficult as it used to be.Gone are the old days of pulling a trolley into the city to see a doctor, walking on dirt roads with a cane, and causing traffic jams and killing people! I live in Huaxian County. If I want to go home, my children and friends will be there in their cars and I will be home in ten minutes. In the past, it would take me half a day to carry a few steamed buns on foot. It has become a memory forever.

I stood on this road and looked south and north, feeling particularly comfortable. This is the epitome of social changes, the epitome of Huazhou's take-off, the embodiment of the common prosperity of the people led by the great Communist Party of China, and the powerful proof that our country and our nation have grown from standing up to getting rich and then becoming strong.

This road contains my tears, my homesickness, and my yearning. It has accompanied my growth, and it also has my smiling face and my gratitude! Scenes from yesterday and today in various periods are like shadows, deeply imprinted in my mind and remain in my memory.

A drop of water flowing into a river reflects the brilliance of the sun, and the changes of a rural road record the mighty kindness of the Party. In my heart, this rural road is an indelible symbol of the party’s original intention, and it will never be forgotten by me.

Huazhou Dongxia Road

Guo Yuxian, July 1, 2022,

H0H0H, 2022 TML0 Graphic Source: Author's confession

Original Author: Guo Yuxian

Picture shooting: Liu Huanmin