On October 17, the donation ceremony of Nanhu Red Boat drawings was held at Wuxi Archives History Museum. Wuxi The descendants of the shipbuilder Xu Jingwei and Xu Mujie donated the hand-drawn drawings of the Nanhu Red Boat in Nanhu that had been treasured for more than 60 years in the Xu family, "The Hull Structure Diagram of the Nanhu Mountain Tour Boat" and "The Distribution Structure Diagram of the Nanhu Mountain Tour Boat" to Wuxi Archives History Museum for free, adding the "treasure of the museum" to the museum.
Nanhu Red Boat has an indispensable connection with Wuxi. The Municipal Archives History Museum has revealed this history for us:
The First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai in late July 1921. During the middle of the meeting, due to being harassed by foreign patrols, the last day's meeting had to be transferred to a cruise ship in Nanhu, Jiaxing. At this meeting, the first program and resolution of the Communist Party of China were passed, and the party's national leadership body was elected, which solemnly declared the formal establishment of the Communist Party of China. This cruise ship is famous in history as a witness to this major historical event that has created the world. Now, the original ship is nowhere to be found, but its imitation ship has been moored in front of the Yanyu Tower in Nanhu for people to see. Because it is closely connected to a red history, it is affectionately called Red Boat . The historical fact of
is widely known to people, but people may not know that the Nanhu Red Boat has a deeper historical origin with Wuxi.
Jiaxing Nanhu is a well-known scenic spot. Since the late Qing Dynasty, Nanhu has had cruise ships specially for tourists to rent. These ships were originally wire mesh ships for fishing in the area of Taihu , and locals called them Wuxi wire mesh ships or Wuxi Clippers. In the "Investigation Report on the Situation of the Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Ship of Jiaxing, one of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China", there is a record: "The wire mesh ship originated in Taihu Lake in Wuxi and has a history of about a hundred years. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, the ship owner imitated the tour ship (i.e. the wire mesh ship) according to the Wuxi lamp ship style, specializing in tour business." It can be seen that the cruise ship held a meeting of the First Congress has a deep connection with Wuxi.
1959, in order to solemnly celebrate the 210th anniversary of the founding of New China, Jiaxing City , in accordance with the central instructions, began to build Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall . The relevant departments clearly pointed out that "the center of Nanhu building is the problem of the 'ship'." However, Nanhu cruise ships had basically disappeared during the War of Resistance and period. For this reason, the construction personnel went to Wuxi for a special search. Only a small wire mesh ship had been converted into a cargo barge in Wuxi. The search for a major conference ship ended in slaughtered.
In this case, the central government decided to allocate 30,000 yuan to imitate a commemorative ship by the preparation and construction office of the Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall. Because the wire mesh ship is native to Wuxi, Jiaxing sincerely requests Wuxi to send someone to participate. After receiving the order, Wuxi Hongqi Shipyard's predecessor, Wuxi Transportation Cooperation Factory, attached great importance to it and specially selected three experienced shipbuilders Xu Bugao, Wen Monkshang and Wen Bingkui to Jiaxing to participate in the manufacturing of the commemorative ship.
Xu Jingwei has heard his father talk about this past since he was a child. At that time, the superiors selected materials from a hundred miles away and selected one in a thousand miles. Xu Bugao, a 44-year-old shipbuilding craftsman, was recommended to participate in the imitation of the Nanhu memorial ship. During the manufacturing process of the Nanhu red boat, the "Hull Structure Diagram of Nanhu Mountain Travel Boat" and "Distribution Structure Diagram of Nanhu Mountain Travel Boat" hand-painted by Master Xu Bugao not only provided technical support for shipbuilding construction, but also left precious historical witnesses for future generations. After more than 60 years, this drawing has turned yellow, but the lines and text on it are clearly visible and basically intact.
Three shipbuilders and Jiaxing’s construction personnel worked together to design and create a model of a wire mesh ship. After Dong Biwu, Wang Huiwu and other parties looked at the ship model , they put forward a few opinions: the ship model is correct, but it is bigger, newer, and more beautiful; the ship model is very detailed and requires imitation according to the principle of "new work and old work, and old are done as old". The construction personnel revised the original design plan based on these opinions and officially started to build the memorial ship. In order to be exhibited on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding of New China, Wen Monks, Wen Bingkui, Xu Bugao and Jiaxing braved the high temperature and heat, worked day and night, and carefully constructed. From July 13 to August 25, they finally completed the construction task of the commemorative ship successfully.
After the construction of a large commemorative ship, it was parked in front of the Yanyu Building in Nanhu and officially opened to the public from October 1, 1959. During the Qingming Festival in 1964, Dong Biwu visited Nanhu and carefully inspected the appearance and internal structure of the commemorative ship, saying, "I recall this ship right and successful." He also wrote a poem specifically for the commemorative ship: The sound of the revolution spread to the pleasure boat, and the Communist Party was born to celebrate the workers and peasants.
is coming again on the Qingming Festival, and misty rain visits old traces.
This article was originally published in Wuxi Observation, Wuxi Daily New Media, Fangzhi Jiangsu, and was reproduced with authorization from the Fangzhi Jiangsu.
