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Speaking of China's infrastructure projects, whether it is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau or the Qatar desert, there is almost no project in the sky that the Chinese cannot build.
As a world-famous "infrastructure maniac", it seems that the Chinese can build it no matter what the project is, no matter where it is, as long as the country needs it.
In the history of China's infrastructure , there is such a canal. In terms of level, it is only a county-level project, and in terms of nature, it is just a diversion canal. However, after China repaired it, it was broadcast at the United Nations to build a documentary on the canal, making it the eighth wonder of the world, comparable to the great Great Wall .
This is the jade belt that spans the Taihang Mountains in Linzhou, Anyang, Henan - the Red Flag Canal. How can a water canal get such high praise? This has to be told slowly from the story of its creation.
Source of Life Hongqi Canal
Linzhou City, Anyang City, Henan Province. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was also called Lin County .
Lin County is located in the Taihang Mountains. Due to its special geographical location, it has been a severely drought area since ancient times. Not to mention rivers and lakes, there are not even any streams flowing through them.
The local people are suffering from drought. In years when there is no rain for a long time, not to mention the failure of crops, it is difficult to ensure the drinking water that people rely on for survival.
In the memories of local elders, Lin County has always been a place where "water is more valuable than human life." In order to get water, people in Lin County can only walk dozens of miles to the water source day after day, year after year, and queue up to fetch water.
According to county records, there was an old man who picked up a bucket at home before dawn on New Year's Eve in order to fetch water for his family.
originally thought of setting off earlier during the Chinese New Year so that he could queue up less and fetch water for his family earlier. Who knows, even New Year's Eve old man had to queue for a whole day to get two buckets of water. Seeing that it was getting dark, the daughter-in-law at home was worried about the safety of the old man, so she went out to greet him in the dark. Who knows, after taking the bucket from the old man, he fell because it was too dark and could not see his feet clearly, and unfortunately spilled both buckets of water.
Although the old man and his family were helpless, they did not blame their daughter-in-law for her unintentional mistake. Who knew that the next day, when the family woke up, they found that their daughter-in-law had hanged herself because of guilt.
This is just a small portrayal of the water shortage in Linxian . In the past few hundred years, there have been many records of cannibalism due to drought.
Drought and water shortage are like a deep curse, tightly binding the people of Lin County for generations.
When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, with the care of the party and the government, the people of Lin County couldn't wait to start the project of digging canals to divert water, and also successfully built some water conservancy projects.
But it is a pity that Lin County is too dry. Previously built water conservancy projects such as Heroes Canal still have no water to divert in years of severe drought, so they cannot really solve the water shortage problem in Lin County.
In 1959, Lin County encountered a severe drought again, and all four surrounding rivers dried up. The desperate people of Lin County turned their attention to the Zhuozhang River on the other side of the Taihang Mountains, which they had never dared to dream of for many years.
"Introducing Zhuozhang into the forest" is an extremely bold idea, but the Zhuozhang River is different from other water sources before. The water flow of the Zhuozhang River is large and the water source is stable. If the water from the Zhuozhang River can be introduced into Lin County, it will definitely solve the problem of no water available in Lin County for thousands of years.
In this case, why didn’t it take until 1959 for Lin County to seriously consider this plan?
Building canals and roads despite all difficulties
In October 1959, the Linxian County Party Committee held a special meeting and put forward the slogan of rearranging the rivers and mountains of Linxian County.Faced with the foreseeable difficulties, the people of Lin County still decided to overcome all difficulties and build a water diversion canal. This water diversion canal will cross the Taihang Mountains and bring water from the Zhuozhang River into Lin County. This is what later became the world-famous Hongqi Canal. So, how difficult is it to build the Red Flag Canal?
First of all, the water source of Hongqi Canal is Zhuozhang River.
Due to the high altitude of Lin County, if you want to divert water, you have to look far away. The river section for water diversion is located in Pingshun County, Shanxi Province, which is 14 meters higher than Lin County. The river section that needs water diversion has already left Henan Province, which involves cross-provincial communication and coordination.
Even if the problem of the water diversion section is solved, the main section of the Hongqi Canal flows through a really hard mountain - Taihang Mountain.
Unlike ordinary mountains made of mud and stone, Taihang Mountain is mainly composed of limestone . A young and strong man may only leave a white mark on the mountain with a hammer.
In addition, the Taihang Mountains are steep. How to survey in an era when technical power is extremely scarce? After the survey, in the absence of professional workers, how can farmers who have only farmed their entire lives carry out construction work?
These are all problems. You must know that the final successful construction of the Hongqi Canal required the flattening of 1,250 hills. Even now, this is an extremely difficult project.
The Hongqi Canal was dug during the most difficult period of our country's economy. The country does not have sufficient reserve funds and logistical resources are scarce.
To build a 1,500-kilometer-long canal, in an era without modern tools, we could only rely on more manpower to make up for it. The project involving 70,000 people took 10 years to build, and the canal construction required 100,000 kilograms of rations every day.
Eating is just a basic issue, and tools and equipment, workers’ daily needs, etc. cannot be guaranteed one by one.
But in the end, in the face of so many difficulties, we know that the Hongqi Canal was built. How did the people of Lin County complete this project that can be called the "artificial Tianhe"?
First of all, there is the issue of the water source and the impact of the construction of the Red Flag Canal on the route. The neighboring province of Shanxi showed the spirit of national unity and immediately took proactive measures to cooperate after learning that Lin County had plans to build canals. The relocation of residents along the route and the permanent use of the land required for the Red Flag Canal have supported the excavation of the Red Flag Canal in practical terms.
Faced with difficult construction projects, the people of Lin County chose to face the difficulties.
At that time, the total population of Lin County was only more than 600,000, and 300,000 people participated in the construction of the Red Flag Canal. The Taihang Mountains were too hard to dig, so the people of Lin County were determined not to give up. They also used local materials to make explosives and blasted the mountains to open roads.
Women and children came online. Their hands were bleeding, so they wrapped them in handkerchiefs and continued digging. The young gay men are strong and strong. A thick rope is hung around their waists and swung back and forth on the cliff. When they see loose rocks, they knock them off with their bare hands.
With insufficient economy, lack of materials, and poor conditions, the people of Lin County chose to shoulder the important task of digging the Red Flag Canal on their own shoulders.
used his only savings to financially support the canal opening, and continued to participate in the canal opening work regardless of the poor conditions.
Starving and reclaiming barren mountains, the people of Lin County have only one idea in mind: open the Red Flag Canal so that future generations will no longer have to suffer from drought.
Perhaps the people of Lin County themselves did not expect that it took ten years from the excavation of the Hongqi Canal to the final opening of the Hongqi Canal.
In the past ten years, countless people in Lin County have dedicated their youth and sweat to this aqueduct, and more than 80 people have dedicated their lives to this life canal.
Why has a county-level project become the eighth wonder of the world in our eyes? Because in this Red Flag Canal, what flows is the unyielding soul and tenacious spirit of the Chinese people.
