Summary: The story of residents and national flags in "National Flag Building".
"The streets and districts all know that Xiaohuayuan Neighborhood Committee has a 'National Flag Building' and 'Patriotic Building'!" Xia Baomei, a resident of Tongxing Building, proudly introduced the place where she had lived for decades.
This year marks the 873rd anniversary of the founding of New China, and the Tongxing Building's habit of collectively planting the national flag on National Day has been continued for more than 20 years. On September 28 this year, residents on the side of Tongxing Building near Fuzhou Road planted the national flag outside the balcony as scheduled before the National Day. Unfortunately, the entire building will need to be closed for three days from the 29th, and the national flag flying outside the window has added a lot of color to the residents' home life.
"Sometimes the wind blows the national flag and I will go and make it float when I have nothing to do." In the past few days, 71-year-old Xia Baomei sat on the sofa and watched the red flag fluttering outside the window, thinking that the motherland is about to celebrate its 73rd birthday, and she is in a particularly comfortable mood.
From hanging the national flag to inserting the national flag
According to Grandma Xia, the Tongxing Building began to hang the national flag on the National Day holiday around 2000. At first, it was the spontaneous behavior of several households, but later everyone followed suit and expressed their love for the motherland, which led to the national flag in the stationery store downstairs being sold out.
At the beginning, the national flags bought by residents were large and small, and they could only be tied to windows and clothes racks through ropes. After the street and neighborhood committee noticed it, they took the initiative to help residents customize national flags of the same size, flagpoles of the same length and bases specially inserted into flagpoles, and asked a master to help residents install them outside the balcony to ensure that each national flag standing outside the building faces pedestrians at the same angle, which looks neat and beautiful. Later, the neighborhood committee helped residents replace the larger national flag and a more sturdy and durable metal flagpole. The national flag used by residents now was replaced by the neighborhood committee in 2019.
90-year-old Xu Xiaomei still preserves the earliest bamboo flagpole. She took the flagpole out of a package that had been rolled up several layers of newspaper and foam. Even though Grandma Xu protected her well, the original red paint was already mottled.
In order to better protect the national flag, the neighborhood committee will now put the national flag together after the holiday, check whether there are any damage or stains, clean it, put it in the neighborhood committee for proper storage, and then distribute it to residents in the next year, and help residents who will not or are inconvenient to insert the national flag outside the window.
has been around for more than twenty years. Although the residents in the building come and go, and the building has been renovated and repaired several times, the base of the flagpole on the facade and the habit of the residents in the national flag are preserved.
The inheritance of four generations of grandparents and grandchildren
Xia Baomei's respect and love for the national flag is not only because she witnessed the growth of New China, but also because of her mother-in-law.
was the first, and Xia Baomei's mother-in-law was responsible for the matter of planting the national flag at home every year. Xia Baomei still remembers that after National Day every year, her mother-in-law in her 80s would take back the national flag, clean and dry, fold it, put it in a special drawer and lock it. The next year, the mother-in-law would iron the national flag flat and then insert it on the flagpole. "My mother-in-law has no education and her love for the motherland is difficult to express in words." But all her patriotism is reflected in her actions.
Later, the sacred mission of inserting the national flag was passed on to Grandma Xia and her husband. When my granddaughter saw Grandma Xia in her arms when she saw her national flag, she wanted to try it. However, because she was young and couldn't reach the base outside the window, she bought a handheld national flag and inserted it into the hole in the window bracket. While talking about the story of his granddaughter and the national flag, Grandma Xia pointed to the photo of her granddaughter bringing the "Sandaogang" to the Young Pioneers' salute under the glass.
Two national flags, both inside and outside the window, shining against each other, just like Grandma Xia, who has been a party member for 49 years and her granddaughter as a Young Pioneer.
conveys patriotism to the outside world the sense of honor and belonging of the patriotic building, and belongs to every resident of Tongxing Building. "At the beginning, tenants may not have any sense of belonging to this building. The way of planting a national flag makes them feel that we are like everyone else." Although residents are quite mobile, planting a national flag on National Day has always been a consensus among residents, and it has also brought each other closer together. During the interview, Grandma Xia’s husband was helping a family repair the base where the flagpole was inserted.
According to Xu Juan, secretary of the residential committee of the residential district of Xiaohuayuan , there are more than 200 households in Tongxing Building, more than one-third of which are tenants. The collective planting of national flags every year also allows tenants to better integrate into this big family.
National Day has not only moved tenants from "together to unite", but also moved foreign residents. Grandma Xia still remembers that when she first started hanging the national flag, a foreigner lived in 607. When she saw everyone hung the five-star red flag, she learned that it was China's National Day, so she also bought a Chinese flag and hung it outside the window. Grandma Xia said: "We Chinese love our motherland. When they come to us, they are influenced by us and love our country."
13-year-old Zhu Jiali was born in the "National Flag Tower". Since childhood, I have been fucking the national flag with my mother on National Day, and I will also place small national flags on the bedside table, and I am well aware of the significance of the national flag to the building and to China. When I was in elementary school, my classmates came to visit my home on National Day and were surprised by the scene where every household in Tongxing Building hangs the national flag. Xiao Jiali told her classmates: "National Day is here. We want to pass on the festive atmosphere to passers-by through the national flag, so that they can feel the prosperity and strength of the motherland now."
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