Noble Character, Models of Heroes and Martyrs (Part 2)
Section 2: Model Workers and Loyal Martyrs, Immortalized Forever — China's First Female Aviation Instructor: Wang Canzhi. Born in 1901 in Xiangxiang, Wang Canzhi was the daughter of the famous female revolutionary Qiu Jin and China's first female aviation instructor. In 1920 she went to Shanghai to study at Jingxiong Girls' School. In 1928 she went to the United States to study aviation at New York University, and once piloted...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section II
Model Workers and Loyal Martyrs, Immortalized Through the Ages
China's First Female Aviation Instructor — Wang Canzhi
Wang Canzhi was born in 1901 in Xiangxiang. She was the daughter of the famous female revolutionary Qiu Jin and China's first female aviation instructor. In 1920, she went to Shanghai and entered Jingxiong Girls' School. In 1928, she went to the United States to study, entering the aviation program at New York University. She piloted aircraft in flight and published articles on aviation in American newspapers and periodicals, and was praised as the "future Oriental female flying general." She returned to China in May 1930. At that time, the Shenbao newspaper reported on her under the large headline "Chinese Female Aviator Wang Canzhi," and Aviation Magazine also praised Wang Canzhi for "opening the precedent for Chinese female aviators." She first served in the Aviation Administration of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, and was soon transferred to serve as an instructor at the Aviation School under the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, responsible for teaching flight combat tactics. She had high prestige in the Kuomintang Air Force, yet was never able to realize her ambitions and felt deeply that her aspirations were unfulfilled. She then withdrew from the Kuomintang Air Force and turned to public welfare causes. She passed away in Taiwan in 1967.
Hunan's First National Water Conservancy Model Worker — Nie Bingfa
Nie Bingfa was from Shuangfeng County. Born in 1911, he began working in water conservancy in 1954 and served as director of the Qianjin Reservoir Management Office. In practice, he created scientific water management experiences such as "cooperative water use" and "long vine bearing melons," expanding the irrigated area of the Qianjin Reservoir from over 4,000 mu to over 6,000 mu, achieving 150% of the reservoir's designed irrigation benefit. Moreover, the irrigated area achieved a great harvest during the severe droughts of 1963 and 1964 for two consecutive years. This experience was also introduced to Third World countries through the Canton Fair, prompting Vietnam, Laos, and some African countries to send personnel to the reservoir for on-site visits and study. In the winter of 1964, Nie Bingfa went to Beijing to attend the National Water Conservancy Management Conference, where the Ministry of Water Conservancy awarded him the title of "National Model Worker." The People's Daily published an article titled "The 'Living Dragon King' at the Foot of Meilong Mountain," and a movement to learn from the Qianjin Reservoir experience spread throughout the country.
Hunan's First Female Agricultural Cooperative Director — Kang Juying
Kang Juying (1922-1994) was from Hengshan County. In 1950, she distinguished herself in fighting disasters and overcoming famine, and attended the First National Congress of Worker-Peasant-Soldier Model Workers in 1953. In 1952, she was named a special-class model worker of Hunan Province and a national agricultural model worker, and attended the National Congress of Combat Heroes and Model Workers. In 1953, she founded the Kang Juying Agricultural Production Cooperative, becoming Hunan's first female agricultural cooperative director, and joined the Communist Party of China in September of the same year. She was successively elected as a deputy to the First through Third National People's Congresses, going to Beijing 11 times to attend the National People's Congress, and was the only person from Hengyang elected three times as a deputy to the National People's Congress. In 1993, China Central Television produced a feature program titled "Where Are the Model Workers of Yesteryear Now?" that specifically introduced and reflected her situation.
Hunan's First "Nightingale Medal" Recipient — Zhou Xianjun
Zhou Xianjun was born in Changsha in 1931. After graduating from Xiangya Nursing School in 1952, she voluntarily went to work at the People's Hospital of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture in a remote mountainous area. In her spare time, she wrote and chief-edited works such as Fundamentals of Nursing, Routine Nursing Technical Procedures, Nursing Personnel Handbook, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Nursing, and Nursing Operating Procedures. She took root in the mountainous area for decades, devoting her life to the nursing profession with "a compassionate heart and a pair of hands willing to work." In July 1989, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, she received the Nightingale Medal awarded to her by Li Xiannian, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, on behalf of the International Red Cross — at that time the only nursing worker in Hunan Province to receive this highest honor in the international nursing field.
Internationalist Fighter — Luo Shengjiao
Luo Shengjiao (1931-1952), a native of Xinhua. On the morning of January 2, 1952, while he was practicing grenade throwing by the river, a boy accidentally fell through the ice into a hole while skating, and three other boys cried for help by the riverbank. Without hesitation, he immediately jumped into the ice hole, dived into the icy water three times, and with all his strength pushed Cui Ying out of the ice, but sacrificed his own life at the young age of 21. The leadership of the Chinese People's Volunteers posthumously awarded him a special merit and the glorious title of "First-Class Model of Loving the People of the Chinese People's Volunteers," and the Central Committee of the Chinese New Democratic Youth League posthumously recognized him as a "Model Young League Member." He was also awarded the First-Class National Flag Medal and the First-Class Soldier Honor Medal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. On October 3, 1952, a ceremony was held in South Pyongan Province, Korea, for the completion of the Monument and Memorial Pavilion to Martyr Luo Shengjiao. Kim Il Sung, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, inscribed for the monument: "The great internationalist spirit of Martyr Luo Shengjiao coexists with the Korean people!" The elegiac words sent by the leadership of the Chinese People's Volunteers: "The glorious internationalist fighter Martyr Luo Shengjiao is immortal!"
Model of Loving the People — Ouyang Hai
Ouyang Hai was born in Guiyang in 1940. On November 18, 1963, while Ouyang Hai was on a field training march with his unit, as they passed the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, a horse from the artillery company was startled by a train whistle and suddenly dashed onto the tracks. At the critical moment when the train and the horse were about to collide, Ouyang Hai, disregarding his own safety, pushed the horse off the tracks, averting the derailment of the train and ensuring the safety of the passengers, but he himself died heroically. In March 1964, Xinhua News Agency published inscriptions by leaders including Zhu De, Lin Biao, and Dong Biwu, calling on the entire army to learn from the great communist fighter Ouyang Hai. The Guangzhou Military Region Committee of the Communist Party of China posthumously awarded him the honorary title of "Model of Loving the People."
The Only Soldier with a Commemoration Day Established in the Name of the State — Lei Feng
Lei Feng (1940-1962), a native of Wangcheng, was a great communist fighter and a model of wholeheartedly serving the people.
He died in the line of duty in August 1962. He often used holidays and rest time to do good deeds and help others, such as the well-known act of escorting a mother and her three children home in the rain, and helping an elderly woman find her son. On March 5, 1963, Comrade Mao Zedong wrote the inscription: "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng." Zhou Enlai inscribed: "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng: a clear class stand of love and hatred, a revolutionary spirit of matching words with deeds, a communist style of forgetting self for the public, and a fearless proletarian fighting spirit." Thereafter, March 5 every year became a day for the whole nation to learn from Lei Feng. Lei Feng became the only soldier in the world with a commemoration day established in the name of the state, and his deeds have been included in primary school textbooks.
Test Pilot Hero Who Created 16 Firsts in the Test Flight History of the Domestic Y-8 — Zou Yanling
Zou Yanling was born in Qiyang County in 1947. Since engaging in test flight work, Zou Yanling has correctly handled 7 major in-flight emergencies and created 16 firsts in the test flight history of the domestic Y-8 aircraft. He led the test pilots of the entire brigade to excellently complete test flight tasks for 8 models of the domestic Y-8 aircraft and more than 30 major scientific research projects, providing millions of scientific research data, achieving more than 20 scientific research results, and filling more than 10 gaps in the test flight history of Chinese transport aircraft. He always put the interests of the country and the people first, repeatedly declined high-paying offers from abroad, and worked overtime without regard for remuneration. He was awarded merits and commendations 9 times and is known as a "test pilot hero."
Marketing Wonder Woman — Zhou Jian
Zhou Jian was born in Changsha in 1959. Disabled from childhood, she was laid off in the early 1990s and relied on government subsistence allowances to make a living. In order to survive, she rushed about everywhere, knitting sweaters for others and driving a motorcycle taxi, struggling against adversity. "Tempering her sinews and bones and toughening her heart and will," years of hardship made her even more resilient. Her keen insight allowed her to seize an accidental opportunity and form an indissoluble bond with Infinitus (China) Company Limited. Nurtured by the core value of "Si Li Ji Ren" (considering others' interests in all actions), she reshaped herself. With the Hunan character of "persevering in action," taking "promoting excellent Chinese health culture" as her mission, she led an elite team, passed on love, let technological products benefit humanity, and built it into one of the largest distributors of Chinese herbal health products in the province. She has been invited abroad many times for study tours and has given motivational lecture tours nationwide, fully realizing her personal value. Successful in her career, she loves charitable causes, has sponsored students for many years, and continuously cares for vulnerable groups. Her deeds have been reported in mainstream media such as Changsha Evening News, and she has been rated as an advanced representative by the Provincial Disabled Persons' Federation and awarded the title of "March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter" by the Municipal Women's Federation. Her spirit of constant self-improvement and hard entrepreneurship inspires more people to strive for success and has won widespread praise from society.
Businessman Who Topped the Hurun Philanthropy List Three Times — Yu Pengnian
Yu Pengnian, born in 1923, also known as Peng Lishan, was a native of Lianyuan City, Hunan Province. In his youth, he went to the provincial capital to study, specializing in business administration, and graduated from Changsha University. After graduation, he helped his parents with business. After the founding of New China, he went to Shanghai, worked as a cleaner and odd-job worker, and ran a bookstore. In 1958, he went to Hong Kong and worked in construction for a period. In the early 1960s, he bought real estate and started his own company, mainly engaged in real estate and also in tourism. He served successively as director of Hong Kong Yuen Long Pok Oi Hospital, chairman of Fude Development Co., Ltd., general manager of Yuanchang Real Estate Co., Ltd., executive director of Yilang Co., Ltd., and consultant of Asia World Hotel Enterprise Management Company. He was charitable and often donated money and goods to ordinary people in Hong Kong. He cared about the construction of his hometown. Since 1981, he donated more than 25 million yuan to Hunan, building more than 20 social charity and welfare projects. Among them are Lishan School, Lishan Dam, Peng Lishan Rescue Center, and Peng Lishan luxury public bus routes. His righteous deeds have been praised by all sectors of society, and he was rated as one of the top ten citizens by the Changsha Municipal People's Government. He invested 1.8 billion yuan to build the 57-story five-star hotel Pengnian Tower in the Luohu commercial center of Shenzhen, and made a promise: all net profits from the hotel's income would be permanently donated to social welfare and education; after his death, the property rights of Pengnian Tower would not be gifted or inherited, and a special asset management committee would be established to be responsible for operation and management, with the profits continuing to be donated permanently and free of charge.
Fruit Grower Once Awarded the Title of "National Top Ten Poverty Alleviation Champions" — Meng Shiyuan
Meng Shiyuan (1955-2007), a native of Anhua County. Through practice, he recognized the power of science and technology. Under the guidance of experts, he built the county's first fruit experimental orchard, introduced and promoted high-quality, high-yield pear, navel orange, and orange varieties, making the village's fruit production improve year after year. Villagers called him the "Fruit Immortal." He devoted himself to studying fruit cultivation techniques for more than 10 years, trained 50,000 fruit growers inside and outside the county free of charge, provided more than one million fine seedlings, and guided 300,000 people out of poverty toward prosperity. In 1998, he was rated as a Ten-Star Civilized Citizen of Hunan Province and one of the National Top Ten Poverty Alleviation Champions.
Related Records
Revolutionary Couple Who Faced Death Unflinchingly
Tian Boyang was born in May 1904 in Liuyang, Hunan. During his early studies in Changsha, Tian Boyang became acquainted with progressive young people such as Guo Liang, Xia Xi, and Xia Minghan. In 1921, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League, and in May 1925, he joined the Communist Party of China. Thereafter, Tian Boyang was successively elected as a member of the Academic Committee of the Hunan-Changsha Xiang District Youth League Committee, general affairs committee member of the Hunan Provincial Student Federation, and standing committee member of the National Student Federation, participating in leading and organizing student movements in Hunan and Changsha. In the summer of 1925, he was admitted to Beijing China University. In March 1926, he withdrew from school and returned to Changsha, using his identity as a teacher as cover to organize workers, peasants, and young students to support the Northern Expedition. From June 1926, he successively served as director of propaganda of the Communist Youth League Hunan Provincial Committee and secretary of the provincial committee. In April and May 1927, he went to Wuhan to attend the Fifth National Congress of the Party. At the meeting, he spoke in support of the correct views of Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Qu Qiubai, and others, criticized rightist opportunist errors, and advocated resisting the massacre policy of the new Kuomintang warlords.
Chen Changfu, female, born in June 1905, a native of Liuyang, Hunan. In 1921, she married Tian Boyang. In 1923, she went to Changsha to study and soon joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League. In 1926, she joined the Communist Party of China. In the spring of 1927, she served as liaison officer of the Communist Youth League Hunan Provincial Committee, assisting Tian Boyang in his work. The couple was praised as "intimate companions in life, revolutionary comrades in work, and sincere comrades-in-arms in struggle."
On May 21, 1927, the reactionary Kuomintang officer Xu Kexiang betrayed the revolution and engineered the "Mari Incident," plunging Hunan into severe White Terror. To resist the massacre by the new Kuomintang warlords, Tian Boyang, disregarding personal safety, returned to Changsha from Wuhan immediately after the Party's Fifth National Congress to organize resistance. On the evening of May 30, due to a traitor's tip-off, Tian Boyang, Chen Changfu, and six other comrades were arrested. The enemy subjected Tian Boyang to cruel torture, driving bamboo splints into his ten fingers and using wooden bars to break his legs, demanding that he surrender and reveal Party secrets. Through seven days and nights of agonizing torture that left him hovering between life and death, Tian Boyang remained unyielding. The enemy then tortured and tormented his wife Chen Changfu, attempting to use marital love and the threat of life-and-death separation to shake them, demanding that she sign a surrender statement on Tian Boyang's behalf. Chen Changfu answered the enemy with righteous indignation: "I can die in his place, but I will never betray the Party in his place. Communists cannot be exterminated, and blood debts must be repaid!" Tian Boyang and Chen Changfu, this young revolutionary couple, demonstrated in the test of life and death the noble spirit of Communists who faced death unflinchingly for the revolution and their ideals.
In the early morning of June 6, 1927, the brutal enemy shot this young revolutionary couple. Tian Boyang was only 25 when he sacrificed his life, and Chen Changfu was only 22, and she was pregnant. A poem of magnificent spirit that shook the world
Xia Minghan (1900-1928), courtesy name Guigen, ancestral home in Lizi Township, Hengyang County, Hengyong Chen Gui Dao Hengzhou Prefecture (now Lizi Village, Hongshi Town, Hengyang County, Hengyang City). A pioneer of the Chinese revolution, an outstanding proletarian revolutionary, and political activist.
When people mention the magnificent revolutionary martyr's verse — "Beheading is nothing, as long as the doctrine is true" — they think of its author, Xia Minghan. This martyr, whose life lasted only 28 years, left behind not only that death poem that shines through the ages, but also wrote an important chapter in the history of the Party through his own struggles.
When Xia Minghan was young, his grandfather, who had once been a high official in the Qing Dynasty, placed hopes on him to bring glory to the feudal family and made him study old books behind closed doors.
However, influenced by his relatively enlightened parents, Xia Minghan always wanted to go out. Once, outside he saw a sallow, thin woman begging with an infant, and gave her all the money he had. Later, speaking of this, he said: "That was the first time I knew there were people in the world who went hungry." When he grew a little older, he once helped the maid carry water, but was angrily rebuked by his grandfather. The old sedan-chair bearer in the family, whom he liked most as a child, was dismissed by his grandfather because of declining strength and died from a fall while struggling to make a living outside. Xia Minghan then cried out, "Why is there such inequality in the world?" and developed a hatred for the feudal family.
At school he accepted ideas opposing the warlords. When he returned home and saw his grandfather associating with the Northern warlord leader Wu Peifu, he was so furious that he tore to pieces a hanging scroll sent by Wu. His grandfather was enraged, and upon hearing from local tyrants who came to complain that Xia Minghan was leading student movements outside, he ordered family members to lock this rebellious grandson in a room. Xia Minghan then resolved to break with his grandfather, asked his younger brother Xia Mingzhen for an axe, chopped open the window and jumped out of the room, then went into the courtyard and cut down the treasured tree that his grandfather regarded as a sign of official fortune. From then on, he left the Xia mansion and never returned.
After joining the Communist Party, Xia Minghan took the liberation of the laboring workers and peasants as his own mission. When organizing the "Rickshaw Pullers' Union," he lived and ate day and night with those "who pulled rickshaws," and during the peasant movement he also became one with the poor peasants. His wife, Zheng Jiajun, was also a Hunan embroidery worker. When he married, Li Weihan, He Shuheng, and others from the provincial committee sent a couplet that read: "In the world only Jiajun is good, under heaven only Minghan is strong."
In early 1928, Xia Minghan bade farewell to his wife and newborn daughter and came to Wuhan. The Guangxi warlord clique, notorious for its brutality, was frantically hunting revolutionaries, and many of those arrested were executed without trial. For example, Li Hanjun, a delegate to the Party's First National Congress, had already left the Party, but was still immediately killed after being captured by the Guangxi warlords. Facing the depression and terror in the city, Xia Minghan showed no fear and continued shuttling among various secret organs, deploying the plan to "stop the year-end uprising."
At first he stayed at the Hunan Commercial Firm, but after discovering that the Wuhan Garrison Headquarters had set its sights on that place, he moved to the Oriental Hotel, where he studied next steps with Xu Teli, Xie Juezai, Xiong Jinding, and others. Not many days later, Xie Juezai suddenly notified him that the liaison Song Ruolin could no longer be trusted, so Xia Minghan returned to the Oriental Hotel to pack his things. Just as he was preparing to move, the traitor Song Ruolin burst into the room with police detectives.
After Xia Minghan was arrested, he was subjected to continuous interrogation and torture, but under beatings he only angrily denounced the judge. Back in his cell, knowing his life was about to end, he endured his injuries and used a half-pencil to write three letters respectively to his mother, his wife, and his eldest sister. In the letter to his wife Zheng Jiajun, he also left a kiss mark stained with blood. Two days after his arrest, in the early morning of March 20, 1928, Xia Minghan was taken to the execution ground at Yujili in Hankou. The executioner asked if he had any last words, and he shouted: "Yes, give me paper and pen!" Then he wrote down the death poem: "Beheading is nothing, as long as the doctrine is true. Kill Xia Minghan, and there will still be successors." These righteous and awe-inspiring lines were called at the time a revolutionary battle song written in hot blood, inspiring countless later generations to strive for it.
The Three He Sisters
Many outstanding women were born in modern and contemporary Chinese history, and among them many were sisters. Some of these sisters came from prominent families, and some from revolutionary families. The "Three He Sisters" of Ningxiang, Hunan, were the three daughters of He Shuheng, one of the founders of the Communist Party of China and a delegate to the First National Congress of the CPC — He Shiyi, He Shishan, and He Shisi.
1921 was a key year determining the direction of Chinese history, and it could also be said to be the year that determined the fate of the three He sisters. In the height of summer that year, He Shuheng, having just attended the First National Congress of the CPC, returned to Shatian from Shanghai and made arrangements and guidance for the life paths of his three daughters. In 1925, under their father's guidance and arrangements, the sisters He Shishan and He Shisi successively embarked on the revolutionary road.
After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, He Shishan and He Shisi returned together from Changsha to Ningxiang to work. By then He Shishan had already joined the Communist Party of China and married her childhood companion Xia Chibing. After the sisters returned to Ningxiang, they found that reactionary armed forces such as the county militia were hunting Communists everywhere, and their old home in Shatian could no longer serve as a foothold. Forced by circumstances, under organizational arrangements, Shishan and Shisi came to teach at the Zhang Clan School in Tangshi, secretly working for the Party. Not long afterward, the organ of the CPC Ningxiang County Committee secretly moved to Tangshi. He Shishan served as women's committee member, and He Shisi was responsible for youth work. One day in early April 1928, before dawn, the Zhang Clan School was quietly surrounded by the militia. They managed to escape only under the cover of the students in the women's vocational class. In the autumn of 1928, He Shisi set foot on Shanghai soil for the first time, but she did not see her father He Shuheng, who by then had already gone far to the Soviet Union to attend the Sixth National Congress of the CPC. The organization arranged for He Shisi to work at the Jucheng Printing Company, which was managed by Mao Zemin. Here, she married a young Shanghai man named Du Yanqing. After marriage, He Shisi returned with Du Yanqing to his hometown Jiading. In 1930, their first child, Du Zhonghou, was born. He Shisi and her husband rested in Jiading for only a few months before returning to Shanghai to work, and little Zhonghou had to be left in Jiading. After returning to Shanghai, they still engaged in printing work, only not in the same factory. In September 1930, Du Yanqing was arrested because the printing factory was exposed and was sentenced to 8 months in prison. In the autumn of 1930, He Shuheng returned to Shanghai. Soon He Shishan and Xia Chibing also came to Shanghai. He Shishan had worked in the printing factory for only a few days when she was arrested together with her sister. Xia Chibing was arrested in Changsha due to a traitor's betrayal and later died heroically.
In the turn of spring and summer in 1952, He Shiyi accidentally contracted typhoid fever and soon died of it at the age of only 29. He Shiyi never left Shatian in her whole life and had no earth-shaking deeds, but she silently devoted her entire life to this revolutionary family.
In the summer and autumn of 1935, Chen Gang and He Shishan, a married couple, were sent to Moscow to work and study one after the other. At the end of 1937, they made their way to Yan'an. Only then did they learn that their father, He Shuheng, had unfortunately sacrificed his life on February 24, 1955, during a transfer in Changting, Fujian. As for He Shisi, who was far away in Chongqing, she did not learn the news until she came to Yan'an in the summer of 1940. In Yan'an, the two sisters often met. They entered the Central Party School of the CPC in Yan'an to study one after the other. After completing their studies, He Shishan was assigned to the Central Intelligence Department as head of the Personnel Division, while He Shisi stayed to work in the Secretariat of the Central Party School.
In November 1977, He Shishan was elected vice chairperson of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1978, she was also elected a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. On September 17, 1990, He Shishan died of illness in Chengdu at the age of 85. He Shisi, meanwhile, served as deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Culture and History in 1978, and in 1984 also concurrently served as deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Counselors' Office. In January 1989, He Shisi passed away in Beijing at the age of 81.
Five Martyrs of Three Generations of Qiu Xunmin's Family
Opening the Local Chronicles Series of the People's Republic of China, the Pingjiang County Gazetteer, one finds in the Biographies section a vivid and detailed record of the deeds of the five martyrs of three generations of Qiu Xunmin's family.
His father, Qiu Dianyuan, joined the secret peasant association in 1925, joined the Communist Party of China the following year, served as a member of the Special Committee of the CPC South Pingjiang District in 1927, and was killed by the reactionaries in October 1928. His elder brother, Qiu Zhiqing, joined the peasant association in 1926 and joined the Communist Party of China the following year. He led his son to join the South District guerrilla unit. In the autumn of 1928, he was wounded and captured in battle with the enemy, remained unyielding, and died a heroic death. His younger brother, Qiu Rongqing, joined the revolution in 1927, joined the Communist Party of China the same year, joined the Red Army in 1930, and sacrificed his life in battle in 1931. His nephew, Qiu Cexin (1906-1938), also known as Guiqiu, was the son of Qiu Zhiqing. In 1927, he joined the guerrilla unit with his father, joined the Communist Youth League the same year, and transferred to the Communist Party of China in 1928. In 1931, he served as secretary of the Communist Youth League Pingjiang County Committee, and from 1932 to 1933 as secretary of the Communist Youth League Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Provincial Committee. In 1934, he was transferred to serve as commander of the provincial security brigade. In 1935, he was wounded in the left foot in battle and became disabled, yet he still persisted in the extremely arduous three-year guerrilla war. In 1938, he served as secretary of the CPC Pingjiang County Committee, and in the winter of the same year he sacrificed his life after being wounded in many places while fighting the enemy. Qiu Xunmin was brave and skilled in battle and was known as a "tiger general." In the 1960s, the character Qiu Jin in the film Raging Tide, shot by the August First Film Studio in Pingjiang, Hunan, was based on Qiu Xunmin.
On July 22, 1930, the Third Red Army Corps, together with the revolutionary armed forces of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi border region and tens of thousands of civilians supporting the front, held here a meeting commemorating the second anniversary of the Pingjiang Uprising and a oath-taking rally for attacking Changsha. When the Hunan reactionary chieftain He Jian learned of this, he urgently dispatched more than four brigades of Wei Suzhong's division, advancing toward Pingjiang in two routes in an attempt to block the Red Army outside Changsha. Because Wei Suzhong's troops did not know the real situation, they did not dare advance rashly after reaching the Jinkeng area, and they immediately came under fierce attack from the Third Red Army Corps. Unable to hold out, the enemy retreated toward the Yinjiadong area. Corps Commander Peng Dehuai ordered part of the Third Red Army Corps to cut into the enemy's rear and block their retreat. Qiu Xunmin was ordered to lead his troops in coordination with the attack. He took the lead, charging at the head of his men like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, annihilating one regiment of Wei Suzhong's division and capturing the enemy regimental commander Hou Pengfei. The Red Army won a major victory in its first battle.
In order to advance while riding the momentum of victory, Corps Commander Peng again ordered the Eighth Red Army and the Fifth Red Army to launch a fierce attack on the enemy at Jinjing in a pincer movement. Because the enemy used the firepower of many machine guns to put up a stubborn resistance from a perilous position, the two sides fought bitterly for more than four hours. They were unable to seize the enemy position. At this critical moment,
"Tiger" Qiu Xunmin personally led three companies, avoided the enemy's fire-blockade zone, and cleverly slipped into the enemy machine-gun position, seizing a
machine gun and attacking from behind the enemy with fierce sweeping fire. The Red Army finally broke through the enemy's defensive position and captured Jinjing, an outer strongpoint of Changsha.
At 9 p.m. on July 27, our army victoriously captured Changsha.
After the Red Army entered the city, it rescued thousands of Communists and innocent civilians. It sent out personnel, posted notices, maintained good order in the city, and
struck at the reactionary gentry. At that time, there was a reactionary gentleman in the city whom Qiu Xunmin had known since childhood. He privately sought out Qiu Xunmin and sent him two gold bracelets
and one hundred silver dollars, begging him to protect his family's property. He was immediately reprimanded by Qiu Xunmin, who ordered him to take the gold bracelets and silver dollars back and warned him
to honestly abide by the regulations in the Red Army's notices and to stop being an enemy of the people if he wanted a way to survive. Later, Qiu Xunmin sent out confiscation commissioners, who settled accounts and
confiscated all the property he had seized by trickery and plunder. The Red Army officers and men gave a thumbs-up in praise of Qiu Xunmin's noble character of fairness and selflessness.
A shining loyalty that illuminates the sun and moon, a hero's tiger-like courage that shakes heaven and earth. The five martyrs of three generations of Qiu Xunmin's family are immortal.
A Communist Party Member Devoted to Charity, and a Poor Student's Concern for Education
Zhao Zaihe, a member of the Communist Party of China, was born in August 1934 and is a retired cadre of the Cultural Center of Xiangtan County, Hunan Province. After retiring in 1994, he traveled throughout all 22 towns of the county and more than 100 primary and secondary schools, investigating the circumstances of poor students, and found more than 300 units at the provincial, municipal, and county levels and more than 100 Party and government cadres, entrepreneurs, and social notables to raise funds for poverty alleviation and education assistance. He spent more than 30,000 yuan of his own pension, took more than 2,700 days, and traveled more than 80,000 kilometers, raising more than 1 million yuan in financial aid for more than 500 poor students. Among the students he assisted with the funds he raised, 33 have already been admitted to universities. In May 2000, he was awarded the title of "National Advanced Individual in Caring for the Next Generation" by the National Working Committee on Care for the Next Generation; in January 2007, he received the first "Hunan Charity Award" issued by the Hunan Provincial People's Government.
Twelve years ago, his sense of achievement was still at the level of taking photos for people to 'earn money'. Until one time when he went to a mountain village to help people take photos, he accidentally discovered that Wang Xiaohong, a primary school student with excellent character and academic performance, and her disabled parents, a family of five, were crowded into two dilapidated earthen brick houses. The child's sorrowful eyes kept him awake all night. The next day, Zhao Zaihe resolutely gave up his photography business, which earned nearly 10,000 RMB a year, and embarked on the path of fundraising to support education.
In order to raise charitable education funds, Zhao Zaihe first used his own pension as operating funds. After retirement, his monthly salary was more than 900 yuan, and apart from the living expenses for himself and his wife, almost all of it was used for fundraising expenses. Although he has so far raised nearly one million yuan in charitable donations, roughly equivalent to the total amount of charitable funds currently held by the entire Xiangtan City Charity Association, he has always kept his promise not to misappropriate a single cent from the donations. Therefore, operating funds were often stretched thin. Because there were many phone calls and many visitors, and in order not to affect his grandson's studies, Zhao Zaihe had to rent a dim room of less than 10 square meters in the dormitory building as his "charity studio."
In order to win people's trust, Zhao Zaihe personally designed his business card. On the back of this card, donated by a local enterprise, were printed the words "Money is like dung, but love is worth a thousand in gold" and "Be an ordinary Party member, an upright retired cadre, and a diligent charity volunteer." In order to be a good special "matchmaker," Zhao Zaihe truly took great pains. The Propaganda Department of the Xiangtan County Party Committee once compiled a book titled Sons of Liancheng, gathering successful people of Xiangtan County origin. Zhao Zaihe treasured it as if he had obtained a priceless treasure. He followed the clues and contacted them one by one, achieving rich results. "Many people have since formed a strategic alliance with me for poverty alleviation and education assistance, funding one group of students after another."
Every donation Zhao Zaihe entered into the "Tuition Received Checklist." This checklist noted in detail the student's name, school, donating unit, amount, method of delivery, date the school received the payment, and witness. Zhao Zaihe neatly bound such lists into volumes, classified by category, filling several large books. Zhao Zaihe not only "kept clear accounts," but also strictly organized "charity archives." The collected materials on disadvantaged students, information on donors, correspondence, and so on were classified, bound, and stored with a meticulousness that inspired admiration.
A person who reaches seventy has rarely lived so long since ancient times, but Old Zhao had his own way of preserving his health. "Doing good and accumulating virtue, being charitable and eager to help others, emphasizing the two words 'good' and 'joy'—this state of mind is most conducive to longevity!" Zhao Zaihe hoped to continue his charitable education-assistance activities until 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. In that year, he would be 87 years old.
Jiang Qinhuan, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka
In 1941, Jiang Qinzheng was born into a poor peasant family in Xicun, Baisha Town, Xinning County. The family often had no food for the next meal after finishing the last, and life was extremely hard. After Jiang Qinzheng graduated from primary school, his father did not plan to let him continue his studies. Only because his mother insisted repeatedly was he able to finish junior middle school. When he graduated from junior middle school, his father asked him to apply to a secondary specialized school. His teachers could not bear to see a promising seedling lose a better environment for developing talent, and strongly urged him to apply to an ordinary senior middle school. In the end, he was admitted to Shaoyang No. 2 Middle School. During the three years of senior middle school, apart from some government living subsidies, he mainly relied on work-study to solve his living problems. Jiang Qinzheng cherished this hard-won opportunity to study very much and studied extremely hard, achieving excellent results. After graduating from senior middle school, he was admitted to Beijing Foreign Studies University. However, his poor family meant he could not even afford the travel expenses to the school. With the help of his elder brother and teachers, he raised enough for the trip, and by the time he arrived at the school it had already been in session for a week.
After entering university, Jiang Qinzheng studied even more diligently and hard, and showed special talent especially in learning the Sinhala language. His professors appreciated him greatly and strongly recommended him to study in Sri Lanka. After returning from his studies abroad, he was selected into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from then on formed an indissoluble bond with the diplomatic cause.
He successively served as first secretary of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, director of the Research Office of the Embassy in Sri Lanka, director of research and counselor in Sri Lanka, counselor and deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, consul general in Karachi, Pakistan, and ambassador to Sri Lanka concurrently accredited as ambassador to the Maldives. In nearly 30 years of diplomatic career, he made outstanding contributions to the motherland's diplomatic cause and won honor for his hometown.
For people who have never engaged in diplomatic work, diplomacy is full of mystery, and diplomats always appear elegant and extraordinary on diplomatic occasions. But Jiang Qinzheng had his own unique views on the work he did. He said that diplomats are soldiers in civilian clothes, with iron discipline, who must remain consistent with the Party Central Committee and always put national interests first. The reason our great country's diplomatic work has been able to achieve such tremendous successes is, in the final analysis, thanks to the great attention of Party and state leaders and to the development of the national economy and the enhancement of comprehensive national strength. He proudly believed that he was the most impressive of all ambassadors to Sri Lanka, that the president and prime minister of Sri Lanka were his good friends, and that he gave more than 20 invited speeches each year in the country where he was stationed.
Jiang Qinzheng was not only rigorous in his work, but also very strict with himself. His eldest son, Jiang Feng, worked in Xinning. As an ambassador, Jiang Qinzheng was fully capable of helping his eldest son move to a better work unit. When this matter was mentioned, Jiang Qinzheng felt somewhat apologetic. It turned out that his eldest son, Jiang Feng, had always lived with his grandparents in his hometown of Xinning, and because he was busy with work, Jiang Qinzheng had no time to care for Jiang Feng. After graduating from senior middle school, Jiang Feng worked odd jobs in a factory and was not formally recruited until 1987. Later, because of his outstanding work, he was transferred to an administrative organ as a cadre as a special talent. Jiang Qinzheng did not use the slightest bit of power for his son's work problem. He believed that only when a person stands on his own in society by his own abilities can it be meaningful.
A Lifetime of Running a School: A Hong Kong Legend
On December 19, 2006, Hong Kong Shue Yan College received notice from the Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau that it had been approved to be upgraded to a university, becoming Hong Kong's first private university. Li Guozhang, secretary for education and manpower, said that the chief executive in council had approved the upgrading of Shue Yan College to a university and was considering providing a grant to support Shue Yan. Regarding Shue Yan College's long journey of 35 years finally culminating in upgrading to a university, everyone at the school was filled with joy. Vice President Hu Huaizhong said that the upgrading of Shue Yan College was an affirmation of the two founders—college supervisor Hu Honglie and president Zhong Qirong—and also proved that Shue Yan had always been correct in insisting on a four-year system.
Shue Yan's founders, the husband-and-wife team Hu Honglie and Zhong Qirong, founded Shue Yan College with their own funds in 1971, sacrificing their youth and health to cultivate tens of thousands of talents for Hong Kong society. "Over the past 35 years, I have devoted my youth, my life, everything, to this college." The 86-year-old Zhong Qirong had once suffered a stroke and had difficulty moving and speaking. But when she spoke of her dream coming true, she was extraordinarily excited. Hu Honglie gently wiped away the uncontrollable drool for his wife, and attributed all the honor to her: "Shue Yan's position today is precisely the result of her foresight and perseverance."
Zhong Qirong was born in July 1920 in Changsha, Hunan. Not long after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, she was admitted to the Law Department of National Wuhan University. In 1944, she graduated with the top score. In the same year, Zhong Qirong took the national higher civil service examination in Chongqing and won first place in the judicial group, afterward becoming China's first female judge. Hu Honglie was then first place in the diplomatic service examination. On November 12, 1945, the two married in Chongqing. The top scorer in the diplomatic service examination paired with China's first female judge became a much-told tale of the time. In 1945, Zhong Qirong and Hu Honglie went together to study at the University of Paris in France, specializing in juvenile criminology. She received her doctorate in 1953 and returned to settle in Hong Kong in 1955.
In 1971, her husband Hu Honglie bought a garden villa on Sing Wo Road in Happy Valley. After repeated consideration and discussion, the couple decided to 'not for oneself, but for the community; sacrifice the small self to achieve universal love,' and founded a post-secondary college. In 1978, the British Hong Kong government issued the 'White Paper on the Development of Senior Secondary and Post-Secondary Education,' recommending that the three government-recognized post-secondary colleges—Shue Yan, Baptist, and Lingnan—switch to the '2-2-1' system (i.e., two years of preparatory study, two years of specialized study, and a final year of academic education). After adopting this system, the government would provide financial assistance. The purpose of the British Hong Kong government in proposing this system was to try to align the academic structure of these colleges with the British system. Zhong Qirong insisted on her own educational philosophy and refused to change the system. As a result, Shue Yan College was excluded from the government's list of subsidized institutions. Because of Zhong Qirong's insistence, the British Hong Kong government ultimately had to acknowledge that the school had the freedom to choose its academic system and continued to promise interest-free loans to Shue Yan College. In 1989, the British Hong Kong government announced that all university bachelor's degree programs would be standardized to three years, and the pre-university matriculation would be standardized to two years, to align with the United Kingdom. Chung Ki-wing independently insisted on a four-year system and once again overcame the difficulties. Now, the institution has developed into a college with a 12-story school building and a 19-story comprehensive building, three faculties (Arts, Business, and Social Sciences) and 13 departments including Chinese, Law and Business, and Social Studies, more than 200 faculty and staff, and over 3,000 enrolled students, taking initial shape as a tertiary institution. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once evaluated Chung Ki-wing as 'an entrepreneur who, with a fervent Chinese heart, started education from scratch.'
Peng Lishan—A Name Hunan People Will Never Forget
Yu Pengnian, a Hong Kong businessman approaching eighty, suddenly decided to donate all his property after his death and not leave it to his children and grandchildren to inherit.
In his early years, Yu Pengnian was a poor man with nothing, and in his hometown of Hunan Province he had a period of experience as a news reporter. After 1949, Yu Pengnian turned to Shanghai to make a small living in industry and commerce. In 1956, Yu Pengnian applied to go to Hong Kong. Alone, holding a pass, with only one set of clothes in his bag, he thus began drifting in Hong Kong, a place where he was a stranger. At first, even finding a job was very difficult, and he did not understand the language; at that time, there was not yet a trace of Hong Kong Cantonese in Yu Pengnian's mixed accent. In his thirties, Yu Pengnian found his first job, with a monthly salary of 100 Hong Kong dollars. Meals, transportation... all expenses came out of this. In the late 1950s, this money was probably worth more than 2,000 Hong Kong dollars today. In any case, this was his starting point in Hong Kong. Later he had the opportunity to follow a boss into the Taiwan real estate market, and his experience grew deeper and deeper. The boss let Yu Pengnian form his own company to operate independently by contributing capital alone and splitting profits equally between the two sides. By this stage, in middle age, Yu Pengnian had firmly established his own foundation.
In 1967, the famous Hong Kong movie star Bruce Lee died, leaving behind a 1,000-square-meter mansion with a swimming pool. Hong Kong people are superstitious, saying that houses lived in by people of great fame cannot be lived in, so no one dared to buy it. Yu Pengnian seized the opportunity, borrowed 700,000 yuan from the bank, paid 300,000 yuan himself, spent 50,000 yuan on renovations, and rented it to foreigners for 8 years, repaying the bank loan through rent. By 1996, the house was worth 70 million yuan. In 1975, the mistress of a certain country's leader living in Hong Kong passed away, and Yu Pengnian spent 2.5 million yuan to take over her mansion and renovate it. By 1995, the house had appreciated to 80 million yuan. Yu Pengnian assessed the situation and sold all the houses.
The marvelous Hong Kong real estate world provided Yu Pengnian with opportunities to rise again time and again. He could not forget his feelings for this land of Hong Kong. Without the "overseas connections" he had borne in those years, perhaps he would not have left his native land and lived abroad. For many years, he drifted through the harsh business world with no time to look elsewhere. But in 1981, as the country gradually opened up, Yu Pengnian calculated that he was already approaching 60 years of age, and this time he suddenly remembered his hometown: Lianyuan, Hunan.
In 1981, Yu Pengnian, who had left home as a youth, returned to his hometown in his later years. Seven years later, the Hunan Provincial Government erected a monument in the provincial capital Changsha to commemorate his donations to his hometown over the years: an ambulance for Lianyuan County Hospital, various medical instruments, relief funds for the Lianyuan County tornado, Lianyuan Municipal Lishan School, a dam in Lianyuan Municipality, the Lianyuan Municipal Peng Lishan Rescue Center, the Changsha Wuyi Square underpass project, the Changsha Municipal Peng Lishan Rescue Center, and the Dayong Municipal Peng Lishan Rescue Center. The above donation projects amounted to approximately 15 million yuan. And these could only be considered the beginning of Yu Pengnian's large-scale donations to the mainland. His donations were concentrated in medical, educational, and other projects. According to statistics from Hong Kong's Oriental Daily News: by June 2000, Yu Pengnian had donated to over 400 schools in the mainland alone. Countless people he had never met benefited.
In 2000, Yu Pengnian decided to contribute 10 million yuan to establish the "Pengnian Science and Technology Award Fund." To ensure the long-term operation of this science and technology award, Yu Pengnian further clarified: an additional 10 million yuan would be added each year to expand the fund's scale.
Establishing a science and technology award was a long-cherished wish of Yu Pengnian. From medical care and education to science and technology—this direction of pledged donations clearly reveals the vision and interests of Yu Pengnian, who had traversed overseas for decades. An old man controlling hundreds of millions in vast wealth, not giving a moment's thought to the descendants around him, but paying more attention to the hometown in his memories, the distant impoverished mountain village schools, and the rising science and technology elites, while himself having no desires or demands.
On the "Hurun 2006 China Philanthropy List," Peng Lishan ranked first with donations of 2 billion yuan. The "2008 Hurun Philanthropy List" announced: the now 86-year-old Peng Lishan once again won the title of "China's Most Generous Philanthropist" with donations of 3 billion yuan. It is reported that this was his third time topping the Hurun Philanthropy List.
The Inspiration of a Chinese-American Dancer
The historical moment when the modern dance "Scroll" was presented at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics made people remember a name from then on—Shen Wei, a Chinese-American from Xiangyin, Yueyang, who served as planning director of the Olympics opening ceremony director team and choreographer for the first half of the opening ceremony.
Shen Wei was born in 1968 in Xiangyin County, Hunan Province, into a family of Xiang opera. His father Shen Qingtong was a director and playwright of the county Xiang opera troupe, and his mother Chen Yuebin was an actress and stage manager. Shen Wei has handsome features, a tall figure, and a quiet demeanor. Influenced by his family atmosphere, he showed extraordinary artistic talent from a young age. At 5 he learned Chinese painting, at 9 he studied traditional Chinese opera at the Hunan Provincial Art School, after graduation he served as an actor in the Hunan Provincial Xiang Opera Theater, and later learned dance, becoming a dancer and choreographer with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company.
In 1995, Shen Wei received a scholarship from the Nicholas Dance School in the United States to study abroad. In Shen Wei's own words, "In my 40 years, 26 years were in China, 14 years in New York." And 14 years in New York made his modern dance famous far and wide. In 2004, Shen Wei received the "Nijinsky Award," known as the Oscar of the dance world. Last October, he also won the American "MacArthur Award," also known as the "Genius Award." Among the 24 winners in various fields who made outstanding contributions in 2007, he was the only Chinese and the only artist.
On August 8, 2008, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, 15 dancers used their bodies and modern dance techniques to complete a Chinese landscape work on a specially made scroll. They used their bodies as "brushes," wielding ink with their hands on the huge Chinese scroll in the center of the stadium. There were two kinds of paint, black paint and blue paint; the former was used to depict landscapes, and the latter to paint clouds, which disappeared two minutes after contacting the canvas. When the dance was finished, a complete Chinese landscape painting appeared on the canvas, excellently embodying the Olympic slogan "One World, One Dream." During the traditional athletes' entrance ceremony, the competitors walked past this image one after another, leaving their own marks on the picture. Subsequently, Shen Wei selected 15 performers from more than 40 of the best dancers from the General Political Department Song and Dance Troupe and other places and began intense rehearsals. However, it was very difficult to dance while painting something specific; this requirement was especially hard. In the seemingly free and easy dance painting, every movement and every brushstroke needed to coordinate perfectly, and the difficulty can be imagined. "We trained every day, just hoping that there would be no mistakes in any step. We used many pieces of cloth for experiments. That sun was deliberately painted not round, because it is a landscape painting; if it were a circle it would not be quite right." Shen Wei said, like the tip of a brush, the dancers had to keep moving, their bodies needing to be as soft as if boneless. All the performers had to roll on the ground, so their whole bodies were bruised.
In the scene of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, the performance choreographed by Shen Wei was inspired by Zen, and the image of China it presented was completely different from what many people had previously imagined. The audience never expected that the Olympics could open with such graceful and concise performance, but this concept was even more Chinese in flavor. The dancers' movements left a beautiful picture on a huge canvas, and this canvas became an element running throughout the opening ceremony performance.