A Brief History of the Tujia: The Tujia in the Early Years of New China (Part 4)
IV. Social Development in Tujia Areas in the Early Years of New China — After the founding of the PRC, the Tujia devoted themselves to socialist construction with great enthusiasm, achieving remarkable results in economic progress, social programs, and ethnic relations.
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IV. Social Development in Tujia Areas in the Early Period of New China
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the people in Tujia areas threw themselves into socialist construction with great enthusiasm and achieved brilliant results. In addition to rapid economic progress, social undertakings and ethnic relations also developed well.
(1) Initial Development of Social Undertakings
In the early period of the founding of New China, social undertakings in Tujia areas developed relatively quickly, and initial results were already evident in education, medical care and public health, and culture.
In education, local governments at all levels increased investment, began building schools, set up various courses, accelerated teacher training, gradually improved the general education system, carried out activities to encourage learning, helped ethnic minority students enroll smoothly, and raised their level of knowledge. In addition, in order to improve the quality of the whole people, various skills training classes, knowledge supplementary classes, literacy classes, and other adult education or special education programs were also offered, and these were deeply welcomed by ordinary people. For example, education in Changyang County developed relatively comprehensively. In general education, in 1949 Changyang had only 160 primary schools, 296 classes, and 7,772 students, while by 1957 primary schools had grown to 425, with 851 classes and 31,099 students, four times the number before the founding of New China. In 1949 there was only 1 junior middle school, with 6 classes and 169 students; by 1957 this had grown to 3 schools, with 22 classes and 1,122 students. In 1949, Changyang County had no senior high school; by 1958, 2 senior high school classes began enrolling students. In worker education, in 1953 the county Party committee organized 60 cadres from county-level organs to study culture, completing senior primary school mathematics and junior middle school Chinese in two years; in 1955, the county government held a full-time cultural study class for district and township cadres, enabling 230 village and township cadres to reach the cultural level of the upper grades of primary school. In farmers' spare-time education, in 1950 the county had 52,865 farmers attending winter schools, and in 1951 more than 2,000 transferred to year-round privately run schools to persist in study; the county also concentrated on training 500 privately run teachers. In order to achieve both study and production without neglect, governments at all levels actively summed up experience and guided everyone to adhere to the principle of "study more in slack farming seasons, study less in busy farming seasons, and pause during the busiest times," adopting the method of "first eliminate illiteracy, then raise the level," mobilizing enthusiasm in all aspects, and enabling farmers' spare-time education to develop continuously. In July 1958, the government ran a literacy class in Sanyuchong Township with good results; many farmers were able to read. In December 1958, People's Daily even reported the deeds of Hu Shixiu, a study activist in Sanyuchong Township, who learned 1,800 characters and became a privately run teacher.
The development of education laid a solid foundation for the formation of a social atmosphere advocating science and the popularization of cultural knowledge in Tujia areas. At the same time, some aspiring people went out from Tujia areas to study elsewhere and, through hard struggle, became entrepreneurs and scientists, making great contributions to the country's scientific and technological construction and the development of undertakings before and after the founding of New China. Li Zhuchen and Chen Nengkuan were outstanding representatives among them.
Li Zhuchen (1882-1968), Tujia, a native of Yongshun County, Hunan Province. He was born on September 16, 1882, in Maoba Village, Yongshun County. He once studied in Japan, entering the undergraduate program in electrochemistry in the Department of Electrical Chemistry at Tokyo Higher Technical School, and studied chemical engineering. He made outstanding contributions to China's chemical industry and was a famous patriotic national entrepreneur in China. After the founding of New China, he was elected a member of the presidium of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Central People's Government, and participated in the founding ceremony. He also served as vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association, contributing to the recovery and development of the economy in the early period of New China. In 1956 he served as Minister of the State Food Industry, and in 1958 as Minister of the State Light Industry. In 1964 he was elected vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Chen Nengkuan, born in 1923, Tujia, a native of Cili County, Hunan Province, was a famous metal physicist and nuclear scientist and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1950 he received a doctorate in physical metallurgy from the Graduate School of Yale University in the United States. After returning to China in 1955, he carried out development and research work on China's first atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and nuclear weapons. In 1986 he served as deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Nuclear Industry, and in 1988 concurrently as deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. In 1982 he won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award. In 1986, at the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, he and Deng Jiaxian, as representatives receiving the National Science and Technology Progress Special Award, accepted the state's highest award for the breakthrough and weaponization of the atomic bomb and the breakthrough and weaponization of the hydrogen bomb. In 1999 he was awarded the "Two Bombs, One Satellite Meritorious Medal."
In Xiangxi, the training and use of ethnic cadres also achieved relatively great results. The ranks of ethnic minority cadres continued to grow, and their educational quality also gradually improved. By the end of 1997, the prefecture had 36,900 ethnic minority cadres, accounting for 71.4% of the total number of cadres; among ethnic minority cadres, 14,300 had a college degree or above, accounting for 38.8% of the total number of ethnic minority cadres; 6,757 ethnic minority cadres had senior or intermediate professional and technical titles, accounting for 18.3% of the total number of ethnic minority cadres; in the prefecture Party committee, prefecture people's congress, prefecture government, and prefecture CPPCC, there were 272 leading members, of whom 209 were ethnic minorities, accounting for 76.84%; among the 1,367 members of the Party and government leadership teams of 218 townships, 1,079 were ethnic minorities, accounting for 78.93%. Among these ethnic minority cadres, Tujia cadres accounted for a very large proportion.
In terms of medical and health care, the Tujia areas built hospitals, added medical facilities, and worked hard to learn medical knowledge, actively exploring traditional medicine. The level of treatment improved greatly, effectively safeguarding people's health. Medical conditions and facilities were somewhat improved. For example, in 1958, Xiangxi Prefecture established 162 commune health centers, and production brigades had health rooms, initially forming the prototype of a three-tier rural preventive health care network. In 1959, the whole prefecture had 272 health institutions, 1,881 hospital beds, and 2,132 health workers, increases of 17.13 times, 13.25 times, and 3 times respectively over 1949. In the early 1960s, medical and health units at all levels began to move toward standardization and scientific management, paying more attention to personnel training and equipment support. After 1968, many health centers were equipped with larger medical instruments. In Guizhou, in 1950 the people's government took over health centers, carried out rectification, and strengthened management. Health centers in Yanhe, Yinjiang, and other counties began to add hospital beds and improve their institutions. Yanhe County began with 5 hospital beds, and the county health center's responsibilities became clearer: besides diagnosing and treating diseases, it was also responsible for countywide health administration, preventive inoculation, maternal and child health care, and health publicity. In 1952, a public health group and a medical treatment and convalescence room were added; in 1956 it was upgraded to a third-class health center, with 15 health technicians and hospital beds increased to 15; in 1957, it was changed to Yanhe County People's Hospital, adding a department of traditional Chinese medicine and separately establishing internal medicine and external medicine and gynecology departments. The outpatient department had internal medicine and pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, an injection room, a dressing room, a pharmacy, and a laboratory. In 1951, Yinjiang County Health Center had 4 hospital beds, and in 1952 it increased to 8 beds; in April 1956, the county health center was renamed the county people's hospital, with 12 regular hospital beds and 3 simple hospital beds, divided into a general affairs office, a department of traditional Chinese medicine, and an outpatient department, which also had several sections under it. In January 1953, the state required the establishment of provincial, prefectural, and county-level health and epidemic prevention institutions, and the Tujia areas of Guizhou began to improve the township health system. In April 1953, Yanhe County established 5 district-level health centers. In 1957, the Tujia areas of Guizhou organized township-run civilian health centers responsible for medical treatment, epidemic prevention, and maternal and child health care within the townships. By 1957, Yinjiang County had established 43 township-level health centers, and other Tujia townships and towns had generally established health centers, solving the difficulty of seeking medical care for the Tujia and other ethnic groups. In health and epidemic prevention work, efforts mainly targeted infectious diseases prevalent in Tujia areas at the time, injecting vaccines to enhance people's immunity, control the spread of infectious diseases, and reduce harm to people. For example, in the 1950s, Xiangxi Prefecture organized annual injections of vaccines against typhoid and cholera, quickly controlling and eliminating cholera; in the early 1960s, cowpox vaccination changed from universal vaccination to age-based vaccination, effectively controlling smallpox; in 1963, the prefecture and counties successively established prevention command headquarters and formulated preventive measures; in 1966-1967, in response to epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, Hunan Province again organized medical teams to successively carry out prevention and treatment work in Yongshun and other counties, and in 1970 the prefecture began using meningococcal vaccine, and the incidence rate dropped substantially. In addition, measures were taken to prevent and treat frequently occurring diseases such as typhoid, paratyphoid, and dysentery. Traditional medicine also developed rapidly. Traditional Chinese medicine institutions were established in various places, medical achievements were remarkable, and local people's diseases were effectively treated. For example, in the Tujia areas of Guizhou, in 1953 Yanhe County had 42 traditional Chinese medicine clinics; in 1954, five individual traditional Chinese medicine clinics and pharmacies, including those of Zhou Hongxiang, Li Yongzhang, and Zhang Qingzhen, jointly formed the Yanhe County Traditional Chinese Medicine Joint Clinic; the county's relevant departments reviewed and registered traditional Chinese medicine doctors and issued traditional Chinese medicine certificates to 48 doctors; from 1955 to 1956, they organized the collection of 59 secret prescriptions and proven prescriptions and 20 single prescriptions mainly for treating malaria, vomiting and diarrhea, cholera, and miscellaneous diseases, and compiled and printed them as Secret and Proven Prescriptions of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Yanhe County; Zhou Hongxiang also developed medicines such as 'Jixiang San' and 'Tongzhi San', which had remarkable effects in treating diseases such as edema and muscle atrophy; in 1957, Yanhe County abolished the Traditional Chinese Medicine Joint Clinic and converted it into Yanhe County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which was merged into the county hospital in 1967. Yinjiang County attached great importance to the cause of traditional Chinese medicine. In 1952 it established a Chinese and herbal medicine work research association and organized training many times. In 1963 alone, the county organized training for 98 traditional Chinese medicine personnel and 329 herbal medicine personnel. After 1957, Xiangxi Prefecture successively established ethnic medicine institutes and 71 traditional Chinese medicine joint design institutes, absorbing 216 folk medicine personnel to participate in work, and hospitals of traditional Chinese medicine in each county and city were also established one after another. At the end of the 1950s, the health department of the autonomous prefecture organized ethnic medicine collection activities, mobilizing medical units and folk medicine personnel to contribute medical knowledge, medicines, and prescriptions. More than 10,000 secret prescriptions, single prescriptions, and proven prescriptions were collected, of which 3,309 were compiled and printed, promoting the development of ethnic medicine. After 1959, medical units at all levels throughout the prefecture generally implemented treatment combining Chinese and Western medicine. In 1972, Yongshun County People's Hospital made its own '725' burn liniment, which had very good effects in treating burns. From 1974 to 1977, doctors Wen Wulie and Wu Guangrong of Jishou County People's Hospital used integrated Chinese and Western medicine to treat 50 patients with epidemic hemorrhagic fever, with a cure rate of 98%.
Cultural undertakings developed relatively quickly. Not only were a large number of cultural facilities built, but much Tujia artistic culture was also unearthed. In the 1950s, in order for ethnic cultural undertakings to develop smoothly, Hunan Province successively established management institutions such as culture and education sections and culture sections in ethnic areas. At the same time, it also established radio stations, newspapers, cinemas and theaters, cultural centers, cultural stations, libraries, museums, ethnic song and dance troupes, and other units, actively publicizing relevant state policies, carrying out mass cultural activities, and prospering ethnic culture. The Xiangxi local Party newspaper Tuanjie Bao was founded on October 1, 1952, and Chairman Mao Zedong personally wrote the newspaper's masthead. By the end of 1956, in the work of discovering and sorting out ethnic and folk literature and art, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture had also achieved relatively great results, discovering 104 kinds of folk songs and dances and operas, with more than 1,000 programs; in June 1957, the Tujia-language drama The Two Siblings was performed for the first time in Miaoshi Township, Longshan County; in 1957, Developing the Mountain Areas, woven by Longshan County Tujia brocade artist Ye Yucui, was selected and sent to the London Exposition in Britain and to exhibitions in Eastern European countries. Cultural undertakings in Changyang County also gradually developed. In 1950, the Changyang Distribution Office of the Yichang Branch of Xinhua Bookstore was established; in 1952 it was changed to the Changyang Branch of the Hubei Provincial Xinhua Bookstore; in 1956 it was renamed Changyang Xinhua Bookstore; in 1952, the county cultural center was completed. The cultural center often organized mass cultural and recreational activities, publicized the Party's principles and policies, held various forms of literary and artistic training classes, and provided literary and artistic guidance to the masses, improving the masses' literary and artistic literacy. In addition, Changyang County also established many cultural institutions. For example, in February 1954, Changyang established its first film projection team, which was changed to a film management station in 1959; in March 1959, the county established a song and dance troupe; in April 1976, the county library was established. These institutions also created a large number of wonderful literary and artistic works, such as the song and dance 'Battle Song of the Qingjiang River', the folk songs 'A Folk Song Flies Out of the Rock', 'Harvest Tune', and 'Workers and Peasants Song', and the short play 'Backhand Hoe Knife', created and performed by the county song and dance troupe in 1972, which participated in a joint performance in Hubei Province and were highly praised.
(2) Harmonious Development of Ethnic Relations
After the founding of the People's Republic, the state implemented ethnic policies of equality, unity, mutual assistance, prosperity, and development among all ethnic groups, vigorously advocated the establishment of a new type of socialist and harmonious ethnic relations, opposed ethnic oppression and exploitation, enhanced understanding among ethnic groups, and eliminated ethnic estrangement and ethnic hatred.
Tujia areas actively publicized the state's ethnic policies and adopted various measures to safeguard local ethnic unity and stability. This not only consolidated the traditional friendship and ethnic feelings formed historically among all ethnic groups in Tujia areas, but also enabled this harmonious ethnic relationship to continue developing in the construction of socialist modernization. Many typical deeds of unity and mutual assistance occurred in various Tujia areas.
In the Enshi area, in order to help local economic development and promote social stability, starting in 1950, the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government successively dispatched large numbers of Han cadres and intellectuals to the area to help eliminate bandits and oppose local despots, reduce rent and interest, and carry out the land revolution, enabling the people of all ethnic groups to gain liberation; during the period of socialist construction, they also worked together with the local people of all ethnic groups to build factories, construct power stations, open shops, build roads, undertake farmland and water conservancy construction, and develop cultural, educational, and health undertakings. In this process, the Han and other ethnic groups helped and cared for one another, forging deep friendship and producing many moving deeds. On February 24, 1953, four members of the special agent 'Longshan Action Group' parachuted into Xiangshuidong in Laifeng County. The people of all ethnic groups and garrison troops in Laifeng County of Enshi Prefecture, Longshan County of Hunan, and Youyang County of Sichuan Province quickly moved out to encircle and suppress them, and on March 1 all the special agents were captured. Zhou Biyu (Tujia), known in Laifeng County as the 'voluntary mother', and her husband Yao Rui (Miao), beginning in 1962, voluntarily took in and raised infants and young children of all ethnic groups who had lost their parents, and voluntarily supported elderly people of all ethnic groups who were widowed, childless, or alone. In more than twenty years, they supported 8 solitary and widowed elderly people and raised 9 orphans, and can be called a model of unity and friendship among the people of all ethnic groups in the Enshi area. Laifeng County and Longshan County of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture are separated by only one river. In 1972, Laifeng County was building the Youshui Bridge. When Longshan County learned of this, it suspended some projects and provided 400 tons of cement free of charge to support the Youshui Bridge project, accelerating the bridge's construction. After completion, the bridge was named 'Unity Bridge'. Huoshuibao in Laifeng County was formerly called 'Wangshuibao'. Several thousand mu of paddy fields there lacked irrigation water, and grain output would decline whenever there was drought. In 1970, Laifeng County planned to build a dam to pump water for irrigation, but it would have submerged dozens of mu of good farmland in Longshan County, so construction was delayed. When Longshan County learned of this, it voluntarily gave up the good farmland to support Laifeng in building the dam. After the dam was completed, Wangshuibao became Huoshuibao. To thank Longshan County for its support, Laifeng County installed a water pump for Longshan County on the dam. Students of all ethnic groups on the border of the two counties could choose freely where to enroll, attending school wherever it was convenient; schools held open classes for each other, carried out sports competitions, and held mutual artistic performances. When people were ill, they sought treatment at whichever hospital was closer. Often one-fourth of the patients hospitalized in Laifeng County Hospital were people of all ethnic groups from Longshan County, and in cases of difficult and complicated diseases, doctors from both sides often held joint consultations. In addition, the people of all ethnic groups in neighboring counties and cities such as Hefeng and Wufeng, Xianfeng and Qianjiang, Lichuan and Wanxian, and Badong and Yichang all formed good ethnic relations through long-term interactions.
Hunan Province also actively took measures to promote local ethnic unity. First, it strengthened publicity and education on ethnic policies. In 1952, the Provincial People's Government issued a notice on studying ethnic laws, regulations, and policy documents, and printed and distributed more than 15,000 copies of various study materials; at the same time, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region compiled and printed Study Documents on Regional Ethnic Autonomy and organized cadres throughout the region to study them; in September 1953, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region Prefectural Committee issued the Instruction on Once Again Carrying Out the Study of Ethnic Policies, calling on cadres throughout the region to study ethnic policies again; in order to understand the implementation of ethnic policies, Hunan conducted two inspections, from the winter of 1952 to the spring of 1953 and on April 1, 1957, respectively. The inspections covered many aspects, including understanding of ethnic work, the training, promotion, and use of ethnic minority cadres, respect for the customs and habits of ethnic minorities, treatment of upper-class figures of ethnic minorities, handling of the opinions and demands of ethnic minorities, and the production and living problems of ethnic minorities. The autonomous prefecture, autonomous counties, and relevant cities and counties also seriously carried out self-inspections by holding ethnic work meetings and fraternal ethnic group forums, summarizing experiences and lessons, and promptly carrying out rectification. Second, it carried out publicity activities to promote ethnic understanding. From May 27 to June 8, 1952, the 'Hunan Fraternal Ethnic Groups Life and Cultural Relics Exhibition' was held in Changsha. The exhibition was divided into 3 exhibition rooms, respectively introducing the history, population distribution, labor and production, clothing, customs and habits, and religious beliefs of Hunan's fraternal ethnic groups. More than 31,000 people visited the exhibition. The three villages of Gexin, Minzhu, and Xinjie in Guzhang County lived in the same mountain valley and drank from the same stream. Gexin Village was at the source at Shutouxi, Minzhu Village was in the middle reaches at Guanba, and Xinjie Village was in the lower reaches at Xiliumo. Gexin and Xinjie were Tujia villages, while Minzhu Village in the middle was a Miao village. The two ends had good natural conditions, while the middle had poor natural conditions, and historically ethnic estrangement was deep. In response to this situation, the work team vigorously publicized the idea of ethnic unity during land reform. The masses in the three villages were deeply educated. When distributing land, the Tujia villages on both sides voluntarily allocated part of the confiscated landlord land to the Miao village in the middle. Ethnic estrangement was eliminated from then on, and ethnic relations tended toward easing. Third, ethnic friendship was enhanced in work. For example, in the process of building infrastructure such as farmland water conservancy and roads and transportation, in order to overcome difficulties and complete tasks, cadres and masses of all ethnic groups helped and encouraged one another, thereby strengthening understanding and unity among ethnic groups, just as a folk song goes: 'The Communist Party, sifting gold, brings the people of all ethnic groups together. Sharing joys and hardships, with good feelings, together building the flowered towers of our homeland.'