The “Red” Land

Shanxi Province is located to the west of Taihang Mountain and in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, featuring a variety of geographical conditions in eastern, western, southern and northern areas. During the annual spring flood (also known as the “peach blossom flood”) of Hukou Waterfall in March, the rapeseed flowers are in full blossom in Pinglu County in the south of the province, and hundreds of swans in the wetland of the Sanmenxia reservoir area are curving the necks to sing to sky. The Lüliang Mountain in the Northern Province, however, shows a totally different view, with snow-covered fields, frozen rivers and barren mountains.

The journey all the way from Piantou Pass, Ningwu Pass, Yanmen Pass, Tianzhen County, Yanggao County, Guangling County, Xing County, to Lin County aroused mixed feelings in us. The beacon towers along the way reminded us of the ancient times while the rural customs enchanted us so much that we'd like to stay forever. However, there's something more that we didn't figure out until we arrived at the office of Gaojiacun Township Government in Xing County and talked with the party secretary Wang Junjie.

Not every writer in Shanxi Province knows about Gaojiacun, but it plays a significant role in Shanxi provincial literature and even contemporary Chinese literature. The Lüliang Heroes , a novel co-written by the renowned contemporary writers Ma Feng and Xi Rong, was produced in a courtyard not far from the government office. Turn left at the gate of the government office, and you'll arrive at the sites of the offices of Kangzhan Ribao (War of Resistance Daily) and Jin-Sui Daily .

The Lüliang Heroes was serialized in the Shanxi-Suiyuan People's Weekly (Jin-Sui dazhong bao), a supplement to the War of Resistance Daily and Jinsui Daily . The editing and printing rooms of the three newspapers were at the same place. The prominent writers, such as Hu Zheng and Shu Wei, and the renowned artists Li Qun and Yan Han once worked there. Today, Gaojiacun has been completely renovated, but we can still imagine the scene of these predecessors dedicated to writing in the earthen caves. These stories were then put in print and delivered to various districts in Jin-Sui border region after a long journey on horseback.

The Party Secretary Wang was familiar with the history during the period. He smiled and said to us, “You are home now.” Gaojiacun is home to many sites related to the CPC. During the period of the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War, Xing County was the center of the Jin-Sui border region, with the regional party committee office, administrative bureaus and military authorities located in the villages nearby Cajiaya and Beipo Village. Perched on the right bank of the Weifen River and at the lower reaches of Caijiaya, Gaojiacun was home to most of the afore-mentioned offices. Mr. Wang showed us one by one on the map.

Walking on the land lent one an illusion of traveling back to history. In reality, the party chief of the township committee bears the largest share of responsibility and pressure in the fight against poverty. Handling a huge amount of work is like getting 1,000 threads through the eye of one needle. Then an old man came in.

The old man had a wrinkled face, thick eyebrows, a straight nose, big eyes, a wide mouth, and a strong and muscular body. He's symbolic of the old men who spend their lives along the Yellow River. At the first glance, he's exactly from the paintings of the renowned artist Liu Wenxi. Such men were dubbed “Shaanxi-Gansu Big Fellow” by local people. The man went straight toward the party secretary and sat down beside him to talk business. He came to help his fellow villagers to apply for subsistence allowance, but he didn't know which department to go to, so he came directly to the party secretary's office.

Secretary Wang smiled helplessly. The man is old enough to be his grandfather. He must help him. He told us that it's common in his daily work.

When the party secretary saw us off, he told us that Heiyukou is one of the 20 beautiful villages to be developed in the Xing County. A tourism belt along the Yellow River shall be developed to fight against poverty. He suggested we should pay a visit to Heiyukou.

At the midstream of the Yellow River, the river fall is over 800 meters. The turbulent river made it difficult for ships to dock, and thus unsuitable for navigation. The Yellow River flows into Shanxi Province from Laoniuwan of Pianguan County, admitting 70-plus tributaries from both sides of Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge. In the process, a lot of sands and rocks are carried into the main stream, elevating the riverbed and leading to a relatively gentle water flow in the upstream. Almost all the ancient ferries in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces were located at the intersection of the tributaries and the main stream.

Shanxi Province is home to a host of ancient ferries. Among the important ones from south to north are Pianguan County's Laoniuwan Ferry where the Hongshi River converges into the Yellow River, Pianguan County's Guanhekou Ferry in Pianguan County where the Guan River flows into the Yellow River, Hequ County's Xunzhen Ferry where Demashui converges into the Yellow River, Baode County's Dongguan Ferry where Zhujiachuan runs into the Yellow River, Xing County's Peijiachuankou Ferry where Lanyi River flows into the Yellow River, Dexing County's Heiyukou Ferry where the Weifen River converges into the Yellow River, Lin County's Qikou Ferry where the Qiushui River flows into the Yellow River, and Liulin County's Sanjiao Ferry where Quchan River converges into the Yellow River. All the rivers run into the Yellow River for different purposes. There's more to these ancient ferries than ingenious design in geography. It's believed that the mountains and the rivers cooperate to provide another means of life for the people on this barren land.

Take Heiyukou Ferry for example. The ferry connecting Shanxi Province with Shaanxi Province served the purpose of warehousing and transshipment. To the west, Heiyukou Ferry links with Shenmu and Yulin in Shaanxi Province, extending all the way to the northwestern China. To the east, it goes over Shaotan (coal-burning) Mountain and Jiehekou Township to connect with Datong and Taiyuan. It's an important distributing center of goods from western and eastern China. The local miscellaneous grains, red dates, and Shanxi merchants' tea, cigarette and silk were shipped from here to the west, while the grain and oil from Suimeng Region (in Inner Mongolia) were shipped along the river to the ferry to be transferred. Therefore, an outpost of the tax office was set up at Heiyukou, guarded by fortifications and turrets stationed with military guards. Shanxi Province's fiscal statistics in 1919 showed that the tax revenue of Heiyukou was higher than that from any other tax office in the province.

All the ancient ferries, especially the famed ones like Heiyukou, Qikou and Sanjiao, formed an economic circle based on the shipping industry. In its heyday, the population at Heiyukou exceeded 1,500, consisting of merchants from Shanxi Province, boatmen from the north, traders from the south, and natives of Beijing, Inner Mongolia and Shandong, who came a long way through the Lüliang Mountain. The neighboring large and affluent villages to the north of Shanxi Province, such as Bicun Village, Zhangjiawan, Wangjiata, as well as Beipo, Caijiaya and Xing County, all followed the lead of Heiyukou to develop commercial trade.

Apart from its economic significance, Heiyukou also plays an important role in military and political affairs. Duan Yun, then-director of the Research Office of the CPC Jin-Sui Committee, wrote an inscription for Heiyukou reading “Cradle of Chinese Civilization, Defense for Shaanxi-Gansu,” with the former part referring to the Yellow River and the latter praising the ancient ferry.

In the spring of 1936, Liu Zhidan led the 26th Division of the Red Army to overcome great difficulties to cross the Yellow River from Heiyukou, before joining the main force of the Red Army that defeated a battalion of the warlord Yan Xishan's army in Shanxi Province. In 1940, after the “December Incident” in 1939, Xing County turned into the military and political center of the Jin-Sui border area, which is why it's dubbed “the second red capital” by the local people. As a bridgehead to defend the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area, Heiyukou facilitated the communications and exchanges between Jin-Sui and Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border regions and the storage and transshipment of strategic resources. Mr. Liu Shaobai, a native of Heiyukou, an early member of the CPC and a prestigious member of the landed gentry, initiated the “Farmers' Bank of Xing County” at Heiyukou together with the famous democrat Niu Youlan, which is the predecessor of the People's Bank of China. In 1991, Zhang Jiafu, former deputy party secretary of the CPC Jin-Sui Committee, passed away, and his ashes was scattered into the Yellow River near Heiyukou as requested in his will.

That's about Heiyukou.

Today, it's still a poverty-stricken village.

However, it's not alone. All the other ancient ferries along the northern main streams of the Yellow River are impoverished as well.

In February, when the spring breeze ruffled the chilling river and the peach and apricot blossoms were still in bud, the farmers were already busy with farm work to deliver the manure to the fields. At the end of the village, the ancient pier looked shabby and unsightly against the magnificent concrete bridge across the river.

We were guided to a small shop at the bridgehead. The first Party Chief Bai Jie posted from the Shanxi Provincial Department of Water Resources lived there, and officials from the township government and the deputy township chief Wang Yaxiong happened to be there when we arrived. In the morning that day, the staff of the Provincial Planning Institute surveyed Heiyunkou to incorporate it into the overall pilot project planning of building beautiful villages. The officials were having discussions about it when we arrived.

The small shop also serves as the village committee office and the e-commerce outlet. It's owned by the party secretary Ren Yaping of the CPC village committee and his family lives in the houses behind the shop. After exchanging greetings, Wang Yaxiong explained that the place is used for meetings since it's a quiet place and it will save the party secretary some time to deal with many other issues.

Wang Yaxiong, though not a native of Heiyukou, knows about the village very well since he has frequented the village since childhood and now serves as a village official.

He briefed us on the poverty alleviation work in the village. Heiyukou is one of the five villages paired with the Provincial Department of Water Resources in poverty alleviation. Under the guidance of the Provincial Department of Water Resources, they integrated various poverty-alleviating funds and invested in the construction of two fish ponds covering an area of 15 mu , with an initial investment of RMB700,000. They decided to develop fishery for the geographical proximity to the Yellow River and the aquaculture tradition among the local people. The fish ponds were built for two purposes. One is to help registered poverty-stricken households get out of poverty, and the other is to develop collective economy. In the previous year, a pilot project involving over 1,000 kilograms of fries was conducted. At the time, the fry rearing center of the Provincial Department of Water Resources in Yongji was preparing to transport the fries to Heiyukou and the plan was to contract out the fish ponds in May. A part of the yield thus generated will be distributed to the impoverished households as dividends, which will increase the per capita income by RMB500, and the rest will be left for the village collective. They focused on rearing the Yellow River carp, catfish and soft-shelled turtle. The local bases of fishery rear mostly local Yellow River fish, with carp fries put in first. Every year, the Provincial Department of Water Resources put 3 million fries in the Yellow River, which turned out to be a huge success. Therefore, to engage in fishery is a secure choice to increase income. Moreover, fishing could be developed as a part of rural tourism under the project of building beautiful villages.

While being asked to give an example of lifting poverty-stricken households out of poverty through industrial development, Wang Yaxiong pointed to a man in the field and said, “You can ask him. He earned over RMB10,000 last year by participating in the construction and management of the fish pond, which helped him shake off poverty.” The man is Ren Guiping, a member of the village committee. He had worked in the Dongsheng District of Erdos in the Inner Mongolia. As Wang Yaxiong spoke to us, the man smiled in agreement.

Despite a glorious history, Heiyukou Village didn't look out of the ordinary. As the economic and political glory faded, the village showed its true color. The villagers left hometown for work by following the route of “going west” since the Qing Dynasty to cross the Yellow River and the desert before settling in Inner Mongolia, which has nothing to do with its political history. Many farmers from the Xing County settled down to make a living in Dongsheng District of Erdos in Inner Mongolia. This is a traditional agricultural reclamation area, along with Wuyuan County, Linhe District and Urad Front Banner in the Bayan Nur City in Inner Mongolia.

In fact, everyone is a stretch of history. You can see the footprints of one's life journey from youth to old age from the wrinkles on his forehead and face.

After the interview, it was already at dusk. We walked our way back along the Yellow River that flows through the village. We felt a bit disappointed for failing to get a glimpse into its glorious history from the villagers' daily life. However, that's life. Those joyous and sad moments just faded like the smoke from chimneys disappearing into the dusk. However, when we talked with Ren Yaping and Ren Guiping about the history of Heiyukouo,Liu Shaobai and his offspring, Liu Yaxiong, Liu Jingxiong, Liu Yicheng, and other heroes in the CPC history and the foundation of the New China, they knew them like the palm of their own hands. They also knew well about the stories of He Long, Zhang Jiafu and Duanyun at Heiyukoou. They even knew where Zhang Wentian, a high-ranking leader of the Communist Party of China, stayed for a survey in the village.

I need not to speak of the numerous martyrs in Heiyukou and Xing County who sacrificed their lives during the War of Resistance against Japan. Nor do I need to mention the invaluable contribution of democrats like Niu Youlan and Wen Qiming who sold family properties to relieve the distress of people during the War of Resistance against Japan. In 1948 and 1949, tens of thousands of officials in Jin-Sui border area were dispatched to join the forces for the westward and southward expeditions. As the central county of the area, Xing County dispatched more than 2,000 officials. “Those officials were all literate!” said Wang Yaxiong. It may not be a large number, but for the county with a population of some 90,000, sending so many literate officials away exerted a lasting impact on the local political, economic and cultural development.

Such a spirit of dedication has become a part of their inner self and spiritual heritage.

During the Anti-Japanese War, the CPC established four anti-Japanese base areas in Shanxi Province, namely, Jin-Sui, Taihang, Taiyue and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei. In Shanxi Province, the two contiguous poverty-stricken areas and 58 national-level and provincial-level poverty-stricken counties covered all parts of Jin-Sui base area and a majority of Taihang, Taiyue and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base areas in Shanxi Province. The anti-poverty fight in Shanxi Province concerns economic development, industrial restructuring and social welfare guarantee for farmers, with political ethnics at heart.

Following the seminar on poverty alleviation for deeply-impoverished areas in Taiyuan, the party secretary Luo Huining of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee noted that to make the selection of Taiyuan for the seminar worthwhile, Shanxi must take the lead to implement the measures and win the fight against the poverty to live up to the expectation held for the “Red” land.

Shanxi Province will fulfil its objectives in poverty alleviation with measures that take full account of the unique situation in the province.