【Hundred Years of Struggle and Set Sail for a New Journey, the Spiritual Pedigree of Chinese Communists】Jiao Tong, Changqing’s spirit will last forever
In Lankao, Henan, a small paulownia planted by Jiao Yulu, the “good public servant of the people”, now has a canopy like a cloud. It is surrounded by more than 5 meters thick and 26.4 meters high. Everyone affectionately calls it “Jiao Tong”.
Among the ten thousand woods, this tree is really unique. It is the tallest among the Lankao Paulownias. There is no shortage of popularity under the tree, and countless visitors are welcomed every year.
“This paulownia tree has become a symbol of Jiao Yulu’s spirit”, there is such a sentence in the “Jiao Tong” profile carved on the stone tablet.
One person, one tree, one spirit. In Lankao, “Jiao Tong” is a tree that grows in the hearts of the people of Lankao, and it is also the spiritual tree of the world. This is a kind of popular sentiment-Communists always stand at the forefront of the times, defying difficulties, and lead the masses to seek happiness and development; this is a kind of people’s supremacy-Communists are firmly rooted in the masses and practice The original intention was to be with the people and to work together.
The stele is not self-reliant, its name is passed on from person to person
“After I died, there was only one request, asking the party organization to transport me back to Lankao and bury me in the sand dunes.” Jiao Yulu once said such a sentence before his death.
Where are the sand dunes? When tourists come to Lankao, they can’t help but ask.
Today’s Lankao, the sand dunes have become fertile ground. The former saline-alkali land and “old barren beach” are gone, millions of acres of “three hazards” land has been turned into good land; Qionggougou has become one of the country’s important grain production bases, and wheat, cotton, and oilseeds are among the top 100 in the country; both sides of the strait The Yellow River wetlands attract more than 200 wild animals and birds such as wild geese, egrets and swans to inhabit and multiply every year.
In December 1962, Jiao Yulu was transferred to Lankao County Party Secretary. At that time in Lankao, wind and sand were raging, and the sand killed a crop together, and an acre of land could not even receive 40 catties of wheat. The predicament of “famine pressure, population exodus, and cadres’ worries” is well-known far and wide.
“I’d rather die by myself than let the people starve to death.” Facing the three “big mountains” of waterlogging, sandstorms, and salinity, Jiao Yulu, who had just arrived in Lankao, took the post of leading the people into the struggle to seal sand, control water, and improve land. At the same time, he has to work hard to overcome his own “trilemma”: the work difficulties of serving as the secretary of the county party committee in the hardest-hit area without a party in power, the living difficulties of reducing wages by a large percentage according to the area where he works, and the physical difficulties caused by malnutrition liver disease.
In Lankao, those who have reached the age still remember that when it was windy and rainy, Secretary Jiao never sat in the office: the wind and sand were billowing, it was when he checked the wind and the quicksand; when the heavy rain was pouring, it was he who wandered through the flood and watched the flow. When the snow flies, it is when he visits the poor and pays for food.
The monument is not self-reliant, and its name is passed on from person to person. Lankao people often say that since Jiao Yulu came to Lankao, everyone felt that he had never left.
A scene of greenery, rich for the people of the village
When he came to Lankao and saw the sand dunes that year, Jiao Yulu blurted out: “If you plant a tree, isn’t it a good green forest!”
Knowing that paulownia can block wind, press sand, and consolidate soil, and that it is particularly suitable for the saline-alkali sandy land of Lankao, Jiao Yulu organized the cadres and the masses to plant paulownia on a large scale and suggested that paulownia be renamed “Lan Tong”.
Paulownia thus entered the struggling history of Lankao people.
Jiao Yulu is always a doer. During the 475 days of working in Lankao, Jiao Yulu got the method of planting paulownia trees in the sandy nest in the cow house of the old breeder Xiao Weifen, which can prevent wind and fix sand and conserve water; he saw the villagers turn the silt out to press the tomb and keep out the wind. To fix the sand, he came up with the method of turning over the silt and pressing the sand, that is, “plastering” the sand to control the wind and sand… Paulownia “domesticated” the land, the intercropping of agricultural trees, the forest is rich and the grain is abundant, the scenery is green, the industry is prospered, and the industry is rich. A villager.
Today, Jiao Yulu’s spirit is interpreted in the “Paulownia Economy”. “Paulownia has a uniform structure, is not easily deformed, and has strong resonance. It is a good raw material for making guqin. Experts say that paulownia is a’breathing wood’!” In the e-commerce industrial park in Lankao County, young workers use the online platform to Selling self-made processed musical instruments, furniture, and plates to all parts of the country, it has created more than 40,000 jobs and has an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan. The paulownia tree planted at the time not only became a national musical instrument, but also became the “code” for the people in Lankao to get rich and to be well-off.
“It’s like a book that can never be finished, often read often new”
In the Comrade Jiao Yulu Memorial Hall, a wicker chair often pulls people who come to pay their respects back to the historical scene.
In September 1963, Jiao Yulu’s liver disease was already very serious. When in meetings, making reports, and listening to reports, he always stepped on his right foot on a chair and raised his right knee against the painful liver. “After a long time, a big hole was punched out on the right side of the wicker chair he was sitting on. The pain eased slightly, Jiao Yulu personally used rattan sticks to repair the hole in the wicker chair. But soon, the wicker chair reappeared. It was broken. Even so, he never wanted to get a new one!” Dong Yana, deputy curator of the Comrade Jiao Yulu Memorial Hall, is too familiar with this wicker chair.
In her eyes, through this old rattan chair, people can see what a “good cadre of the people” is and understand what a “real Communist” is.
Counting from being a lecturer in 1994, Dong Yana has spoken about Jiao Yulu’s deeds for 27 years. Every day, tourists from all over the country come to listen and learn. From 2015 to 2020, the memorial has received 14.52 million party members and cadres. So far, this year’s reception volume has exceeded 1 million.
There is no moral higher than loving the people, and no higher morality is better than benefiting the people. Dong Yana said that the more you talk about Jiao Yulu’s spirit, the more you can feel the preciousness and greatness of it.
Spirit appeals to the masses, and faith unites people’s hearts. At the Jiao Yulu Spirit Experience Base, digging ditches and draining water, pulling the arable land, burying pots for cooking… The labor education for learning Jiao Yulu’s spirit is the most popular course for grade school students.
“Learning Jiao Yulu’s spirit is not only static listening and watching, but also dynamic experience and feeling.” Guo Ningtao, principal of Zhangzhuang Primary School in Lankao County, said that by personally turning over the silt sand and experiencing farming culture, the children realized that Jiao Yulu led the masses back then. The hardships of fighting against the sky.
In Lankao County Administrative Service Center, the “Jiao Yulu People’s Heart Hotline” has been integrated into the “12345” People’s Voice Hotline, which handles inquiries concerning people’s livelihood throughout the county and assumes the important task of serving the people. In the hearts of the masses, when they encounter troubles and worries, they go to the township social situation and public opinion service center to talk about it, and they will soon receive a reply from the local leader.
Yu Jiaxi
.