Baotou character: Wen Shan, Manchu official of the Qing Dynasty, in charge of Saraqi

Wenshan, Manchu, white flag people. The year of birth and death is unknown. Red face and white beard. Wear cloth clothes all year round, physical fitness, and high spirits.

In the first year of the Qing Dynasty (1851 AD), Wenshan was the first director of the Salaqi Hall. In the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866 AD) and the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871 AD), he served two more terms as a tongzhi of the Salaqi Department, and presided over the government affairs of Saraqi for 15 years three times, with leniency, simplicity, diligence, outstanding political achievements, and was supported by the people.

When Wen Shan first arrived at the office, he went to the countryside to ask questions and visit the people's feelings. Knowing that the Sulzer River (i.e., the water streams and ditches) flowing through the city of Sarazi flooded every rainy season, flooding the farmland and cottages, and the people were suffering, that is, mobilizing the people, organizing manpower and material resources, heightening and thickening the embankment, planting trees, building gates to divert water for irrigation, and turning harm into profit. On the east side of the mouth of shuijian ditch, a stone gate is dug along the mountain, which can irrigate a large area of farmland around shuijian ditch gate all year round, making the area a famous hometown of melons, fruits and vegetables outside Saiwai.

Since the Qianlong Dynasty, the Yellow River has flowed three times in the southern part of Saraqi, flowing up to the area of Yushuying (4 km east of Saraqi City); the middle stream flows through Baimiaozi (about 19 km south of Saraqi City) Damaodai; and the lower stream is the present-day Yellow River channel. In the sixth year of Qing Tongzhi (1867 AD), the Yellow River broke from near the present-day Dongxing Village, and the water flowed 75 kilometers from west to east, except for the highlands along the mountain, a vast ocean, houses collapsed, villages abandoned, people had no shelter, and livestock had no stables. Wenshan was worried about the people's troubles and ran away to call out. On the one hand, Chen asked his superiors to allocate funds, and on the other hand, he mobilized migrant workers to govern the river, and in the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), he built a dam at the west bend of the river on the other side of Dongxing, blocked the mouth at the breaking of the embankment, and channeled the river water into the southwest, merging the three streams into a river, and obtaining more than 40,000 hectares of land. In the following year, the people moved to reclaim the land and established more than 80 new villages. The Salaqi section of the Yellow River has been effectively managed.

In the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867 AD), the Shaanxi-Gansu Huimin rebel army, encouraged by the defeat of the Qing army in the Western Twister Army, marched east to threaten the Saraqi Hall. It was the winter of that year, and Wenshan set up a regimental defense bureau. The following year, the Siege fort of Sarazi was built. In the eighth year of Tongzhi (1869 AD), the castle was fortified, and the gentry merchants were supervised, and the vigilante groups were trained day and night to patrol the defense. The Huimin rebels were prepared and detoured.

In the eighth year of Tongzhi (1869 AD), Wenshan saved 6,000 strings of money from the cost of organizing regimental defense and building forts, and the loan merchants earned interest as the funds for the establishment of public schools.

In the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870 AD), Wenshan obtained the balance from the construction fee, purchased a wasteland in Kobakulun in the east of the city, built a righteous garden, and buried the homeless. There are several houses in the garden, widely planted willows, and there are special guards. It was a tomb with the same name as the Muslim Tomb (Huimin Tomb) at that time.

Wenshan adjudicated the law, sober-minded, quick to reflect, able to speak eloquently, diligent in investigation, impartial in making decisions, handling many backlog and difficult cases, which was praised by the local people.

The water distribution mechanism of the original Wudanggou was extremely unreasonable, and whenever water was sent, the peasants in the villages of Present-day Shaerqin and Dongyuan along the coast, under the control of powerful figures, often fought and fought for water, causing human lives, causing village enmity, and the two sides often went to the Saraqi Yamen to confront the court, not only did not resolve the contradictions and disputes, but also intensified. After Wen shan took office, in order to properly handle water conservancy disputes, he personally went to the scene to investigate and investigate with the people, and stipulated a fair and reasonable solution: Build a reservoir and a water distribution tank at the mouth of the ditch, divide the ditch water evenly into two groups, one into the east canal and one into the west canal, and the villages along the canal will be watered according to shares, and there will be no dispute over water from then on.

According to rumors, there is a rich family Xiao Mao in Saraqi City, who originally married a woman from Banshengqi Village, known as Xiao Mao's wife. His personality is stubborn and competitive, and he never lets people. Later, Xiao Mao took another young and beautiful woman as a concubine, and Xiao Mao's wife rebelled, and the two sides separated. Xiao Mao's wife went to the Saraqi government office one after another. As the saying goes, "it is difficult for a clean official to decide on family affairs", and several chief political officials have not solved this case. Soon after Wen Shan arrived at his post, Xiao Mao's wife came to file a complaint again, and Wen Shan found out that the two sides had formed a grudge and carried out a good persuasion and a fair and reasonable solution, and both sides were very satisfied. When Wen Shan left office, Xiao Mao's wife took a basin of clear water, took a mirror, and waited with everyone on the side of the road outside the East Gate, and saw Wen Shan sitting on a palanquin, she knelt on the ground, held the basin in her hand, held up the mirror, and praised: "The great old man is as clear as water, bright as a mirror, just like Bao Wenzheng of the Song Dynasty!" Wen Shan heard the sound and hurriedly got out of the car, and replied humorously: "Since ancient times, the officials and officials are not clear, and the family business has been damaged for a long time!" Xiao Mao's wife realized the meaning of Wenshan's words, and she never had a dispute or lawsuit with Xiao Mao in the future.

Wen Shan was an official in Sarazi, living frugally and caring for the people's livelihood. When raising funds for the training regiment and the construction of the city siege, Wenshan took the lead in donating 600 taels of silver, and successively raised 120,000 and 30,000 taels of silver, and did a lot of things. In the eighteenth year of the Qing Dynasty (1892 AD), the Saraqi area suffered natural disasters, the people were hungry and cold, and Wenshan generously donated money to help the victims of the disaster thousands of gold at a time.

Wenshan was very generous in his donations to the people, but his furniture was very small, and when Guangxu left office in the fifth year (1879 AD), he had nothing in his hands and was too poor to start the journey, thanks to the travel expenses that Sarazi "Da Xing" had collected shares to give him to "move his seat" at that time.

Wenshan has been in power in Sarazi for 15 years, and has done many practical and good things that are beneficial to the local area and the people, and has won the love and support of the local people. When the second sa hall was known, the first county welcomed; on the day of leaving office, the residents climbed and asked to stay; after going, the Wenshan Ancestral Hall was specially built, and the statue was enshrined.

During Wenshan's reign in charge of the Saraqi Hall, in the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873 AD), the Filial Piety Shrine was built, and the 16 clan arches of Zhang and Ma were erected.

Source: Baotou City Chronicle, Volume 1, June 2007. Huang Xiang (Yin Shan Worm) finished in December 2021