I worked as a journalist for many years, and then I went to Indonesia to write biographies of overseas Chinese figures. In October 2014, at the invitation of the Literary Association of Baoding City, Hebei Province, I was asked to write a literary biography of a Baoding anti-Japanese hero, founding major general, and the late former secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, Liu Bingyan. In this way, I hurried back to Baoding from Bandung, Indonesia, and interviewed and wrote in this ancient city for half a year, and since then I have never forgotten Baoding and am full of affection.
Among the countless dialects of Chinese, I, a southerner, especially like to listen to Baoding people.
Baoding people don't speak as straight as Shandong dialect, so hard, always slow and rational, slow and leisurely, that is called steady. Of course, this is not a lover talking about love under the moon before the flower, usually talking is this taste, even when angry and quarrelsome, it will not change. There is a line in the movie "Can't Eat Hot Tofu in a Hurry": "I'll just stand here grinning, you say how zhou (huh)?" Tall general grin? I'm not going to die with the brick row (I'm standing here, you say what's the matter?). What's wrong with being tall? I can't shoot you with bricks)! ”
You see, arguing with people is also a slow and leisurely, making people really lose their temper. The arrogant and straightforward Shandong people will never be so calm when they are angry.
Baoding people do not speak as concisely and sharply as Tianjin dialect, the word becomes two words to say, the two words become a word, baoding people speak with toughness, just like noodles made of good flour, tendons, sticky, and strong. It is often said that Baoding Province has three treasures: iron balls, pickles, and spring is not old. Baoding dialect also has something to do with this, "sweet noodle sauce taste". Baoding people love to turn the "child's pronunciation" apart and say, for example, noodles - er, small spoon - er, old man - er, jujube - er, knife - er... Listen to the conversation between the two old Baoding people: "Did you eat well in the morning?" (What kind of food to eat in the morning)" "No province (what) is it, eat a bowl of noodles-------------------------------------------------------- "How's it going?" It tastes like a lot! However, Baoding people do not all say this, for those large objects, generally do not say so, no one has heard Baoding people say high-rise buildings - children, big trees - children.
Let's talk about Baoding's past and present, and her history as a provincial capital that has changed several times and finally moved out.
Baoding is directly subordinate to the Governor's Office.
Turning to the map of China, we can see that the northern part of the vast North China Plain is the capital of China, Beijing, and the seat of the two municipalities directly under the central government of Tianjin. In addition, there are Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Handan, the four major cities of Hebei Province, from north to south, distributed in the combination of the Taihang Mountains and the North China Plain. Among the four historical cities, Baoding's geographical location is particularly special, because Baoding is too close to Beijing. We all know that Liu Bei, the ancestor of the Shu Han Dynasty, was a native of Zhuo County, Zhuo County, which is zhuozhou city managed by Baoding City, which is only a step away from Beijing.
Some historians pointed out: "After the Qing Dynasty settled Beijing from Outside guanwai, baoding's gains and losses became very important. From the perspective of the Qing Dynasty, from the south of Beijing, the Qing Dynasty controlled Baoding, it could control the North China Plain, and at the same time it could use Baoding as a springboard to enter Shanxi. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty issued orders to the whole country in The Capital Division, and Baoding can be said to be the first stop, and its status is extraordinary. The Qing Dynasty established a direct subordinate, and its jurisdiction included the present-day Hebei Province, as well as the two cities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as some areas in central Inner Mongolia. Of course, the purpose of setting up a province directly under the central government is to better lay a strategic wall for the capital. Under this strategic consideration, the directly subordinate provincial capitals are placed in a way that is exquisite. At that time, there was no Shijiazhuang, but there was Zhengding Province (正定府) (present-day Zhengding, Hebei). However, Zhengding and Xingtai and Handan are a little far from Beijing, and if there is anything in the imperial court, the governor directly under the governor needs to know it at the first time and deal with it in time, and Baoding is undoubtedly the most appropriate. ”
At present, Baoding City covers an area of about 22,000 square kilometers, with 5 municipal districts, 15 counties and 4 county-level cities. Many of Baoding's subordinate counties and cities are famous, such as Yi County, Laishui, Gaobeidian, Zhuozhou, Xushui, Gaoyang, Anguo, Mancheng, Wangdu, Dingzhou, Fuping, and now the famous Xiongxian and Anxin. Baoding is very famous in the country, about two things, one of which is food. There are two places in Hebei that are famous for donkey meat fires, one is hejian (belonging to Cangzhou City) donkey meat fire, and the other is Baoding donkey meat fire. Hejian donkey meat fire is generally rectangular, the skin is slightly thinner, Baoding donkey meat fire is generally round, the skin is slightly thicker.
Another thing is a slip of the tongue related to Baoding, that is, the famous phrase "Jingyouzi, WeiZuizi, the dog's leg of Baoding Province." "It is said that Beijing and Tianjin have slippery tongues, and Baoding has a dog leg outside the admiration of the ocean, which is very unfair to Baoding." Baoding has dog legs? Which city doesn't have a few dog legs yet? No matter which city has dog legs, it is a minority, why let Baoding carry this black pot? Many of Baoding's warm-blooded sons and daughters stepped forward at the time of national disaster, regardless of their personal safety, they are heroes.
Baoding Military Academy Square relief wall.
Too long history, let's not talk about it, let's start with Baoding in the 1930s.
Everyone knows that in the past three hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, in 182 years, the Governor's Office was directly subordinate to Baoding, and its yamen level and the power of the governor were so great that it ranked first among the eight governors in the country. Therefore, Baoding, an ancient city on the Jizhong Plain, can be called a collection of humanities, a deep heritage, and the prosperity and bustle of once upon a time can be imagined.
However, it is said that "feng shui takes turns, next year to my home", but it may also be the turn of someone else's home, at least for Baoding. The once prominent political status was greatly degraded at the beginning of the Republic of China.
Baoding old photos.
After the Second Opium War, Tianjin was opened as a treaty port, allowing Britain, France, and Russia to establish concessions. In the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), the Qing government set up the "Three Ports of Trade and Commerce Minister", stationed in Tianjin, in charge of two treaty ports in Niuzhuang, Liaodong and Dengzhou, Shandong, under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department of State Affairs, and had the power to "handle it with Yin Shangtong, the governor of the three provinces in case of any situation".
Since the opening of the port, Tianjin has gradually become the economic center of North China, "when the land is nine rivers and nine rivers, the road is through the seven provinces of boats", far better than the isolated inland city of Baoding. In the era of Li Hongzhang, the office of the governor directly under the governor remained in Baoding, and the office in Tianjin was called "Xingguan".
Directly subordinate to Governor Li Hongzhang.
In the 27th year of Guangxu (1902), the new governor yuan shikai went to the imperial court and officially moved the governor Yamen to Tianjin. During the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China, whether as a military chief directly subordinate to the overseer and supervisor, or as a directly subordinate inspector and governor of the civil chief, he was stationed in Tianjin.
In 1913, Baoding's 244-year history of directly subordinate provincial capitals quietly ended, and the glorious historical tragedy of the first provincial capital of "Hebei Northern Gancheng, Dunan Pinghan" came to an end. The provincial capital moved to Tianjin, and the members of the family and servants took the chariots, ma Xiaoxiao dusted south, or drifted down the water, directly to the Wuli Yangchang in Tianjin Wei.
A group of Westerners gathered under the station signs of The Baoding Railway Station, filmed between 1915 and 1920. Source: Phoenix Weekly
In the Battle of the Central Plains in 1930, Zhang Xueliang led the Northeast Army into Guanguan to occupy Pingjin, and in October ordered the capital of Hebei Province to be moved back to Tianjin. In June 1936, in response to the withdrawal of the Central Army of the Nationalist Government brought about by the "North China Incident" of the previous year, Baoding finally became the capital of Hebei Province again, and the general of the Northwest Army, Feng Zhi'an, served as the chairman of the province.
Although the level of provincial capital was restored, Baoding at this time had long since declined and was reduced to a dilapidated town. The county chronicle of Qingyuan, its first county, lamented: "In the past, the metropolis was ruled by ordinary counties, and since the coup d'état, the provincial capital has moved to Tianjin, and all the departments have been abolished, and only Yin Xuan of Baoding Dao has also been abolished, leaving only the county bureau and the public security bureau, and several other counties, or not yet prosperous a town." Merchants also withered because of this. ”
Baoding Chengguan old photo.
In the same period, Shijiazhuang, which has always been dismissively described by Baoding people as "a small rural zhuangzi", but because of the convenience of the Beijing-Hankou and Zhengtai railway hubs, the population soared to 90,000 people, and the scale at this time exceeded that of Baoding. It was not until 1935, when the capital of Hebei Province moved to Baoding again, that the population of Baoding City rose to more than 80,000 people. The popularity of the city is not strong, and there is less support for industry and commerce. According to records, the area of Baoding Old Town in the early 1930s was only: "The circumference is 12 miles and 330 steps, and only the West Street in the city is the most prosperous." ”
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Hebei Provincial Government wandered outside the province, and Baoding became nominal as the provincial capital.
When the Executive Yuan of the National Government of Nanjing discussed the seat of the capital of Hebei Province in 1934, it believed that although Beiping was an ancient cultural capital and Tianjin was commercially developed, it was still not caught compared with the advantages of bao's positioning in the center of the province and convenient transportation, so it decided to move the capital of Hebei Province back to Baoding. After the outbreak of the "July 7" Incident in 1937, the original judgment became prescient, and the Military Commission of the National Government set up a camp in Baoding, so that Baoding had a more important status as the military center of the North China War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression above the status of the provincial capital.
On September 24, 1937, the 2nd and 47th Divisions of the Chinese army defending Baoding withdrew, and Hebei Province fell into the hands of the Japanese army. Prior to this, the Hebei provincial government had withdrawn with the ranks of provincial chairman Feng Zhi'an. In the next eight years, the five successive provincial chairmen of Hebei Province were all concurrently served by soldiers, and all of them came from the Feng Yuxiang Nationalist Army system, and they either returned to Hebei Province to guerrillas or fought outside Hebei Province, and the provincial government also followed them inside and outside the province. The provincial capital, Baoding, became a distant symbol.
In June 1938, Feng Zhi'an handed over the provincial chairmanship to his old superior, Lu Zhonglin, who was also the commander-in-chief of the Hebei guerrilla army and was responsible for opening up guerrilla areas behind enemy lines. Lu Zhonglin set up a military and political team in Wuhan, Hubei Province, went to Luoyang, Henan Province, to receive the staff of the Feng Zhi'an Provincial Government, and shipped 10 million yuan of Hebei Provincial Bank notes out of the province, based on which to start the journey.
Lu Zhonglin led the provincial government from Luoyang to cross the Yellow River in the north, bypass jincheng, Changzhi, and Liao counties, cross the Taihang Mountains to the east into the North China Plain, and then sneak through the Pinghan Railway at night, arriving at The Nangong in Hebei Province in September 1938 and opening an office in Beidu Village. For a time, Nangong became the center of Hebei's enemy rear, not only with the support of the Eighth Route Army, but even Shen Honglie, another senior member of the state government and chairman of Shandong Province, who insisted behind enemy lines, also rushed to Nangong to hold a meeting to discuss the anti-Japanese issues behind enemy lines.
Unity did not last long, and contradictions arose between Lu Zhonglin and Zhang Yinwu, director of the Civil Affairs Department, and Yang Xiufeng, director of the Ji'nan Administrative Office. The three parties not only handled their own schools, recruited trainees to train cadres, but also sent county chiefs to each county, plus officials of the puppet regime, and the spectacle of one county with four county chiefs appeared in the southern Hebei region.
The Japanese army will not allow Lu Zhonglin's provincial government to sit in Hebei and launch a continuous sweep to strike at it. Although Lu Zhonglin has the title of "Commander-in-Chief of the Jicha Theater," he does not have many troops that he can really grasp. At the beginning of the Japanese encirclement and suppression, Lu Zhonglin was still able to maneuver around Nangong and Jixian, but later he could only retreat westward, and after 22 days of arduous trekking, he returned to the Taihang Mountains. On the way, officials of all sizes left the team, and finally there was only one secretary left in the entire provincial government, Liang Haoran, who was immediately promoted to chief secretary by Lu Zhonglin.
As the friction between the Kuomintang and the Communists became more and more intense, the Kuomintang army behind enemy lines was gradually squeezed out of Hebei, and Lu Zhonglin could only leave the Taihang Mountains to return to Luoyang, leaving the provincial chairman and the provincial government to Pang Bingxun to take over. The latter, who was also the commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army, chairman of the Hebei Provincial Government and director of the provincial party department, fought guerrillas in the mountainous areas between Henan Linxian County, Shanxi XiangXian county and Hebei Ci County.
According to Hu Menghua, secretary general of the provincial government, the Kuomintang army was still strong in Hebei Province at that time, "occupying a few scattered villages such as Zhengding County in District 7, Ji County in District 8, Wuqiao in District 9, and a small part of several counties such as Puyang," but it was already quite weak, and "the four administrative commissioners Zhang Xingchen, Shao Hongji, Zhang Guoji, and Ding Shuben all led only limited security forces, rushing east and west, and facing precariously." Therefore, he suggested to Pang Bingxun, "If the provincial government acts with the army now, it will not help you, but will increase your burden", it is better to leave the provincial government in Luoyang. Pang readily agreed until he was defeated and captured in May 1943.
After that, Ma Fawu, who succeeded Pang Bingxun as the commander of the 40th Army, also acted as the chairman of Hebei Province. The Hebei provincial government remained in Luoyang until 1944. In April, the Japanese launched "Operation No. 1", captured Xuchang, threatened Luoyang, and the Hebei provincial government moved to Xi'an, Shaanxi, and then evacuated to Mei County.
In July 1945, Sun Lianzhong, the successor provincial chairman, took office in Mei County. A month later, japan surrendered, the anti-japanese war was victorious, the Hebei provincial government first returned to Xi'an, and then arrived in Zhengzhou, but in the end failed to return home smoothly, and the white-hot conflict between the Kuomintang and the Communists shattered their hopes. In October 1945, the Kuomintang army preparing to take over Hebei was defeated by the Eighth Route Army in Handan, and the former acting provincial chairman Ma Fawu led an uprising.
Hebei provincial government personnel concentrated in Xinxiang could not return to the province by land, so they could only wait for planes to be airlifted to Beiping one after another and temporarily work at the Iron Lion Tomb in the city. It was not until July 1946 that the Hebei provincial government was listed in Baoding again, ending a nine-year wandering outside the provincial capital. However, only 15 months later, as the situation of the Kuomintang-Communist War changed, the Hebei provincial government once again left the provincial capital and moved to Beiping, and finally accepted the peaceful reorganization of the People's Liberation Army along with General Fu Zuoyi.
There is a torii-style "gate" on the east and west sides of the gate of the Governor's Office.
The choice between industry and history
In September 2019, Mr. Wang Jian published an article entitled "Crusoe in the Capital of Hebei Province" published by Hong Kong's Phoenix Weekly, detailing the ins and outs of Baoding's defeat in the "contest" with the provincial capital city of Shijiazhuang before and after the founding of New China.
In November 1947, when the field army of the North China Military Region of the People's Liberation Army captured Shijiazhuang, the commander-in-chief Zhu De praised it as "a precedent for capturing large cities" and said that the battle "shook the confidence of the enemy in defending large cities ... We ourselves have more confidence in hitting the big cities."
In September 1948, after the People's Liberation Army occupied Baoding, the People's Daily editorial praised "the recovery of a famous city in North China ... Shijiazhuang, which is not the only people, is more secure as a rock, and Baoding will always be owned by the people." It can be seen that Baoding and Shijiazhuang had comparable qualifications at that time, Shijiazhuang was characterized by "big cities", and Baoding was only a "famous city".
Baoding in the 1950s and 1960s.
The train runs fast, all thanks to the headband. The provincial capital is the leader of a province's economic development, and what kind of city to choose as the provincial capital is directly related to how a province positions its future development direction. In the 1950s, the Hebei Provincial Party Committee believed that Baoding, with a population of 100,000, "lacked the conditions for building industry, and it is rare to become an industrial city in the future", "the provincial capital is located in Baoding, and it is difficult to adapt to new leadership tasks", from 1952 onwards, it has successively asked the North China Bureau, hoping to relocate the provincial capital to Shijiazhuang, a "typical modern industrialized city" with a population of 270,000, which fully reflects the expectations of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee for itself.
In 1954, the central government approved the adjustment of the capital of Hebei Province to Shijiazhuang, and the construction plan of the new provincial capital was immediately launched in the province. However, a year later, in August 1955, due to economic difficulties, the central government put forward the instruction of "practicing comprehensive economy and opposing all waste", and the construction of a new provincial capital and the relocation of provincial organs were also among them, and the first relocation attempt of the Hebei Provincial Congress after 1949 came to an end.
Old photos of Shijiazhuang.
However, Hebei Province's pursuit of the industrial capital is not only not over, but even higher. In 1952, Chahar Province was abolished, and the provincial capital Zhangjiakou was transferred to Hebei Province. In 1955, Rehe Province was abolished, and the provincial capital Chengde was transferred to Hebei Province. However, these two provincial capitals are located on the border, and the economic development is not as good as Baoding, which is naturally not the goal of Hebei Province to relocate the provincial capital. This wave of administrative division adjustment has enlightened Hebei Province.
In April 1956, the Hebei Provincial Party Committee submitted to the Central Committee the "Report on The Proposal of the Central Committee to Merge Tianjin with Hebei Province into one establishment and make Tianjin the capital of Hebei Province", setting its sights on Tianjin, a larger industrial city than Shijiazhuang. With the efforts of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, in February 1958, the National People's Congress agreed to change Tianjin from a municipality directly under the central government to a municipality under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province, and in April the Hebei Provincial People's Congress passed a resolution to move the provincial capital to Tianjin. Various projects were carried out, zuo jiaxin recalled: "Our hospital is the forerunner of the project, and after arriving in Tianjin without stopping, it accepted a number of engineering construction projects such as the provincial capital hall, conference building, and hotel. ”
Shijiazhuang Railway Station, built in the 1970s.
The capital of Hebei Province was located in Tianjin for 9 years, and finally changed in 1966, Tianjin became a municipality directly under the central government again, and the capital of Hebei Province was adjusted back to Baoding. However, in the political situation at that time, the provincial organs were able to return to Baoding office, all depending on their own strength. The provincial party committee and the provincial people's committee were stationed in Baoding's urban area, while other units were scattered around Baoding, and Feng Shibin, former director of the Archives Bureau of Hebei Province, gave an example: "Such as the Provincial Health Department, stationed in Zhuo County; the Provincial Grain Department, stationed in Wangdu County; the Provincial Department of Education, stationed in Dingxing County; and the Provincial Forestry Bureau, stationed in Yi County." Some units are large in scale and have many personnel, so they have to disperse the offices of several counties", the Provincial Machinery Industry Department went directly to Shijiazhuang, and the Provincial Capital Construction Bureau had nowhere to go, so it simply stayed in Tianjin to continue its office.
This situation was obviously difficult to maintain, and finally in 1968, the provincial capital was moved to Shijiazhuang again.
In detail, Hebei Province actually moved 11 times in the 20th century, and the number of times the provincial government moved is innumerable. The dust finally settled in 1968, and Shijiazhuang became the youngest provincial capital in the country at that time.
Today's Shijiazhuang city is a skim.
Although the provincial capital has not changed since then, there are still twists and turns. In 1972, Hebei suddenly moved his mind to move the provincial capital back to Baoding, and finally ended up because Premier Zhou Enlai instructed "the provincial capital not to move again", which became the last scene of crusoe in the capital of Hebei Province in the 20th century. It hasn't changed for 53 years.
There are many famous cities in Hebei Province, Baoding, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, Handan, the capital of zhao in the Warring States, and Tangshan, an important industrial town... Each one is well-known throughout the country, and the provincial capital eventually falls in the young Shijiazhuang, although there is a coincidence, it is also the trend of the times, and the cause and effect are intriguing.
A corner of Baoding city in 2016.