Shijiazhuang memory nine, stadium
Chang'an Stadium is very close to home, naturally it has become a frequented place, which is the paradise we once had, carrying the happiness of our youth and leaving many memories.
Built in 1956, the Chang'an Stadium is characterized by its humble, five-story stands of gray brick and cement surrounded by a 400-meter circular track paved with black slag and a mutilated football field with lawns, several bunkers, a wide podium facing west and east, a row of small bungalows hidden in the woods, which is the seat of the Municipal Sports Commission, and a row of bungalows on the south side, which is the venue for table tennis and other sports, surrounded by many large trees and large open spaces overgrown with weeds There is an abandoned red chamber in the southwest, and in the east stands a towering skydiving tower, and to the east of the tower is a small low earthen mountain. That's all there is to the stadium.
Although the stadium was lackluster, it was attractive to us because of the skydiving training, football matches and large wilderness.
Known as the "movement of the brave"
Skydiving emerged as a national defense sport in the mid-1950s. In 1955, the Beijing Skydiving Sports Club was established, and a parachute tower with three steel arms outstretched appeared on the shore of Longtan Lake outside ChongwenMen. From 1956 to 1960, 15 skydiving towers were built across the country, and the Shijiazhuang Skydiving Tower was one of them. Shijiazhuang Skydiving Tower was built in 1957, completed in 1959, the tower is about 58 meters high, above the tower platform has a steel arm of about ten meters long extended to the four sides; the tower has a spiral staircase inside the tower, leading to the tower near the top of the tower, the tower is one meter wide, a total of five or six people can stand. This was the second commanding height of Shijiazhuang at that time, standing on the tower and looking up, the whole Shijiazhuang could be seen from afar.
For a while, we went to watch skydiving almost every day after school. There is a steel cable on the steel arm, one end connected to the parachute release hook and the other end to the hoist. The operator controls the hoist to lift the eight-meter diameter parachute ring, under which a parachute is suspended and the athlete sits on it. The circle of the landing site is drawn in white ash on the ground. Athletes adjust the paraglider rope to approach the target according to the wind speed and direction. We watched the athletes rise and jump, and we couldn't get tired of watching. In an era when entertainment was scarce, this brought us great joy.
In 1981, the state canceled the skydiving competition for the parachute tower, and the paragliding began to become popular at the end of the 1980s, the decline of the parachute tower skydiving came to an end, and the parachute tower was also demolished.
In the 1960s, mass sports were very active, football was the most popular, the major factories and mining enterprises had their own teams, the fertilizer factory team and the four major cotton spinning mill teams were famous, the stadium often held ball games, and the stadium was open to spectators like clouds. Our brothers are fans, after growing up, the eldest brother once represented a certain unit of the People's Liberation Army to participate in the national league, and the younger brother was also selected for the Shijiazhuang middle school student team. At that time we had the ball to see the field not fall. Shijiazhuang fans are enthusiastic and civilized, every game, the whole audience is in a high mood, people in the back row always stand up to watch, someone is anxious for the players who are approaching the goal but are slow to get out of the way, and they can't help but lift their feet and kick the audience in front of them.
In the mid-1960s, model aircraft competitions were often held in the city. The "National Defense Sports Club" formed by the merger of the skydiving model aircraft motorcycle club is located in the office of the Municipal Sports Commission. I also participated in the production of model aircraft under the guidance of a small hair. We bought parts from the club and polished them, made glue from thin and scrap film, and glued the parts together to make airplane models. For many years, he has often participated in model aircraft competitions and won frequent awards.
In 1965, the school assigned a young teacher as our class teacher, his name was Wang Zhonghe, changed to Wang Weihong during the Cultural Revolution, he was extremely enthusiastic about work, with his family connections, arranged for us to go to the Municipal Sports Committee for table tennis training, and the coaches were athletes. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, just after learning the two basic actions of pushing and shoving, the Cultural Revolution outbreak training was suspended. At that time, the sports work was completely stopped, but this did not affect us to go to the stadium to play, we went to catch crickets during the day, and in the evening we went to dig up monkeys, and we spent a lot of time enjoying ourselves.
After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, Chang'an District was renamed Dongfang Red District, Chang'an Road was changed to Dongfang Red Road, and Chang'an Stadium was naturally changed to Dongfang Red Stadium, which became the venue for Shijiazhuang to hold a city-wide conference. On February 3, 1968, the Revolutionary Committee of Hebei Province was established, and a grand celebration was held here, followed by a huge parade along the "Dongfang Red Road".
In 1972, the stadium was renovated and expanded, and in 1982, the cultural revolution was removed and the name of Chang'an Stadium was restored.
In 1992, the stadium ushered in a bright moment, Hong Kong tycoon Zheng Yutong invested 350 million yuan to build the Yutong International Sports Center on the original site of the stadium, which covers a total area of more than 100,000 square meters and the total height of the main structure is 45.88 meters. This is a combination of commercial and physical buildings, divided into two floors, the first floor is Yutong Sports Commercial Plaza, an area of nearly 50,000 square meters, the second floor is a large suspended international standard football field supported by 800 stone pillars, which is the only "green field in the air" in the country, with an area of more than 50,000 square meters and a venue that can accommodate more than 32,000 spectators. Since 2013, it has been the home of Shijiazhuang Yongchang, the Chinese professional football league, and as the host of the Chinese Super League, the number of spectators in each game exceeded 25,000. In 2015, Shijiazhuang had its own Chinese Super League team, the fans had their own "association", and one of my technical school classmates served as the president. Shijiazhuang fans cheer for their team in a unique way, and with enthusiasm and civilization, make Yutong International Sports Center the home of the devil who is unbeaten in 16 rounds of Yongchang team.
Decades have passed, and The Chang'an Stadium has undergone earth-shaking changes, but my memories of the Chang'an Stadium as a teenager are unforgettable.
(Hereby acknowledges Mr. Shi Junru)
