Editor's Note:
If the industry is prosperous, then Luoyang is prosperous. In the 1950s, a boom was set off in Luoyang to gather industries with "projects as king", making Luoyang an industrial star of the "eldest son of the republic" in just a decade.
For this reason, the people of Luoyang have been proud for half a century.
Today, the Luoyang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have taken "project is king, industrial support" as the action plan for Luoyang to join the national team, let us relive the "fiery red era" that has passed...
What was the luoyang engineering bureau in history?
At present, Luoyang's "project is king, industrial support" still needs such a dongdong?
First, look at the work card of the Luoyang Engineering Bureau
I am a collector, the other day in the WeChat circle of friends sent a group of my own collection of Luoyang Engineering Bureau collection, including work permits, badges, training certificates, ride permits, old photos, old tickets and so on. I don't want to cause many friends to watch.
However, what is embarrassing is that many friends know nothing about the Luoyang Engineering Bureau, including many experts and scholars.
I then talked to the people around me about the Luoyang Engineering Bureau, and no one understood, and asked me one after another: What is the Luoyang Engineering Bureau? Does it still exist? It's emotional.
Figure 1: Work permits and access permits used by the Luoyang Engineering Bureau in 1955
Second, Luoyang people should not "have eyes and do not know the engineering bureau"
In 1953, the state began to implement the First Five-Year Plan, and listed Luoyang as a key construction city, and launched a vigorous socialist construction. At that time, 10 large backbone enterprises settled in Luoyang, including 6 (later increased to 7) of which belonged to the 156 national key projects aided by the former Soviet Union. In order to ensure the smooth completion of these projects, the state has transferred 11 construction teams of various types from all over the country to Luoyang. It was in this context that the Luoyang Engineering Bureau was established on September 1, 1954.
The Luoyang Engineering Bureau is directly under the Construction Engineering Department of the Central People's Government, with 3 engineering companies (later increased to 5) and 1 municipal engineering department, with a maximum of 19,000 employees, employing a number of first-class experts from the former Soviet Union, and the director and party secretary are concurrently served by Wang Weiqun, the second secretary of the Luoyang Municipal Party Committee. By July 1958, in the past four years, the bureau had completed more than 300,000 square meters of construction tasks, accounting for more than 70% of the construction volume in Luoyang at that time, and made great contributions to the industrial construction of Luoyang.
On July 8, 1958, after completing the construction task of Luoyang, the establishment of luoyang engineering bureau was abolished, and all personnel were merged into the Henan Provincial Department of Construction Engineering. Later, the construction and installation units such as the Provincial Construction No. 3 Company, the Provincial Construction No. 6 Company, and the Provincial Construction and Installation Company were still stationed in Luoyang and continued to contribute to the construction of Luoyang City.
Luoyang Engineering Bureau is the largest construction enterprise in the history of Henan Province, and has made great contributions to the construction of Luoyang City. The ancient "Luoyang shovel" god magic is found by the bureau in the foundation treatment construction, "Luoyang shovel" has since begun from ordinary folk tomb exploration to Modern construction sites in China and abroad and is famous all over the world.
Figure 2: The magic use of the "Luoyang shovel" was discovered by the Luoyang Engineering Bureau during the foundation treatment construction
Figure 3: The Luoyang Engineering Bureau issued and used ride passes, vouchers and outpatient vouchers
The Luoyang Engineering Bureau is by no means dispensable, and today's Luoyang people "have eyes and don't know the Engineering Bureau", which is really undeserved!
III. Why Luoyang People "Don't Know the Engineering Bureau"
To say that the people of Luoyang do not care about the city in which they live and do not attach importance to the city's industrial heritage is absolutely wrong.
Industrial heritage is an important carrier of a city's history, especially in a city like Luoyang. As one of the 156 industrial zones with the assistance of the Soviet Union in the "First Five-Year Plan" period of China, Luoyang Industrial Zone is one of the most concentrated industrial zones for "laying the foundation of China's modern industry", and is a witness to cultural exchanges between the East and the West, with important historical significance and cultural value. In the process of rapid urbanization of the city, industrial heritage has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life, and Luoyang is not far behind.
In recent years, Luoyang has done a lot of work in the protection, publicity and utilization of industrial heritage, and has achieved fruitful results. There are four enterprises, namely the First Tractor Manufacturing Factory, Luoyang Mining Machinery Factory, Luoyang Refractory Factory and Luoyang Copper Processing Factory, which have been selected as National Industrial Heritage.
Jian Xi Industrial Heritage Street, represented by Yituo Square, was officially selected as "China's Famous Historical and Cultural Street" and was listed in the seventh batch of key cultural relics protection units in China in 2013. In May 2021, Luoyang JianXi Industrial Heritage Historical and Cultural Block was ranked among the second batch of 10 provincial-level historical and cultural blocks in Henan Province.
Figure 4: Luoyang Engineering Bureau Staff School Grade Notice and Graduation Certificate
Still, our work doesn't seem meticulous enough. We still have shortcomings in the protection, publicity and utilization of industrial cultural heritage, and our work is still very inadequate. For example, in luoyang has been built and opened to the public oriental red farming museum, Jian Xi industrial heritage street and other places, there is no shadow of the "Luoyang Engineering Bureau", resulting in the vast majority of Luoyang people "have eyes do not know the Engineering Bureau".
Figure 5: Old photo from 1958, luoyang engineering bureau was revoked half a year later
Figure 6: Luoyang Engineering Bureau 1956 Medal
Fourth, luoyang's top ten factories and mines can still say a few
In fact, what is forgotten by the people of Luoyang is not only a "Luoyang Engineering Bureau"!
On February 20, 1954, after discussion and approval by the State Planning Commission and with the approval of Chairman Mao Zedong, it was decided to build four heavy industrial plants, namely the First Tractor Factory, the Mining Machine Factory, the Ball Bearing Factory, and the Medium-sized Electric Power Plant, west of the Jian River, which is far from the old town of Luoyang, ming and Qing dynasties. Subsequently, copper processing plants, high-speed diesel engine factories, cotton textile factories, Luoyang glass factories, Luoyang cement factories and refractory factories of domestic design were added, and Luoyang has since been said to be "ten factories and mines". But today's Luoyang people, how many more can they say about the top ten factories and mines?
In the construction of the "Top Ten Factories and Mines" in that year, the Luoyang Transportation Department specially opened a bus line to the construction site of the Big Factory. At the well-known bus stops of 701 (bearing factory site), 702 (towing plant site), 703 (mine plant site), today's Luoyang people look like they are in a trance? Are there any places for these old objects?
Figure 7: The big factory on the 1954 bus ticket in Luoyang
During the "First Five-Year Plan" period from 1955 to 1956, more than 100,000 builders from all over the country responded to the call to go to Luoyang from all over the country to support the construction of Luoyang. In Shanghai and Guangzhou alone, there are a total of 17 factories, 88 stores, and a total of more than 2,000 employees who have moved to Luoyang.
The Shanghai Market and Guangzhou Market, located in the Jianxi District of Luoyang City, were specially built for these people.
From the bustling "Little Shanghai" and "Little Guangzhou", to the high-end consumption areas, pedestrian streets, and then to the main road of urban traffic - Zhoushan Avenue Viaduct, how many people know the origin of "Guangzhou Market" and "Shanghai Market"? How many people can experience the rise and fall of Luoyang from their rise and fall?
Figure 8: On November 30, 1955, a train full of Shanghai aid personnel was about to sail to Luoyang
Figure 9: Guangzhou Market Department Store Commemorative Coupon
Luoyang Glass Factory (now China Luoyang Float Glass Group Co., Ltd.), built in 1956, is one of the world's three major float glass crafts - the birthplace of "Luoyang Float Glass Craft", and is also an enterprise group that implements a separate plan in the country. With the relocation of the enterprise, the original Luoyang Glass Factory Middle School was renamed the Second Experimental Middle School of the City, and the original Glass Factory Road was renamed Jiayumen Street... Luoyang City can no longer find this "Chinese glass production meritorious enterprise" cultural symbol, once represented the highest level of float glass in China", "Luoyang float" has since become a legend.
At that time, the "top ten factories and mines" were the largest in the country: 34,000 tractor manufacturing plants, 21,000 bearing factories, 19,000 mining machine manufacturing plants, 12,000 copper processing plants, 0.69 million high-speed marine diesel engine plants, 0.43 million refractory factories, 0.98 million glass factories, and 0.8 million cotton textile factories (at that time, it was planned to be 25,000 people, but later compressed due to economic difficulties).
They are brilliant in the history of China's industrial development: tractors and bulldozers produced by tractor manufacturing plants have long occupied more than 50% of China's tractor ownership, mining machine manufacturing plants have a domestic market share of more than 90%, precision bearings and super large bearings produced by bearing factories are equipped with almost all national defense cutting-edge equipment, and special materials produced by copper processing plants are widely used in aerospace, aviation, weapons, ships, communications and other national defense fields. The light high-speed and high-power marine diesel engines produced by the diesel engine factory were once equipped with most of the High-speed Gunboats, torpedo boats and coastal patrol boats of the Chinese Navy...
Half a century later, who remembers this Luoyang Industrial Zone centered on a drag? Who can still feel the unique charm of the socialist industrial culture contained in that majestic and solemn building?
V. The construction of the Capital of Oriental Museums should not or lack "Luoyang Industrial Culture Museum"
Luoyang's industrial cultural heritage, like the ancient civilization sites of this ancient capital, is the urban memory of Luoyang, the pride of Luoyang people, and the witness of the industrial history of New China. These industrial contexts, in addition to immovable plants and machinery and equipment, should also include old documents, old badges, old tickets, old photos and other movable objects like the "Luoyang Engineering Bureau", as well as relevant documents and archives, literary and artistic works.
As one of the most outstanding and representative industrial zones of socialist industrial heritage in China and even in the world, Luoyang's industrial heritage has witnessed the historical development of the city and the development of the city's civilization.
How to protect and utilize the industrial site in its original state? There is no doubt that the construction of the Luoyang Industrial Culture Museum, which integrates various functions such as collection, exhibition, publicity, education and research, is the best choice. Through precious historical pictures, cultural relics and historical materials, accompanied by modern means such as sound, light and electricity, it is the most direct and effective way to reproduce the historical picture of China's industrial development.
Since the city launched the construction of the "Oriental Museum Capital" in 2018, after several years of efforts, 102 museums have been built, forming a museum display system with diverse subjects, distinctive characteristics, vitality and complementarity, and the Oriental Museum Capital has begun to see the beginning. However, it is regrettable that there is still no place for the Luoyang Industrial Culture Museum.
The construction of Luoyang Industrial Culture Museum can not only enrich the connotation of Luoyang Oriental Museum Capital, but also be an important form of protection and utilization of Luoyang's industrial heritage. At the same time, it is also an important measure to excavate the sightseeing, leisure and tourism functions of the city's industrial heritage, enrich the connotation of Luoyang's industrial culture tourism, and enhance the cultural taste and unique charm of Luoyang City.
Figure 10: Can the Oriental Red Farming Museum pry open the Luoyang Industrial Museum Group?
The Construction began in January 2010 and officially opened in 2013, which is a good attempt to protect and utilize Luoyang's industrial heritage, but only one farming museum is obviously far from enough for Luoyang.
Luoyang's industrial heritage is one of the most important industrial heritages of the 20th century in China, and together with the political and cultural buildings in Beijing, it constitutes a magnificent symphony of new Chinese architecture in the 1950s, and is the most prominent representative of the industrial heritage of new China.
Therefore, only through the Luoyang Industrial Culture Museum and more theme museums like the Farming Museum, the Luoyang Industrial Museum Group is formed, and according to its characteristics, it is transformed into an industrial heritage theme park and a cultural and creative corridor, and the architectural relics of the industrial heritage are integrated into the urban characteristic landscape, so that the industrial heritage can be protected in reuse and come alive in cultural creativity, can it truly become a highlight of Luoyang cultural construction.
As Shan Jixiang, former director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said, Luoyang's industrial heritage should "reproduce the magnificent and majestic symphony of new Chinese architecture in the 1950s and become a model for the protection and utilization of industrial heritage in the country." In this regard, many people who care about the cultural construction of Luoyang and love China's industrial heritage are looking forward to it.
Conclusion:
Taking history as a mirror, taking Shi Mingzhi, knowing the history of the drum and the present, we look forward to Luoyang's glory again under the guidance of "project is king and industrial support".
About author:Liu Yanqing, who has long been engaged in policy research, is obsessed with Heluo cultural research and Heluo literature collection in his spare time. He is currently a fourth-level researcher of the Development Research Center of Luoyang Municipal People's Government (Municipal Government Research Office), a member of the Standing Committee of the Luoyang Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and an expert of the Think Tank of the Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference.