Editor's note: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. In the centennial history of Huaibei Party, many historical figures who can sing and cry have emerged, especially since the founding of the city on April 6, 1960, countless sons and daughters of Huaibei have cut through thorns and thorns in this red land, sprinkled youth and blood, and built Huaibei, an obscure mining area, into a modern industrial city on the northern Anhui Plain. Looking back on the past, we should not forget the efforts and efforts of our ancestors, who are our pioneers and even more our tree planters. Because of them, we become us. Qingqing Ling Shangbai, Lei Lei Jian Zhongshi. Between the world of life, it is like a long-distance traveler. They deserve our eternal respect and remembrance, and their spirit inspires us to move forward in our new journey. Today, the Party History and Local History Research Office of the Municipal Party Committee has specially excavated and sorted out the deeds of Comrade Zhao Kai for reference in the study and education of party history.
I want to plant a few "cash cows" for the people of Huaibei
——Remembering Zhao Kai, former secretary of the Huaibei Municipal CPC Committee
Zhao Kai, born in October 1916, is a native of Lu'an County, Anhui Province. He began his career in September 1938 and joined the Communist Party of China in February 1939. He once served as deputy director and secretary of the party committee of the Anhui Provincial Department of Communications, deputy secretary of the Hefei Municipal Party Committee and mayor. In January 1971, Zhao Kai came to Huaibei City to work as deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee of Suixi (Huaibei), in May, he was appointed deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, and in February 1973, he was appointed deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and director of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee. In June 1975, he was appointed Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee. In March 1982, he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress, and died in February 1997.
At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Zhao Kai, who was the mayor of Hefei, was "criticized" for fighting. After resuming work, when the organization solicited his opinion on the work, Zhao Kai chose Huaibei City, which had difficult conditions, and came for 11 years. During his 11 years in Huaibei, he led the people of the city to grasp coal factories and build universities, poured all his efforts into the economic development of Huaibei, and built a large number of large and medium-sized state-owned backbone enterprises, laying a solid foundation for the rise and development of Huaibei energy bases.
Zhao Kai was with workers under the Huaibei mine
"Only look at the rotation of the sky, do not look at the program and the line"
As soon as Zhao Kai arrived in Huaibei, he led the people of the whole city to work hard and fast, but at that time, it was the period of the "Cultural Revolution", and the trend of thinking of "grasping the glory of the revolution and grasping production and being criticized" still existed. One day, a big-character newspaper appeared in the Daihe Coal Mine criticizing Xu Xuezhi, deputy director of the production, and Zhao Kai rushed to the Daihe Coal Mine (from the end of 1970, the city and mines merged, and the municipal directly led the units under the Mining Bureau, and the Huaibei Mining Bureau was restored in June 1973).
As he walked, he asked Xu Xuezhi: I heard that there are big characters that criticize you for "only looking at the rotation of the sky, not looking at the outline and the line"? Xu Xuezhi confided in his heartfelt words: "I really want to dig more coal, but why is this climate dry?" Zhao Kai replied categorically: "That is a copy of 'only burying our heads in the car and not looking up at the road', we are engaged in socialist production and construction, don't we see the wheel of heaven turn into?!" I support you in watching the rotation of heaven, and if you approve me first, you must defeat me first. "During the conversation, I came to the coal mining work surface. Zhao Kai talked cordially with the workers, asked for warmth, investigated the ventilation of underground gas and roadways, and understood how much the class production was and the good quality of coal. He was amiable and approachable, and won the praise of the working masses.
When he came to the well, he washed a pool of water with the workers and ate a pot of rice together. After the meal, the staff fell asleep in the mine guest house room, but Zhao Kai and Xu Xuezhi studied the problem of the mine's second horizontal extension project (part of the "Battle of the Ten Major Mining Areas" in the Huaibei Mining Area at that time). Zhao Kai showed the people with practical actions that he firmly stood on the side of Xu Xuezhi and gave great education, support and encouragement to the broad masses!
Under the difficult situation of the "Cultural Revolution," Zhao Kai, who served as the leader of Huaibei City, had two choices: grasp production or not grasp production. Grasping production is the theory of the only productive force, and it must be criticized; without grasping production, the individual is safe and secure. Is it to seek stability and not engage in production for fear of criticism; or to disregard personal safety and be willing to take risks to do a good job in production? Zhao Kai very resolutely chose the latter: "Rather take risks and be criticized, we must also do a good job in production." ”
In April 1972, Zhao Kai participated in the formulation of the Preliminary Opinions on the Fourth Five-Year Development Plan for Coal Production in Huaibei. The "Opinions" determined that the city's coal production and construction should achieve the goal of building wells and achieving a design capacity and actual production level of 10 million tons during the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" period. The construction of new mines requires a certain period of time. Zhao Kai and other municipal leaders decided to concentrate two-thirds of their excavation forces on the battle of the ten main mining areas (8 coal mines located in the Huaibei mining area at that time) and the key supporting projects related to the mines.
After hard work, in 1973, 1975 and 1976, the city's raw coal output exceeded 7 million, 8 million and 10 million tons respectively. During the ten years of turmoil during the "Cultural Revolution," it is conceivable that such achievements will be achieved.
The "Southern Expedition and the Northern War" built a power plant
Huaibei Coal Mine is often forced by power outages due to lack of electricity, which restricts the development speed of coalfields. In order to accelerate the development of the coal industry and alleviate the transportation pressure of the north coal diversion to the south, the state approved the construction of the Huaibei power plant in June 1967.
In 1968, the first phase of the Huaibei power plant project began, but the progress of the project was not fast. On April 6, 1972, the Huaibei Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China established the Huaibei Power Plant Battle Command, and Zhao Kai served as the first deputy commander-in-chief. He organized more than 30 units, including the Municipal Machinery Factory, the Switchboard Factory, the Mining Bureau Bracket Factory, the Huaibei Power Supply Bureau, the Huaibei Mining Bureau, the Municipal Materials Bureau, and the Transportation Bureau, to participate in the engineering conference.
In the process of construction of the Huaibei Power Plant, Zhao Kai "soaked" on the construction site all day long, led the engineering command personnel to study and formulate the project promotion plan, personally commanded, coordinated on the spot, solved practical problems, mobilized the migrant workers in the battle, worked hard, practiced what they preached, and shared weal and woe with the builders. At the same time, he also "southern conquest of the northern war" to urge equipment and run materials.
As the saying goes: the soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass have gone first. Due to the large number of on-site personnel, the demand for concentrated meals and two meals day and night is large, and on-site diet is a big problem. To this end, Zhao Kai personally coordinated, according to the characteristics of the season and nutritional differences, on the basis of ensuring the distribution standards, timely understanding of the supply of food raw materials and spices in the market, as far as possible to meet the needs of the construction site. In the summer, he arranged for people to distribute mung bean soup, watermelon and other anti-heat cooling drinks; in winter, he ordered more processing of high-calorie foods, and often went deep into the scene to listen to the opinions of the masses, and timely sent "warmth" to the hearts of the combatants.
Chinese New Year's Eve night, Zhao Kai led a group of people from the municipal party committee to the construction site to offer condolences. When he learned that a farmer in Xinyi County, Jiangsu Province, was very touched to participate in the construction of the power plant, and that the family was celebrating the New Year in a simple shed. Immediately let people bring pork, rice and other items, so that they have a warm new year.
On the day when the first unit of the Huaibei power plant was connected to the grid to generate electricity, Zhao Kai kept vigil from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. the next day, and when the grid connection was successful, he was very excited, tightly held the hands of the workers for a long time, and highly praised the scientific attitude of the workers to climb the peak and the spirit of hard work and hard work. After the project was put into operation to generate electricity, Zhao Kai once ran to the main control room of the power generation alone in the second half of the night, and the station was dawn. He asked for warmth and sent cotton coats to the front-line workers in time, which touched the power generation workers. Zhao Kai's secretary often said, "Working hard day and night is Secretary Zhao's daily routine, and I can't beat him!"
Under the direct leadership of Zhao Kai, through the strong support of the people of the city and the hard work of the builders, in August and December 1973, two 50,000-kilowatt units of the Huaibei Power Plant were connected to the grid to generate electricity, achieving double operation, creating a miracle in the history of China's power construction. Xinhua News Agency and Anhui Daily said that "on the main battlefield of the Huaihai Campaign that year, another Huaihai Campaign was fought..." Huaibei City was also invited to introduce its experience at an infrastructure construction meeting held by the Ministry of Water and Power.
At the beginning of 1973, when the victory of the first phase of the project was in sight, the Huaibei Municipal Party Committee and Zhao Kai aimed at the expansion project of the second phase of the project, and applied to the relevant departments, kicking off the preparation and construction of the second phase of the project. In the second phase of the project, the builders carried forward the spirit of continuous combat, and the two units took less than 47 months from breaking ground to putting the unit into operation. Huaibei City actively supports the construction of electric power and has accumulated valuable experience for accelerating the development of China's electric power industry.
Huaibei coal preparation plant in the early stage of the plant
The leaders of the "sheep pen" built a coal preparation plant
In 1960, Huaibei had planned to build a coal preparation plant and imported the main equipment of the coal preparation process from Poland, but the construction was delayed due to various factors. In 1969, the Ministry of Coal approved the construction of a central coal preparation plant in Huaibei with an annual washing of 2 million tons of raw coal. Under the conditions at that time, it was not easy to build such a large construction project in Huaibei! The funding gap is large, the equipment cannot be put in place on time, and the technical personnel are scarce, which often plagues the progress of the project. In July 1970, the Huaibei Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China established the Huaibei Coal Preparation Plant Battle Command. The Battle Command organized more than 6,000 battle armies to participate in the construction of the coal preparation plant.
In January 1971, Zhao Kai came to Huaibei and directly led the construction of the coal preparation plant, and led the headquarters to move into the "sheep pen" (the headquarters office did not have a house, set up in a house that used to be a sheep pen). He ate and lived on the construction site, directing at the site. In order to solve various problems encountered in the construction, it is nerve-wracking. He was a servant of the wind and dust, running around, staring at funds, urging equipment, and looking for talents. He braved the wind and snow to go to Beijing many times, went to the relevant central ministries and commissions to implement funds, and urged equipment to ensure that the project could be successfully completed and put into operation. Under the leadership of the battle command, the vast number of cadres and workers slept in the open air, fought day and night, shouldered shoulders, rushed to build the project, and created a high speed and high quality rarely seen in the history of coal washing plant construction.
After only two years of hard work, on August 28, 1972, the Huaibei Coal Preparation Plant was completed and put into operation, with a design capacity of 2 million tons of raw coal selected annually, which was the largest coal preparation plant in East China at that time.
"We're not just fighting for projects.
And strive for the first speed in the country."
At the beginning of 1975, Zhao Kai obtained a message: the state planned to build four textile joint enterprises in Xiangyang, Guangxi, Zhoukou, Henan and Suxian, Anhui, each of which was composed of multiple branches of cotton spinning, chemical fiber and printing and dyeing, with an investment of more than 100 million yuan.
Zhao Kai, who had always maintained the vigorous and vigorous style of the revolutionary war years, immediately convened the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee to study this information. Some people said: "This is quite good news, but it is a pity that the state plan has nothing to do with Huaibei." Zhao Kai said, "There is a fate! As long as the state distributes textiles in Anhui, Huaibei will have a reason to win it over. "But there is also a reason why the state is located in the Suxian area." "Suxian has 100 reasons, Huaibei has 101 reasons." After the meeting, a comrade advised him: "Secretary Zhao, now that the Cultural Revolution movement is not over, so that you are not afraid to criticize you for competing for projects, you are the only productive force?" Zhao Kai said, "My heart is anxious, I am now 'the sunset is infinitely good, but it is nearly dusk', taking advantage of my lifetime, I want to plant a few cash cows for the people of Huaibei!" Now the policy of the central authorities is to put the national economy up, what are you afraid of?" But today's policy may set you a capitalist faction one day!" Zhao Kai knew that there was a complete possibility, and he angrily took off the duck tongue hat on his head and threw it at the table: "Why did we make a revolution in those years?" It is for the sake of the country to become rich and the people to be strong, at that time, I was not afraid to lose my head, and now what is so terrible about dropping a hat?"
After that, he went south to the provincial capital and north to Kyoto, lobbying everywhere. Kung Fu pays off. Finally, he won the support of the province and pulled the comrades of the relevant departments in the province to "run the department" together.
The leaders of the Ministry of Light Industry quite appreciated Zhao Kaigan's boldness in taking risks and grabbing the project, but still laid out their reasons for designating Su County: "Su County has jurisdiction over seven counties and is rich in raw cotton." Zhao Kai said: "Huaibei is not only in the center of cotton and chemical fiber raw materials production, but also faces a broad product market, and is a treasure of feng shui for textile enterprises. "Suxian is located on the Beijing line of the main artery of the north-south railway, and the transportation is convenient." "Huaibei has a fujian line and a beijing-Shanghai line, and a Qingfu line to Fuyang. As for the road, it is more accessible in all directions. Inland shipping can also open the Qinglongshan Port, which leads directly to the Huai River and Hongze Lake into the Yangtze River. The leader of the Ministry of Light Industry smiled: "Comrade Zhao Kai, with your eloquence, you can go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Under the impetus of Zhao Kai, the Huaibei Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Revolutionary Committee came up with a thousand strategies and even a revolutionary name to solve the difficulty of finding a target for 100,000 coal miners. Their unremitting efforts finally touched the leadership of the Ministry of Light Industry. On August 26, 1975, the Ministry of Light Industry approved the capital construction design task of Huaibei Textile Printing and Dyeing Factory. The Anhui Provincial Department of Light Industry began to expand the initial design.
When the good news came, Zhao Kai proposed: "We not only want to compete for the project, but also strive for the first speed in the country." He threw himself into the preparations for the start of construction. The Huaibei Municipal Party Committee set up a battle command center, and Zhao Kai summoned personnel to solve the problem on the spot. The personnel of the command headquarters worked day and night to pay close attention to the progress of land requisition, water and electricity transportation, vehicle manpower allocation, procurement and supply of building materials, and allocation and use of construction equipment. In just one year, the site selection and preparation were completed, and construction began in August 1976. By October 1978, the first cotton textile factory in Huaibei City was officially put into operation.
When the products of the textile factory in Huaibei City were produced, the other three factories selected by the state were still undergoing civil construction. The leaders of the Ministry of Textiles (established separately from the light industry part in December 1977) praised Huaibei City and praised it as "Huaibei Speed"!
Since then, in addition to the coal industry, Huaibei City has also had a textile industry. Huaibei's textile industry brought a large urban population to Huaibei and prospered Huaibei commerce. The textile industry in Huaibei City has grown from scratch, from small to large, and has become one of the four pillar industries of Huaibei City and one of the main bases of the textile industry in Anhui Province. Its products have been sold abroad many times, and have won the reputation of Huaibei City for the country and the province!
Huaibei Normal University in the early days of its establishment
"Fight" to come to a university
Located in Huaibei City, Huaibei Normal University, formerly known as Anhui Normal University Huaibei Branch, was established in September 1974 and is the earliest established university in Huaibei City. Zhao Kai has made great efforts to create the Huaibei Branch.
In 1974, Anhui Province's colleges and universities planned to enroll 6,000 people, the original 6 colleges and universities, unable to complete this enrollment task, the provincial party committee decided to establish several colleges and universities. It was planned to prepare in Lu'an and Fuyang, but Lu'an was unwilling to do so. In late June, at the provincial enrollment meeting, Huainan, Huaibei and Suxian all expressed their willingness to undertake. Yang Xiaochun, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial CPC Committee in charge of culture and education, commented that Fuyang had agreed to do so, huainan already had a coal college, and that the conditions for the two companies in Huaibei and Suxian counties to do so would be set again.
At that time, the education department of Huaibei City believed that Huaibei was a newly built city, and there was a shortage of teachers in middle and primary schools, and it was best to run a branch of Annushi University. The meeting discussed and passed the resolution to strive for the establishment of a branch school, and reported to Zhao Kai, deputy secretary of the Huaibei Municipal Party Committee and director of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee, who immediately expressed his support and submitted it to the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee for study. The meeting decided to open a branch school with three majors and an enrollment of 200 students, and reported to the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China in the form of Huaifa [1974] No. 041 Municipal Party Committee Document and to the Provincial Education Bureau.
However, the Provincial Education Bureau believes that Huaibei City started late and the conditions are poor, so it is better to let the Suxian district do it. Seeing that things had changed, the comrades of the Huaibei Municipal Education Bureau went to find Zhao Kai, who was holding a meeting in Daoxianglou. After Zhao Kai learned about the situation, he immediately went to see Yang Xiaochun and actively fought for it. After communicating with the Provincial Education Bureau, Yang Xiaochun asked Huaibei City and Suxian To make preparations, make decisions according to the conditions, and then send people to Huaibei to investigate the conditions for running the school.
After the provincial inspection team came to Huaibei, after seeing the teaching building of the Second Middle School under construction (that is, the old teaching building attached to the former Huaibei Coal Division), they climbed the building and looked out, there was a mountain towering on the top, there was a railway and a highway passing under it, the school environment was very good, there was open space for expansion on three sides, and a planning sketch was drawn on the roof of the building. After listening to the report of Huaibei City in the evening and further understanding the attention, attitude and determination of the municipal party committee, the inspection team made a report to Yang Xiaochun. Yang Xiaochun agreed in principle to Huaibei City's preparation of a branch school. In late July, the Provincial Education Bureau officially notified that Huaibei City was preparing to open a branch school.
The Huaibei Municipal Party Committee attaches great importance to the preparation of branch schools as a major event related to urban development. First of all, a leading group for the preparation of a branch of the university was established, with Zhao Kai as the leader. On August 7, the Municipal Revolutionary Committee issued the Notice on the Formation of the Leading Group for the Establishment of the Huaibei Branch of Anda University (Ge Zhengzi [1974] No. 051). On August 10, the preparatory work was officially launched. All departments responded positively, worked together, and worked day and night to ensure the smooth completion of the preparatory tasks on time.
On September 12, the Provincial Revolutionary Committee issued the "Reply on the Opening of the Huaibei Branch of Anhui Normal University" (Ge Zhengzi [1974] No. 84), agreeing to open a branch of Anhui Normal University in Huaibei City, set up 4 departments, and enroll students in the autumn of that year. After the approval was issued, the work of selecting and transferring teaching, management, and logistics personnel to run the school was carried out in an active and orderly manner. The second is to form a leading body and set up a management body. Zhao Kai is also the secretary of the party committee and the director of the Revolutionary Committee of the branch. A reform group, an office group, a logistics group, and a political work group have been set up. At the same time, the enrollment and infrastructure construction teams were established.
On October 29, The Huaibei Branch of Anhui Normal University officially opened. At that time, the conditions for running the school were very difficult. The school has no walls, is permeable on all sides, and is surrounded by farmland. Zhao Kai said at the opening ceremony, "Huaibei Branch is the only child of Huaibei City, and everyone must love and care for him. In order to support the development of the school, Zhao Kai convened a meeting of the heads of relevant departments in the city to mobilize everyone to contribute money. At the same time, the municipal party committee and the municipal government have given strong support in policy to help solve the problems of teachers' families' household registration from agriculture to non-agriculture and the separation of husband and wife, attracting many cadres and teachers to come to the school to teach.
On December 28, 1978, with the approval of the State Council, Huaibei Coal Normal College was established on the basis of the Huaibei Branch of Anhui Normal University. At this point, as the first higher education institution in Huaibei City, it has embarked on a new development journey.
Tao Li does not speak, and the next is a mystery. Many years later, the people of Huaibei often recited the phrase "Zhao Kai's chimney" for the power plants, coal preparation plants, coking plants, textile factories and other enterprises built in Huaibei when Zhao Kai was in office, and vividly praised the economic achievements of Zhao Kai's leadership in Huaibei construction, and the gratitude overflowed into words.
Resources:
1. Wu Xiaoyu, editor-in-chief, "Into a New Era" (Breakthrough of Zero - Documentary of Huaibei First Cotton Textile Factory), Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, September 1999 edition, pp. 235-239.
2. Selected Poems of Zhao Kai (Remembering Comrade Zhao Kai, Hu Juhai), China Culture and Art Publishing House, December 2008 edition, pp. 286-288.
3. Nian Jielei, "This Is how a University Stands Up—The Early History of Huaibei Normal University."
Source: Huaibei Shizhi