Chairman Mao once said that women can hold up half the sky, and in the 1970s, Dazhai, Xiyang County, Shanxi Province, produced an "Iron Maiden" and became a well-known figure in the country.
Now, sixty years later, what kind of experience does "Iron Maiden" Guo Fenglian have, and how is it now?
Be the leader of the development of Dazhai
Guo Fenglian was born in 1946, lost her mother at the age of 3, and followed her grandmother to live in Dazhai, Xiyang County, Shanxi Province.
At that time, Dazhai was still very poor, and due to family reasons, Guo Fenglian, who had finished primary school, participated in labor.
Because of her intelligence and organizational skills, in 1964, 17-year-old Guo Fenglian became the captain of the "Iron Maiden" team, joined the Chinese Communist Party at the age of less than 20, and became the secretary of the party branch at the age of 26.
How "iron" is "Iron Maiden"? Guo Fenglian, who weighs only more than eighty kilograms, carries two baskets with a long flat burden every day to load soil and large stones, which is more than one hundred and forty kilograms.
The careful Guo Fenglian also made her own shoulder pads, not to protect the shoulders, but to protect the clothes, "at that time, the clothes were more expensive than people, and the clothes were torn and patched."
It is even more difficult to eat, cornmeal is not enough to eat, can only eat chaff noodles, with 60% corn, 40% of the bran, grinded out and into a paste.
At that time, the country was still worried about how to fill their stomachs, and the people of Dazhai "fought three battles and wolf dens", transformed "seven ditches and eight beams and one slope", and built a "sponge ground" on a large scale, with remarkable results.
Chairman Mao issued a call for "agricultural science villages."
Dazhai is famous and has become a banner leading the times.
More than 9 million people from all over the country went to Dazhai to observe and study, and at most more than 10,000 people came a day, and dozens of foreign leaders also went to visit.
However, at the end of 1980, Guo Fenglian received an order to leave Dazhai Village.
After being transferred away from Dazhai in 1980, Guo Fenglian planted fruit trees and built roads, but never returned to Dazhai, so it was ten years.
Recalling this experience, Guo Fenglian said, "I feel very good, people have little meaning in their ordinary lives, or exercise in the wind and waves, even if you fall, you will exercise after you get up." Although those ten years were a little harder, whether I planted fruit trees or roads, I also learned some things, but more importantly, I was trained and made me more mature. ”
In 1991, at the strong appeal of the people of Dazhai, Guo Fenglian was reappointed as the secretary of the party branch of Dazhai Village.
"At that time, the people in Dazhai were very poor, and the per capita annual income was more than seven hundred yuan, which was not a taste in my heart." Guo Fenglian wanted to change all this, but she didn't know where to start.
After returning to Dazhai, Guo Fenglian was still worried.
Three years after she was transferred, Dazhai implemented the co-production contract responsibility system, two years later than other places; She left Dazhai for more than ten years, changed four secretaries, when the per capita income was more than 700 yuan, and her life was richer than before, but compared with other places, it was already very backward; In the past, the streets of Dazhai, although narrow, were very clean, but now the urinals are all over the streets, and garbage is dumped everywhere.
After returning to Dazhai, Guo Fenglian went from village to village, talked with the villagers, and found that the villagers were generally in a state of confusion.
When the villagers saw her, they had endless grievances and endless tears, and everyone was not even sure whether the spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle was right or wrong, and they still did not understand many of the policies of reform and opening up, and pessimism and disappointment outweighed hope.
In the face of such a big village, Guo Fenglian was in pain in her heart, but she did not accept defeat.
It is difficult to pass the pass, and what needs to be done now is to regroup and revitalize the spirit of Dazhai.
At first, Guo Fenglian did not know what to do, and wanted to write letters to several famous labor models in the country to ask for advice, but she was also afraid that others would ignore her.
In the end, her husband, who was born in the military, gave Guo Fenglian inspiration, instead of writing a letter and waiting for a back and forth, it was better to go out and see it directly.
So Guo Fenglian paid for it herself, and let each family go out to see and change their minds, and if they didn't go far, they would go to Hebei.
Soon after, Guo Fenglian took more than 130 people to study in other places, and she took out all her family's savings to get travel expenses.
After several days of investigation, we came to the conclusion that in the past planned economy period, Dazhai people were the banner, and today, with reform, opening up, and market economy, Dazhai must also walk in the front.
In 1992, Dazhai established the Economic Development Corporation, a straw weaving factory, a cement factory... There's everything.
Dazhai is moving forward in difficulty, and Guo Fenglian is in a difficult transformation.
When the original accumulation of Dazhai was completed, Guo Fenglian began to adjust the industrial structure, shut down polluting coal plants and other enterprises, and began to market The intangible assets of Dazhai.
In dazhai's industrial park, Guo Fenglian left a part of the past farmland, which was uniformly operated by an agricultural company, specializing in green food; Built the Dazhai Museum... These make tourism a major economic pillar of Dazhai.
By 2007, the total economic income of Dazhai Village was 120 million yuan, an increase of 600 times over 1980, and by 2008, the total economic income of Dazhai Village reached 260 million yuan, the per capita net income was 8,000 yuan, and the tax paid was 17.914 million yuan, ranking first in Xiyang County for eleven consecutive years.
From the million-dollar dream she had in Shanghai in 1992, Dazhai had come a long way.
After Guo Fenglian took over, Dazhai caught up with the wave of reform and opening up from a well-known "political brand" at home and abroad, caught up with the market economy, and transformed into a successful "economic brand".
In 2011, the per capita net income of farmers nationwide reached nearly 7,000 yuan, while the per capita net income of Dazhai reached more than 13,000 yuan.
Under the leadership of Guo Fenglian, in 2020, the total output value of the collective economic organization in Dazhai Village reached 260 million yuan, the village collective economic income was 23 million yuan, and the per capita net income of farmers was 24,000 yuan.
Because of Guo Fenglian's contribution to Dazhai, in 2009, she and Jiang Min, Li Ruiying and other ten outstanding women were selected as China's top ten female masters.
In 2013, he also served as a member of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress.
Guo Fenglian not only took Dazhai better and better, but also cared about the poor counties across the country.
In 2020, Guo Fenglian, who has already served as a deputy to the Sixth National People's Congress, has never changed the true color of farmers.
On July 24 of that year, in the face of the arduous task of poverty alleviation, Guo Fenglian, who was concerned about the countryside, firmly told the reporter of "Chinese University": "Dazhai has always been holding hands with everyone and moving forward together, so that more villages can also 'dare to call the sun and moon for a new day'!" ”
On April 29, 2020, good news came from Jinzhai County, which Dazhai helped, and Jinzhai County, an old revolutionary area, officially withdrew from the sequence of poor counties.
As early as 2016, Guo Fenglian proposed to the China Association for the Promotion of Village Community Development that "China's Top Ten Famous Villages" should take the lead in helping poor villages. Under the organization of the China Association for the Promotion of Village Community Development, the "Top Ten Famous Villages in China" carried out counterpart poverty alleviation in Jinzhai County, Anhui Province.
"I am also a farmer, a family of farmers in the world, and I want to use the influence of famous villages to create momentum for poor villages and provide them with help." It's about really helping out, not being superficial. ”
Guo Fenglian said that at that time, the top ten famous villages took out more than one million yuan of assistance funds to Jinzhai County, but this money was not directly given to each poor village, but focused on the skills training of villagers and village cadres.
Jinzhai County organized villagers and village cadres to receive targeted professional training in schools, and then they returned to the village to apply what they had learned to better build the countryside and change their hometowns.
"Famous villages help poor villages, and it is better to give money than to cultivate people." It is necessary to spend money on the cutting edge and truly play a role in helping local rural areas and farmers get rid of poverty and become rich. Guo Fenglian said something heartfelt to reporters.
In the spring of 2020, under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, agricultural products were once unmarketable.
On the eve of the National People's Congress, Shanxi Province launched a "consumption poverty alleviation, cloud with goods" activity, and Guo Fenglian also responded to the call to participate.
She said that live streaming with goods, endorsing and selling agricultural products is really "holding the hands of poor households to help them get rid of poverty."
Even though she has entered the age of ancient rarity, Guo Fenglian is still active in the grassroots frontline of building the motherland, serving as a deputy to the National People's Congress for the sixth term, and has insisted on seeking the welfare of farmers for many years.
Every year, Guo Fenglian of the two sessions will put forward proposals related to agriculture, and a number of agriculture-related proposals have been adopted by relevant departments and have been highly recognized by the vast number of farmers.
The people reacted strongly to the problem, and after careful investigation, Guo Fenglian lived in the mention.
"This year (2019), I made a suggestion about old rural doctors. The treatment of old doctors in rural areas is too pitiful, less than 100 yuan per person per month in Shanxi, and many places in the country have not yet subsidized. ”
"At that time, village doctors and barefoot doctors treated diseases and saved people in the village, but now when they are old, no one cares, and many people continue to treat the people with medicine boxes on their backs, and they have no income, so they rely on their children to support them, and I feel pitiful."
In 2021, Guo Fenglian, 75-year-old general secretary of the party branch of Dazhai Village, was invited to Beijing to participate in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and after the servants returned to Dazhai, they conveyed and studied the spirit of the general secretary's important speech at the meeting to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China to the party members and cadres at the first time.
Guo Fenglian said: "Self-reliance and hard work are the spirit and heirlooms of our Dazhai people. In the past, we relied on this heirloom to overcome many insurmountable difficulties and survived one difficulty after another; In the future, we must also carry forward the spirit of self-reliance and arduous struggle, hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and make greater achievements in the new journey. ”
Also on the eve of july 1 of this year, Guo Fenglian was invited to Beijing to participate in the national "two excellent and one first" commendation conference held in the Great Hall of the People.
At the meeting, she was awarded the honorary title of "National Outstanding Party Worker".
"I was very excited in those days, especially in the Great Hall of the People to observe the ceremony of awarding the party's highest honor, the 'July 1st Medal'. The deeds of the 29 meritorious party members were so touching and touched me greatly. Their deeds can be learned and done, and their spirit can be traced. They are ordinary heroes, but also an example for us to learn from. ”
Guo Fenglian returned to Dazhai and repeatedly expressed to the party members, cadres, and people's congress deputies what she saw, heard, thought, and felt.
Before the award ceremony, the general secretary and other leading comrades met with the "two excellent and one first" commendation object and took a group photo with everyone; In the face of the reporter's interview, Guo Fenglian said:
"I felt a lot about this honor. Listening to the general secretary's important speech, the heart was surging and the blood was boiling. Recognition is an encouragement, but also an inspiration and mobilization. In the future, I will continue to take root in the grassroots, serve the people wholeheartedly, conscientiously perform my duties, and make due contributions to the realization of the "Second Centenary" goal with practical actions. ”
After passing the age of ancient rarity, Guo Fenglian did not serve the old at all, and was still full of morale, as she said: "Anyway, we don't stop working, go forward, step by step, as long as we struggle, we can get it." ”
In Guo Fenglian's heart, the first priority is still to publicize Dazhai and push out the culture of Dazhai.
What is Dazhai culture? Guo Fenglian believes that its hard core is the spirit of self-reliance and hard work.
The spirit of Dazhai is a precious spiritual wealth of the people of Dazhai, Xiyang, Shanxi and even the whole country, and has become an important part of the spirit of the Chinese nation.
On both sides of the dazhai village gate and other walls, red slogans of self-reliance and hard work can be seen.
Although the food, clothing, shelter and transportation of the Dazhai people have long undergone earth-shaking changes, they still retain some habits, and the old ones are reluctant to throw away.
Dazhai people also have a habit, that is, every household must watch TV news every night, from Shanxi to the whole country.
In May 1992, when the Vice Premier of the State Council inspected Dazhai, he particularly proposed the development of tourism.
Since the beginning of the following year, Dazhai has planned to build tourist scenic spots.
In 1996, Hutou Mountain was identified as a provincial forest park, and after years of efforts, the forest coverage rate has now reached 68%. Set up Dazhai Exhibition Hall, Cultural Exhibition Hall, Wolf's Nest Palm Terraces, Tuanjiegou Aqueduct, Dazhai Folk House Building, and celebrity attractions such as Premier Zhou and Guo Moruo.
"Red" and "green" intersect, Dazhai Tourism Scenic Spot was rated as a national 4A scenic spot in 2012.
In recent years, the number of tourists who come to Dazhai to visit is about 300,000 every year, and the total tourism income exceeds 30 million yuan.
Farmhouse restaurants, cave hotels, souvenir shops, more than 60% of the village's labor force works in Dazhai's tourism companies or engages in tourism-related services.
Facing the future of Dazhai, Guo Fenglian is full of confidence.
Guo Fenglian's life is closely related to Dazhai, and Dazhai has changed over the past sixty years, and Guo Fenglian's life and concepts are constantly changing.
From "Iron Maiden" to fashion chairman
Guo Fenglian once told an event that impressed her very much, when Premier Zhou first came to Dazhai on May 21, 1965.
At that time, the secretary of the Dazhai Village branch asked Guo Fenglian to receive the premier, and the first thought that flashed in Guo Fenglian's head was, "The clothes I wear are patches with patches on them, how can I see the premier?" ”
Coincidentally, one of her classmates had just sewn a new dress, and Guo Fenglian looked at her new clothes, and then looked at her own, and started to think a little carefully.
So Guo Fenglian pestered her classmates and begged her to lend her clothes for half a day, and then return them to her after seeing Premier Zhou.
Under Guo Fenglian's bitter pleading, the classmates agreed to lend her clothes, and eighteen-year-old Guo Fenglian was able to wear flower clothes and leave an extremely precious photo with Premier Zhou.
When Guo Fenglian later recalled the incident, she said that although the conditions were harsh at that time, she was still a beautiful girl in the village.
Later, when he became a secretary and led the people of Dazhai to get rich, he could not care about dressing up.
In 1991, when she returned to Dazhai again to start a business with the people, Guo Fenglian also abandoned the style of "politician" and learned to be a businessman to deal with others.
In order to negotiate business, when it is time to drink, she also has to show the boldness of a man.
One year, Guo Fenglian went to Jinan, Shandong Province, to sell coal from Dazhai.
Seeing that she had traveled thousands of miles to talk about business, people said, just rush your secretary Guo's fame, we also have to support.
They set up a banquet for Guo Fenglian to receive the wind, and the leader first gave Guo Fenglian a toast.
Guo Fenglian looked at the wine glass, there were more than one or two, and then she took a drink and drank it all.
The leader even praised Guo Fenglian for being cheerful, and said proudly: Secretary Guo, if you drink a glass of wine, you will buy a cart of wagon coal in Dazhai.
Guo Fenglian was very happy and did not refuse the toast of the guests.
After a while, her tongue stiffened, and at that time she only wanted to sell more coal for Dazhai, and she drank a few more drinks hard, but she didn't expect to make people unconscious, and she was rushed to the hospital for rescue, and woke up a few hours later.
Since then, Guo Fenglian has been a little afraid when she sees wine, but in order to talk about business, she has to drink it hard.
In order to do business, Guo Fenglian also put on light makeup, sat on Audi, and also began to keep up with the times.
In the face of her fashionable and capable self, in fact, Guo Fenglian did not think of it at first.
However, she also admitted that everything must keep pace with the times, and if you want to be a good chairman of the market economy, you can only enrich yourself by continuous learning.
"I have been elected as a deputy to the Fifth National People's Congress, and in order to improve my ability to participate in and discuss state affairs, I must broaden my horizons and improve my personal quality, so that I can speak for the people." As the head of Dazhai and the spokesperson of Dazhai, I must pay attention to my own image. ”
"The first time I permed my hair and wore a necklace in front of the public, I attracted a lot of people to talk about it, and I was very calm, because I am also a woman, and women have the right to love beauty. Now that I'm older, my clothes are brighter and younger, and my hairstyle is hotter and more confident. ”
"At home, on holidays, I often urge my two daughters-in-law to burn their heads. Women's beauty is not only for themselves to see, but also to make the surrounding environment more beautiful, and dressing up themselves is also dressing up society. ”
Guo Fenglian's thinking has also changed a lot, she said: "In the past, for those boys with long hair and girls with yellow hair, I was a little unaccustomed to it, and after a long time, I thought it was quite good-looking. ”
It is precisely because Guo Fenglian has never stopped chasing the pace of the times, so she can learn lessons and finally succeed in one turn and setback after another.
A true Chinese backbone
Guo Fenglian, who is now seventy-five years old, is still the spokesperson of the "people".
After serving the people for most of her life, her life has long been inseparable from Dazhai and the construction of a beautiful motherland.
Who said that women are inferior to men, "Iron Maiden" Guo Fenglian is also the backbone of China.
Resources
"Guo Fenglian Today"
"Now Guo Fenglian, the family of Dazhai"
"Guo Fenglian's Three Life Turns"
"Practicing the Original Intention and Mission with Hard Work-Remembering Guo Fenglian, Outstanding Party Worker in China and General Secretary of the Party Branch of Dazhai Village, Xiyang County"