On June 22, Liu Chonglai, a professor at the Lu Zuofu Research Center of Southwest University, was interviewed by reporters at the Lu Zuofu Memorial Hall in Chongqing. Photo by Zhang Xinglong
Chongqing, July 10 (China News Network) Title: Dreaming of Not Forgetting the Great Difficulties of the Country -- Remembering Lu Zuofu, a model patriotic entrepreneur
China News Network reporter Li Hanxue
When Mao Zedong talked about the process of china's national industrial development, he once said that there are four industrial people who cannot forget, among them, the transportation industry cannot forget Lu Zuofu. In 1937, Nanjing fell; in 1938, Wuhan fell, tens of thousands of tons of industrial machinery and ordnance materials were rushed through the Yangtze River waterway, and a large number of goods were stranded in Yichang and urgently needed to be moved to Chongqing. It was Lu Zuofu who commanded his Minsheng Steamship Company and completed the "'Dunkirk' Evacuation in the History of Chinese Industry" and preserved the lifeblood of China's national industry.
"Without Lu Zuofu and industry moving westward, it is hard to imagine how history would have been rewritten." Professor Liu Chonglai of the Lu Zuofu Research Center of Southwest University sighed.
Visitors visit and take photos of the Lu Zuofu Memorial Hall in Chongqing on June 22 in front of the ship models on display. Photo by Zhang Xinglong
Recently, this reporter came to The Beibei District of Chongqing, where Lu Zuofu had carefully carried out rural construction, and reviewed with experts and scholars the feelings of home and country of this national entrepreneur.
Born in 1893 in Hechuan County, Sichuan Province (now part of Chongqing Municipality), Lu Zuofu dropped out of school due to poverty after only 6 years of primary school (he later wrote several textbooks on the basis of self-study). In his youth, Lu Zuofu followed Sun Yat-sen with enthusiasm and participated in the League, the Sichuan Road Protection Movement, and the Xinhai Revolution. He tried to save the country through education, but all kinds of educational efforts were interrupted by the slightest success in the political situation of warlord chaos. Lu Zuofu turned to the development of industry and founded the Minsheng Steamship Company.
According to Lu Zuofu's recollection in "A Dismal Business", "For a period of time, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River were in Yichang and Chongqing, and the flags of Britain, the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Finland and other countries could be seen, but it was not easy to see the national flag of the country. "Many steamship companies have swirled and fallen in vicious competition, but under the management of Lu Zuofu, Minsheng Steamship Company has started from the operation of the Chongqing-Hechuan short route and expanded to a large company with 46 ships and 70% of the shipping business in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Among the steamship companies it has acquired, there are many foreign companies.
On June 22, visitors walked into the Lu Zuofu Memorial Hall in Chongqing. Photo by Zhang Xinglong
After the outbreak of the "July 7 Incident", the Japanese army attacked Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities in the south, and enterprises in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the southeast coast urgently moved inland, intending to move to Wuhan first and then into Sichuan. Lu Zuofu was appointed as the executive secretary of the Ministry of Transport of the National Government and the director of the Water Transport Committee, in charge of the transfer. In June 1938, the Japanese army attacked Wuhan. At that time, there were Hanyang Iron Works, a number of arsenals and more than half of the country's internal relocation enterprises. The shipping company braved artillery fire day and night to rush to transport most of the equipment and equipment, and transferred them to Yichang to wait for internal relocation.
At that time, Yichang could be said to have concentrated the last lifeblood of China's military industry and light and heavy industry; at the same time, more than 30,000 government officials, skilled workers, university teachers and students, and refugees poured into this small city, waiting to enter Sichuan. Ye Shengtao, who was also fleeing, wrote a poem describing: "All kinds of dialects are like boiling, and all words are bitter and there is no boat on the water." ”
Tourists visit the Lu Zuofu Memorial Hall in Chongqing on June 22. Photo by Zhang Xinglong
According to the daily capacity of minsheng steamship company, it will take at least one year to complete the transfer. The Sichuan River is dangerous and urgent, behind which is the Pursuit of the Japanese Army, and the Yangtze River will enter a dry period in less than 40 days. Lu Zuofu held an all-night meeting at the Minsheng Steamship Company and adopted the segmented navigation method, except for the extremely important and difficult loading and unloading equipment, which was directly transported to Chongqing, other materials were unloaded at wanxian (present-day Wanzhou District, Chongqing) and other stations, and then transferred later, and the freight was only one-tenth of the usual. Under the air raid, the 24 ships sailed during the day, loading and unloading at night, and did not stop for a second, and within 40 days, all the equipment and personnel crowded on the banks of the Yichang River were transported.
But Minsheng Steamship Company paid a heavy sacrifice: 16 ships were blown up, 117 employees died, and 76 employees were disabled. Lu Zuofu later said that this year, we did not do business, we went to the front line. At that time, the Minsheng Steamship Company worked together from top to bottom, and the bed sheets of the company's employees were printed with the motivational words of "Dream and don't forget the great difficulties of the country".
Tourists visit and take photos at the Lu Zuofu Memorial Hall in Chongqing on June 22. Photo by Zhang Xinglong
According to statistics, during the entire period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Minsheng Steamship Company transported more than 1.5 million people into Sichuan, and more than 2.7 million Sichuan troops went out of Sichuan to resist Japan, transporting more than 1 million tons of goods.
Liu Zhong said that at a later shareholders' meeting of the Minsheng Steamship Company, Lu Zuofu wept when he said that the company and its employees had sacrificed for the country. Huang Yanpei, who attended the meeting, was very emotional: "The company's loss is to lose money for the War of Resistance, although it is sorry for the shareholders, but it is worthy of the country." ”
To this day, Lu Zuofu's business talent and home-country feelings still make many contemporary entrepreneurs look up to him. In 2019, Beibei District, together with the Chongqing Federation of Industry and Commerce and Southwest University, founded the Lu Zuofu Private Economic College, which is intended to inspire latecomers with the power of example and cultivate private entrepreneurs with family and country feelings, good management and dare to take responsibility. Lu Zuofu's spirit will surely be passed on from generation to generation.
In the small tea house next to the Lu Zuofu Memorial Hall in Beibei, a gable wall displayed Lu Zuofu's proverb for visitors to taste in peacetime: "The best reward is to ask for benevolence and benevolence... Building a complete country will reward you with a complete country. What a great and reliable reward. (End)
Source: China News Network