Near the Sanjie Temple in Xicheng Village, Xicheng Community, Danzao Town, there is an old house covered with grass and trees. The old house is backed by a small hill, and the pond is in front of the right. Due to the dense woods and deep grass, its presence is almost imperceptible from all angles except when viewed from the air. Recently, the research team of the "One Village, One History, One Chronicle" project in Danzao Town collected historical clues in the village and accidentally found that this is the ancestral home of Zhou Zhi, the first director of the state-owned 404 factory and the winner of the Meritorious Medal of the Nuclear Industry.
The research team was delighted with this finding. Zhou Zhi made great contributions to the successful development of China's "two bombs" and promoted the establishment of China's first independent nuclear power project. His original name was Pan Yongjin, which is also the name that the people of his hometown call for to this day. In the progress of the "One Village, One History, One Chronicle" project, the villagers eagerly hope that his deeds can be compiled into the village history for future generations to learn and remember.
The house in the middle of the picture is the ancestral house of Zhou Zhi. / Liu Jianxin
He dedicated his life to the cause of his country
Zhou Zhi was born in 1916 and graduated from Jinling University. When he was a student, he actively participated in anti-Japanese rescue activities, and when he did not graduate from school in 1938, he went to Yan'an to join the Eighth Route Army and entered the Northeast Cadre Training Class of the 1st Brigade of the General School of the Chinese Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. After graduating in 1940, he was assigned to the 359th Brigade to participate in the large-scale production movement in Nanniwan, Yan'an, and officially joined the Communist Party of China.
Zhou rank in youth. / The picture comes from the Internet
In February 1951, the central government issued an order for troops to fight in Korea. Zhou Zhi was appointed deputy director and director of the Political Department of the 47th Army and the 141st Division of the 141st Army, and the director of the Secretariat of the Political Department of the Volunteer Army. During the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the 47th Army fought a total of 420 battles, annihilated more than 43,000 enemies, and emerged the Tiandeshan Hero Company, the Fifth Company Hero Platoon and Hero Squad that were awarded special merits, as well as countless heroes such as Hao Zhongyun, commander of the special hero battalion, Luo Shengjiao, an international communist fighter, and Chen Qirui, a 17-year-old hero. Zhou Zhi led a delegation of heroes of the Chinese People's Volunteers to attend the Heroes Congress of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the DPRK and took a group photo with Kim Il Sung.
In August 1953, Zhou Zhi (the one who was lifted) led a delegation of volunteers to participate in the Heroes Congress of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in North Korea. / The picture comes from the Internet
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the United States frequently issued nuclear threats to China. In 1955, Mao Zedong presided over an enlarged meeting of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and after listening to the reports of Li Siguang, Liu Jie, and Qian Sanqiang on the basic situation of uranium ore resources and atomic energy scientific research, he made a strategic decision to develop China's atomic energy industry.
The new mission fell on Zhou Zhi's shoulders. In March 1957, he was appointed deputy director of the 14th Bureau of the Second Ministry of Machine-Building Industry, and served as party secretary and first director of the state-owned No. 404 Plant, one of the backbone military enterprises of the nuclear industry.
Zhou Zhi is in the 404 factory. / The picture comes from the Internet
404 is a factory with only a code name, which cannot be found on the map, and is a "secret that cannot be said" by the mainland's nuclear industry. A large number of scientific research and production personnel, including Zhou Zhi, went incognito and carried out construction on the Gobi Desert. The natural conditions here are difficult, and there is not a single house or tree. Zhou Zhi led everyone to basically complete the 4,000-square-meter residential building in only 4 months, and the railway, highway, and transmission lines were also completed one after another.
Soon after, the mainland entered another three-year difficult period, and the 404 Factory, which had already had a tight grain supply, almost cut off the grain supply. The higher authorities offered to evacuate the base in time. However, Zhou Zhi believes that according to the development process of the mainland's nuclear industry, it is necessary to come up with qualified uranium core components as soon as possible to assemble the mainland's first atomic bomb. Once evacuated, previous efforts would be in vain, and the mainland's nuclear industry would come to a standstill.
Gritting his teeth and resolutely not retreating in the face of the challenge of lack of food and supply, it was a battle that Zhou Zhi faced again. The factory put forward the slogan of "engaging in food substitution, saving grain" and borrowed grain from everywhere. In addition, they also cultivated land, cut tree roots, and organized people to hunt, and finally successfully survived the food shortage without stopping the construction of the nuclear plant. Under the leadership of Zhou Zhi, the 404th Factory delivered the qualified atomic bomb core and completed the assembly of the atomic bomb on schedule. On October 16, 1964, the mainland successfully detonated its first self-developed atomic bomb.
In January 1981, Zhou Zhi was transferred back to Beijing from the 404 factory. Although he is 65 years old and has suffered from high blood pressure for many years, Zhou Zhi has ushered in a new challenge - to carry out the construction of nuclear power plants.
In September 2008, Zhou Zhi and his wife Li Yifei returned to the 404 factory and took a photo at the new life base in Jiayuguan. / The picture comes from the Internet
In the sixties and seventies of the last century, Shanghai's economy gradually got on the right track, but electricity became a constraint on development, because of the shortage of electricity, many enterprises stipulated that they could only work 3 to 4 days a week. On February 8, 1970, Zhou Enlai put forward the spirit of the instructions for the development of nuclear power, and China's first nuclear power project "728 Project" came into being.
However, the "728" project still faces great resistance. Affected by the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the United States, people were generally worried about nuclear power at that time, and some ministry leaders simply avoided it. For this reason, Zhou Zhi went to the Shanghai 728 Institute to make a report on behalf of the Second Machinery Department, emphasizing: "The atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb have been built, why can't the nuclear power plant be built? We will do the above things, and you can do your job with peace of mind. Only by doing a good job can the '728 Project' go up." ”
In order to do a good job in the "above things", Zhou Zhi went to one ministry and one ministry to dredge, holding pamphlets and nuclear power science wall charts, repeatedly promoting nuclear power as a safe, clean and economical energy source. In the end, he "covered 16 big seals" and promoted the "728" from a code name to a specific 300,000 kilowatt reactor project.
From devoting himself to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, defending his home and defending the country in the rain of bullets, to researching nuclear bombs, sticking to his original intention in the Gobi Desert, and then developing nuclear power and stepping on iron shoes to help the economy rise, Zhou Zhi has dedicated his life to the country, and his spiritual deeds are worth remembering and learning extensively.
The ancestral house of Zhou Zhi that "does not show the mountains and does not show the water".
Recently, Nanhai has promoted the "One Village, One History, One Ambition" project in the whole region, proposing to comprehensively, objectively and systematically take stock of the village conditions, trace the historical origins, sort out the process of rural development and reform, and gather the cultural resources of the villages. Among them, the Danzao Town Cultural Development Center and the Foshan News and Media Center cooperated to hire a professional team of historical and cultural experts to carry out research on the history of the village. The discovery of Zhou Zhi's ancestral house and the combing of historical materials were carried out in the practice of the project.
Zhou Zhi's ancestral home. / Liu Jianxin
According to the villagers, Zhou's original name was Pan Yongjin, and Zhou was his mother's surname. According to the "Genealogy of Pan's Beifang" collected by the villagers of Xicheng, Pan Zhonghuan (Wenli), the eighteenth lineage of Pan's Beifang Jishantang, married his wife Zhou, and had two sons, named Pan Yongyan and Pan Yongjin, and his descendants have no records.
The genealogy of the Pan family in Beifang, provided by the villagers, recorded the name of Pan Yongjin.
After Pan Yongjin changed his name to Zhou Zhi, he also retained the imprint of the Pan family. Zhou Zhi's wife, Li Yifei, still called him "Apan" in his family letters after his death, and wrote many diary manuscripts.
A photo of Zhou Zhi with his family. / The picture comes from the Internet
Zhou Zhi's ancestral house is located in the southeast of Xicheng Village, a winding path through the secluded place. The vicinity of this place was originally inhabited by the Yang family, and a stone tablet of "Pan Boundary" was erected in front of Zhou Zhi's house to distinguish it, indicating that this plot was owned by the Pan family. The house is backed by a hill, with lush forests in front and back, and a small pond on the right, giving the overall location a sense of seclusion.
Overlooking Zhou Zhi's ancestral house from the air. / Liu Jianxin
The exterior of the ancestral house is well preserved and looks very solid. A kapok tree is located next to the house, and the villagers are accustomed to calling it the "hero tree". It is said that it was planted a few years ago when the descendants of Zhou Zhi visited the village.
The research group visited with the villagers in front of Zhou Zhi's ancestral house. / Liu Jianxin
Next to the ancestral house, there is also a tall stone wall. The stone wall is dark red throughout, and it is the site of a red sandstone building. Wu Jinxiong, an expert of the research team, a doctor of history from Yuelu Academy, a postdoctoral fellow at Sun Yat-sen University, and a teacher from the Department of History of Zhaoqing University, introduced that this kind of red sandstone in the Lingnan area was mostly used in the Ming Dynasty architecture, and it is speculated that the village has a long history and has been opened in the Ming Dynasty.
Next to the ancestral house of Zhou Zhi, a towering stone wall is preserved, which is presumed to be a Ming Dynasty building.
It is worth noting that near the ancestral house of Zhou Zhi, there are other buildings with cultural relics protection value.
The Three Realms Temple in Xicheng Village was built in the 33rd year of Qianlong (1768), according to the villagers, the previous Three Realms Temple was particularly magnificent, and later demolished two-thirds. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month of each year is the birthday of the Three Realms Temple, and the villagers will carry the statue of the god to the countryside, and the scene is very grand.
Although it has undergone demolition, there is only one entry left before and after, and the Three Realms Temple also has extremely high conservation value. There are six stone tablets carved in different ages on the wall of the east wing of the temple, and the more detailed descriptions of the stone tablets include "Rebuilding the Three Realms Temple Stele", "Three Realms New Temple Stele", "Rebuilding the Three Realms Temple Stele", "Rebuilding the Three Realms Temple Stele", "Rebuilding the Three Realms Temple Stele", "Rebuilding the Temple Stele". "A temple can preserve so many stone tablets, which is really the most Danzao." Wu Jinxiong said.
Xicheng Three Realms Temple. / Liu Jianxin
The exterior wall of the Temple of the Three Realms. / Xu Peiying
According to the stele records, there was a worship pavilion in front of the Three Realms Temple, and there was a public office on the left side of the temple, which no longer exists. Among them, the "Persuasion and Donation" engraved in the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867) was written by Pan Zhuoling. Pan Zhuoling is Kang Youwei's uncle, and he studied with his brother Pan Junling and Kang Youwei's grandfather Kang Zanxiu.
Near the ancestral house of Zhou Zhi, there is also an ancient well, which the villagers call "mud well". The wellhead is no different from a general well, but if you look down at the well, you will find that its capacity is huge, like a large urn with a diameter of four or five meters wide, and the houses and roads next to it are actually built on top of the well. In addition to the "big belly" characteristic, the wall of this well is not made of bricks, but the mud surface of the rock wall, which is very special.
Mud well.
Coincidentally, whether it is the ancestral house of Zhou Zhi, the Three Realms Temple in Xicheng or this mud well, they are all "inconspicuous mountains and water" and "there is a lot of water inside", which is also talked about by the villagers.
Attention is paid to the protection of historical and cultural relics
May 18 is International Museum Day, and the topic of historical and cultural heritage preservation is in the spotlight. Historical and cultural resources such as the ancestral house of Zhou Zhi have been discovered in the investigation of village history and will become an important object of cultural relics protection.
It is reported that Danzao Town has a long history and profound cultural heritage, and still preserves many cultural relics, old historical buildings and historical and cultural relics. In 2022, the "Danzao Town Historical and Cultural Relics Management System" was promulgated to strengthen the protection of relevant cultural relics.
At present, there are 28 immovable cultural relics in the town, including the former residence of Kang Youwei, a national key cultural relics protection unit. In terms of museums, there is a branch of the Nanhai District Museum, Kang Youwei Museum. Danzao Town attaches great importance to the discovery and excavation of historical resources and cultural relics, and has carried out a series of work such as the revision of the "Danzao History and Culture Series", the research of "Promising Waterway", the research of "Hanlin Waterway", and the research of "History and Culture of Danzao Academy". For example, last year, the historical and cultural research of Danzao Academy excavated a tablet from the Qianlong period in Sucun, which is the earliest stone tablet of the Qing Dynasty in Danzao. At present, Danzao Town focuses on the "One Village, One History, One Chronicle" project, and helps the "Millions of Thousands Project" to go deeper and more practical with the research and editing of village historical records.
The research group of "One Village, One History, One Chronicle" of Danzao Town took a group photo in front of the Three Realms Temple in Xicheng Village. / Liu Jianxin
At the same time, Danzao Town also adheres to the principle of "revitalization in protection and protection in revitalization", and promotes the protection of cultural relics with cultural revitalization.
For example, the Chen Ancestral Hall in Nansha is one of the "Top Ten New Discoveries" in the third national cultural relics census of Guangdong Province, and was listed as a cultural relics protection unit in Foshan City in 2013. In 2019, in the revitalization and upgrading of the ancient village in Foshan City, the Chen Ancestral Hall was revitalized and utilized as a village history museum. The town and community often hold various cultural and artistic activities here, such as the Spring Festival couplets sent by calligraphers to celebrate the New Year, the chess invitational tournament of the Kang Youwei Cultural Festival, the tour exhibition of calligraphy, painting and photography, the private partnership of opera, the lion dance exchange activities, the book rafting activities, the four small garden activities, etc., so that the cultural relics become the carrier of cultural nourishment.
Danzao Pei Yao Family School is an immovable cultural relics protection registration unit in Nanhai District, and the door plaque "Pei Yao Family School" is inscribed by Kang Youwei. Danzao Town leverages social resources and introduces social enthusiastic enterprises and folk artists to carry out cultural and artistic activities. After the successful application of "Chinese Character Calligraphy (Recreation)" as an intangible cultural heritage project in Nanhai District, the town cultural center and the Danzao Calligraphy Association have held relevant intangible cultural heritage activities, academic and creative seminars on recreation and calligraphy in Danzao Peiyao Family School for many times.
Located in the Pei Yao family school in Danzao Village, the plaque is entitled Kang You. / Hair buds
Xiangang Academy, located in Xiangang Community, also introduces enthusiastic enterprises and folk artists to build an ancient stage + art museum. Today, the Shouyi Art Museum in Nanhai District has become a popular science education base for traditional Lingnan culture, and a big stage for intangible cultural heritage arts such as Cantonese opera and dragon boat rap.
Text/Foshan News and Media Center reporter Mao Lei, intern Deng Chongjun, correspondent Su Biyao