Talking about the "old" of the new county
Text/ Liu Yanqing
To the new county to collect style, many friends in the same industry are paying attention to the "new" of the new county, such as new planning, new landscape, new weather, new experience, etc., from the "new" to feel the rapid changes of the new county, highlighting the era style of the new county. But as a collector, in addition to looking at the "new", I am more interested in the "old" of the new county, Jingfu County. Coincidentally, before coming to Xinxian County, I had just received a yellowed map of Jingfu County (Figure 1) from the collection website. Through this map of Jingfu County in Henan Province, which was painted in November of the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), we can learn about many new and old things.
Figure 1: Map of Jingfu County drawn in the 31st year of the Republic of China
Jingfu County was established in October 1932 under the name of "Jingfu" by the Kuomintang government in order to facilitate the control of the Dabie Mountains on the border of Eyu-Anhui, to deal with the revolutionary forces, and to strengthen its dominance. This was one of the two counties established by Chiang Kai-shek in the name of his generals in the name of his generals in the middle of the Dabie Mountains to encourage the morale of other "suppression of the communist" troops, and to cross the dangerous town of "three disregards" between the three provinces of Eyu and Anhui in the middle of the Dabie Mountains (the other was "Lihuang County" in Jinjiazhai, Anhui Province, named after Wei Lihuang). It can be seen from the map that Jingfu County at that time was a fifth-class small county, with Xinji as the county, with an area of 2160 square kilometers, 1 township, 6 towns and 120 bao, and a total population of only 95274 people. The territory of Jingfu County includes five li (Bashuili, Wumari, Shachengli, Changtanli, and Qingshanli) in the southern part of the former Guangshan County, 17 Bao (Shenliuqiao, Pufengshan, Shawo, Yongyangyu, Wulong, Duheng, Xiapishan, Changtan, ZhuXiang, Dongfandian, Modouguan, Pan Yinchong, Guanyan, Chaishan, Guanyin, Shacheng, and Qianjin), three districts in Macheng County, Hubei Province (two-thirds of Renmei District, two-thirds of Zeli District, and one-half of Fengyi District), and two associations in Huang'an County (Changshuihui and Ta'erhui). It belongs to Huangchuan Special District, and later belongs to the Ninth Administrative Supervision District of Henan Province. In August 1947, Liu (Bocheng) Deng (Xiaoping) marched into Dabie Mountain, Xinji was liberated, a patriotic democratic government was set up in Jingfu County, and at the suggestion of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, Jingfu County was renamed Xinxian County, thus ending the short history of Jingfu County of less than 15 years.
Figure 2: Overview of the counties in the map of Jingfu County
On the left side of the map, there is a column "County Overview Table" (Figure 2), and from the information listed in the table, it can be seen that there was only one middle school in Jingfu County at that time, that is, Jingfu County Junior High School. The middle school was founded in the 30th year of the Republic of China (1941), before that, students in Jingfu County had to go to Huangchuan County, more than 80 kilometers away, to seek fame. The site of Jingfu County Junior High School is located in an old temple near the north gate of the city in the new market. There are 3 classes A, B and C, with a total of 157 students. From the founding of the school to the liberation of Xinji in 1947, the prefectural junior high school enrolled nine classes and graduated seven times, training more than 600 junior high school graduates. In December 1947, after fu county was renamed Xinxian County, the prefectural junior high school evolved into the current Xinxian High School.
Figure 3: Background description of the county administration setting
I have often seen netizens in Hubei, Henan and even Anhui argue endlessly about the ownership of Jingfu County on the Internet. On the way to collect wind, I communicated with Xinyang's friends on this issue. Local friends looked at it very lightly. In fact, during the revolutionary period, Jingfu was not under the control of any county, and even the provinces of Henan and Hubei were beyond the reach of the whip. Because it is the capital of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region, it is an important base for the founding of the Communist Party of China, and it is the second largest revolutionary base area after the Central Soviet Region. The "three disregards" area at the junction of the three provinces is often the poorest and most chaotic area, with bandits entrenched, families and house robbers, and all kinds of heroes and masters appear in an endless stream. Therefore, almost every village in Jingfu County has a village, and every home is equipped with self-defense equipment. In the "County Overview Table" of this map of Jingfu County, the first column is an explanation of the reasons for the establishment of the county, bluntly saying that "the former guangshan new market town in this county was established in December 2020 to deter people." (Figure 3)
Figure 4: Jingfu County Arrow Factory River Township On the map of Jingfu County, I also saw the location of Arrow Factory River Township (Figure 4).
The historical Jianchanghe Township belongs to Huang'an (now Hong'an County) in Hubei Province, which was called "Hundred Steps Pile" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, because there is no bridge across the river, and there are more than 90 trees and stone pillars, so it is called "Hundred Steps Zhuang". At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there was a martial artist named Wang Xueju in the township, who set up a factory here to make arrows, and the place name of the Arrow Factory River came from this. Jianchanghe was also one of the birthplaces of the Eyu-Anhui Workers' and Peasants' Revolution in those years, and it was the central area of the Eyu-Border Revolutionary Base Area, and in this bloody and bitter land, there were historical facts of struggle that were extremely arduous, singable, and admirable.
The reason why this township is mentioned is because a few years ago, I saw two collections related to Lenin's primary school in the home of a collector's friend, one is a wooden plaque made of door panels "Lenin Primary School of the Chinese Soviet Government" and the other is "Lenin Primary School Student Card" (Figure 5). In Jianchanghe Township, Jingfu County, there was also a Lenin Primary School, which was founded by Wu Lizi, a communist party member, and Liu Yating, a progressive intellectual, at the time of the rising peasant movement in Qiujianchanghe in 1926. Today, it has become a key revolutionary cultural relics protection unit in Henan Province. When our group came to Jianchanghe Township and walked into the simple classroom of Lenin Primary School, every corner there seemed to be able to see the scenes of those benevolent people throwing their heads and spilling their blood, defending their families and defending the country, and treating death as a homecoming. Another unexpected bonus of this new county style gathering activity was to overhear the relationship between my mother-in-law's family and the founding general Xu Shiyou before leaving. For the first time in decades, my mother-in-law told me the story of Xu Shiyou, which surprised me. From her, I also learned that General Xu Shiyou was also a collector, with more than 13,000 Chairman Mao medals in his collection during his lifetime. Therefore, during the three-day gathering activity, I paid special attention to things related to General Xu Shiyou.
Figure 6: Chairman Mao's portrait and related exhibitions collected by General Xu Shiyou during his lifetime
Chairman Mao's portrait is a unique collection category in modern heraldic art, which is the product of a specific historical period, and its rich connotation and special background and exquisite shape have exceeded the inherent characteristics of general badges, and have been praised by the Chinese collection community as "the ninth wonder of the world". General Xu Shiyou spent 60 years on horseback, followed Chairman Mao Zedong all his life, admired and thanked Chairman Mao very much, made great contributions to the national defense and socialist construction of New China, and lived a legendary life. The medallions in his collection were only discovered after his death when his family was sorting out the relics. Therefore, the relevant departments of Xinxian County held a special exhibition of "10,000 Chairman Mao Portraits and Badges Collected by General Xu Shiyou During His Lifetime" at the Memorial Hall of General Xu Shiyou, and a map of the People's Republic of China composed of chairman's portraits and seals collected by Xu Shiyou in the exhibition hall was particularly eye-catching (Figure 6). With the help of friends from the Xinyang collection community, I saw some of the Chairman Mao portraits and related historical materials collected by General Xu Shiyou. Seeing these collections, I seemed to see the legendary life of the general, and suddenly felt that I had suddenly narrowed the distance with the general. In addition to paying attention to General Xu Shiyou, I have been paying attention to the cultural relics of "Jingfu County" for three days. Although the setting of this county is short-lived, it is unique, and it should reflect this history completely and systematically through the display of related objects, through the comparison of new and old. It is gratifying that at the Revolution Museum in the capital of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District in Xinxian County, I finally saw a precious large stone plaque. The plaque has a vigorous and powerful traditional character "county", which is very eye-catching. Unfortunately, the first two words have been eradicated and cannot be seen clearly. Ask the Xinyang friends around you, sure enough, it is the three words of "Jingfu County", which should be the plaque of Jingfu County, which is very precious. There are only too few such old objects, and suddenly, I have the urge to donate the "Map of Jingfu County of Henan Province" to this museum. I think it would be meaningful if Xinyang's friends could facilitate this. It can make more people see "Jingfu" in this "Yu", so as to know the "new" from the past, and be happy!
About author:Liu Yanqing, a native of Jiahetan, Luoyang, has long been engaged in policy research in government agencies. He is currently the president of the Luoyang Miscellaneous Literature Society and the executive chairman of the Henan Miscellaneous Literature Society.
Source: Hongcheng Art Garden