Yang Qi (Youth)
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Yang Qi, born in Baoshan, Shanghai in 1925, entered the Shanghai "Sino-American Daily" in November 1937 to learn typography, in February 1941 to the 6th Division of the New Fourth Army 18 Brigade "Dazhong Bao" typesetting, from 1944 in the Jianghuai Printing Factory, Central China Banknote Printing Factory, Beihai Banknote Printing Factory engaged in engraving and plate making, in 1948 participated in the design of the first set of renminbi of the Chinese Bank, but also served as a worker model in the first set of ten yuan and fifty yuan banknote patterns. In 1952, he worked at the Shanghai farm in Dafeng, Yancheng, and took root for 34 years, serving as the head of many factories on the farm. He retired in 1985 and now lives in Shanghai.
On December 1, 1948, before the founding of New China, Dong Biwu, then chairman of the North China People's Government, issued an announcement that the Chinese Bank was established, and a new unified currency, one yuan, was born. This is a major event in the history of New China.
Beihai Banknote Factory
At the beginning of 1948, preparations for the issuance of the first set of renminbi began in full swing. Beihai Bank in The Liberated Area of Shandong province and its affiliated Beihai Banknote Printing Factory are the only banknote printing factories with copper plate engraving, photographic plate making and intaglio letterpress printing technology.
In late March 1948, in a small mountain village northwest of Wulian Mountain in Shandong Province, Yang Bingchao, director of the Beihai Bank Issuing Bureau, summoned Zhai Ying, who worked at the Beihai Banknote Printing Factory, and Yang Qi, who worked at HongshiYa, Jiaonan County. Director Yang gave Zhai and Yang the task of designing and engraving renminbi, and at that time there were three people in the printing factory who mastered the engraving technology: Zhu Jiesheng, Zhai Ying and Yang Qi, and Zhu Jiesheng went to the northeast with 1947 and did not return.
Director Yang said: In order to meet the needs of the development of the situation, the PARTY Central Committee decided to set up the Central Ministry of Finance and Economy, and prepared to set up a general bank to issue currency in a unified manner. He also pointed out that in the design, it is necessary to have both the spirit of the times and the variety of styles; It is necessary to be simple and generous, but also to reflect the contemporary style and national characteristics. Director Yang then said: After the leadership study, the two of you will first design a coin to pick up the yuan, you must seize the time, be careful and meticulous, in short, it must be fast, and the development of the whole situation is much faster than imagined. At the same time, because it has not yet been made public, it is necessary to do a special job of confidentiality. To accomplish this important task, you will certainly have many difficulties, and I hope that you will find ways to overcome them, for difficulties are a test of human will and an exercise of wisdom. If you need the help of the leadership, we will definitely help you.
Subsequently, Director Yang handed a rolled up white paper to Zhai Ying and Yang Qi, on which several "Chinese Bank" were written with a brush, one of which was sketched out with a red pen as a model. Afterwards, it was learned that the six words "Chinese Bank" were Dong Lao's ink treasure.
They expressed their attitude to Director Yang: They will resolutely complete the task and take out the drafts and sketches as soon as possible.
After sending Director Yang away, Zhai Ying and Yang Qi began to think about the draft design of the yuan coin. After much deliberation, discussion and reading of the books, newspapers, documents, and mainly relevant articles of Comrade Mao Zedong at that time, I finally realized that the patterns of workers and peasants should be adopted.
Yang Qi in his teenage years
The Chinese Communist Flag is a close combination of axe and sickle. If it is separated, it is very inappropriate and not serious to put it in the hands of workers, people and peasants. After repeated research, it was finally decided to use a hammer and a hoe to reflect the war environment at that time. After the design sketch plan was formed, it was reported to Director Yang Bingchao, and the leadership basically approved the design plan a few days later. Director Yang told them that after the leadership research basically agreed with the design plan they reported, and said that the main sketch selected workers and peasants had a good intention, and praised the workers and peasants and the masses, which was in line with the general direction and the spirit of the times. If the guns in the hands of the workers and peasants are removed, it is better to have only hammers and hoes.
Since there were no relevant materials and no cameras at that time, the two hoped that the leader would help ask a painter to paint a pixel of the workers and peasants. Later, when Director Yang came, he brought a comrade surnamed Li, who was introduced as a painter who was good at sketching characters. Zhai and Yang introduced the idea requirements, Yang Qi was originally from a worker background, and Zhai Ying was from a peasant background, and for the sake of secrecy, he did not invite others to be models. The leaders responsible Yang Qi and Zhai Ying for serving as models for workers and peasants respectively, and agreed that Old Li would come back the next day.
The next day, Lao Li brought a drawing board and other tools and came alone to the village where Zhai Ying and Yang Qi lived. I looked at the side house borrowed from the landlord, which was a house facing west and east, which was originally the landlord's miscellaneous items for storing farm tools, and it looked quite clean after cleaning up. It's just that the houses in the mountains are relatively low and have no windows, and the indoor lighting is extremely poor. Helplessly, Yang Qi, who is a model, wears a work hat and a hammer on his shoulder, and Zhai Ying, who wears a bamboo bucket and carries a hoe, can only stand on the open field outside the door, and Old Li sketches life. One stop is several hours, and the kung fu of the usual parade can now be used. Each movement was repeated many times, and after several days of depiction and correction, a portrait of a worker and peasant with excellent skills was drawn. This year, Yang Qi was 23 years old and Zhai Ying was 24 years old.
After the portraits of workers and peasants were drawn, they should be engraved on copperplate. However, at this time, the battle to liberate Weixian was fiercely underway, and the machinery and materials of the printing factory, the tools and utensils for carving, were still buried in the Kuncheng Mountains of Jiaodong, thousands of miles away. What to do? Can't wait! Do some of the work that can be done first. Without carving needles and knives, they tried to find a way to change the system by themselves, so they went to Hongning Street (now wulian County site) to buy a variety of models of sewing needles, installed wooden handles, and bought some "shoe bottom line" for military shoes from the landlord and the old lady, so that they could be used together. What if there is no carving knife? I bought a "foreign umbrella" steel bone and scrap iron wire from a bicycle and converted it into a carving knife. But since these wires did not have a steel fire, they tried to quench them with clean water, but they were too hard to use. Quenched with oil is too soft and still cannot be used. There was no way, in the end, only to a small blacksmith shop on Hongning Street, ask the old blacksmith to help change it into a carving knife blank, they explained to the old blacksmith, the old blacksmith asked them to leave the wire there, the next day to get it, it seems that the old blacksmith is quite sure.
The next day they went to get it, and after trial the sharp knife, it basically met the requirements. The old blacksmith said: The reason why yesterday he asked us to go and get it the next day was because he had to use the residual temperature in the iron stove at night to temper it. Zhai Ying and Yang Qi were very happy with the carving knife and wanted to pay the old blacksmith, but he would not accept it no matter what. It has been repeatedly explained that this is the discipline of the PLA troops, and if you do not pay, you will violate the discipline and will be punished, and in the end the old blacksmith only symbolically accepts a little.
They took back the homemade carving knife and put it with a wooden handle, and used the bullet casing of the Type 79 rifle to secure the carving knife and the wooden handle and use it. Later, they went to the flea market to look for old triangle files, and the old wide saw blades were remade into triangular scrapers and shovels, and later Guo Qiliang, Wang Jing, and other comrades used this method to solve the pain of the shortage of engraving and plate making tools in the Liberated Areas. In addition to actively preparing to carve the main scene of the workers and peasants on the Yuanyuan, they also had to design lace patterns and decorations around the coin surface. The plum blossoms and horn flowers on the surface of the yuan coin are decorated with a New Year painting "Auspicious As Intentions" when they were working in a peasant family. They tried to apply this traditional national culture conception to the pattern binding of the first set of yuan yuan coins, expressing good wishes for the first set of yuan, so that auspiciousness would reside in the world and get along with the people day and night.
The idea of this pattern was also praised by Director Yang Bingchao, which gave Zhai Ying and Yang Qi great encouragement and support, and their confidence was even stronger. Comrade Zhai Ying was responsible for the carving of the main image of the workers and peasants, and Comrade Yang Qi was responsible for the engraving of the binding pattern. Later, the first set of renminbi issued a total of 12 denominations and 62 versions, but only two kinds of Shiyuan coins and Wu Shiyuan coins were printed on the image of people, so they were more precious.
The first set of RMB ten
The first set was RMB 50
It has been more than a month since the beginning of April, when the first yuan yuan was engraved, and the design drew the graphics of the ticket face, carved the main scene pattern, lace decoration, and center pattern, all of which were completed in a small mountain village near Hongning in Wulian County. It can be said that Hongning in Wulian County, Shandong Province, was the birthplace of the first set of yuan coins.
In order to meet the needs of the development of the new situation and the requirements of large-scale resumption of production, the leaders decided to relocate the branches of the Beihai Banknote Printing Factory to Xinzhai in the southeast of Linqu County. The site near the Beihai Bank Issuing Bureau site was selected to resume production, engraving, plate making and gravure printing factory in Zhuwei Village near Xinzhai in Linqu County.
From Hongning in Wulian County to Zhuwei Village in Linqu County, about 100 kilometers, it takes about five or six days to walk according to the normal marching speed. Zhai Ying and Yang Qi, who had traveled from Wulian to Linqu this time, were given special care by their leaders and boarded a military truck captured on the battlefield to support Chiang Kai-shek's army in fighting a civil war. They were both riding in this ten-wheeled truck for the first time, and they were not only very excited, but also had the same sense of victory and pride as the soldiers on the front line. The journey of more than 100 kilometers took less than 3 hours to reach Zhuwei Village.
With the return of the backbone of technology in the northeast and the replenishment of new forces, Zhuwei Village has become a hot and vibrant printing base. The first set of renminbi issued in the name of the Chinese Bank went from here to the Liberated Areas and to China.
The first set of renminbi has been used for more than 60 years, and its issuance is a major measure to usher in the birth of new China, and the first set of renminbi has played an important role in the People's Liberation War and the economic recovery and reconstruction in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Teacher Yang Qi and deliberate workshop carver Ya Lei