By Rui Hu, Editor
A grand exhibition of achievements in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) opened on September 24 at the Beijing Exhibition Center. The exhibit contained many beautiful highlights about the recent history of Chongqing. About 21,800 people visited the exhibition that day. Chongqing's vibrant colors caught the eyes and held the attention of many viewers.
The exhibition leads visitors to review the glorious history of China from 1949 to 2019.
To facilitate people in Southwest China, the government of the People’s Republic of China determined to establish the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway regardless of the extremely challenging conditions. Construction of the Railway began on June 1950 and completed on June 1952, marking the dream of people in Southwest China coming true nearly half a century later.
Qiu Shaoyun was a soldier in the Chinese People’s Volunteers Army. He was born in July 1926 in Tongliang, Sichuan (today’s Chongqing) and joined the army in December 1949.
In October 1952, Qiu Shaoyun’s platoon was sent to ambush enemy forces during the war to fight against the U.S. in Korea. Qiu Shaoyun edged close to the enemy defenses using grass and twigs as camouflage. The enemy suddenly threw a firebomb that set fire to the grass near Qiu’s position. Realizing that any sound or movement would give away the position of his comrades, Qiu gave up saving his life by rolling into the ditch nearby but endured the agonizing pain in silence until being burnt to death.
In April 1953, Qiu was honored as the “First-Class Hero of the Chinese People’s Volunteers Army” and was posthumously awarded a Special-Class Merit citation. He also won a Gold-Star Medal and the First-Class Medal of National Flag from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Qiu Shaoyun is one of the army heroes and role models; in 2009, he was selected as one of the 100 People Touching China after the Founding of the PRC.
In 1973, Yuan Longping and his colleagues in the China Indica Hybrid Rice Scientific Research Team succeeded in growing the indica hybrid rice with strong heterosis for the first time in the world. In 1976, commercial production of hybrid rice started, which was a significant breakthrough in China’s rice breeding history. Indica hybrid rice won China’s First Special Class Invention Prize in 1981. In 1996, the Super Rice Breeding Program began. In 2018, super hybrid rice output set a new world record by reaching an average yield of 1,152.3 kg per mu.
Yuan Longping succeeded in growing the indica hybrid rice with strong heterosis for the first time in the world.
Yuan Longping spent most of his boyhood in Chongqing. His first job was also in this city. He set up a workstation there and the seeds he gave to Chongqing now yield over 900 kg per mu.
Ran Shaozhi was the former Assistant Consultant of the Immigration Bureau of Fengjie County, Chongqing. He cared about people and actively explored new ways to relocate villagers, making significant contributions to the relocation for the Three Gorges Dam. On December 18, 2018, Ran Shaozhi was honored as a Reform Pioneer by the CPC central committee and the State Council and was awarded Reform Pioneer medal. He was also praised as “a pioneer in the exploration of Three Gorges immigrant resettlement.”
In April 1992, the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress passed the Resolution on the Construction of the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River. The Three Gorges Project began in 1994, the first batch of units started power generation in 2003, and the Project is in full functional now. The total volume and total installed capacity of the Three Gorges Dam stand 39.3 billion cubic meters and 22.5 million kW. It is the world’s largest water conservation project and the hydropower project with the most extensive comprehensive benefits.
China relocated 1,310,300 people during the completion of the Three Gorges Dam. The number of immigrants of reservoir regions was 1,296,400 (including 196,200 immigrants of rural areas), and that of land requisition was 13,900. The exhibition area plays videos of Wushan, Fengjie, Yunyang, Kaizhou, Wanzhou, Zhongxian, Fengdu, Fuling, and other districts and towns and presents a model of the Three Gorges Project.
In March 1997, the Fifth Session of the 8th National People’s Congress approved to set Chongqing as a municipality directly under the central government. In a picture displayed in the exhibition area, Chongqing, embraced by the Yangtze River and the Jialing River, sparkling in the lights.
On June 18, 1997, Chongqing municipality was officially established.
The Western Development Strategy (WDS) formally began in January 2000 when the State Council convened a meeting on the development of western China. Since the implementation of the WDS, the western regions have seen rapid growth; the divide between the eastern and western provinces have continued to shrink, and the eco-environment and the people’s living standard have been remarkably improved.
Liu Chuanjian, a pilot at Sichuan Airlines Chongqing Branch;
Ma Shanxiang, head of Guanyinqiao Sub-district People’s Mediation Committee, Jiangbei District, Chongqing.
In September 2016, the Outline of Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Plan was issued. A new development pattern of the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) was hence established. Over the three years, the YREB has achieved an equal advancement of the eco-environment protection and economy and is now working to build the driving force for the high-quality economic development of China.
In August 2013, the State Council approved to set up China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone (CFTZ) was approved by the State Council on March 15, 2017, and officially inaugurated on April 1, 2017.
In March 2017, Fuling shale gas field accumulatively supplied over 10 billion cubic meters of gas. It marked that China’s shale gas began accelerating the pace into a large-scale commercialized development stage and achieved the independent development of core technologies and homemade production of key equipment for shale gas.
The picture at the exhibition shows a type 3000 fracturing unit working at the platform Jiaoshi No. 42.
In 2018, China set the autumnal equinox in the lunar calendar as Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival. This is the first festival set by a country for farmers.
Fruits, corns, and pictures showing the singing and dancing of farmers in Liangping District, Chongqing during the festival were showcased at the exhibition.
President Xi paid a visit to Chongqing in 2019 and convened a forum to work on meeting the basic living needs of rural poor populations
From April 15 to 17, 2019, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, State President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, paid a visit to Chongqing and convened a forum to work on meeting the basic living needs of rural poor populations and ensuring people’s access to compulsory education, basic medical services, and housing.
Source: CQCB
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